"Connecting Community and Academic Activism Workshop Series"
"First, we've proposed that the university work with community activists and experts in human rights and labor issues to rethink the way it chooses its liscensees. Specifically we are thinking of trying to incorporate worker cooperatives and other more 'economically just' factories that need contracts to survive. MJ has done a lot of work on this and has found some community people that are willing to talk to the university about this. So far, it looks like some kind of committee may be formed to work on this.
Second, we've proposed that the university give some money to students (graduate and undergraduate) to study issues realting to sweatshops. Hopefully there will be a meeting with SAS, the Admin. and the Task Force to talk about this soon.
Third, we've asked the university to take a more proactive role in the WRC. The university has spent lots of resources on the FLA, but until now, it has not out the same kind of effort into the WRC. The recent visit of Rich Appelbaum from the WRC was helpful because he gave some ideas of ways that UA can help get the WRC off the ground. One of the obvious things that UA can do is give money. The WRC would like to run pilot projects that will (hopefully) form a foundation for working in the future on the sort of projects the WRC hope to develop. The WRC itself is not sure yet how these pilot projects will take shape, but UA could help by heading up one of these projects."
Additionally, Lydia works with the Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice a coalition of activists working on local issues for social justice. And, Lydia works with the Poverty Law Center, which will be undertaking a project on tenants' rights in the near future.
Kate O'Neil (koneil@U.Arizona.EDU):
Sociology Grad Student and Instructor; Coalition to Organize Graduate Students
Kate says of herself: "I am currently
a Ph.D. student in the department of sociology at Arizona. I completed
my M.A. work at the University of Washington. My research interests include
the study of organizations, especially nonprofit organizations and religious
organizations. I currently work as a teaching assistant in a course that
includes a service learning component. I am also designing a course on
contemporary social issues, which I will teach in the summer of 2001. Prior
to graduate school, I served as an Americorp*VISTA volunteer working in
the area of adult literacy. Before I was in VISTA, I worked as the volunteer
coordinator of a breakfast soup kitchen. I am an active member and organizer
in the Coalition to Organize Graduate Students, and I volunteer with Pima
County Adult Education in the literacy program. My previous activism and
volunteerism has centered around issues of poverty and hunger and feminist
issues. Originally from Maine, I ended up in Tucson by way of Baltimore
and Seattle.
Lonni Pearce (lonni@u.arizona.edu):
UA English Instructor (Business and Technical Writing)
Lonni is an instructor and graduate student
in the Department of English. Lonni will be teaching a course on Business
and Technical writing in the spring while concurrently working on an online
version of the course that ties students to local community partners analyzing
technology in professional communication. She would like to make contacts
with local activist and nonprofit organizations in order to facilitate
connections for students and to get input into the professional writing
curriculum for the online course.
Curtis Ferree (cpferree@visto.com):
PCC/UA English Instructor (Composition)
Curtis is an English Composition instructor
at Pima Community Collage and the University of Arizona. He is developing
his courses around either mining or border issues and would like to work
with local activists to tie his course materials to immediate and historical
issues in the community.
Paula Arnquist (afscaz@azstarnet.com):
Workers Rights Board, Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice, American
Friends Service Committee
Paula works with the Workers Rights
Board and the Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice.
She seeks assistance with immigrant labor issues and day labor concerns.
She always is seeking volunteers for the Workers Rights Board hotline,
especially law students. Paula has information on trends in local workers'
rights issues and organizing efforts.
Miranda Joseph (mirandaj@u.arizona.edu):
UA Womens Studies/LGB Studies Faculty
Miranda is a University of Arizona Womens
Studies faculty and director of the LGB studies committee. She is currently
developing a course on Prisons and seeks activists and experts to advise
on her curricula and perhaps participate as guest speakers in her classes.
Additionally, Miranda is the director of
a Rockerfeller funded project-a committee of activists from the community
and university working on "Sex, Race, and Globalization" issues. The committee
seeks ways to connect issues of sexuality, gender, race, and class around
globalization trends, thus connecting disparate issues and mobilizing various
forms of activism in unison. One significant project of the committee will
be a Spring
Symposium: Collective Action: Working for Sexual, Racial and Economic Justice.
(March 9 and 10, 2000.) The symposium will have four plenary speakers of
scholars and activists, will include a screening of the film, Out at
Work: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market, and will include
a series of facilitated workshops around specific action oriented issues
(such as, Money, Media, etc). Miranda seeks support from the local activist
community in terms of co-sponsors. Co-sponsoring would involve endorsing
the symposium and assisting with advertising by providing mailing lists
and distribution of advertising materials.
