Meet the New President

Michael Mulgrew was elected President of the UFT in July 2009, effective August 1. Prior to his current position, Michael was elected Vice President for Career and Technical Education (CTE) High Schools in 2005 and became the union’s Chief Operating Officer in 2008.

A Staten Island native, Michael began his teaching career as a substitute at South Richmond High School IS/PS 25 instructing students with special needs. He also volunteered weekends at CUNY teaching kids computer skills. From the beginning, Michael wanted to work with at-risk kids, and at a very young age he embraced his mother’s most important piece of advice: Wherever you are, whatever you do, always help others. He has worked hard to pass that value on to his daughter and his nieces and nephews, and it has also helped shape his career.

Michael became a full-time teacher at Brooklyn’s William E. Grady High School in 1993 and served as the chapter leader from 1999 to 2004. Under his stewardship, Grady High School emerged as one of the UFT’s strongest and most unified chapters. As the school’s union rep, he never hesitated to support his colleagues, filing grievances on their behalf and advocating strongly for resources and support for CTE programs. His hard work won the Grady High School UFT chapter a Trachtenberg Award in 2002. Michael also helped design and implement one of the school’s six vocational tracks, and when Grady was put on the state’s Schools in Need of Improvement (SINI) list, he immediately took charge of a large cohort of students, tracking their absences, monitoring their grades and engaging them to find ways to improve their academic performance.

Upon his arrival at the union, Michael immediately went to work expanding and enhancing CTE programs around the city as well as reorganizing the union’s Safety and Health Department to better track and respond to school safety and environmental concerns. Those improvements were recently evidenced this past spring in the department’s rapid response and monitoring of the H1N1 virus in public schools.

A firm believer in building alliances and creating opportunities for collaboration, Michael prides himself on his work with parent, civic and community groups. He was instrumental in organizing the “Keep the Promises” and “One New York” coalitions in 2008 and 2009 to fight planned city agency budget cuts. Michael spearheaded the UFT’s engagement in these successful campaigns, restoring hundreds of millions of classroom dollars to state and city budgets.

In addition to his UFT responsibilities, Michael is a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and an executive board member of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), chairing its statewide committee on CTE programs.

In November 2006, Michael received the Albert Lee Smallheiser Citation for his diligent, untiring and outstanding service on behalf of the teaching profession. In November 2008, Michael received the first Sandra Feldman award for his exemplary service to UFT members. In June 2009, Michael was awarded the NAACP’s Centennial Freedom Award for his efforts to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Michael attended CUNY’s College of Staten Island where he graduated with a BA in English literature and later a masters degree in special education. He is the third of four siblings, three of whom are teachers.

Michael lives on Staten Island. He has a daughter, Meghan.

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