Marquita Walker
- Ph.D.
- Interim Chair and Associate Professor of Labor Studies
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Central Administration - All Campuses
Contact
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(317) 278-2066
- marqwalk@iu.edu
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IUAD 2020T
301 University Blvd.
About
I have been with the IUPUI School of Social Work in the Department of Labor Studies since August, 2008 and currently serve as interim chair and associate professor; I am responsible for providing leadership, coordination, and evaluation of the department from a school-wide and university perspective. Prior to teaching at IUPUI, I was an Assistant Professor of Labor Studies at the University of MO, Columbia and a Labor Education Specialist at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Prior to teaching labor education, I taught English literature and writing at Missouri State University and Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.
Education
MA
Emphasis/Major: Public Affairs2005 - University of MO, Columbia
PhD
Emphasis/Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies2004 - University of MO, Columbia
Dissertation: Perceptions of Educational Attainment on Intragenerational Social Mobility: Individual Agency within Class Structure
MA
Emphasis/Major: English2000 - Missouri State University
Dissertation: Separate Spheres Collide: The Economic Influcence of Slavery on Sarah Jospeha Hale's Northwood (1827 and 1852)
BS
Emphasis/Major: English1998 - Drury University
Research Interests
My research agenda revolves around my interest in policies concerning union organizing and workers’ education, informs my teaching, and is closely tied to my service activities. The social justice focus of my research directs my interest in service industry workers in the Indianapolis, Indiana hotel industry, policies relating to state and federal training programs for dislocated workers, and worker education programs which contribute to an informed citizenry.
Teaching Interests
Most of my life has been spent striving to achieve equality for workers in the labor-management relationship which consistently favors management over labor. The time I spent working in a unionized manufacturing arena and in teaching labor education or labor studies in the academy has uniquely qualified me to lead in a curriculum which deals with issues of social justice for workers. My passion as a union representative to correct injustices workers experience helps shape my teaching philosophy. My students either are or will become workers in a capitalist economic system skewed against them through policies and laws which tilt the playing field toward management. Offering labor studies courses which deal with history, globalization, society, culture, ethics, collective bargaining, and leadership positions potential workers for the realities of today’s economic climate and provides to them a solid foundation from which to make choices and decisions affecting their work lives and the kind of broader community in which they live. Situating my teaching philosophy within an interactive constructivist framework allows me to use my experiences as a worker, union member, and an instructor to follow, engage with, and lead my students.
Awards and Honors
2023 - Institute for Engaged Learning
Publications
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Walker, M. R. (2024). Prior Learning Assessment for College Level Credit. 2399-2402. https://doi.org/doi: 10.21125/inted.2024.0665
https://library.iated.org/view/WALKER2024PRI
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WALKER, M. (2021). Gender bias in employment: Implications for Social Work and Labor Studies. In Advances in Social Work (Vols. 20, Issues 3, p. xiii-xvi). Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18060/24866
Gender bias in employment is not a new phenomenon. The historical devalued status of women and equity-seeking groups preserved in cultural and social gendered roles permeates the workplace and contributes to institutional structures which are fashioned by and reproduced through traditional norms and mores relegating women and equity-seeking groups to secondary status roles. The question then becomes is the continuation of these reinforced structural norms in the best long-term interest of all humanity? What are we giving up when we relegate over half of the world’s population to secondary and devalued status? What gains could be made if all workers were given the same opportunities, supports, and encouragements to reach their full potential.
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Walker, M. R. (2020). Female Voices from the Worksite: The Impact of Hidden Bias against Working Women across the Globe. Lexington Books.
Female voices from the worksite (2021) is an edited volume of qualitative research reflecting the voices of women who have faced covert and overt discrimination on the job and the challenges/barriers they face(d) from employers, coworkers, and unions. This research emphasizes the reoccurring themes of devaluation, exploitation, and dehumanization of female workers resulting from unconscious or implicit bias which directly and indirectly impacts the ability of women to succeed and thrive on worksites predominantly guided by social and institutional policies/laws/rules which evolved through a patriarchal and gendered division of labor. These women’s voices speak to the daily struggles they face in various industries when trying to maintain a decent standard of living and progress in their careers while dealing with inflexible and long work hours, masculine workplace cultures, employers’ stereotypical attitudes and the absence of work-life balance initiatives. This volume is divided into three parts. The first part explores the explained and unexplained bias associated with the gender wage gap as a measure of success in the labor market. The second part speaks to the way language is used to indirectly devalue women in the workplace, and the third part focuses on institutional structures which reinforce women’s secondary status through legislation and policies.
