About Us

We are WSU Academic Student Employees who formed a union with the goal of improving the working conditions and experience of teaching and research at WSU. Read about ASEs who are currently or have been involved in our union below. 

Kelsey King, School of Biological Sciences – Vancouver Campus

I am a PhD student in biology and my research focuses on climate change impacts on the nectar resources of butterflies. I support the unionization of graduate students, because too long has academia relied on archaic power structures that regularly lead to abuse, exploitation, and overworking students. Under the current power dynamics there can be huge repercussions for any individual within the system who advocates for change, therefore a union is the best option for students, faculty, and staff to communicate graduate student needs.

Greg Keiser, Clinical Psychology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the psychology department studying public policy and minority stress. I support a union at WSU because building power and solidarity through a union would protect us from exploitation and benefit our entire community, especially the most vulnerable. Our peers at unionized universities have better protections against harassment and exploitation, better pay and fewer fees, and more equitable benefits through healthcare and parental leave. A union would benefit the entire WSU community, as we can be more productive and effective members of the community when we have better working conditions and protections.

Katrina McDougall, Clinical Psychology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the psychology department studying the mental health of adolescents and parenting influences. As an international scholar and a woman in academia, I believe we need a union to bargain for better protections against harassment and exploitation. Through a union we can better ensure fair treatment and enforce protections so all scholars can work in a safe, respectful, and empowering environment.

Devjeet Roy, Computer Science – Pullman Campus

I am an international PhD student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department.  I strongly support a union and believe it is crucial that as graduate students we can unify our voices for the long term welfare of the student body.

Sadie Ridgeway, Sociology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the department of sociology and my research focuses on stigma, discrimination, and health. I support a union at WSU because it will provide us the collective rights and protections that we gravely need as student workers. I believe unionizing is the first step to addressing the issues many WSU graduate student workers face, such as poor healthcare, exploitation, and harassment, and will create better working conditions and circumstances for our whole community!

Kathryn Manis, English – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition. My research focuses on science communication, community-based rhetorics, social justice, and archival theories. I support a union at WSU because it provides a way to address all graduate student needs at the institutional level. With the collective bargaining power of a union I believe we can improve quality of life and the productivity of WSU’s grad community, by increasing wages and access to health care and by protecting students against the harassment, discrimination, and exploitation that occurs across our campuses.

Sarah Fakhoury, Computer Science – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD candidate in Computer Science, my research is at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and software engineering. I am a rising fourth year, WSU has been my second home all these years. I strongly support a union because I want every single current and future Coug to have an excellent experience with their time here at WSU. A union ensures that we have a safe and powerful means of communicating our needs and helps to set standards for the welfare of all our students and scholars. Through a union we are empowering Cougs for a better WSU!

Sitara Gonzalez, English – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in English with an interest in Gothic studies, specifically Gothic bodies through queer theory, race theory, and pop culture. I support a union at WSU because I believe that it will empower student academic workers to collectively impact the safety, health, and humane treatment of all individuals at the university. Through unionization, we can hold the university accountable for its actions and protect vulnerable communities, allowing us to work towards a better model of higher education for the entire community.

Aurora Brinkman, Clinical Psychology – Pullman Campus

As a graduate student in clinical psychology, I value the importance of work/life balance in maintaining mental and physical health. Unionizing will help ensure this balance and graduate student rights such as a living wage, addressing unfair work conditions, and affordable and inclusive health care and child care. Graduate students provide important services and support to the University, so it is vital we have a role in developing our benefits, working conditions, and representation.

Yonas Gezahegn, Biosystems Engineering – Pullman Campus 

I am a PhD student in the Department of Biosystems Engineering working in the Microwave-assisted heating systems. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are a huge part of the Cougs family, who have an important contribution to the academic and research activities. As part of the family, we need our voice to be heard in our second home, WSU. Having a strong union will help us to convey our voices in a formal manner. Looking at other universities’ experiences having a union has a positive impact on addressing common issues that will enable us to accomplish our job and succeed.

