Higher Ed Q&A
New MAHE president hopes to make a difference
'You need quality benefits to attract and retain quality instructors.'
MAHE President Matt Dunckel
Alpena Community College’s Matt
Dunckel hopes to make a difference
for his colleagues in the higher education
community as he embarks on a two-year
term as new president of the Michigan
Association of Higher Education.
A social science instructor at Alpena
CC since 1995, Dunckel grew up in a
union family—both parents were educators;
his father once served as president
of MAHE.
“We all need new challenges, and I decided to accept this one,” the new MAHE president said.
The MEA Voice recently interviewed Dunckel about his upcoming term.
MEA: What do you hope to accomplish?
Dunckel: I’d like to see more MAHE
members involved in association activities
at the local and state levels. One of
the steps we need to take to encourage
more participation is to do a better job
of communicating with our members
about what’s going on around the state
and at the national level, the fact that
we’re all facing similar issues. Too often
local members don’t have any idea of
what’s happening elsewhere.
We need to bring together and communicate the collective wisdom of how our colleagues around the state have tackled some of the issues and problems we all face.
MEA: What are some of those issues?
Dunckel: We must be ever vigilant to maintain a quality work environment for our members. There is a direct link between work environment and teaching excellence.
Today in contract negotiations, we’re seeing a direct assault on our health care and other benefits because of pressure from college boards to cut costs. Never mind the fact that historically we’ve taken smaller pay raises in order to have quality health care benefits.
As educators, we have the most important job in society. The pay isn’t much, but we need quality benefits to attract and retain quality instructors. And you need quality instructors to provide quality education.
Right now, we’re losing good instructors who choose different career paths because of the ongoing threat to cut our wages and health care. That doesn’t make for an attractive working environment. You want to work for an administrator who says I believe in what you’re doing, and I’ll try to protect the quality of your life.
MEA: The Ferris Faculty Association,
members of MAHE, threatened to strike
this fall if it didn’t have a contract. The
strike was averted when a tentative
agreement was reached with Ferris
State University administrators one day
before the first day of classes on
Aug. 28. Your thoughts?
Dunckel: I support the Ferris faculty members. They provide a good model for the rest of us. A few years back at Alpena, we went back and worked without a contract for six months. That was a mistake. You lose your power.
MEA: Do you support Proposal 5, the Educational Funding Guarantee, on the Nov. 7 ballot?
Dunckel: Absolutely. For years, we’ve seen the impact from a lack of adequate state funding. All of us have to communicate with our members about the need to support this proposal. Our members need to become more politically aware and realize the link between their own political activities and their paycheck.
This Higher Ed Q&A with Alpena Community
College’s Matt Dunckel, the new president of
the Michigan Association of Higher Education,
begins regular MEA Voice coverage of higher
education issues in Michigan.