Explained and unexplained reason for the gender wage gap -
Walker, M. R. (2020). Introduction (p. ix-xxx). Lexington Books.
Female voices from the worksite (2021) is an edited volume of qualitative research reflecting the voices of women who have faced covert and overt discrimination on the job and the challenges/barriers they face(d) from employers, coworkers, and unions. This research emphasizes the reoccurring themes of devaluation, exploitation, and dehumanization of female workers resulting from unconscious or implicit bias which directly and indirectly impacts the ability of women to succeed and thrive on worksites predominantly guided by social and institutional policies/laws/rules which evolved through a patriarchal and gendered division of labor. These women’s voices speak to the daily struggles they face in various industries when trying to maintain a decent standard of living and progress in their careers while dealing with inflexible and long work hours, masculine workplace cultures, employers’ stereotypical attitudes and the absence of work-life balance initiatives. This volume is divided into three parts. The first part explores the explained and unexplained bias associated with the gender wage gap as a measure of success in the labor market. The second part speaks to the way language is used to indirectly devalue women in the workplace, and the third part focuses on institutional structures which reinforce women’s secondary status through legislation and policies.
Explained and unexplained reason for the gender wage gap -
Walker, M. R. (2020). The effect of indirect bias on gender equality in the building trades (pp. 147-168). Lexington Books.
This article specifically focuses on indirect bias as the root cause of historically generated gendered oppression which leads to the marginalization and underrepresentation of women in the building trades. Covert and gatekeeping institutional and social bias leads to discrimination from governments, markets, employers, and unions even though anti-discrimination policies are structurally embedded in the policies/customs/rules which regulate these institutions’ behaviors. Situated in political economy theory which posits past influences contribute to the oppression of equity-seeking groups in the absence of collective action, implicit bias fosters gender discrimination, the historic marginalization of women, and has a deleterious effect on the hiring and retention of women in trades. It is important for all stakeholders to address these deficiencies through strategies which encourage the inclusion of women in construction, strengthen legislative and workplace policies promoting women, and decrease masculine dominance in the workplace.
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Walker, M. (2019). Achieving workers’ rights in the global economy [Review of Achieving workers’ rights in the global economy]. Labor Studies Journal, 44(4), 415-416. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X19886484
In an edited volume Achieving Workers’ Rights in the Global Economy, renowned researchers in the respective fields of Global and International Studies and History, Richard Appelbaum and Nelson Lichtenstein, created a collection of essays covering important aspects of work and workers within the global economy: the failure of corporate social responsibly, governance of global supply chains, Chinese state restrictions on workers’ rights, and past attempts at solidarity and hope for future solidarity efforts. The results of a conference on the global economy and its effects on workers, this book focuses on the corporatized nature of global production as it seeks to police itself through corporate responsibility codes and eschews state governance; the changing nature of production from durable to light manufacturing which seeks to distance itself from liabilities through weakened worker protections and corporate-friendly legislation within the product design, production, and distribution processes; and shifts in a governance power structure from a corporate/state/union relationship to corporate power supported by retailers, branding, and regressive state worker protections which strip workers of a retaliatory recourse
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Walker, M. R. (2019). Implicit bias: Root cause of discrimination against women in construction. 2nd International Conference on Gender Research ICGR 2019, 645-652.
This research explores implicit bias as a root cause of women’s underrepresentation in the building trades. Covert and gatekeeping institutional and social bias leads to discrimination from governments, markets, employers, and unions even though anti-discrimination policies are structurally embedded in the policies/customs/rules which regulate these institutions’ behaviors. The result in minimal remedy, and the invisible nature of indirect bias makes its persistence likely to reify the long-standing structural institutional, social and cultural status quo. This then begs the question of how serious are the stakeholders about routing out indirect bias as a cause of discrimination. I surmise the situational context of women’s hiring, retention, and promotion in construction is thwarted by a pervasive masculine dominated workplace culture which is profitable for construction firms even at the expense of discrimination against female workers.
