CFU-UAW Election for Unit Representatives

CFU-UAW Unit Chair Candidates:

The election for CFU-UAW Local 7902 Unit Chair is uncontested and the candidate will be elected by acclamation.

Elisabeth Fay, Expository Writing Program:

I joined the CFU organizing committee in 2017 and I’ve never stepped away. Over the past nine years, I’ve learned how different our jobs can look, and I know that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to solving problems in our workplace. As a former member of the CFU bargaining committee, I’m proud of our contract, but I also know that enforcing it will require us to keep organizing and building structures that allow us to more effectively coordinate across our schools, programs, and departments. I’m eager to take on the challenge of educating CFU members and the NYU administrators about the contractual protections we’ve won. If elected, I will work to ensure that all contract faculty have a voice in the decisions we make as a bargaining unit, and as members of Local 7902.

CFU-UAW Unit Representative Candidates: 

This election will take place with six (6) candidates running at-large for five (5) seats.

Gwendolyn Alker, Drama (Tisch School of the Arts): 

Gwendolyn Alker, Ph.D. is a long-time labor activist and more recent labor historian. She was a foundational organizer on the UAW-7902 campaign and began working in Tisch on the CFU campaign in 2021. Since January, 2026 she has been a member of the CFU Organizing Committee. Gwendolyn has been full-time faculty in Tisch Drama since 2003, holding numerous leadership positions including Co-Chair of the Tisch Faculty Council, committee member on Academic Affairs, and the Director of the Theatre Studies Program. A long-time N.Y.U. community member, she received her Ph.D. in Performance Studies conferred by FAS/Tisch; ran the Advisement Program at Gallatin; and has worked extensively with the Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness, and Drama Therapy programs in Steinhardt. She is also a dramaturg specializing in gender and performance, and Latina theatre, particularly the work of the late, great playwright María Irene Fornés whose biography she is currently completing.

Nikita Grigoryev, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Tandon)

I am an Industry Assistant Professor in the Biomolecular Science Program at NYU Tandon and currently serve as Lab Director for the BMS educational laboratories. Over the past year, I have been actively involved in CFU-UAW organizing efforts, including attending bargaining sessions, supporting faculty outreach across departments and schools, communicating updates to colleagues, and helping mobilize participation during the contract campaign and strike preparation efforts.

Throughout the bargaining process, I worked closely with colleagues within CBE and across NYU to ensure faculty remained informed and engaged, including through one-on-one discussions, school-wide communications, and faculty meeting presentations. I strongly believe that protecting faculty working conditions is inseparable from protecting the quality of education we provide to our students.

I am currently studying the new contract and preparing to be an informant on union matter for my CBE departmental and would be honored to continue supporting our membership as a Unit Representative. My goal is to help ensure that our first contract is fully understood, fairly enforced, and strengthened through continued organizing and collective action.

Dustin C. Jones, J.D., Schack Institute of Real Estate (School of Professional Studies) 

This has been a historic year! We fought together, held the line together, and ratified our first contract — fundamentally transforming what it means to be a contract faculty member at NYU. For the first time, we have real job security protections, enforceable reappointment rights, academic freedom guarantees, and retirement provisions that treat us with the dignity we’ve always deserved. That didn’t happen by accident — it happened because we organized, persisted, and refused to accept less.

But 27 years as an attorney has taught me that a contract is only as strong as its enforcement. Too many of our colleagues still don’t know what rights they now have. Part of my mission as your union representative will be to change that — to make sure every CFU member understands what we achieved, what it means for their daily working life, and how to assert those rights when it counts.

We proved this year that collective action works. We literally proved that contract faculty united have power. I want to keep building on that energy, protecting what we won, and pushing for what comes next. I would be honored to have your vote and your trust. 

Ger O’Donoghue, Expository Writing Program (Arts & Science) 

[Candidate Statement TBD] 

Benedetta Piantella, Technology, Culture & Society (Tandon)

Since joining CFU during the 2019 card drive, I have been there throughout our transition from organizing, to recognition, to bargaining, to striking, to winning our first contract. On the Bargaining Committee, I worked alongside colleagues on many of the complicated issues that affect our lives as contract faculty, including expanded childcare support, PI status, professional development, protections around AI, data privacy, and clearer recognition of the many kinds of labor we perform across NYU. Over the past year, I have listened to and supported colleagues through hundreds of questions, concerns, and cases, giving me a deep understanding of where implementation will be clear and where we can expect pushback. I am running because winning a contract is only the beginning. We now need representatives who know the agreement, its history, understand NYU’s complexity, and are ready to help enforce our rights with care, clarity, and persistence.

Jamie Root French Literature, Thought and Culture (Arts & Science)

I have been involved with CFU-UAW since 2019 when I signed my first card. First as simply a strong supporter, then as an organizer, and most recently as one of the elected members of our Bargaining Committee. It was an honor to work with and represent such amazing colleagues and to help draft our first contract – a process that has left me with a deep familiarity with its many provisions. Now that we have ratified our agreement, I hope to continue helping our Contract Faculty Members by serving as one of our elected Unit Representatives. With my detailed knowledge of our contract, my service as an organizer, and my experience interacting with the administration and their legal counsel, I feel I am well-positioned to take on this role. I look forward to continuing to help strengthen our contract and ensure both its enforcement and the protection of our members.