Greetings from Interim President Walter Soellner
We all wish each other happy, safe times again soon, and at this time of year, with Thanksgiving just past and the Holidays fast approaching, it is a good time to reflect on our individual lives and that of our family and friends. It has been my duty to step in as Interim Pres, on […]
Greetings from Incoming President Paul Fong
This is my statement for the office of President to the AFT 6157-R, Retiree Chapter. I recently retired from full time teaching and as the President of the AFT 6157. With the passing of our longtime retiree chapter president Bill Jacobs, I feel that I have an obligation to Bill Jacobs to take this on, to […]
Greetings from Incoming Secretary Dan McElroy
Greetings fellow members of AFT6157-R: I have been elected to serve as Secretary of the chapter. Although I live too far away near Redding to attend meetings regularly near the campus, I am willing to do everything I can remotely through Zoom and e-mail. I have a wide range of experience both at SJCC and […]
Statement from AFT 6157 President Jessica Breheny
Statement (from August 2020) of then-candidate Jessica Breheny for election as President of AFT 6157: I have taught in the English department at SJCC for fourteen years. Union work has always been part of my academic and teaching career. I organized teaching assistants at UC Santa Cruz as a PhD student, served on the Hartnell […]
$$Money, Money Money$$
By Ron Levesque, Treasurer IRS Woes Befall AFT 6157-R On March 13, 2020, I received a startling letter from the IRS informing me that our tax-exempt status, (501(c)(5), had been automatically revoked by law, effective November 15, 2019. Our past had caught up with us, and just as the pandemic was bursting onto the scene. […]
Why the Union?
By Jeanne Machado Coming from a family whose parents were public servants, I felt paying union dues was unnecessary. When I was hired as an instructor at San Jose City College in 1966, I remembered my father, a detective-inspector who had never joined a union, had retired with an unbelievably good retirement package. When others […]
Carmen Castellano (1939-2020)
“Carmen was always about education, “Al Castellano, her husband, told me as we worked on a sabbatical project together in 1995. Carmen had certainly proved it in her devotion and guidance to their own three children and to the children of others at San Jose City College. Here she became the founding president of the […]
Walter Robinson (1935-2019)
Walter was a 1957 graduate of San Jose City College, who returned to teach in the Radio, Television and Speech Department as well as serve as the swimming coach from 1960 until 1980. During this time, he was known as “The Voice of the Jaguars” as he announced all the sports events. In 1980, he […]
Andrew “Jock” McFarlin (1926-2020)
Andrew taught Industrial Engineering at San Jose City College from 1960 until 1975 when Evergreen Valley College opened. He was an early supporter of programs supporting women in engineering and was the founder of EVC’s St. Andrew’s Day Scottish Festival, which continued for thirty years. Alice Gosak
Lucy Dodge Poindexter (1948-2020)
Lucy started her 20-year career at San Jose City College as an English adjunct instructor before retraining as a software engineer and teaching computer science. She pursued a doctorate in education and completed her time at SJCC as a Director of the Title III grant to establish computer labs and courses. She brought enthusiasm and […]