PSUFA is governed by an executive council made up of adjuncts just like you who work collectively to make union decisions and best represent our members.
Executive Council Co-Chair
& Chair of Grievances
Lyndsie Compton
Lyndsie (she/her) teaches Spanish at PSU and PCC. She's passionate about creating community in all of her circles and has been working with PSUFA since the day she was hired as an adjunct. She believes that union activism not only combats the isolation of being an adjunct, it also confronts the most fundamental issues we face, inside and outside of the institution, and builds collective power that makes meaningful change possible.
Chair of Membership
Vasiliki Touhouliotis
Vasiliki (she/her) teaches courses on the Middle East in the Department of International and Global Studies at PSU. Having been contingent faculty at five universities and community colleges prior to coming to PSU, she is intimately acquainted with the experience of the casualization of labor in higher education and believes that unions are the only way to create better working conditions for faculty, protect academic freedom, and fight for free college for all. Her academic research and publications explore the protracted injustices of militarized violence from a feminist perspective and she sees the labor struggle as deeply tied with other struggles for racial
and social justice.
Chair of Collective Bargaining
Ariana Jacob
Ariana (she/her) teaches in the Social Practice MFA Program in the School of Art + Design and she has been on the Executive Council for PSUFA since 2016. She did not expect to become so deeply involved in the union, but has found it makes adjuncting at PSU much less isolating, and that being a part of the union is a powerful tool for improving our working conditions as well as a pathway into broader transformative justice work.
Chair of Political Action & co-chair
Erica Thomas
Erica (she/her) is an artist, designer, and educator, and has been an active member of PSUFA since becoming a faculty member in 2019, and an SEIU member from 2008 to 2011. She earned an MFA in Art and Social Practice from Portland State University in 2014 and has been investigating labor as a part of her art practice for many years. She frequently partners with people and organizations to build solidarity among aligned political movements through art, events, and other activities. She deeply believes that work and the workplace are the sites of universal political struggle and as such she is committed to building power for workers at PSU and beyond.
Chair of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice
Dustin Bessette
Dustin (he/him) teaches in the School of Business and has been on the Executive Council for PSUFA since 2022. He has become deeply involved in the union, and has found that it makes teaching at PSU much more comforting. Being a part of the union is a powerful tool for improving our working conditions, connections, as well as a pathway into broader career goals.
Chair of Treasury
Martha Daghlian
Martha (she/her; they/them) teaches art at Portland State University's School of Art + Design, and has been a member of PSUFA since Winter 2023. They were previously a member of the Graduate Employee Organization at the University of Michigan, where they earned an MFA. Some of Martha's past/future projects include Grapefruits Art Space, athousandcirclets.garden, and the High-Tech Luddites Anti-Smartphone Club. She is an admirer of all things artsy, ephemeral, and handmade, and she loves cartoons.