Chelsea Ratzlaff, English – Vancouver Campus

I am an Adjunct faculty member in the department of English at Washington State University Vancouver. My teaching and research focuses on working-class American literature with an emphasis on intersectionality and forms of mobilization and resistance. Because American culture is steeped in the myths of white-supremacy, patriarchy, classism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation that work to bar access, deny the truth, inhibit learning – and render disposable the labor of non-tenured faculty and graduate students – I support the unionization and thus the mobilization, empowerment, and security of bodies here within.

Ziyi Zhang, Computer Science – Pullman Campus

I am an international PhD student in EECS. I strongly support a union and hope the union can provide help to convey the aspirations of our international students and to protect our rights and interests, so that our university can become a warmer and better WSU.

Aaron Jesch, History – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student focusing on labor and working-class history and the culture of the Industrial Workers of the World. I want to make WSU and Pullman a more welcoming environment for students and employees of all backgrounds. I strongly support a union to assist with issues of harassment, equality, and equity for student employees. A union will give them the power to address issues of healthcare and student compensation collectively.

Stephanie Blair, School of the Environment – Puyallup Research and Extension Center

I’m a PhD student in the School of the Environment investigating the toxicology of coho salmon exposed to urban stormwater runoff. In addition to my academic studies, I carry the responsibilities of being an indigenous woman and mother to my young daughter. Maintaining a work life balance is critical to the development of my career, my daughter’s childhood and the communities that I serve to bring about a better future for All Our Relations. A graduate student union is necessary to represent my student voice and address the unmet needs of non-traditional students like myself.

Furkan Cakmak, Political Science – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in Political Science with focuses on political communication, political psychology and American politics. As an international student from Turkey, I observed in colleges around the world how a union can benefit not just its members but also, its environment as a whole. We are a part of the Coug family and we want to stay as part of this great school. However, like any family member, we require enough care and attention to stay healthy and enjoy our time here. This is why I support a union for us as graduate student workers at WSU. It will give us the necessary tools to make sure that our voices are heard and our interests are taken into account.

Abigail Cohen, Entomology – Pullman Campus

I want a union because graduate students are more powerful when we stand in solidarity with one another. It is only by standing together that we can create a more equitable baseline for all students. A graduate student union would also advocate for our interests collectively, instead of leaving those negotiations to individual students and advisors. This is more important than ever in a post-COVID world where some universities have no qualms about forcing students to teach in-person during a pandemic.

Sandte Stanley, Sociology – Pullman Campus

I believe the greatest advocates that graduate students have is ourselves. Somewhere along the way the belief that being in graduate school means suffering through having inadequate health care, not having enough money to care for yourself, and accepting any type of treatment in our role as subordinates has become canon. I believe a union will help grads organize in a way that corrects that view of what a graduate experience should be. Higher productivity comes from healthier and happier grads.

Andrea Bazzoli, Experimental Psychology – Vancouver Campus

Graduate students are an important part of conducting research but there is definitely a need for a union to actively listen to the unique challenges that we face, as well as bargain with the university to solve those issues. Doing so will give us a stronger and unified voice to improve our experience at WSU.

Alana Anderson, Prevention Science – Pullman Campus

Graduate students are a vital part of research at WSU, and our contribution can only be made greater by ensuring we are all secure, well-funded, and provided the support necessary to thrive. This union will allow us to have power behind our collective voices, and ensure our needs are met. Unionizing will also show future students that the graduate student community at WSU is healthy, supported, secure, and a great place to learn.

Jose Riera, Language, Literacy, & Technology – Pullman Campus

I fully endorse the creation of a student union at WSU to protect graduate student workers from potential academic abuses. University ombudspeople and/or academic advisors cannot represent our best interests effectively in a close-knit community like Pullman, where their interactions with university professors in various social settings may induce them to downplay or dismiss reports of potential academic exploitation for fear of jeopardizing their personal relationships. A student union can ensure that reports of student worker exploitation are addressed by sympathetic peers who will handle them with the priority and transparency they deserve.

