Unified, organized on graduation day

Union members, leaders, activists and staff gather for commencement at National Labor College

Shannon received her master’s in organization development Saturday, one of the 18 graduate students and 91 undergraduate students from across the country participating in the ninth-annual graduation exercises for the only accredited college in the country for union members, leaders, activists and staff. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) delivered the commencement address and received an honorary doctorate.

For Shannon, 42 and a Silver Spring resident, receiving her graduate degree is also something she can cross off her to-do list. A former staff member with the AFL-CIO, which founded the school as the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in 1969, Shannon saw others return to school while with the NLC, where she is deputy executive vice president for operations.

The NLC offers degrees in various areas of labor studies, including labor history, labor education and labor union leadership and administration. The graduate program is run in partnership with American University and the University of Baltimore.

Students, who come from unions and academic partnerships across the country, take classes around their work schedules. Classes are mostly done online, though students are required to be on campus for one week during the 16-week semester. (The NLC also offers a completely online degree, the bachelor’s in technical⁄professional studies.) Most students need two years to get their degree, taking about two classes per semester; Shannon took 13 classes in 15 months in order to graduate.

The labor movement subsidizes tuition so it stays affordable for union members. Classes cost as little as $150 per credit hour for AFL-CIO-affiliated union members. The cost per credit hour for non-union members is $982.

While most college undergraduates are in their 20s, NLC students often have 20 years of professional experience before returning to school. These students, typically in their mid-40s, are personally motivated to get a college degree that eluded them when they were younger for whatever reason, Shannon said.

Obtaining a degree also gives students a chance to hone their leadership skills, outgoing President Susan J. Schurman said.

‘‘Most of them are already leaders in their unions, their churches and their communities,” she said.

Because of that, classes and papers have a practical bent. All graduates complete a final project involving real-world experiences. Shannon, for example, worked with an international union on team building and self-development, and has applied what she has learned to her own staff. ‘‘You have to understand yourself and your impact in order to help others,” she said.

As Schurman steps down June 30 after a decade as president of the NLC to return to an administrative position at Rutgers University in New Jersey, she said she will most remember the spirit and dedication to service of NLC’s students.

‘‘It’s not just idealism,” she said. ‘‘They’ve already done it and will go back and do it better.”