NIFT News

NIFT NEWS
May 19, 2009	Volume 1, Number 1
NIFT is the North Idaho College’s Chapter of AFT, the American Federation of Teachers and IFT, the Idaho Federation of Teachers. IFT has chapters in each of Idaho’s state institutes of higher education, including the University of Idaho, Boise State University, Idaho State University, Lewis Clark State College, and College of Southern Idaho.	Introducing NIFT Newsletter Welcome to the first edition of NIFT NEWS, a newsletter for the North Idaho Federation of Teachers. NIFT is growing and active. With NIFT News, we can easily communicate with each other, the campus, and the community.  NIFT News will be published electronically at least twice a year, spring and fall. NIFT Advocates for Part-time Faculty After meeting with a small group of part-time instructors on March 20, NIFT President, Joyce Lider, and NIFT Secretary/Treasurer, Kim Johnson, presented a list of part-time faculty concerns to Vice President for Instruction, Dr. Jay Lee, and Human Resources Director, Wade Larson. On April 14, Lider and Johnson met with Dr. Lee to discuss part-time faculty wages, credit loads, internal searches, professional development, communication, and morale.  Dr. Lee expressed an interest in rewarding and retaining adjunct instructors and acknowledged the need for improved orientation and communication with part-time faculty. At Dr. Lee’s suggestion, Lider, Johnson, and Lee met with Human Resources Director Wade Larson on May 4. Larson confirmed that Human Resources will include part-time pay in its upcoming research on faculty salaries at comparator institutions.  According to Larson, part-time instructors may carry up to nine credit-hours in both the fall and spring semesters and up to six in summer. To improve new employee understanding of college processes, Larson stated that Human Resources is developing an online orientation to NIC for all employees, including part-time faculty. Lider and Johnson have pledged to follow up with Lee and Larson. End-of-the-Term & Retirement Celebration Celebrate the end of the school year and the retirement of NIFT members Bob Bohac and Jim Cultra at Toro Viejo Cantina (Lakeside Entrance) this Thursday, May 14 at 4 pm. Bob Bohac, a 19-year Math instructor, has served as NIFT treasurer. Jim Cultra, a 25-year Maintenance Mechanic/Millwright instructor, has been crucial to our “social activities” team! Come, wish Bob and Jim well, and celebrate the end of the semester with your NIFT friends this Thursday.
The American Federation of Teachers was founded in 1916 to represent the economic, social and professional interests of classroom teachers.  It is an affiliated international union of the AFL-CIO. The AFT has more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide, 43 state affiliates, and more than 1.4 million members. Name this Newsletter: If you’ve got a better name than NIFT News, send it and/or items for our next edition to Kim Johnson at kim@rezmail.com         AFT on the Web! www.aft.org/	The Part-time Satisfaction Gap According to Inside Higher Ed, a national study of over 5700 instructors at almost 300 community colleges suggests that part-time faculty “are less satisfied with their jobs than their full-time counterparts,” but adding benefits significantly improves job satisfaction. The study also concluded: ·          “…A union is positively associated with part-time faculty members’ job satisfaction. ·          The larger percentage of a faculty that is part time, the lower the job satisfaction of full-time faculty members is likely to be.” For the full article, see www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/16/parttime Creating NIFT Student Scholarship With NIC tuition increasing 10.9% for the 2009-2010 academic year, plans are in the works to offer the first annual NIFT Student Scholarship.    With a modest $10 contribution from each member, NIFT can offer a $300 scholarship this fall!   Please send your donation to Joyce Lider by Monday, June 1, along with your ideas for the scholarship criteria (financial need, academic achievement, etc) and the application process.   Help NIFT benefit NIC students directly, increase our recognition on campus, and do a good thing!     NIFT Needs You This Fall September 2009 NIFT will elect new officers to serve two-year terms. NIFT’s current membership roster includes over 30 members. Organizing, communicating, and advocating with and for this many people takes time and energy. Please consider contributing yours.  President Joyce Lider 769-3337 joyce_lider@nic.edu Vice President Tom Flint 769-3417 tom_flint@nic.edu Secretary/Treasurer Kim Johnson 769-5985 kim@rezmail.com Membership Information Interested in NIFT membership? Know someone who is? Contact Kim Johnson at kim@rezmail.com for membership applications and payment options.

 

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