Executive board elections will take place during the period of April 15-April 30. Email ballots will be sent using ElectionRunner. For positions that are contested, candidate names will appear on the ballot in randomized order. Voters will be able to view each candidate’s initial statement via the ballot.
Here is a list of candidates (alphabetically by position):
Newark Vice President
Representative-at-large
- Caitlin Dudek, Writing Program, Newark
- Amml Hussein, Social Work, New Brunswick
- Andrew Kennis, SC&I, New Brunswick
- Luis Soto, Criminal Justice, New Brunswick
- Phillips (Ed) Young, Philosophy/Religion, Camden
Newark Vice President (one seat)
Beth Adubato, School of Criminal Justice, Newark
Last year’s historic strike proved that when we work together, we show strength. I vigorously applaud all those on the executive board that made that happen. As a former member of the executive board—and former Newark VP—I know how much it took to gather such a united force. I also know how much more we need to do. For years, we tried to come up with a health insurance plan for lecturers and we were obviously met with great resistance. Building on last year’s gains, we can strategically plan a better future for the people who (as a former dean once said) keep the undergraduate programs running.
Naturally, health insurance is not the only issue that we need to tackle. Unnaturally, the present administration has toyed with the current contract and played around with the rules to which we all agreed. We cannot allow this. We must be vigilant.
Rutgers is a wonderful place to teach and the part-time lecturers often bring a wealth of experience to their jobs, along with academic excellence. Our students deserve an excellent education and we help to bring it to them. They cannot have their classes cancelled because the administration wants to save a few dollars. They cannot lose some of their favorite professors because Rutgers wants to winnow out the veterans to bring in “cheaper labor.” The students at Rutgers are eager to learn and we want to be a part of that…along with fair wages and dignified treatment.
Morgan Gilmartin, English, Newark
I wish to submit my self-nomination for the position of Newark Vice President due to my active and passionate involvement with the union over the last semester, where I have consistently participated in multiple union committees. I believe strongly in the ability of unions to uplift and strengthen not only our members, but our entire community and have brought this understanding of communal goals to my contributions. I hope by seeking the position of Vice President to assist the work of the union in a greater capacity, particularly in supporting the profound social work and activism so integral to our union’s understanding as critical to labor organizing.
At-Large Representatives (three Seats)
Caitlin Dudek, Writing Program, Newark
I am running to be a representative at large on the for the Adjunct Union Executive Board because I want to continue the work I’ve been doing to fight for all our Lecturer members as we maintain and build on the contract demands we won in our last contract campaign. Specifically, I want to ensure that all our members can advance to get the salaries our contract demands, and prevent course cap increases or course cutting, which would negate our salary gains. As a current At-Large member, I lead the New Member Organization committee, and would love to continue to develop and refine programming for our new members, such as the new member orientation and the asynchronous instructors’ roundtable that our committee developed this year. I have been a Lecturer at Rutgers-Newark and union member for five years and served as the Executive Board Vice President for Newark during our contract campaign and strike. I know that our union is integral to providing all lecturers with a safe, fair, and equitable workplace, and being a member of this union has shown me all the power that comes with solidarity. I want to help continue the work we’ve begun, and I hope I have your vote to do so.
Amml Hussein, School of Social Work, New Brunswick
Amml Hussein, Ed.D., MSW, currently serves as the Director of Research at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the premier accreditation body for the social work profession nationally. Dr. Hussein’s influence is marked by a forward-thinking approach that integrates strategic foresight, future casting, and cutting-edge technology to elevate student engagement which she will bring to the Executive Board.
As a passionate educator and advocate for quality education, I believe that my diverse background in collegial assembly, teaching, and research uniquely qualifies me to inform policy and practice that will shape the future of higher education. Throughout my career, I have witnessed the power of collaborative decision-making and shared governance. I understand the importance of fostering a strong sense of unity and solidarity among teachers, as it is through collective action that we can drive meaningful change in education.
I have firsthand experience in the classroom, interacting with students, and addressing the diverse needs of learners. Over the years, I have honed my instructional skills and developed innovative teaching methods to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education. I have also mentored and supported fellow educators, recognizing the importance of continuous professional growth and the sharing of best practices.
I pledge to advocate for the needs and concerns of teachers, ensuring that their voices are heard and their expertise is valued in educational policymaking.
My experience in research has equipped me with a deep understanding of evidence-based practices and the ability to critically analyze policies and their impact on teaching and learning. I will leverage my research expertise to inform evidence-based policies that support the professional growth and development of teachers, promote equity in education.
In my current role at CSWE, I lead the design and development of the Assessment Institute, a post-conference initiative that showcases my dedication to advancing educational assessment. The institute serves as a knowledge hub, empowering educators, researchers, and practitioners to refine teaching and evaluation methods, while enhancing the learning experience with assessment best practices.
Another groundbreaking initiative that Dr. Hussein spearheaded with her team is the Research, Policy, and Practice Student Summit. The inaugural event, themed “Decolonizing Social Work Education: Moving Beyond Conversations,” facilitated translational research, directly impacting communities and highlighting critical social issues. The four-day summit connected baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral student fellows with congressional offices on Capitol Hill, providing invaluable experiential learning opportunities as well as a platform for engagement in research and addressing social issues with a solid peer network.
