Joan Cook is the recipient of our first annual Award for Excellence in Service to the FA. (photo courtesy Joan Cook)

As a follow up to the FA's awards and recognition celebration held on January 28, I have interviewed each of our award recipients so people can learn more about their good work.

Below the interview is the official nomination that was made on behalf of Joan Cook.

Q — You’ve been active with the FA for a while now, both as an adjunct EC representative and now as a full-time EC rep, and you got your start at SCCC as a student. Tell us your story.

A — Yes, I went back to school as an adult. While my children were in elementary school I started taking classes at the Eastern Campus for graphic design. As I was finishing up my degree one of my professors told me about an adjunct position in the Ammerman theater department. I was fortunate to be hired for the position. It will always be one of my favorite jobs! Charlie Wittreich encouraged me to continue with my education, and working part time allowed me the flexibility to earn a bachelor’s degree while juggling family responsibilities. As technology grew, so did my responsibilities and I was eventually was promoted to PA2. All the while, I also had a part-time job doing graphic design for my local church. Computer literacy, research, the organization of information and my love of sharing it with others is what led me to earn an MS degree in Library and Information Science.

Q — So you started in the theater department? Most people know you from your work in the library or with the Center for Social Justice and Human Understanding, though, right?

A — I’ve been fortunate to have a few different positions at the college. I also worked as a secretary in the nursing department and at the Holocaust Center. The Center used to do an annual Embracing Our Differences art competition (one of my favorite events), so my design skills were a welcome addition to my role there. I had completed my MSLIS by then, so I began getting assignments as an adjunct librarian while still working in the theater department until they found a replacement.

Q — With all of that busyness, you also made time to be incredibly involved with the FA, which is why you were nominated for this honor. How did you manage that—all of your different contributions like running Making Strides Against Breast Cancer—especially as an adjunct faculty member?

A — As an adjunct, I was always thankful for the benefits that the FA provided for me. I always looked forward to receiving The WORD and I read it from cover to cover. In 2014, I had the opportunity to become an adjunct EC rep for instructional lab PAs.

My sister-in-law passed away from breast cancer, so I dedicated my first Making Strides walk to her memory. Walking with TEAM FA was my way of connecting and making sense of that. I created flyers to promote the early walks that I was involved with. Each year I became more involved and eventually chaired the annual walk. It’s a good day to get out and walk for a cause with my fellow union members and it’s nice to know that Making Strides has the backing of NYSUT.

Q — You lost your adjunct EC rep position when you were hired into a full-time line, but you wasted little time getting elected back onto the EC. Tell us about that.

A — In 2017 I interviewed for a full-time line that opened up. After the interview I floated on cloud nine to Veterans Plaza where I sat on a bench with tears of elation and phoned my family to share my good news. All of those years of hard work as an adjunct came to fruition!

I am proud to represent the FA, and being an EC rep allows me to connect with my colleagues on a different level. As an EC rep I’ve attended the NYSUT Community College Conferences and more. I enjoy the learning opportunities and collaboration. It’s a really good feeling to be part of the NYSUT community. We’re all part of a big picture, and I like contributing in my own small way.

Q — I always describe you to people as “quiet but mighty” because you’re such a modest and unassuming person but when real work needs to get done, we all know that Joan Cook gets the work done. What advice do you have for other FA members who are thinking about getting more involved in FA service?

A — First, I have to acknowledge that while it’s really important for adjuncts to get involved as EC reps or otherwise, it’s hard when you are split between different workplaces. Sometimes adjuncts do feel left out.

Being an EC rep is a great way to become involved in all the great work the FA does. Not only am I able to be a voice for our members, but I myself have grown personally and professionally by being on committees, going to conferences and volunteering. Being an EC rep demonstrated to me just how fortunate we are to be part of this union. I’ve learned how the FA strives to ensure a safe and equitable working environment for everyone. It is more evident to me how that the FA addresses the difficulties that adjuncts encounter. For example, promotion workshops always seemed mostly tailored to full-timers but now there’s much more attention to helping adjuncts get promoted.

Q — How does it feel to be the very first FA member to receive an award for excellence in service to our union?

A — At first, I didn’t feel like I deserved an award for doing things that I enjoy. I am grateful and feel truly honored to be recognized. It is especially humbling to be part of the first group of recipients. The awards are a great way to recognize and encourage our members, especially our adjuncts, for all the hard work that they do for our students and the greater community.