Cathy Chaput (chaput@u.arizona.edu):
UA English Instructor (Business and Technical Writing)
Cathy is an instructor and graduate student
in the Department of English and is currently teaching a course on Business
Writing that has focused on the local Brush-Wellman controversy. Her students
have been working in the community researching the issue and creating documents
and projects around and in response to the issue. Next semester, she will
be teaching a Technical Writing course and seeks similar projects to link
her curricula and students into. She would like to work with local activists
on defining issues and as contacts for her students and her class.
Valerie Gomes (Lbarskygom@aol.com):
Tucson Health Workers SoundOff
Valerie works in local healthcare as a
Registered Nurse. She and some of her colleagues developed and implemented
a newsletter for healthcare workers called "Tucson SoundOff" that deals
with workplace issues and serves as a venue to connect local workers together.
Her ultimate goal with this publication is that it serve to mobilize workers
to eventually develop a collective bargaining strategy.
Valerie is interested in working with higher
education and the community on getting workplace issues into professional
education programs, specifically in the College of Nursing. She is also
seeking research and technical assistance on moving her newsletter forward
as an organizing tool. Valerie is also able to advise on local healthcare
issues, especially in terms of the labor practices and implications for
healthcare workers.
Laura Briggs (lbriggs@u.arizona.edu):
UA LGB Studies Faculty
Laura is a Womens Studies faculty member
and serves on the Executive Committee for LGB Studies. She works closely
with graduate students who are interested in activist issues and is involved
in activism on the university campus as well as in the community. Laura
is teaching a course on "Women and Activism since the 30's" and is looking
to develop an activist component for her students. She would like to broaden
the definition of activism for women and would like to establish a stronger
base of connections in order to advise her students.
Elaine Mariolle (mariolle@u.arizona.edu):
UA Geography Doctoral Student, Community Learning Project Developer, Southwest
Project instructor
Elaine is a doctoral candidate in the
Geography program with an area of specialization in Cultural/Historical/Social
Geography. Her dissertation explores Route
66 as a cultural icon. For the past 2.5 years she has worked with the Community
Learning
Project (grant for the CLP concluded 12/2000)
developing a suite of projects at Fort Lowell and Lawrence Intermediate
schools
which explore issues of local history
and land use. Projects include an oral history video at Fort Lowell school,
sense of place
workshops coordinated with the Arizona
Sonora Desert Museum, a photographic exploration of place facilitated with
Kimi
Eiselle of Voices, and a borderlands/missions/Fiesta
de Tumacacori project developed in partnership with the National Park Service,
the Arizona State Museum and Lawrence school. Projects are place-based
and emphasize critical thinking around issues of local
resources, history, land use and decision
making.
Additionally, she has worked with the University of Arizonaís Southwest Project making local cultural materials available to instructors for curricular use. Working under the leadership of Stuart Glogoff (Distributed Learning at Univ of AZ) she recently helped develop the ìCowboy Songs and Singersî materials on the universityís library web exhibits that gathers historical and cultural materials to make them readily available for incorporation into course materials.
Elaine is currently working with Chris Lamar, Director of Telecommunications and Production Services at Pima Community College on a community education program which will focus on issues related to Rio Nuevo (physical, cultural, historical, economic...). This project is in the formative stages and Elaine is currently in the process of identifying and incorporating community groups and instructors who would like to partner in the Rio Nuevo community education project.
Julia Balen (jbalen@deimos.email.arizona.edu):
UA Womens Studies Faculty
Julia is the director of academic internships
in Womens Studies at the University of Arizona. She works closely with
students identifying internships that can be structured around academic
credit. She would like to develop further contacts with the activist organizations
in the community, especially because Womens Studies is a historically activist
discipline and thrives on connections to local issues.
Penny Waterstone (pennyw@theriver.com):
Local Histories Projects; UA Womens Studies affiliate
Penny works both in the community on oral
history projects and is associated with the University Womens Studies program.
Penny develops projects that involve radical local histories and incorporate
humanities' approaches to understanding community. She has been involved
with many local projects and is able to identify potential funding possibilities
for innovative approaches to local history. Penny could partner with university
instructors and researchers working on historical, labor, and local activism
issues from both an academic and community oriented approach, incorporating-among
other things-oral history, sense of place, and story telling.
