Public Employee Press

AFSCME scholarship winners
Allyson Collis: education of an activist

For DC 37 member Allyson Collis, one good thing just kept leading to another.

A 27-year member of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549, Collis began her road to academic fulfillment in 2002, when she attended the Northeast Regional Summer Institute for Trade Union Women. The program offers union women a chance to learn about the history of the American labor movement. Collis is an administrative assistant for the Financial Information Services Agency.

At the institute she learned about the DC 37-Cornell certificate program in trade union studies. After graduating with her certificate from Cornell, Collis began studying at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. This month she will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in labor studies.

In March, Collis received one of the two $2,000 Nadra Floyd Memorial Scholarships that AFSCME, DC 37’s parent union, provides for NSC students.

“I was overjoyed,” she said. “I sincerely appreciate the dedication of the union towards helping members enhance our skills, obtain degrees and move up in the labor movement.” As a new graduate of the NLC, Ms. Collis aspires to use her knowledge to help in the work of advancing the labor movement.

Information about the Nadra Floyd Scholarship is available online at www.afscme.org/about/greenrm.htm. See the annual scholarship posting for application and deadline information.