Kathryn Sheridan-Stiefel, Teaching & Learning/Special Ed – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in special education, and have worked for many years as a special educator in public schools. In the past, being a part of a union helped me to feel heard, supported and protected in my workplace. I would love to be part of a union for student workers at WSU.

Emma McMain, Educational Psychology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student exploring critical and decolonial approaches to social-emotional learning and education in general. Unionizing at WSU will help us collectively advocate for rights, services, and recognitions that can improve the quality of life and learning for our graduate student community—including better healthcare; compensation for our work; and meaningful ways to address harassment, discrimination, and exploitation.

Chloe Erikson, Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience – Pullman Campus

If WSU truly wants to be recognized as one of the nations top 25 public research universities by 2030, it needs to better support graduate students. One of their listed strategies to achieve this goal is to increase the number of Doctoral degrees awarded. Having a graduate student union to advocate stipend allocation, healthcare options, and investigate potential workplace harassment concerns will convince a majority of potential students that WSU is the University for them.

Aleksey Reshetnikov, Sociology- Pullman Campus

When my family immigrated to the United States it was to provide future generations an opportunity to pursue education. I could seek, create, and distribute knowledge in a setting that appreciated that. Upon entering graduate school I learned that the system was flawed. Graduate students are treated as assistants to be seen and not heard. I support a graduate student union at WSU because I believe in living wages, usable healthcare, shared power, and labor protection. I owe it to my family to fight for positive change in the pursuit of knowledge.

Alana Inlow, Sociology – Vancouver Campus

Unions build strength and solidarity. I support unions because I believe in workers’ rights. Unions set the precedent for the 8-hour work day, making many jobs safer, and minimum wage which has historically allowed for a much healthier and just standard of living. Obviously, bosses, owners, and bureaucracies still hold a lot of power over their workers and can try to cut corners in order to create wealth for themselves. That is why unions are still so important; they fight for the well-being of workers and protect against those who aim to cheat workers out of their livelihoods.

Greysen Danae, School of Economic Sciences – Pullman Campus

As it stands now, the university is not contractually obligated to take care of its graduate students. When we unionize, we create a singular entity that balances out the power of the administration. With a union we will negotiate a legally binding contract ensuring fair compensation for the work we do for the university. Together in solidarity we have representation at the table typically reserved only for university administrators. Together as a union, we can guarantee that our needs are met, and our rights are respected.

Priyanka Bushana, Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience – Spokane Campus

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Neuroscience. My research focuses on sleep deprivation and its consequences on a molecular level. I support a union at WSU because it will cultivate a collective voice for graduate students across the WSU system. The diversity of voices will help us reach better solutions when it comes to many issues that student workers struggle with including access to healthcare, childcare, protection from harassment, and equitable wages. I believe that unionization will produce stronger graduate programs at WSU and help to raise the profile of the research programs produced by our university.

Matthew Cherico, English – Pullman Campus

I am a MA student in English with an emphasis in literature. I support a union at WSU because it provides a way to address all graduate student needs at the institutional level. With the collective bargaining power of a union I believe we can improve quality of life of WSU’s grad community, by increasing wages and access to health care and by better protecting students against harassment, discrimination, and exploitation.

Katie Flores, Anthropology – Pullman Campus

My name is Katie Flores. I’m a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology and I support a union at WSU. I believe a union could better help student workers directly tackle issues that affect them, e.g. harassment, exploitation, inadequate healthcare and benefits, and lack of support for BIPOC and international students. In doing so, we can work towards creating and sustaining a healthier work/research environment that is functional and equitable for all.

Teresa C., American Studies and Culture – Pullman Campus

I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student at WSU and I fully support the long overdue formation of a grad student union. There is an imminent need for us to organize ourselves and build a strong support system that all graduate and professional students need to feel secure and protected in their workplace. Collectively we can work to ensure that the resources we require to successfully live and work at WSU are accessible, obtained, and secured. The time is now. 