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WALKER, M. (2019). Protecting the workforce: A defense of workers’ rights in global supply chains. Lexington. View Publication For Protecting the workforce: A defense of workers’ rights in global supply chains
Protecting the workforce: A defense of workers’ rights in global supply chains showcases the inequalities experienced between the Global North and the Global South by exploring the production and distribution model of goods and services worldwide. The text analyzes why the structure, framework, and interconnectedness of global supply chains increases the persistence of worker rights’ violations by exploring the power relationships between multinational corporations, their subcontractors, governments, non-governmental organizations, labor unions, and workers.
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Walker, M. . . (2016). Parallel narratives: resistance strategies of low-wage female hospitality workers and nineteenth-century black enslaved females. Labor History, 1-24. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2017.1255545
This research explores control and gendered resistance strategies of female low-level hospitality workers and nineteenth-century black enslaved females by linking resistance patterns in historically documented slave narratives with oral narratives of current female hospitality workers. Emerging narratives document parallel stories of oppression, abuse, devaluation, and exploitation and focus awareness on the subordinate position of low-level workers in an oppressor/oppressed relationship. Functioning under two different economic systems, slavery and capitalism, these low-level workers’ narratives allow similar patterns of resistance to surface and help us expand our understanding of worker exploitation, female resistance, and narrative as possessing liberatory potential.
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Walker, M. R. (2016). Hospitality in Jeopardy. SAGE Open, 6(3), 1-11. https://doi.org/doi/abs/10.1177/2158244016661749
This article explores United Needle Trades and Industrial Employees (UNITE) and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE)’s strategic campaign to organize a diverse low-wage workforce of housekeepers in the hospitality industry in one Midwest city in Indiana. Organizers’ personal narratives provide examples of the challenges involved when creating relationships between low-wage workers from different racial and cultural backgrounds as part of a strategy to rebuff management’s continual efforts to exploit and undervalue its workforce, increase profits for the firm, and discredit the union as an effective intermediary for representation. The findings suggest UNITE-HERE’s organizing attempts realized gains for housekeepers in the form of wage and benefit increases and dismantled a covert blacklisting policy even though the hotel remains non-unionized.
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Walker, M. R. (2015). The daily grind: How workers navigate the employment relationship. Lexington Books.
The Daily Grind: How Workers Navigate the Employment Relationship introduces students to the tensions between labor and management within the U.S. employment relationship and explores how workers, operating in a socially and culturally structured system of capitalism, are influenced and manipulated by economic institutions and polity which exploit, devalue, and dehumanize workers in the name of corporate profit. The text covers how the American work ethic of the early nineteenth century helped shape the current perspective on the labor-management relationship, and how, over time, the Protestant and patriarchal influences of that period have countered in profound ways the collective actions of workers. The text further explores the effect of societal, cultural, and economic structures, both global and local, which limit workers’ ability to achieve the American Dream and result in depressed economic conditions and discouraged workers. The text’s focus on the current economic inequality and lack of social mobility challenges the current neoliberal ideology that capitalism is the best economic system.
The overarching framework for The Daily Grind: How Workers Navigate the Employment Relationship is situated in Labor Process Theory (LPT) which explores the control and resistance dichotomy between labor and management, the systematic deskilling of the workforce in order to increase production and increase owners’ profits, and examines conflict over control of the labor process. An extension of Marxist theory about the organization of work, LPT explores the employment relationship, the control of work, the payment of work, the skills necessary for work, and the facilitation of work.
Presentations
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Walker, M. R. (2024). Establishing ePortfolios as a tool for success in the Department of Labor Studies. WORLDCRE, Milan, Italy.
This research chronicles the establishment of ePortfolios as a digital hub for showcasing students self-selected work as an electronic resume or curriculum vitae (cv) and an assessment tool for documenting a course’s student learning outcomes (SLOs) and explores the formative and summative assessment of ePortfolios through qualitative analysis in an ePortfolio Development Workshop in the Department of Labor Studies (DLS) at Indiana University. Instructor feedback and student interactions during the fall, 2023 academic semester analyzed for formative assessment (direct measures) include student perceptions of the ePortfolio process, experiences in constructing the ePortfolios, and strength of feedback loops. Summative assessments (indirect measures) are determined by grading the ePortfolio components (final product) as determined by a faculty-designed rubric. Results reflect student submissions needed technological help as well as understanding how the products they uploaded to their ePortfolio were beneficial/not beneficial to their future job/academic searches.
