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Working people under the gun from globalization, a sinking economy and a hostile political environment need a center for incubating new ideas and strategies to reinvigorate the union movement. If William Scheuerman has his way, that place is the National Labor College (NLC).
Scheuerman, who was formally installed today as NLC’s president, says the school can play a major role in strengthening the union movement to benefit working families.
This could be the West Point of the labor movement, where all the leaders of the labor movement come through here….The Labor College should be a think tank for the labor movement.
To bring his vision into reality, Scheuerman, who has been on the job for about eight weeks, says he has set some ambitious goals for the school. Those goals include expanding partnerships with unions to reach out to new students, expanding union leadership skills training and establishing the college as an educational institution for global union leaders.
The National Labor College is the nation’s only accredited college exclusively dedicated to educating union members, leaders, activists and staff. It includes a combination of online and on-campus courses and offers bachelor’s degrees in seven major areas. The college focuses on preparing union leaders through training sessions such as the leadership development program and the university accredited degree programs. More than 1,000 union members have earned their bachelor’s degrees there since 1997 when the NLC began offering upper-level degrees. The school was originally founded in 1969 as the George Meany Center for Labor Studies.
Scheuerman has deep roots in the union movement. For 14 years, he served as president of the United University Professions (UUP), an AFT affiliate that represents 33,000 academic and professional faculty members. He has written numerous scholarly works, including two books—The Steel Crisis and Private Interests, Public Spending with Sidney Plotkin. Scheuerman earned his bachelor’s degree from the City University of New York (CUNY) and his Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who chairs the NLC’s board of trustees, says:
I look at this place as a symbol of hope for our movement’ s future. The college’s growth of the last few years and its future plans have carved out an important role for the college in our movement.
One of those roles will be educating union members around the world about today’s global economy and how it can be changed to benefit everyone, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.
Having a place in this very crucial global debate is the kind of thing that could propel this college into the future.
Scheuerman replaces Susan Schurman who retired in June 2007 after 10 years as NLC president. Schurman led the process by which the college received accreditation, completed an ambitious campus improvement program and raised the stature of labor’s college around our nation.
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