My commitment to bridging the gap between research, practice, and policy is evident through my approach to communities of practice engaging a network of peers and mentors. My research projects have been featured at several cross disciplinary conferences including the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), the Association for Research on Non-profit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA). Dr. Hussein was recently elected as the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee for At the Association for Research on Non-profit Organizations and Voluntary Action’s Teaching Section, where she engages in interdisciplinary dialogues to advance the nexus between research, practice, and policy.
Andrew Kennis, School of Communication and Information, New Brunswick
Update: additional endorsements: I am delighted to announce that two additional endorsers have offered their support for my At-large candidacy, highlighting my commitment and ability to collaborate across various sectors of our union.
Paul More, our former Vice President (Camden), and Janelle Derstine, our former Treasurer, have joined a growing list of endorsements that now includes three current officers and two former officers. Neither Paul nor Janelle was part of last year’s slate, just as I am not affiliated with any slate this year.
However, it’s noteworthy that all three officers endorsing my campaign this year — Hank Kalet (VP-New Brunswick), Abdur Yasin (VP-Newark) and Arnold Lau (Treasurer) — were part of last year’s slate. This underscores the independence of my candidacy, my commitment to democratic collaboration and my capacity to effectively collaborate with officers, both past and present, who hold diverse perspectives.
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As an at-large Board member of our union and a Lecturer who has taught at multiple New Brunswick colleges since 2021, I take pride in my role advocating for historic contract gains that have reinstated Lecturers’ pay to exceptionally competitive levels among public universities. I am committed to working closely with fellow rank-and-file union members through outreach efforts like phone banking, as well as by actively participating in various union committees.
I am running as a fully independent candidate without affiliation to any slate but am proud to have received endorsements from two campus vice presidents and our treasurer.
Hank Kalet (New Brunswick), our campus vice president and co-chair of the joint Media committee, has endorsed my candidacy based on our collaborative work. Abdur Yasin (Newark), another campus vice president who shares my commitment to union democracy, also has endorsed my candidacy. Additionally, Arnold Lau, our treasurer, has endorsed me too. These officers can all attest to my extensive remote support during last year’s strike as well my dedicated committee service.
Our successful merger campaign was sparked in part by early discussions I initiated between the co-president of the full-timer/grad worker unit, our longest-serving union activists and our Board. This led to a successful organizing campaign. Although the administration did not recognize our merger, a range of joint committee work and increased solidarity is now integrated into our union’s regular activities.
As a member of the Media committee and a seasoned international investigative journalist, I have volunteered my skills and experience to cover national academic labor news and events related to our union’s activities over the past three years. I am currently spearheading an initiative within our Media committee to revitalize our union’s newsletter by adopting a Substack platform, which the committee has expressed interest in using. If you’re interested in joining this effort, please let me know, as we sure could use your help!
After noticing that our Coad subcommittee was in need of additional support, I gladly pitched in and aided efforts toward investigating cases of potentially misclassified “Coad” instructors among dozens and dozens of inquiries we received at the beginning of the semester. I focused on identifying patterns of abuse at specific Rutgers colleges, uncovered a few such disturbing trends and brought attention to such tendencies to our volunteer lawyer. These supportive efforts, in part, prompted our president to allocate additional assistance from our talented staff to bolster our subcommittee’s work.
As the Board’s sole bilingual member fluent in Spanish, it has been my pleasure to volunteer as an interpreter and translator. I am also the Board member who has had the highest proportion of online-based teaching assignments and thus was honored to receive an invitation from one of our Board officers to lead a new online-based faculty committee. If you’re keen on joining this initiative, please feel free to get in touch!
In all of these important senses then, a vote for me is a vote for rank and file, democratic and social unionism, and thus, for us lecturers as a collective whole.
Luis Soto, Criminal Justice, New Brunswick
Good morning, my name is Luis Soto a lecturer in the Criminal Justice Department in New Brunswick Livingston Campus. I have been a lecturer since 2016 and currently a member to the Contract Enforcement Team. I would like to become involved more with our union by becoming a Representative at Large to assist in any way possible. I am a retired veteran of the New Jersey Department of Corrections with 25 years of experience. I achieved the highest custody level of Chief at Northern State Prison before retiring. Throughout my career I have served as union representative as well as a member of a number of committees in many facets. Hopefully I can be of assistance.
Phillips (Ed) Young, Philosophy/Religion, Camden
My name is Phillips (Ed) Young, and I seek the position of Representative-at-Large on the Rutgers Adjunct Union Executive Board. I started teaching in the Philosophy/Religion department at the Camden campus in 1992.
I declare my candidacy mostly out of a sense of obligation to give back, particularly in light of the benefits we all now enjoy because of the tremendous efforts recently expended by a very dedicated core group of our union members.
Those very dedicated members worked extremely hard during contract negotiations with an extraordinarily disinterested and disengaged administration–to virtually no avail. This led to a strike, and then to renegotiations, none of which represented any sort of hiatus from their labors. The result, as our contracts now reflect, and as the opportunity to advance to previously non-existent levels now shows, was that everyone in the union benefited from their work.
My understanding of their efforts and our benefits is largely a result of attending every negotiation- and strike-related zoom meeting I possibly could. Since then, I have felt obliged to honor their work by making more of a contribution myself. I see serving on this board as an opportunity to do so.
In the turbulent landscape of economic uncertainty, attacks on freedom of speech, and challenges to DEI initiatives, I do not claim a vision of the best course of action for our union. I offer willingness to listen to your thoughts, and to continue to learn from and work on behalf of those I represent.
Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union 