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Walker, M. R. (2024). Prior Learning Assessment for College Level Credit. INTED2024 Conference: Sharing the passion for learning, Valencia, Spain.
Abstract: This research explores Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) as a tool to award students’ prior learning experiences with college level credits in the Department of Labor Studies (DLS) at Indiana University (IU). This involves credit earned for equivalent college-level knowledge gained from previous work experience, military training, or community engagement and showcased in a comprehensive ePortfolio through written or digital reflections documenting competencies gained through prior learning experiences. Student work is certified/approved for credit by a faculty committee. Recognizing that learning takes place in many venues other than the classroom, DLS understands educational experiences such as workshops, seminars, job training, on the job experience, volunteer work, community engagements, travel, and self-improvement studies contribute to the overall educational experience of students. The student, in conjunction with an instructor, documents and receives college level credit for these experiences by preparing a structured, individualized comprehensive ePortfolio containing narratives, documents, artifacts, and other forms of evidence demonstrating college-level learning which will provide for the student a framework through which to display personal growth and achievement. Students articulate what they know and learned as it relates to competencies outlined in the course syllabus. If learning is to be recognized as college-credit, the learning must be stated, documented, measured, and evaluated.
PLA is showcased using an ePortfolio (1). The ePortfolio is a way for students to document, organize, and present their best work and serves as a tool they can use when they leave the academic setting for future career opportunities or advancement into higher education levels within the academy (2) (3, 4). The purpose of creating the e-portfolio is to provide the student a supportive digital tool reflecting a collection of the student’s work throughout his/her academic career purposefully chosen to tell the student’s story (5). Because the e-portfolio provides to potential employers or future academic institutions of higher education a trajectory of student growth throughout the student’s college career, the student is encouraged to include end-of-semester/year accomplishments, samples of his/her best work for employment or future graduate studies, reflections/commentaries on past experiences, and identifications of future goals (6). The e-portfolio encourages student reflections on and connections between learning experiences drawn from course and community work and enables students to contextualize their learning experiences and make their own learning visible, provides for students a way to showcase/explain coursework to diverse audiences, and maintains a digital space to facilitate higher order thinking and integrative learning (7).
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Walker, M. R. (2021). Historical linkages between social work and labor studies to correct gender bias as a barrier to women’s employment. School of Social Work, Indianapolis, IN United States.
This research explores gender bias in employment from a sociological perspective which posits the reproduction and maintenance of power structures within institutional contexts contributes to disparities in gender equalities and results in discrimination against women as an equity seeking group. More specifically, interest revolves around the marginalization of women in employment through overt or covert practices even though anti-discrimination legislation is in place. Situated in political economy theory which states historical influence, unequal power relations, and unequal access to resources among and between groups contributes to gender oppression in the absence of collective action and based on the assumption that political economy is a gendered field, relevant articles should address either theoretical or practical approaches which explore, explain, or elucidate ways in which gender bias in employment is influenced, sustained or mediated through existing institutional structures and polices, recommendations for reaching gender equality through regional, national and global policy making by increasing human capital, increasing women’s participation in the labor force, and enhancing productivity, and avenues for future research.
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Walker, M. R. (2020). The House Don’t Fall if the Bones are Good. Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN United States.
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Walker, M. (2019). Gender equality in construction: International law’s and cultural Legitimacy’s effect on indirect bias. International Labor Conference, Washington DC.
The influence of international law on eradicating gender bias against women in working environments is a step forward in elevating women to equal status with men, yet the efficacy of laws has proven to be anemic in securing social justice for women across the board but particularly in the field of construction . The US’s failure to sign on as a signatory to international law treaties has a deleterious effect on women’s entrance into the construction industry and the spill-over effect of international law, which has positively moved the influence needle toward discussions concerning gender equality, has yet to eliminate discrimination in the form of indirect bias against gender equity for women in the building trades. Consequently there is a disconnect between international law which seeks to police gender inequities as global human rights violations and local efforts to document and correct those violations within the construction industry.
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Walker, M. (2019). Men protect their own turf: Implicit bias against women in the building trades.
