Rosa Barker and Robert Ramsay have been named new professional officers at CAUT.
Rosa has a PhD in English Literature from Queen’s University and holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in theory, culture and politics from Trent University. Over the past several years she has taught courses at Trent and Queen’s in women’s studies, contemporary feminist thought, racism, colonialism and resistance, and the short story in English. While in school at Queen’s, she played a pivotal role in organizing the teaching assistants. Previously, she was chief steward for the State University of New York Buffalo chapter of the Graduate Student Employees Union, a division of the Communications Workers of America Local 1104, and president of CUPE 3908 Unit 2 representing student academic workers at Trent.
Robert joins CAUT from the University of Toronto, where he just completed two terms as chair of CUPE Local 3902, which represents UofT’s 6,000 teaching assistants, graduate student course instructors and sessional faculty. Earlier, he was chief steward and coordinator for Local 3902’s postdoctoral fellow organizing drive. He completed his MA at the UofT and went on for PhD (ABD) in the geography department. He also holds a Master of Arts in communication, culture and technology from Georgetown University.
“It’s a pleasure to announce the addition of Rosa and Robert to our staff,” said CAUT executive director James Turk. “They are talented individuals whose knowledge, experience, commitment and enthusiasm will be of significant benefit to CAUT and our member associations.”
Rosa and Robert start at CAUT in June.