Introduction

  • This election is for APSCUF State Delegates. The rules for this election are listed below.
  • The nominees for the APSCUF State Delegates election are listed to the right. The list to the right is not a ballot.
  • This list in not official until nominations have been closed and the list of nominees has been reviewed and verified by the APSCUF Nominations and Elections Committee.
  • The statements the candidates submitted with their nominations are given below. By clicking on a name in the list of candidates, you will be taken to that candidate's statement.
  • Clicking on the words Return to Top will return you to this part of the page.
  • If you are a nominee and wish to modify your statement or withdraw your nomination, click on the "Modify" button. You will need your password to make any modifications.
  • When you are finished, you may choose to view nominees for other elections, nominate yourself, view the list of elections, return to the APSCUF Nominations and Elections homepage, visit the APSCUF homepage, or visit the WCU homepage.
The nominees for APSCUF State Delegates are:

David Backer
Tina Chiarelli-Helminiak
Randall Cream
Claire Dente
Wei Du
Margaret Ervin
Christy Hicks
Seth Kahn
Dana Morrison
Cassandra Reyes
Larry Udell
Cheryl Wanko

Nominations close Mar 22, 2019.
All APSCUF Faculty may be nominated.

Rules for the Election

    • Top 12 nominees based on Vote count will be State Delegate
    • Next 8 nominees based on Vote count will be Alternates
    • State Delegates are elected by a plurality of votes cast, with no delegate being elected with less than twenty-five percent of the ballots cast.
    • State Delegate seats will be filled by the candidates with the highest vote count until all seats are filled. The remaining candidates, ranked by highest vote count, will fill seats for Alternate State Delegate until all seats for alternates are filled.

| Return to Top |

David Backer


Department: Educational Foundations and Policy Studi

I've served as alternate delegate for two years, attending statewide assemblies and learning the ropes. I'd like to continue learning about the union's statewide structure and how we can help improve faculty working conditions in West Chester and throughout the PASSHE system.


| Return to Top |

Tina Chiarelli-Helminiak


Department: Graduate Social Work

Dear Colleagues, It is with great enthusiasm that I seek to serve you as an APSCUF State Delegate. I served as an alternative Delegate for the past term and had opportunity to attend one state Legislative Assembly (LA). My experience at the LA confirmed that I would like to extend my service as a State Delegate to ensure our collective rights are upheld. Thank you!


| Return to Top |

Randall Cream


Department: English

I'd be honored to help serve our union and our campus as State Delegate. I've served as alternate for the past year and participated in each legislative assembly. I served as the Center City Picket Captain during our successful (and short!) strike, working in solidarity with dozens of colleagues from Cheyney and West Chester (and lots of support from AFT/PFT colleagues). I am committed to the work of keeping our union strong, inclusive, and responsive.


| Return to Top |

Claire Dente


Department: Undergraduate Social Work

I have been happy to support our faculty for two terms in the capacity of APSCUF State Delegate. I hope to continue with this service. It is important to me that we represent West Chester University well at the state-level legislative assemblies when we gather with the other state system universities. I have supported APSCUF through this role, serving on the Executive Committee as the State Delegate Rep, and as a strike captain. I greatly appreciate your support of my nomination. Thanks!


| Return to Top |

Wei Du


Department: Economics and Finance

I am a third-year faculty member from the Department of Economics and Finance. I currently serve as our department’s APSCUF representative, so I value and I understand the importance of effective communication between faculty members and our union. I would be honored to additionally serve as an APSCUF state delegate to work with our colleagues across the state to actively contribute to the success of our university and of our students and faculty. I am grateful for your consideration. Thank you!


| Return to Top |

Margaret Ervin


Department: English

I currently attend Legislative Assembly as an alternate delegate on a regular basis and have a seat on the Statewide Negotiations Team. It would be an honor to join the ranks of the delegates.


| Return to Top |

Christy Hicks


Department: Special Education

I have been active in the Union since 2012, and over the past two years, I have increased the level of my participation. I serve on the statewide APSCUF bylaws committee, and I have served for two years as the At-Large member on local Meet & Discuss. I have also served as a State Delegate for WCU for a total of four years. I would like to continue in this role for the next two years. It's important to me that women are represented in this important capacity at the state level, and I appreciate your consideration and your support.


| Return to Top |

Seth Kahn


Department: English

I've been a delegate for I think seven terms now and have developed working relationships across the state. Serving again would help to solidify those relationships; as our new Chancellor moves to unify the system, having a subset of our delegates with experience at that level will be important for orchestrating and executing our response to Chancellor-level initiatives.

