Delegate Assembly confirms new VPs Vachon, Carr

The AFTNJ Delegate Assembly by vote on Oct. 25 confirmed Dr. Todd Vachon and Timothy D. Carr as vice presidents for higher education and prekindergarten to 12, respectively.

Vachon (above left), a member of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, is an assistant professor of practice, labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University-New Brunswick as well the director for Rutgers LEARN. One of his professional goals is to complete his book manuscript on climate change and the U.S. labor movement titled “Clean Air and Good Jobs: U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Climate Justice.” Another is to continue growing LEARN, the educational extension division of the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER) in the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR).

In his role as an AFTNJ VP, Vachon says he hopes “to help continue building power across our institutions of higher education and PreK-12 school districts in order to ensure safe, healthy and properly funded learning environments for our students and work environments for our members.”

He adds, “I also hope to further our federation’s efforts to build strong relationships with our communities and other movement organizations in the state to affect positive social change. … [In doing so], we not only empower our unions at the bargaining table, but we also empower those communities and together the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

Carr (above right), a member of the Newark Teachers Union, is an art teacher at Avon Avenue School. He’s put his creativity and artistic abilities to good use during the pandemic, impersonating various superheroes for TikTok segments in order to get students to sign in for virtual classes. (The effort was a success, and he was interviewed about it on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”)

Like Vachon, Carr is also driven by the need to make an impact on communities — his own as well as others. Other goals for Carr include “striving to make a difference for our teachers and scholars throughout New Jersey, continuing to motivate and innovate and bringing back the power of teaching with love and compassion.”