Jeff Imig (jeffi@u.arizona.edu):
Pan Left Productions, alternative media
Jeff works with the alternative media
group, Pan Left Productions. Pan Left produces videos about local issues
as well as documents local activism. Current projects underway with Pan
Left are:
Poisoned, about the BrushWellman's toxic materials practices
and implications for employees as well as the broader community; Heridas
Abiertas: Sonoran Copper Miners Struggle to Survive, which explores
globalization's impacts on local mine workers and the strikes associated
with them; Sex Work, a diary/documentary about women working in
the sex industry. Also underway is a video about from the Florence Immigration
Project, Know Your Rights, designed to help immigrants understand
and protect their own civil rights. There are many ways students can work
on these projects.
Additionally, Jeff works on ballot initiatives
concerning local health care and would welcome participation and assistance
with those initiatives.
Stacy Day (sday@email.arizona.edu):
UA English Instructor (Composition)
Stacy is an instructor and graduate student
in the Department of English and is developing a composition course that
utilizes Truman Capote's novel: In Cold Blood. Stacy would like
to work with community groups on developing connections to local issues
and possible community projects for this course.
Jennifer Allen (prohoods@azstarnet.com):
ProNeighborhoods, Southwest Alliance to Resist Militarization (SWARM)
Jen works with ProNeighborhoods, an organization
that works directly with neighborhood communities on asset based development.
ProNeighborhoods provides small grants as well as technical assistance
to communities to develop their own programs utilizing their community
members' strengths and building outward to create constructive relationships
with the institutions in and around that community (like the University,
for example). Jennifer sees possible connections between this program and
the university on a variety of levels: the organization itself would welcome
assessment assistance and support from members of the university; Jennifer
would also be able to connect students into relevant neighborhood projects
where they might be able to offer assistance or learn first-hand how communities
organize themselves.
Additionally, Jennifer is part of the Southwest
Alliance to Resist Militarization of the Border. This group watches and
acts against the increased military presence and actions on the US/Mexico
border. This group is in an organizational development phase, but has ongoing
projects for which university partnerships would be welcome.
Marv Waterstone (marvinw@u.arizona.edu):
UA Geography/CCLS Faculty
Marv is a faculty member in the Department
of Geography and will be teaching a course on cultural geography that investigates
and critiques resource management and decision-making policies. Students
from the course will conduct intensive research projects on regional and
local issues. Projects for these students might include community activism
issues and students might partner with a local group to investigate local
environmental issues. Students may be able to provide valuable resources
to the community from completing these projects.
Additionally, Marv works with the Arizona
Green Party and is working on voter reform initiatives, and may serve as
a resource for an instructor to consider electoral processes in a course.
Karin Uhlich (karin@primavera.org):
Primavera Foundation, Day Labor, Workers Rights Board
Karin is the Executive Director of the
Primavera Foundation. Currently, projects that she is working on that would
benefit from partnerships with higher education include day labor worker
education/organizing and legislative advocacy; ongoing monitoring and engagement
with Mayor/Council policies/proposals; local activism tied to some national
groups' agendas (on homelessness, welfare policy, federal budgets, labor
issues/policy, housing policy, etc.). Karin's organization targets homelessness
and associated labor issues and strives to be proactive in addressing systemic
issues that cause and perpetuate homelessness in communities. The Primavera
Foundation has developed a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional approach
to dealing with social issues and can provide valuable information regarding
coalition building and collective action in the community.
Jim Driscoll (jdriscoll@azcitizen.org):
Arizona Citizens Action
Jim works with a statewide coalition,
Arizona Citizen Action. The group's web page (www.azcitizen.org)
describes Arizona Citizen Action as: "the biggest public interest watchdog
group in the state and the Arizona affiliate of USAction. We fight for
campaign finance reform; quality health care for all; clean air, food and
water; affordable, reliable telephone and electric service; decent jobs;
quality public education and civil rights for all. We research, educate,
lobby, demonstrate and elect candidates. Over 11,000 families have joined
since our founding in 1990." Arizona Citizen Action works with student
groups and students to mobilize on public issues.
Leith Kahl (leith@U.Arizona.EDU):
Teamsters member, Asarco Mines Issue
Leith is a member of the Teamsters as
well as Students Against Sweatshops. Leith has contacts with Teamsters
working in the Asarco mines who are currently facing major labor issues
related to the historical struggles of that industry and exacerbated by
the rapid expansion of corporate power and globalization. Leith can put
interested instructors and students in touch with a contact to work on
this current issue.
Zoe Hammer-Tamizuka (zhammert@u.arizona.edu):
UA Cultural Studies; prison research/dissertation.
Zoe is a Doctoral candidate in Comparative
Cultural and Literary Studies at the University of Arizona. Her dissertation
research is a critique of the prison-industrial complex and she is analyzing
the relationship of prison issues to larger trends in globalization and
labor. She seeks to incorporate local prison research and activism into
her work. She will also be collaborating with Miranda Joseph on developing
course curricula dealing with prison issues.