Also, on a more practical level, as Statewide Mobilization Chair I have to be at the assemblies anyway. This way I get to vote and participate in the meetings.


| Return to Top |

Dana Morrison


Department: Educational Foundations and Policy Studi

As an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies, I am committed to improving our educational institutions in every aspect of my career, in my teaching, in my scholarship and in my service. I am serving in my second year as co-chair of APSCUF-WCU's Social Justice committee and have been actively engaged in grassroots organizing around educational issues in the City of Philadelphia. I am hoping to extend this work by becoming a State Delegate and participating in the union structure. As a State Delegate I will align myself with the interests of the rank-and-file and advocate for APSCUF's continued commitment to affordable public higher education.


| Return to Top |

Cassandra Reyes


Department: Criminal Justice

I am an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice in my tenth year here at WCU and I have been serving as a State Delegate for APSCUF-WCU since 2012. Since I was first elected to this position, I have attended and participated in all State Legislative Assemblies that have been held, in addition to the Strike Workshops in Harrisburg, with the exception of one Legislative Assembly in September 2015 due to a family emergency. Also, I have been serving as the APSCUF-WCU Legislative Committee Chair and have attended all of the State Legislative Committee meetings since I was appointed to this role during the fall 2014 semester. In this capacity, I have also been serving on the State Legislative Committee Executive Board since 2015. In addition, I had the opportunity to serve as a State APSCUF Faculty Officer at Large on the State Executive Council and Personnel Committee since 2017. In this position, I attended all monthly meetings and participated in the hiring of numerous State Staff members, multiple revisions of the personnel manual, desk audits, the staff retreat, and other functions. This experience has afforded me a much deeper understanding of APSCUF as a whole. My Faculty Officer at Large term ends in May 2019 and I have decided not to run again at this time. On the departmental level, I served as the Criminal Justice Department Coordinator-Center City, which allowed me to take the WCU Philadelphia campus-specific issues to the local and State levels to be addressed. I also served as the Criminal Justice Departmental Representative to APSCUF-WCU from 2009 to 2014. Although I will not be serving as a Faculty Officer at Large member, I would love to continue to serve the WCU Faculty in the State Delegate capacity as and I am very dedicated to making sure that our voices are heard on the State-level, especially as we are in the midst of another contract negotiation period. I thank you all in advance for your continued support in this endeavor.


| Return to Top |

Larry Udell


Department: Philosophy

I have been a union member since arriving as an adjunct in 1999, and have been a department representative for the last several years. I am a strong believer in shared governance and recognize that a strong union is essential to making that work. Fortunately, we have one, and I'd like to continue to be a part of it as a state delegate.


| Return to Top |

Cheryl Wanko


Department: English

I am committed to and work for APSCUF at all levels. Most recently, I have taken part in local and state APSCUF conversations relating to advising and to sustainability. If chosen for state assembly, I will be serving my third term as a state representative for West Chester. Over this time, I have been happy to see the WCU contingent grow as more faculty join APSCUF and become active. This has been particularly heartening after the ruling on the Janus case. If I am elected to another term, I will continue to represent WCU’s concerns, as I hope to have done since my first state assembly. Please reach out to me if you would like to ask a question or would like me to raise a question at the state level, especially as we enter negotiations again. Thank you for your support.


| Return to Top |

Return to the APSCUF Nominations and Elections home page

Created and copyrighted by Clifford Johnston, 2000-12