Dear Tennessee Conference of the AAUP members, 

Hoping all of you are well, and your academic year has started out positively.  I am the new president of your Tennessee State conference of the AAUP.  I am Professor of English at Tennessee Technological University where I am in my 26^th year of teaching. 

First of all, I want to announce that the Fall AAUP State Conference Meeting will be at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, in the Sam H. Ingram Building which is 2269 Middle Tennessee Boulevard, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, Sat. Nov. 12 at 9:30 a.m. in the conference room there (coffee 9:30; meeting to start at 10 a.m.) until approximately 2 p.m. (business meeting of the TN State Conference Executive Committee will follow lunch). Please note that Murfreesboro is on Central Standard Time (CST). 

We need an estimate of the number attending in order to provide lunch and refreshments and to ensure that the room we have reserved is large enough. PLEASE RSVP to Yvonne Simerman, secretary of the Tennessee Conference of the AAUP if right now you think you can attend.  We need you to participate in your state AAUP in order to address the many issues facing us in Higher Education today.  Please let us know if you have any items you feel need to be addressed and included in the agenda at the state conference of the AAUP meeting. Also, please indicate if you have any special dietary needs. Use the subject heading “state conference meeting” and email Yvonne.simerman@nscc.edu.

Also, please check out our new website at:  http://www.taaup.org/

We received a “Conference Development grant” from the AAUP Assembly of State Conferences to redesign our website. We also hope to continue an electronic newsletter and welcome short articles on items of concern to higher education for inclusion.  Past issues of the AAUP newsletter are on the website.  If you have ideas for other items to be included on the website or in the newsletter please feel free to contact me.

Also, please feel free to contact me, or any of the other members of the Executive Committee of the TN conference of the AAUP, if you have questions or comments.  All officers are listed on the website.

I am looking forward to working with and for all Tennessee AAUP members and for higher education in Tennessee and in the U.S. generally during my term as president.

Sincerely yours,

Josie McQuail
Dr. Josephine McQuail
Visiting Fellow
Institute of English Studies
School of Advanced Study
University of London

Feb.-June 2015