Caroline Isaacs: (623-9141) American
Friends Service Committee; Prisons Concerns Committee.
Caroline works with American Friends Service
Committee, a national activist organization dedicated to issues of social
justice. Locally, AFSC has several ongoing social justice projects. The
Global Economy Program has ongoing projects including: Maquila Organizing
Project; Anti-Sweatshop Campaign; Economic Literacy Workshops; and Jubilee
2000. The Creative Response to Conflict Subcommittee has projects developing
"Alternatives to Violence" and "Help Increase the Peace, directed and created
especially for youth. The Prisons Concerns Subcommittee has projects to
address changing the criminal justice system in Arizona including: Death
Penalty Abolition; Outmates; Prisoners are People Day; and Restorative
Justice. American Friends would welcome the opportunity to provide information
and resources to instructors teaching courses involving these issues and
would welcome student projects that involve understanding these issues
further.
MJ Braun (mjbraun@u.arizona.edu):
UA Department of English Instructor, Grad Student, Students Against Sweatshops
MJ is an instructor and graduate student
in the Department of English and an active member of Students Against Sweatshops.
MJ develops course curricula and her own activism in connection to local
issues and recently worked with Professional Communication students on
developing projects around the BrushWellman toxic materials controversy.
MJ is looking forward to continuing developing joint projects with the
university and community activism and can provide technical assistance
and contacts as project partnerships develop.
Danielle Mitchell (mitcheld@u.arizona.edu):
English Department Grad Student and Instructor; Writing Center, Grantwriter.
Danielle is a grad student at the University
of Arizona who teaches a range of courses (introductory composition to
business writing) and also co-coordinates the Writing Center. Her primary
academic interests are in queer theory and oppositional teaching practices,
which she attempts to combine in order to create academic sites dedicated
to achieving social justice, not only by considering issues of heteronormativity
but also how they are related to class, race, and gender. She also has
experience working as a grant writer, seeking funding for non-profit social
agencies from corporate, private, and public sources. Danielle hopes to
increase her community activism and to find ways to incorporate her research
interest and skills into specific activist sites. Caren is interested in
creating alliances between labor and GLBT organizations, and is particularly
interested in union organizing.
Caren Zimmerman (racaz@earthlink.net):
Jobs with Justice, LGB Studies
Caren is a graduate student in Comparative
Cultural and Literary Studies and researches community activism and organizing.
She is a Research Assistant with LGB Studies and is assisting with the
coordination of the Spring Symposium. Additionally, Caren is active with
Jobs With Justice, a national organization that works toward collective
action in labor and justice issues. The local chapter works in coalition
with local labor unions and community activist organizations on a variety
of projects.
Kimi Eisele (eisele@dakotacom.net):
Program Coordinator, Voices Inc.
Kimi got an MA in geography from the UA
in 1999. A writer, she has worked on history, geography, and writing
projects with children on both sides of the border. Voices: Community
Stories Past and Present, Inc. is a local nonprofit organization that works
with teenagers to preserve and document stories about everyday lives in
Tucson. Kimi heads up the current Voices project working with
20 teenagers afterschool to produce a new youth magazine that will present
stories, both historical and present-day,
about Tucson neighborhoods and the people
who live there. The theme of this year's pilot issue is stereotypes
and discrimination. Voices would benefit greatly from collaboration with
UA faculty and students as we always welcome the expertise of people who
study journalism, history, geography, sociology, linguistics, writing,
photography, fine arts, popular culture, etc.
Danika Brown (danika@u.arizona.edu):UA
Department of English Instructor, Grad Student, National Service Fellow,
COGS member
Danika is a grad student in the Department
of English and her research interest is the University's role in community
issues, specifically in terms of pedagogies that involve technology and
service learning. She is working on critiques of service learning and university-community
collaborations in an effort to find meaningful ways for individuals in
the university to consider themselves activists in their communities. Additionally,
she will be teaching Business Writing in an online format for the Spring
semester and is seeking ways to incorporate student analyses of technology
in professional communication into the goals of local nonprofit and grassroots
organizations. She would welcome the opportunity to partner students with
community organizations to conduct useful analyses that might assist community
organizations in their goals. Finally, Danika is also a member of the Coalition
to Organize Grad Students at the University of Arizona. Danika would welcome
the opportunity to work with university instructors on incorporating Academic
Labor issues and practices in course curricula and would welcome the possibility
of students working on research projects that identified the funding mechanisms
and priorities in the university as well as other relevant governance issues
of the institution.