Nomination for Joan Cook, Excellence in Service to the FA

I nominate Joan Cook for excellence in service to the FA for her longstanding commitment to the union.

I'm pretty sure one of the earliest emails I ever received from Joan was in 2012, when she was helping to coordinate one of the three campus FA plant sales. That was a program for which we sold plants on behalf of Flowerfield Gardens (right on Horseblock Road) of AHRC. Knowing that the program enabled healthy work programs for differently challenged individuals, Joan was always ready to volunteer to help with those plant sales.

Joan has also volunteered as a Professors on Wheels presenter at least since 2012, possibly earlier. She offers workshops on Facebook for seniors and on how to set up and use email. Joan speaks about understanding the need for seniors to stay connected with others: with family and loved ones, with friends, with anyone who can help them feel less isolated and lonely. I've long respected that Joan is one of our presenters who selected her presentations based on audience need rather than on her own preferences or interests.

Joan has walked with TEAM FA for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer since 2014 and her commitment to this community outreach program has been so unwavering, we asked to her to lead the team which she has most graciously done. In 2014, she wrote an article for The WORD in which she spoke beautifully about walking in honor of her sister-in-law who had lost her battle against breast cancer two years prior. That year, Joan was unusually exhausted but she reminded herself how exhausting it would be to go through cancer treatments, so she showed up and hasn't stopped walking for the cause ever since.

In 2015, Joan's good work with Making Strides raised over $1,000, which landed the FA a "NYSUT Incentive Banner" which was a huge point of pride for us in the FA at the time. It would not have happened without Joan's commitment to the cause. And this was back when the event was at Jones Beach, which regularly attracted between 50,000 and 65,000 walkers. It was no small feat to get our team organized and keep our team together at those walks! Each year Joan inspires people to walk and/or to donate, and we end up raising between $1,000 and $1,500 for the event (one year was a little over $1,600 and the first year we walked at both Jones Beach and the Eastern Campus we raised over $2,000 total).

Also in 2014, Joan volunteered to staff the tables at our Fair Trade holiday sales back when she was an adjunct technical services librarian and also an elected EC rep for PAs & Specialists in Instructional Labs. I believe that Joan only left her role as an adjunct EC rep when she moved from being an adjunct to landing the full-time line in the library that she currently holds; she was hired into her FT line in September 2017 and wasted no time getting elected back on to the EC in as a FT EC rep for librarians because people know what a hard working unionist Joan is!

Joan has also served a term as an elected NYSUT and AFT delegate for the FA. I believe that term was 2018-2020 (she attended the AFT Convention in 2018 with us as delegate). Joan has also been a long-time attendee at the NYSUT Community College Conferences, which I know may not seem like "service to the FA," but Joan is never content to merely attend. Joan is the EC rep who attends workshops throughout each of these weekends and then brings information back that either helps her be a better EC rep or helps her constituents in their roles at the college. As an adjunct EC rep, she regularly attended adjunct themed workshops with me and when she would email information to her constituents, she would either include me on the email or consult me beforehand.

Joan also volunteers when we ask for quotes for The WORD on topics of critical importance to us as a union like the Supreme Court Janus decision and the 3/3/18 Organizing Institute, she volunteers to do labor walks for the FA, and this year when Dante asked EC reps to volunteer to make phone bank calls to union members in other states ahead of the presidential election, Joan was one of the only EC reps—actually I think she may have been the only EC rep—to volunteer.

Joan truly sees herself in the role of service to others: When I recently looked at the EC rep's email patterns, Joan Cook was way out ahead of everyone else in sheer number of emails to her constituent list. Where other EC reps send maybe 1-2 emails per semester, Joan sends a dozen.

I believe Joan's commitment to being of service to the FA clearly makes her merit this recognition. She is regularly, frequently and consistently the one with her hand raised. In addition to her years of leadership as an EC rep both as an adjunct and as a full-time employee, and in addition to her years of leadership by chairing our Making Strides team, you can see that Joan continues to go well above and beyond for our union. She may seem like a polite mild-mannered librarian, but Joan Cook gets the work done. We are extremely fortunate to have this quiet but mighty union powerhouse in the FA, and I believe she is most deserving of this award.