GEU StaffCurrent 2026-2027 Paid Staff
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President: Julia Oas
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About Julia
Welcome all! I’m Julia, and I am grateful to serve GEU as president this year. I hope you can get to know me, other GEU e-board & staff members, and your fellow GA & postdoc workers as unique and multifaceted individuals. Because of these differences, when we joyfully and intentionally choose to come together, we transform our understandings of individual experiences into unified demands to account for the harm and neglect within power-hoarding institutions and systems designed to pull us apart. GEU gives this work shape. For years, across numerous challenges and changing workplace contexts, postdocs and graduate students have countervailed such systems with the power of our union. I am a PhD student in the Research Methods, Measurement and Evaluation program in Educational Psychology, and a proud former elementary school teacher. Love guides me as an ethic of change, as taught to me by my former students and circles of friends, children, and humanizing leaders of people. In the president role, I hold myself responsible to thoughtfully step up and step back from authority, to disrupt the reproduction of whiteness and carcerality in social and professional spaces, and to work for a GEU that is sustainable, anti-colonial, and justly offers us all the chance to listen and lead each other into better worlds. |
Vice President: Alex Kueny
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About Alex
I am a second-year History PhD student and I'm thrilled to be the Vice President of the UConn GEU. I was inspired to run for this position because I believe in the strength and resiliency of organized workplaces. I am passionate about labor organizing and I believe the GEU is the best tool we have to win and protect strong rights, working conditions, and benefits for UConn GA's and Postdocs. I have extensive prior organizing experience and have been a leader in social movements for housing justice, immigrants' rights, and black lives. I built on this experience in my previous role as GEU Organizing Coordinator. When I'm not working with the union I'm usually riding my bike, or working on my historical research, which centers around the relationships between slavery, capitalism, revolutions, and state formation in the US and UK. During my VP term I look forward to meeting as many GA's and postdocs as I can from every department at UConn. Let's work together to make our union strong and our campus an incredible place to work and learn! |
Financial Secretary: Jimmy Palmer
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About Jimmy
I am Jimmy Palmer: graduate assistant, husband, father, and union guy. I maintain our union’s finances while studying society’s response to economic risk related to Climate Change. While volunteering time to the union since 2023 I’ve seen that we are better together when working opposite the university administration and state government. I see evidence every day of harsher work conditions from those leaders who tempt us to fight each other as they shrink our resources. Our union’s organizing and providing civic education delivers our communities from the evils of ignorance. Joining ourselves as a union protects each member and our work, to the fullest extent that we can demand from the law. Just like other economic risks, we benefit from having the power to decide the work that is to be done. That starts when each of us starts participating in our union’s decisions. |
Operations Coordinator: Emmanuel Dwamena
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About Emmanuel
I’m a second year PhD student in Curriculum and Instruction. I became involved with the union because I believe strongly in the power of collective action to ensure that graduate assistants and postdocs have the rights, benefits, and protections we deserve as workers at UConn. To me, the union is not just about contracts or policies; it’s about solidarity, making sure no one feels isolated, and building a stronger, more equitable workplace together. In my role as Operations Coordinator, I support the union by regularly maintaining and updating membership records across our various platforms, and by coordinating childcare reimbursement support so that all members can fully participate in union life. Outside of school and union work, I enjoy bowling, spending time with friends, and finding ways to stay connected with community. |
Grievance Coordinator: Anne Gilewski
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About Anne
Howdy! I am a second-year PhD student in the Marine Sciences Department at Avery Point. I started union involvement as a unit steward since our campus needed representation for questions or issues that a GA might have concerning our contract. I was inspired to join the Grievance, Organizing, and Bargaining Committees because I could see myself making a difference for our members, and more importantly, I am a resource for the Avery Point community. I am excited to continue serving as Grievance Coordinator this year and look forward to ensuring that every GA has a safe and productive experience at UConn. |
Organizing Coordinator: Bré Ball
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About Bré
Hello! My name is Bré Ball, and I am a second-year Political Science PhD student. My background is in community organizing around housing justice and disaster recovery in the southern Appalachian mountains. As the GEU’s Recording Secretary and Organizing Coordinator, I am eager to continue to support our mission of bettering the working conditions of all UConn graduate students and postdocs! I am very passionate about building worker power inside of and beyond the university by translating our organizing efforts into material wins. I am deeply committed to fostering stronger relationships with other grads, and building solidarity with workers on and off campus. Outside of the union, my academic research explores psychoanalysis and labor politics in modern intellectual history. When I am not busy with union activities or academics, I enjoy spending time reading, getting out into nature, or petting my friend’s cats. |
Organizing Coordinator: Alyssa Catlin
Pronouns: She/Her
Department: Anthropology Email: N/A |
Hi, my name is Alyssa and I am a second year PhD student in the anthropology department studying historical archaeology. I have been part of the GEU for a year now and an active member with the organizing committee. Before coming to Connecticut I was a middle school teacher in Florida. Outside of school and the union for fun I love going to the movie theater!
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Organizing Coordinator: Franca Afolabi
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Pronouns: She/Her
Department: Communication Email: TBD |
About Sage
Bio coming soon! |