This article focuses on indirect bias as the root cause of historically generated gendered oppression which leads to the marginalization and underrepresentation of women in construction. Covert and gatekeeping institutional and social bias leads to discrimination from governments, markets, employers, and unions even though anti-discrimination policies are structurally embedded in the policies/customs/rules which regulate these institutions’ behaviours. Implicit bias is problematic because it produces behaviour different from an individual’s espoused beliefs, values, and principles and makes identifying discrimination, which by law must be intentional against a protected group, difficult to expose. Within an employment context, implicit bias affects how outreach, hiring, and retention policies are fashioned and the way employees are treated. Implicit bias’s effect on policies relating to gender discrimination should be exposed and mediated because it negatively affects workers’ job opportunities, earning ability, and job security and satisfaction. Situated in political economy theory which posits past influences contribute to the oppression of equity-seeking groups in the absence of collective action, implicit bias fosters gender discrimination, the historic marginalization of women, and the hiring and retention of women in construction. Addressing these deficiencies through strategies which encourage the inclusion of women in construction, strengthen legislative and workplace policies promoting women, and decrease masculine dominance in the workplace is necessary. The past’s influence on the present and the unequal power relations and unequal access to resources between and among social groups/organizations is a component of a system of racial and gender oppression which historically marginalizes and disenfranchises equity-seeking groups and persists in institutional discrimination in the absence of collective action (Albelda, 2001). Using groups as a basic unit of analysis and assuming external influences (religions, economic systems, and social institutions) shape contextual relationships such as social experiences, situations, and circumstances which drive group behaviour, political economy theory defines groups as some set of individuals who share some interest and have a social relationship to other groups with which they share commonalities or compete for scarce resources. The nature of the group then is explored through “context, collective behaviour, conflicting interest, and change” (Albelda, 2013). Implicit bias contributes to present day gender oppression and discrimination as the result of past influences on women’s place in society and roles in institutional and cultural environments.
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Walker, M. R. (2017). Labor law: Women in trades. North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU), Chicago, IL United States.
This presentation provided material for women in the building trades about the federal/state laws pertaining to work related issues.
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Walker, M. R. (2017). The roots of institutional and social discrimination in the building trades. Common Ground Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Conference, Chicago, IL, Hiroshima, Japan.
This research explores implicit bias as a root cause of women’s underrepresentation in the building trades. Covert and gatekeeping institutional and social bias leads to discrimination from governments, markets, employers, and unions even though anti-discrimination policies are structurally embedded in the policies/customs/rules which regulate these institutions’ behaviors. Situated in political economy theory which posits past influences contribute to the oppression of equity-seeking groups in the absence of collective action, implicit bias fosters gender discrimination, the historic marginalization of women, and has a deleterious effect on the hiring and retention of women in trades. It is important for all stakeholders to address these deficiencies through strategies which encourage the inclusion of women in construction, strengthen legislative and workplace policies promoting women, and decrease masculine dominance in the workplace.
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Walker, M. R. (2017). Organizing Low Wage Workers. Working Class Studies , Bloomington, IN United States.
Organizing low wage workers presents an amalgam of challenges. Diversity issues dealing with race, ethnicity, and gender intersect to complicate building the relationships between and among workers and union representatives necessary for organizing disparate identities into a cohesive group. Overlain with language and cultural differences between racial and ethnic populations, fear of reprimand or dismissal, and uncertainty about the legality of union activities within the workplace, many low wages workers are hesitant to engage in organizing activities at all. The power dynamics present in organizing drives, which are further complicated by laws and policies dictating processes which disfavor organizing, suggest exploring new and different organizational strategies. This panel explores organizing a variety of low wage workers from various industries and regions.
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Walker, M. R. (2016). Organizing low wage workers in the hospitality industry. Labor Research and Action Network (LRAN), Chicago, IL United States.
This paper explores UNITE-HERE’s strategic campaign to organize a diverse low-wage workforce of housekeepers in the hospitality industry in one Midwest city in Indiana. Organizers’ personal narratives provide examples of the challenges involved when creating relationships between low-wage workers from different racial and cultural backgrounds as part of a strategy to rebuff management’s continual efforts to exploit and undervalue its workforce, increase profits for the firm, and discredit the union as an effective intermediary for representation. The findings suggest UNITE-HERE’s organizing attempts realized gains for housekeepers in the form of wage and benefit increases and dismantled a covert blacklisting policy even though the hotel remains non-unionized.
