Labor Studies students awarded AFL-CIO scholarships

Two graduate students from the Labor Studies Program have been selected to receive the Union Leaders of the Future Scholarship from the Union Plus program of the AFL-CIO.

Harream Purdie and Edgar Chen are both working towards their master’s degrees through the Labor Relations and Research Center. A third award winner, Amanda Rasmussen, will also use her Union Leaders Scholarship to pursue studies at the center.

The scholarship was created to help more women and people of color become leaders in the labor movement. The scholarship provides awards up to $3,000 to be used for education or training for developing their potential as labor leaders.

Fifteen people throughout the country were selected for the scholarship. UMass Amherst was the only university in the country to have more than one winner. Winners will be matched up with national labor leaders for a year-long mentorship program.

Purdie grew up in Philadelphia, and received his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He worked with the women’s department of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFSCME), before enrolling as a master’s degree student at the Labor Center. Purdie’s mentor will be William Lucy, who is the international secretary-treasurer AFSCME and the highest ranking African-American in the U.S. labor movement, serving on the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Chen grew up in Davis, Calif., and attended the University of California, Davis before coming to Amherst. He was active in the United Students Against Sweatshops, and has worked as a union and community organizer in New Orleans and the San Francisco Bay Area. Chen is currently studying working conditions in China and spent the last year working with third party monitoring non-governmental organizations in China.

Rasmussen is currently working full-time but she plans to use her scholarship money to attend the Labor Center’s master’s program in Union Leadership and Administration. Rasmussen lives near Portland, Ore., where she is finishing her associate’s degree in emergency management. She works at the Oregon Department of Corrections, and has worked her way up through the ranks from a temporary hire officer, to officer, corporal and sergeant. She was also elected secretary for her union’s local and serves on the union’s collective bargaining team. She says, “I’m very excited about the opportunity to attend the sessions at UMass, and am grateful to the Union Plus people for helping make that happen.”


Photo: Labor Studies students Harream Purdie and Edgar Chen flank AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

December 10, 2007.