Every year, the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida elects its officers and representatives. The officers are: the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. In addition, we elect senators to represent the Chapter in the biannual UFF Senate meeting and delegates to represent the Chapter in the annual Florida Education Association Delegate Assembly.
This page lists candidates for office and representative seats, along with submitted statements, photographs, and URLs. In addition, voters may vote for any UFF USF members as a write-in candidate for a representative seat. A write-in candidate must be clearly identified by the voter, and if elected, must agree to serve.
All ballots are due by April 10.
Here are the candidates.
Molly Hamm-Rodriguez for Senator.
webpage
Molly Hamm-Rodríguez has been a UFF member since she joined the USF College of Education as an Assistant Professor in 2023. She is committed to labor rights and has conducted research on the intersection of youth employment initiatives and precarious labor protections in global contexts. She looks forward to further campus and state involvement with the United Faculty of Florida.
Leon Hardy for Delegate and Senator.
In these challenging times, it is important for all faculty to support the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) USF chapter. I make contributions where I feel I can help – I am a member of the membership committee whose mission is to increase membership. We must empower each other in any way we can. Please consider participating in the fight against the injustices currently rocking higher educations institutions. I am humbly asking you for your vote to represent USF faculty as a UFF senator & delegate – these are my contributions.
Justin Henry for Senator.
Justin Henry is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at USF and has been a union member since 2023. He was a 2024-25 UFF USF chapter Senator and FEA Delegate as well as a member of the chapter Publicity and Membership Committees.
Mile Krajcevski for Senator.
Steve Lang for President and Senator.
I have been a member of UFF for 33 years, and served as a UFF Senator, Vice-President, Chapter President, a member of the Bargaining Team, Communications Committee, Government Relations Committee, and the Grievance Committee. I have also been active in faculty governance having served in past years as the USF St. Petersburg Senate President, COE Chair of Promotion and Tenure, Chair of the COE College Council and Chair of Annual Review, a Faculty Senator (after consolidation), and numerous other roles. I have also served on the University System Council (before consolidation) and the President’s Athletic Committee.
As an active member of the UFF leadership, my focus has always been to negotiate a contract, enforce the CBA, support member rights, and strengthen the USF UFF chapter. In recent years, our attention has turned to the response to Florida legislation, so our chapter has flied for Unfair Labor Practice over PTR and the denial of arbitration. Many of those legal efforts are still on-going. The SUS system in Florida is under attack, and UFF is our best weapon to fight back!
Some of my plans have been focused on recruiting new members, supporting members for promotion or tenure, providing opportunities for members to meet, and improving communications on social media. I’ve also helped survey faculty, improved lines of communication, and worked with other state universities’ chapters. I’d like to continue the opportunities for UFF to support the faculty at USF regardless of rank, campus, or discipline.
I firmly believe that organized, collective bargaining is the last line of defense for faculty rights and working conditions. UFF Officers are members who are elected and step forward to represent approximately 1500 employees under the contract. We also take an active role to inform and defend members on many levels in a complex working environment. The Executive Board must work collaborative to analyze and act on legal, financial, and policy information to set goals and use resources wisely. I am running for office to continue advancing UFF as we face new challenges in the coming year.
Richard Manning for Senator.
Greg McColm for Secretary, Delegate, and Senator.
webpage.
I am an associate professor of Mathematics & Statistics, and I came to USF in 1986. I have devoted most of my time to research (two external grants) and teaching. For many years I have been the webmaster and editor of UFF USF Chapter’s electronic Biweekly Newsletter. I have also served as UFF Senator for many years, more recently as FEA Delegate, and I am now a Representative to the National Education Association; I have also served for many years as Chapter Secretary. I have also served for several years in the Faculty Senate, and I once chaired the ad hoc committee to report on departmental governance.
During the past few years, the primary duties of the Secretary have been to compose and post the minutes of the Chapter and the Council and to maintain critical records. In addition, with the membership growth of the UFF USF Chapter and the United Faculty as a whole, the Secretary has been charged with maintaining the membership lists.
The Secretary is also a member of the Chapter’s Executive Committee, which consists of six elected officers and two standing committee chairs, and deals with the daily routine of the union in collaboration with the Chapter President. I believe that the current highest priority of the Executive Committee should be to recruit new activists to support the work of the union.
This is going to be a challenging year. The union is running a campaign to achieve at least 60% density and address several systemic problems that the Legislature may be creating. This is a period of critical growth, and I hope to continue in this effort and would appreciate your support.
Cynthia Patterson for Senator.
I have been an active member of UFF-USF for many years and have served on the Grievance and Membership Committees in the past, as well as serving as a Senator to the statewide UFF meetings.
Ivan Rothstein for Senator.
Arthur Shapiro for Vice President, Delegate, and Senator.
I would appreciate your support in my effort to become Vice-President of UFF.
I’ve been a member of UFF for over 20 years, have served as President for nine years, as vice-President for two years, and am presently chairing the Membership Committee.
We have been running socials to attract new members, which have been fairly successful. We’ve had a social at the women’s pro soccer team, The Fire, just this last Saturday when more than 45 people showed up.
We are running socials at the New World Brewery every other Friday from 5 to 7 for members and non-members. However, on March 14th we will run a luncheon/social at St. Pete at Three Daughters Brewery.
In view of the attacks on higher education nationally and in Florida, we have to be alert to challenge the move toward censorship and limiting academic freedom. We need not only to grow our membership to have more clout, but to actively expand our influence in key areas.
In addition, and certainly not last, the VP has to step in for the President when needed and constantly has to pick up a myriad of delegated functions.
Cordially,
Arthur Shapiro
Debra Sinclair for Senator.
Brian Turnbull for Senator.
Sonia Ramirez Wohlmuth for Treasurer and Senator.
webpage
I am a long-time member of UFF and have supported the organization through participation in the statewide UFF Senate as well as through my work as an elected officer, treasurer of the USF Chapter.
For the coming year I would like to continue in these roles while preparing for the future through the organization of a finance committee for the USF chapter with the hope that new members will be able to assume leadership roles. In my role as treasurer, I prepare an annual budget, pay invoices, maintain a ledger of annual expenses, and submit annual documentation to statewide UFF and to the IRS. Attention to these obligations permits the chapter to meet member obligations and actively recruit new members. The viability of the chapter is particularly important at a time when higher education faces considerable uncertainty.