Frederick E. Kowal, United University Professions
Since 2013, Frederick E. Kowal has been the tenacious and tireless leader of United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher education union representing more than 35,000 academic and professional faculty on SUNY’s 29 state-operated campuses.
Kowal joined UUP while working as a professor of political science and Native American Studies at SUNY Cobleskill, where he served more than 10 years as chapter president.
The son of two working class, unionist parents, Kowal has long understood the protection and collective power that unions provide workers.
“We have an opportunity and an obligation to make life better for others, especially those who have less and those who are coming behind us, the next generation,” Kowal said.
Kowal is a force to be reckoned with in the halls of power where he is continually fighting to advance legislation that will improve his members’ professional and personal lives. From spearheading a pandemic program to provide UUP members on the front lines with hotel rooms near SUNY’s public hospitals, to winning healthcare coverage for adjunct faculty, to pushing back against federal funding cuts to lifesaving research being conducted by UUP members, Kowal is a champion leader who is ready and willing to do the work to support his members.