"Membership doesn't cost.  It pays."

Interactive Membership Form

Download, fill in, print, and submit to your AFUM representative.

AFUM representation

• Enhances faculty interests
• Supports public higher education
• Promotes professionalism
• Advocates through negotiations and grievance processing
• Gives faculty a voice in salary, benefits and teaching/working conditions
• Makes university administrators listen and protects faculty governance
• Accesses resources of MEA and NEA

Member privileges

• Vote on contracts
• Elect officers, delegates and other representatives
• Participate as a committee member, negotiator or elected leader
• $1 million Educators Employment Liability Insurance through NEA
• Representation in legal proceedings arising from work-related issues
• Member-only discount programs for insurance, car rental, credit cards, much more

Bargaining and Research

AFUM is supported by MEA and NEA throughout negotiations and contract administration.  This includes access to 900 higher education contracts, a database of salary and other financial information for 3,000 colleges and universities, and NEA's Higher Education Research Center.

Government Relations Program

Through political action and lobbying, AFUM and MEA are powerful voices on State funding, employment rights, academic freedom and the future of higher education.  NEA lobbies Congress on federal funding and higher education issues such as the Higher Education Act reauthorization.

National Council for Higher Education (NCHE)

AFUM is a member of NCHE, an independent organization within NEA.  NCHE staff members respond to faculty concerns, recommend programs to NEA, and promote academic excellence and justice.

Professional Development

The NEA Higher Education website provides assistance with teaching, research, publications and grants.  Other grants are available through the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education.  NEA provides the following member publications:

• NEA Higher Education Advocate, published six times a year, contains information on national local, and regional events and issues in higher education.
• Thought & Action, a peer-reviewed higher education journal published twice a year, designed to provide faculty, staff and students with an enlightened balance between theory and practice on issues in higher education.
• The NEA Almanac of Higher Education, published annually, provides NEA higher education members with current information on the entire scope of American higher education. It contains up-to-date information on faculty salaries and benefits, the economic conditions in the states, faculty workload, trends in bargaining, and information on non-faculty professionals on campus.
• The Academic Justice & Excellence monographs analyze current issues facing faculty and staff in higher education.  Previous monographs included mentoring minorities, a  survivor handbook for contingent faculty, and advice for the untenured.