The MTA Summer Conference will take place this year from July 27 to 30 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Last year’s Summer Conference was the biggest in years and highly rated by new and returning participants alike. Training & Professional Learning has prepared the following pricing information to help your local association or chapter create a budget for sending members to participate in the programs that help our members build power together.

Summer Conference programming, including all workshops and social events, is free for all members who register by July 10. For members who would like to stay overnight in campus dorms, the price is $130/night per person for up to three nights and includes meals from the award-winning UMass Dining. Commuters can attend the conference for free and purchase the meals they need at the Dining Commons or Blue Wall food court. Anyone who registers after July 10 will be charged a $40 late registration fee by UMass Conference Registration Services.

Participants in the New Members Program, New Presidents Academy and Next Generation Leadership Program will receive free room and board. Scholarships also are available to provide room and board for Education Support Professionals and adjunct faculty who wish to attend. Registration opens May 1.

register

Keynote speakers

cornel west
Cornel West, Ph.D.
Sunday, July 27

An American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic and public intellectual. West acknowledges the gravity of the current moment — a time of moral decay, deepening inequality and spiritual emptiness in the halls of power. He invokes the legacy of prophetic voices — W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ella Baker — reminding the audience that every generation faces its own reckoning. With his signature blend of righteous anger and deep love, he calls on us not to despair, but to organize, mobilize and reimagine.

dr taylor
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Ph.D.
Sunday, July 27

Author, scholar and activist. Taylor speaks with clarity and urgency about the crossroads we now face. Drawing on history and grounded in the lived experiences of the working class and the Black freedom tradition, she illuminates how this moment — however bleak — is also one of profound possibility. Member-leaders will present prior to Taylor and demonstrate how, now more than ever, we must be in action to protect our unions, our workplaces and our democracy.

Maurice mitchel
Maurice "Moe" Mitchell
Wednesday, July 30

An activist, rapper, musician and the national director of the Working Families Party, a progressive political party known for cross-endorsing candidates through fusion voting.

Anti-Oppression

July 28 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Anti-Blackness in Schools
July 28 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Creating a Trusting Community
July 28 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Fighting for Immigrant Rights

Bargaining Certificate Program

July 27 1:00 PM - 4:15 PM Contract Language Lab
July 28 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM Bargaining Foundations
July 28 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM School and Municipal Finances
July 29 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Municipal Budget Organizing
July 29 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM Democratized Bargaining
July 29 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Bargaining Leave Provisions
July 29 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Municipal Health Insurance

Community Schools Day

July 28 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM University-Assisted Community Schools
July 28 10:40 AM - 12:10 PM Bargaining for Community Schools

Conference Gatherings

July 27 4:15 PM - 5:30 PM Welcome Reception & Art Show
July 29 4:55 PM - 5:00 PM Group Photo
July 30 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM A Morning with Maurice Mitchell

Higher Ed Day

New Member Program

July 27 1:00 PM - 4:15 PM New Member Program DAY 1

New President Leadership Academy

July 27 1:00 PM - 4:15 PM New Presidents Academy DAY 1

Next generation leadership program

July 29 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM Next Next Gen: Continuing the Work

PDP Courses

Professional Development Workshops

July 27 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM Independent Reading in the Classroom
July 27 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM Anxiety and Impacts on Learning
July 28 12:00 PM - 1:45 PM Licensure Consultation
July 28 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Getting Reading Instruction Right
July 28 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Pickleball Clinic: Social Play
July 28 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM FSU Graduate Credit Orientation
July 29 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Mindful Technology Use & Generative AI

Social Event

July 28 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM Zumba
July 28 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM Yoga Monday
July 28 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Team Scavenger Hunt
July 28 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM MTA Reads Book Clubs
July 28 8:00 PM - 11:59 PM Trivia and Open Hangout Monday
July 29 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM Yoga - Tuesday
July 29 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM FSO Lawn Party
July 29 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Affinity Spaces
July 29 8:00 PM - 11:59 PM Trivia and Open Hangout Tuesday

Union Skills & Leadership Workshops

July 27 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Fiscal Crisis Strategy Session
July 27 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM Financial Best Practices
July 28 9:00 AM - 4:45 PM Crisis Organizing and Negotiations
July 28 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM Building a Contract Action Team
July 29 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Conflict Resolution Skills Training
July 30 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Considering Marxism