Carla Marcela De Lira, Computer Science – Pullman Campus

I am a Computer Science PhD student and my research is on how we can leverage emotional learning process data as a way to connect computer science students with their peers through empathy. As a first-generation student from a working-class family, I have first-hand experience of how a university’s role can make a great, lasting impact on a person’s socioeconomic mobility in the future. Being a part of a union would ensure that we provide voices to first-generation graduate students who often have concerns about financial stability, discrimination, and healthcare.

Kristi Tippett, Educational Psychology – Pullman Campus

As an educator and member of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, I have learned the tremendous value of unions in facilitating dialogue between employers and employees. In addition to improved workplace communication, unions are associated with higher productivity and lower employee burnout. It is my belief that all stake-holders in higher education stand to benefit from the unionization of graduate students.

Ebenezer Ewumi, Computer Science – Pullman Campus

I am a Master’s Student in Computer Science and a believe that student unions are important as they create a living and evolving culture for student growth and success.

Alexander Messick, Physics and Astronomy – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the department of Physics and Astronomy studying neutron star mergers and black holes. I want a graduate student union so that grad students can actually have more of a say in the decisions and policies that affect us. It is easier to vocalize any issues or demands we may have as a collective than as individuals against the monolith of academic bureaucracy.

April Kraft-Duley, Criminal Justice and Criminology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the department of criminal justice and criminology. My research focuses on juvenile justice and school violence. I support a union at WSU because they can provide marginalized individuals a voice and protection. We have many issues that need addressing at WSU including healthcare coverage, support for dependents, and working conditions. These issues are not new, but perhaps by uniting we can see some improvements.

Kyle Rakowski, Sociology – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the Sociology department studying education inequality. I support unionization at WSU because it fundamentally addresses the power imbalances that exist within our community at large. Graduate students are essential at WSU and yet their voices and concerns are often overlooked. A union would provide protections against the systems of exploitation or harassment that often impact members of our community and make us a part of the decision-making processes that shape our community.

Christopher Szlenk, Pharmaceutical Sciences – Spokane Campus

I am a PhD candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences with an emphasis in computer aided drug design. My research focuses on understanding how drugs interact with their targets in atomistic resolution. I support a union because it helps connect and empower our graduate students now and into the future. With a collective bargaining unit, we can truly understand the issues facing us and address them accordingly. I want what is best for the graduate students everywhere.

Aita Rivolta, Veterinary Clinical Sciences – Pullman Campus 

I’m a PhD student in Clinical and Translational Sciences, studying the role of innate immunity in bacterial infection. I think this union will help graduate students; connecting them together and improving their experience at this university.

Mark Batcheler, School of the Environment – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student with CAHNRS.  I support a graduate student union in order to address the needs of our fellow students.  Ensuring students have health insurance with lower deductibles and stipends that are consistent with the cost of living are but a few of the issues that need to be addressed immediately.  Ultimately, we need a union to be a strong voice in representing our students.

Angela Gonzalez, Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience – Vancouver Campus

I am a first generation Mexican-American. I was fortunate enough to somehow navigate my way into a career I only dreamed of as a child: a Neuroscience PhD. My career path was cultivated with the support of mentors who believed in me and inspired me. This kind of support should be maintained throughout graduate programs for students like me; which is why I support the graduate student union. Not only will unionization address the needs of all graduate students– it will ensure that underrepresented minorities do not fall through the cracks of a mainstream system that may not necessarily provide the same support and opportunities pertinent for success as the general student population. In order for WSU to reach their 2030 goals for its graduate school, it must devote resources and address the needs of the most vulnerable, yet most promising student population: underrepresented minorities. We need support because we are the future. Diversity is key in ensuring the goal of prestige within the WSU graduate programs.

Evan Terrell, Biosystems Engineering – Pullman Campus

I recently completed a PhD in the department of biological systems engineering. Growing uncertainties regarding immigration policy, healthcare, funding, and employment opportunities make it all the more challenging to be an effective researcher as a graduate assistant. WSU CASE can help to make sure that everyone has a fair and equitable experience as an academic student employee.