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Walker, M. R. (2016). Women in trades: Barriers and challenges. Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN United States.
This research addresses the implicit bias women seeking to enter and remain in the male-dominated building trades experience as a result of their gender. Implicit bias within masculine dominated workplaces has a deleterious effect on the hiring and retention of women in trades, so it is important for policy makers, employers, stockholders, and union officials to address these deficiencies through a strategy for decreasing masculine dominance in the workplace. As skill shortages and a weakened labor supply loom for the construction industry, it is important to seriously consider why women’s participation in the construction industry remains below legal and necessary limits. Hiring and retaining more women in the building trades would fill the predicted future construction vacancies.
Contract Fellowship Grants
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Using e-Portfolios as a College to Career Tool
Program Director (PD)/Principal Investigator (PI): Marquita Walker -
Documenting Learning toward Leadership Proficiency using ePortfolios
Marquita Walker -
New course: Diversity and Inequality
Co-PD/PI: Marquita Walker
Co-PD/PI: William Mello -
Attracting/hiring/retaining women in the building trades through the inclusion of mentoring curricula in union apprenticeship programs
Program Director (PD)/Principal Investigator (PI): Marquita Walker
Institutional Services
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Committee Member
2019 - Department of Labor Studies Administrative CommitteeThe internal administrative committee, established to function in a leadership vacuum, was charged with ferreting out budgetary information, determining institutional resources, and working with SSW to see where commonalities exist. -
Committee Member
2019 - Department of Labor Studies Curriculum CommitteeThis committee is primarily charged with revamping the Labor Studies curriculum to bring it into line with SSW and IUPUI's learning outcomes through curriculum mapping and develop and strengthen two-tracks: Professional training and liberal arts. -
Committee Member
2019 - Department of Labor Studies Program Building CommitteeThis committee is charged data management and enrollment and is working with Boyd Bradshaw, Vice-president of Undergraduate Recruitment & Admissions to increase enrollments through publicity, tailoring our message to specific audiences, and outreach. -
Committee Member
2022 - IUSSW Promotion and Tenure CommitteeReview/evaluate P&T dossiers for criteria (evidence) of candidate in chosen field of excellence; recommend and vote on moving candidate forward or not, cooperate in writing review. -
Committee Member
2022 - Ad Hoc Committee to Revise P&T GuidelinesRevise campus P&T language to ensure appropriate representation and provide clarity for criteria of faculty going up for tenure and promotion. -
Board Member
2016 - Masarachia Scholars BoardThe Masarachia Scholars Program is an undergraduate program in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. Masarachia Scholars pursue an innovative course of study focused on labor, senior citizen, and community activism. The scholarship pays full in-state tuition and fees, renewable for up to four years -- an award that can add up to more than $20,000. -
Student Advisor/Mentor
2020 - Advancing Women Mentoring Program 2020-2021I am serving as a mentor for Lucia Jiang, a mentee, during the 2020-21 academic year. Mentors assist students by expanding students' awareness of campus resources and offering connection, guidance and support for students as they navigate through the academic year. -
Committee Member
2019 - IUSSW Strategic Planning Subtheme Group: Academic QualitySituated within the larger IUSSW strategic plan, we identified five objectives under the larger goal of Academic Quality, one of which was to centralize all online activities. My team is charged with identifying specific learning objectives and operationalizing each of them with specific activities, metrics for evaluation, resources needed, and a time frame for completion. -
Committee Member
2019 - IUSSW Strategic Planning Subtheme Group: Strengthening Curriculum and AssessmentI participating in the IUSSW strategic planning pillars (Enhancing teaching and learning) work group focusing on Strengthening Curriculum and Assessment. We are expected to develop goals, related objectives, activities, and metrics to measure the success of the goal/objectives. -
Committee Member
2019 - Department of Labor Studies Self-Study Response to Review CommitteeI prepared and submitted further documentation requested by the Self-study review committee concerning the recently submitted Self-study document. -
Committee Member
2018 - Department of Labor Studies Self-StudyFaculty were responsible for conducting a self-study of our department as a precursor to the School of Social Work's larger strategic plan due in 2020. -
Committee Member
2017 - Dean's Search and Screen CommitteeAs a member of the search and screen committee for the Dean of School of Social Work, I was responsible for attending meetings, vetting candidates, and providing input concerning the process and application of candidates. -
Committee Member
2014 - Academic AffairsThis committee shall make recommendations to the Council on matters relating to general, not school specific, educational curriculum matters, establishing and revising academic calendars, degree formats, graduation requirements, the academic structure of IUPUI, and other related matters (Bylaw III.B.1). (http://www.iupui.edu/~fcouncil/committees/academic_affairs/) -
Committee Member
2015 - Faculty AffairsThis committee shall advise the Council on matters involving the faculty, including but not limited to, issues of academic freedom, appointments, and tenure and promotion policies and procedures (Bylaw III.B.6). (http://www.iupui.edu/~fcouncil/committees/faculty_affairs/) -
Committee Member
2023 - Campus P&T CommitteeRepresent the IUSSW and Labor Studies on the campus P&T committee; review dossiers of candidates for P&T, cast vote for candidates seeking promotion and/or tenure. -
Committee Member
2022 - Ad Hoc P&T Committee: Office of Academic AffairsDiscuss/make recommendations to the IU Faculty Council on matters/changes involving campus P&T guidelines.
