At its meeting of September 30, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Conference AAUP established the Betty Kirschner/Maita Levine Award to be given periodically to a faculty member in Ohio who has made exemplary contributions in the areas of collective bargaining and/or women’s rights. The award honors the careers of two faculty members who themselves contributed significantly to the furtherance of collective bargaining and women’s rights in Ohio. Both were past recipients of the Marilyn Sternberg Award given by the Collective Bargaining Congress of the AAUP “to an AAUP member who best demonstrates the concern for human rights, the courage, persistence, political foresight, imagination, collective bargaining knowledge and skills of Marilyn Sternberg.”

Betty Kirschner, who recently passed, had a long history of involvement in the AAUP at local, state and national levels while she was a faculty member at Kent State University. She was intimately involved in the recognition of AAUP as the bargaining agent at Kent State and in the organization of the early National AAUP summer collective bargaining institutes which were first held at Kent State. Her research and personal activities were closely tied to women’s issues. Betty served on the AAUP’s National Council and on the National Executive Committee, and also served for two years in Washington on the Organizing Staff of the National AAUP. She also served for a number of years on the Board of the Ohio Conference AAUP.

Maita Levine is Emerita Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cincinnati. She has held numerous positions within the AAUP including President of the UC Chapter, President of the Ohio Conference AAUP, and First Vice-President of the National AAUP. She has served in numerous other roles at local, state and national levels, including service on AAUP’s National Council and as Chair of National AAUP’s Committee W on Women’s Issues. Although she is now retired, she continues to serve as a member of the Ohio Conference Board and in an advisory position to the UC Chapter’s Board. She also continues to serve as Chair of State Committee Z on the Economic Status of the Professoriate and on The UC Chapter’s Committee W, as she continues to fight for equity for all faculty members.

Betty and Maita not only had the same interests, they were also very good friends. It is therefore quite fitting that this new award is named in their honor.

Dave Rubin,
Central State
Consultant, UC Chapter AAUP