UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 23, 2006

Upstate Medical professor named Higher Education Member of the Year

Phillip Smith, a professor in the department of cell and developmental biology at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and a former statewide vice president of United University Professions, has been named as Higher Education Member of the Year by New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).

According to his nominators, Smith “exemplifies what is best in higher education and his contributions to UUP continue to strengthen the union movement. He has shown a hands-on nature throughout his long union career.”

In addition to serving as UUP’s past Vice President for Academics, Smith was chief negotiator for UUP’s 2003-2007 contract. He currently chairs the Joint Labor/Management Committee on Technology and was recently named to head UUP’s Task Force on Retiree Issues. In 2005, he earned UUP’s Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service.

At Upstate, Smith serves as the local chapter’s vice president for academics and as grievance chair. When he’s not working on these assignments, he assists the union’s communications efforts as UUP’s Webmaster.

Smith arrived at SUNY in 1978 and immediately became involved in UUP as a delegate, a  position he still holds.

Smith was honored with the award at NYSUT’s recent Representative Assembly held in Rochester. John Hyland of the Professional Staff Congress, the union representing faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY), was also named a Higher Education Member of the Year.

Smith and his wife Heidi reside in Manlius. They have three grown children. 

UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York state-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.     

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