Media Appearance
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102-year-old law impacting rail workers
2022 - Keloland.com. Sioux Falls, S.D.
Read the Story 102-year-old law impacting rail workers -
Workers excluded from benefits in the workplace
2022 - Indy Star -
Young and Organized
2022 - The Progressive Magazine
Read the Story Young and Organized -
Analysis: Trump deal in Indiana saved 1,000 jobs--but can and should it be repeated?
2016 - CBS News
Read the Story Analysis: Trump deal in Indiana saved 1,000 jobs--but can and should it be repeated? -
No Limits: Chasing the Dream, Looking at the Future of Work
2016 - WFYI: NPR
Read the Story No Limits: Chasing the Dream, Looking at the Future of Work -
The Daily Grind: How Workers Navigate the Employment Relationship
2016 - The Workers Voice Show
Read the Story The Daily Grind: How Workers Navigate the Employment Relationship
Memberships
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University Professional and Continuing Education Association
2017 to Present -
Labor Educators Research Association
2003 to Present -
United Association of Labor Educators
2003 to 2012
Professional Services
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Adjudicator/Judge
2016 to 2019 - American Postal Workers Union ScholarshipI judged a scholarship competition for the Indianapolis Area Local American Postal Workers Union (IALAPWU).. The contributions from high school students place them in competition for scholarship monies from the local union.
Public Services
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Other
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Collaborating between Department of Labor Studies and CSP Passport program
2021 to 2021 - Community and School Partnerships: Passport to your FutureI reached out to Jim Melichar, Program Associate for Community and School Partnerships and Julia Jennings, Director of Community and School Partnerships in order to promote a conduit for middle, high school, and pre-college age students to learn about the apprenticeship opportunities available through the building trades and construction industries. This would be a part of the College Readiness Academy which is a
series of programs and resources designed to help students and families understand the resources available for their college readiness planning. Grouped by grade-level, the College Readiness Academy provides information sessions and hands-on workshops to help navigate the college-going process at critical, time-sensitive points along a student’s journey. -
Other
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Designed conduit for Labor Studies majors to apply for supervisory positions within plant
2016 to Present - General Motors Powertrain Bedford Indiana PlantAt the request of the Plant Manager, Lamar Rucker, from the Bedford, Indiana General Motors Castings, Engines and Transmissions plant, I designed a plan for majors from the Labor Studies Department to transition to management positions in the Bedford facility on a temporary basis as a conduit for training and possible eventual transition into permanent positions within the facility. The GM plant is represented by UAW Local 440 and IBEW Local 16. Though these supervisory positions are not union-affiliated positions, consultation with UAW Local 440 suggests these positions are in line with GM’s hiring of contractual labor as long as the GM_UAW contract is honored.
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Board Member
2010 to 2019 - Central Indiana Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Advisory BoardI serve on the Central Indiana Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Advisory Board. The board functions as conduit for furthering causes of social justice though activism and education.
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Board Member
2010 to 2019 - UNITE-HEREI continue to serve on the UNITE-HERE Advisory Board. The board functions as conduits for furthering causes of social justice though activism and education.