According to their website, this is the mission of the American Association of University Professors.

The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.

In fact, the word “union” doesn’t appear anywhere on their “about us” page.

And yet, Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed reports the following.

New AAUP leader will use union background to grow membership

Aiming to Organize

After taking several years of well-documented criticism from its members, overcoming a budget deficit and undergoing a restructuring to better define its various roles (professional association, union and foundation), the American Association of University Professors has named Julie Schmid its first-ever executive director.

Schmid is chief of staff for the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, which has chapters in the state’s schools and in higher education. Previously, she served as a staff representative and campaign director for the union. Between 2002 and 2008, Schmid worked at the AAUP as a senior program associate in its Department of Organizing and Services. She earned a doctorate in English from the University of Iowa.

Formally headed by a “general secretary,” AAUP changed the name of its head administrator to more clearly reflect her duties (leaders said they were tired of explaining what the outdated term meant; “We’re not the [United Nations],” one quipped).

But more than her title, Schmid’s background signals an AAUP focus on organizing at a pivotal time for the profession.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs), accelerated hiring of adjunct faculty, and diminishing college and university budgets are challenging long-held notions about what it means to be a professor, Schmid said in an interview. Consequently, AAUP must become a more “essential part” of academic life.

While many professors identify with AAUP’s policy documents, far fewer formally affiliate with the organization (national membership is 45,000), Schmid said. Growing membership has to happen locally, with more staff members deploying to work with state conferences and individual campus chapters to organize “at the grassroots level.”