October 17 , 2007

UUP Advocacy Training

UUP members Irene Stern, left, and Margaret Bryan, both of SUNY Stony Brook HSC, engage in a role-playing exercise during a legislative advocacy training session on the Stony Brook campus.

UUP Outreach Committee Co-chair Tom Tucker of SUNY Buffalo played the role of a state Assemblyman. The role-playing gives advocacy trainees the opportunity to perfect their approach when they meet with lawmakers to advance the union’s legislative priorities.

Nearly 45 UUPers from the Stony Brook, Stony Brook HSC, Old Westbury and Farmingdale chapters attended the training session and expressed a strong interest in becoming legislative advocates for the union.

The group got firsthand evidence of the value of UUP’s advocacy program. Stony Brook Assistant Vice President for Government Relations Janice Rohlf said her university would not have had the funds to hire 72 new full-time faculty that arrived this semester if it wasn’t for UUP’s effort to secure more money in the state budget for SUNY.

Photo by Pam Wolfskill