Get Involved

How to Join AAUP–Penn
Faculty of all ranks can join the national organization and select affiliation with the AAUP–Penn chapter; you should then sign up for our contact list right away to let us know you have joined and to stay updated. To get involved: 1) join AAUP now! and 2) sign up for our chapter’s contact list for updates, meeting invitations, and opportunities to participate in whatever way you choose.

Eligibility
Membership in our chapter is open to lecturers and other contingent faculty, tenured and tenure-track faculty, graduate-student employees and postdoctoral fellows who are primarily teachers or researchers, and librarians, archivists, curators, and technicians who participate substantially in the process of teaching or research. 

Dues
Annual membership dues for the AAUP national organization are on a sliding scale based on self-reported income. AAUP–Penn does not currently charge any additional chapter membership dues to join. Our chapter is proud to have a policy of subsidizing membership in the national organization for contingent faculty or anyone in need of financial support. We sustain this policy by asking that tenured professors or anyone with the means to do so consider making a donation to the chapter’s subsidy fund.

Get Involved with Your Chapter
A chapter is only as strong as its membership, and AAUP–Penn is a member-led organization shaped by your concerns. Join our mailing list to stay connected, participate in chapter meetings, get involved with committees focused your highest priorities, and receive regular updates on your chapter’s actions.

Join a Committee or Task Force
Active members define the chapter’s advocacy and action by working together on shared goals. What is most important to you? In addition to the elected Executive Committee, the following task forces are currently active and welcome additional members:

  • Academic Freedom Task Force
  • Labor Solidarity Task Force
  • Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Task Force
  • Grievance Procedure Task Force
  • Health, Safety, and Disability Task Force
  • Media Team

To join a short-term task force or to propose and start a working group of your own, contact us.

Why Join AAUP?

  • Are you a lecturer or other contingent faculty member in a vulnerable position and in need of solidarity on issues affecting you?
  • Are you a tenure-track faculty member troubled by the disproportionate hiring of lecturers and the erosion of tenure both at Penn and across the country?
  • Do you want to see current non-tenure-track faculty paid fairly, with benefits and better working conditions, and treated with respect?
  • Are you concerned about the corporatization of the university and the power of boards of trustees?
  • Do you want to see faculty governance at Penn truly represent the faculty and play a meaningful role in institutional decision-making?
  • Do you want to ensure that academic decisions at Penn are made by educators and researchers rather than CEOs and politicians?
  • Do you want to defend colleagues and entire fields of study from political attacks on academic freedom?
  • Are you concerned about the future of higher education in the U.S. and the prospects of current PhD candidates seeking stable academic employment?
  • Do you want to support the needs of graduate workers and postdocs at Penn?
  • Do you want a faculty organization to support other campus workers?
  • Do you support racial justice and gender equality in hiring, promotion, and in university–community relations?
  • Are you concerned about disability rights at Penn and/or about health and safety at work?
  • Have you observed inequities in compensation and workload within faculty ranks?
  • Do you wonder how your compensation compares with others at your rank?
  • Do you need a means of redress for harassment or for conflicts within your department/program or division?
  • Are you interested in issues in higher education generally?

Joining AAUP not only helps support advocacy and research on urgent issues in U.S. higher education; it is also an important act of solidarity with colleagues at Penn and across the profession. Nothing changes without you!