Alex Kirkpatrick, Communication and Society – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD candidate in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. My research orbits media psychology, strategic communication and the public understanding of science, technology and risk. I support the formation of an independent union of graduate students in an effort to better defend and expand upon the rights of graduate student workers who are prone to exploitation, unfair and biased work practices, and must contend with these and other factors without access to sufficient mental-health resources. Prior practice and the formative experiences of faculty are not justification for perpetuating an unhealthy and unbalanced system.

Elliot Helmer, Anthropology – Pullman Campus

Universities run on the back of academic student employee labor, but this is not reflected in our compensation or benefits. I believe it is essential that we are able to advocate for ourselves on a collective level in order to gain the compensation we deserve and to push for issues of equity and racial justice that affect so many ASEs on a personal level. By unionizing we will be able to join our voices and make real changes for us and for the ASEs to come.

Brena Thompson, Chemistry – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the department of Chemistry and I support the effort to form a union because graduate students’ success in the program, safety, and future careers should not be so dependent on choosing the perfect advisor their first year at WSU. I also support the effort to form a union because graduate students are not allowed to pursue other sources of income, yet we do not make enough money to avoid medical debt with our current health insurance plan.

Matthew Hurlock, Chemistry – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the chemistry department. I fully support the unionization of graduate students at WSU. A graduate student union would provide student workers a collective voice and equal footing to address issues with WSU. A union would improve the well-being of graduate students by addressing issues like harassment and exploitation of students, wages and fees, and healthcare benefits.

Ross Salerno, School of the Environment – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student in the School of the Environment on the Pullman campus. My research focuses on using radioisotope geochemistry to better understand the early Earth. I believe unionization is the best way we can advocate for grad student needs such as health care and wages. Academics and higher education in the US are racist, sexist, ableist, and oppressive institutions. Unionization will help give graduate students a voice against these systemic issues.

Reanne Cunningham, Clinical Psychology – Pullman Campus

My name is Reanne Cunningham, I’m a 3rd year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology but I’ve been a part of the WSU community for nearly a decade. It is because of how much I care about WSU and the students who are a part of this community that I support unionizing. Cougs are stronger together and the union we form will help us uphold the values that make WSU so great.

Kartik Sreedhar, Physics and Astronomy – Pullman Campus

I am a PhD student and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and I am studying quantum chaos in ultracold atoms confined in optical lattices. As a scientific worker and educator, I believe unionization is an effective way to improve the working conditions of graduate students. I have understood that improving the condition of graduate student employees is vital to their mental health and morale, and that has a direct impact on our productivity and efficacy as researchers and educators. A unionized workforce can better ensure accountability from the university administration to its student workers, and make WSU a stronger institution as a whole.

Pique Choi, Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience – Pullman Campus

We proudly enter graduate school to pursue a higher degree of education so that we can achieve our goals as contributors to the school and our society. However, the school’s terms and conditions under which the graduate students work often fail to create an environment to do so. As a PhD candidate at WSU, I support unionization because I believe the student workers deserve to have a voice to fight for their needs such as better healthcare, stipend adjustments, and protection against exploitation and various forms of harassment. A union at WSU will not only build solidarity for us students, but it will provide strength to bring actionable changes for a better educational environment and experience for the current and future students.

Claudia Skinner, School of Languages, Cultures and Race – Pullman Campus

“Unionising will create a better platform for our voices, provide a clear support structure for ASEs, and ensure that our workplace negotiates with us on vital changes such as protections against harassment and discrimination, fairer pay, and better working conditions. It will improve the lives of my colleagues, the students we teach, and the higher education system as a whole.”

Daniel McCloskey, Anthropology Department – Pullman Campus

“We need a union at WSU because the university shouldn’t have the power to unilaterally make decisions on our behalf. Academic Student Employees are part of the university community and we deserve the dignity that comes with that. A union will give us the power to have our voices heard and to be fully respected at this institution.”