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.
Interim Co-Chair & Chair of Communications
Jacob Tootalian
Jacob (he/they) is an adjunct faculty member in PSU’s English department who teaches courses on technical writing, science writing, and science fiction. His scholarship focuses on the relationship between literature, rhetoric, and the history of science, rethinking the two-cultures divide between the sciences and humanities in the modern university. His in-progress book manuscript explores the intellectual impact of rhetorical artistry and poetic possibility on the textual practices of scientific writers in the seventeenth century. He has served as one of his department’s adjunct liaisons since 2023, an initiative supported by the adjunct inclusion funding that PSUFA bargained for and won. He worked as a member of the bargaining team during the 2025–26 contract campaign.
Interim Chair Of Political Action
Erica Thomas
Erica (she/her) is an artist, organizer, 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 has served as a member of PSU’s Faculty Senate and has taught in both the University Studies and Art Departments. She deeply believes that work and the workplace are the sites of political struggle and as such she is committed to building power for workers at PSU and beyond.
Interim Diversity Equity Inclusion & Justice (DEIJ) Chair
Tomas Zurita
Tomas (He/El) is a public health educator, advocate and student. He earned his MPH from OHSU-PSU School of Public Health and is now pursuing a PhD in Community Health. His background includes coordinating community-based research on health inequities, lived experiences and equity-centered projects. He has created educational content on public health topics, led cultural humility workshops, and presented at conferences as an adjunct faculty at Portland State. His ongoing commitment to public health equity is rooted in cultural resilience, collaboration, and centering community voices. In his free time, Tomas enjoys spending time with friends and family, fishing, gymmin, cooking or messing around with music production.
Chair of Grievances
Katie Van Heest
New bio coming soon!
Interim Chair of Membership
Sarah DeYoreo
Sarah (she/they) is adjunct faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and a restaurant worker in the service industry, where she is currently working to unionize her workplace. Following completion of their MA in English at PSU in 2015 and a brief stint in a PhD program, Sarah spent years teaching community classes on race, capitalism, and ecological crisis, before returning to academia in 2025. These days, Sarah’s reading, writing, organizing, and teaching is motivated by questions of collective refusal, withdrawal, and non-participation, and by the new worlds and ways of being that refusal makes possible. Sarah is thrilled to join the Executive Council of PSUFA to continue exploring these questions in practice, and to build relationships with her fellow adjuncts.
Chair of Treasury
Adam Gittler
Adam has 25 years of experience in Operational Excellence and Global Supply Chains. His previous work included director-level and managerial roles in Lean Six Sigma, Quality, Operations, & Regulatory Affairs, based in four countries, and holds an MBA from UC-Berkeley MBA. He teaches in Portland State's Global Supply Chain Management program.