Election Candidates
2025 Candidates Standing for Election to the Executive Committee at the SGM
Please find a list of each candidate standing for election to Executive Committee positions in accordance with the QUFA Constitution and Policies. Each candidate has written a statement in advance of the Spring General Meeting and the elections.
President
Karen Rudie
I am a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Interim Director of Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, and a cross-appointee to the School of Computing. I’ve been active in QUFA since I arrived at Queen’s decades ago and was on the executive that worked to certify QUFA as a union. I ran for VP two years ago because I wanted to get more involved in shaping our work lives. I’m a strong believer in the power of a collective voice. I also still believe in what I said when I ran for VP, that Queen’s can be a place where we all thrive and where being at work can be joyful. I do not believe in an “us or them” approach; a strong faculty union means that it’s not professors and librarians versus administrators, or professors versus students, or professors versus other employees.
What makes Queen’s special is the beautiful relationship between a school where you can get both a science and humanities education and the larger Kingston community. It matters to me to be at a university where I can attend a theatre production by our students, a university which trains the student nurses I see on hospital visits, a university where there are electronics labs, an art collection and music rooms.
Ideally, QUFA works alongside administration—not against it—to achieve a work life that helps us feel safe and allows us to flourish. At the same time, I am prepared to be your voice to administration when we are not heard.
About my work: I love both research and teaching. I am a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). My research is on modeling, control, and security of discrete-event systems.
Vice President
Melissa Houghtaling
My name is Melissa Houghtaling, and I am running for Vice President of QUFA. I am an Assistant Professor (Continuing Adjunct) in the Department of Gender Studies. I have been heavily involved with QUFA since 2014 when I first served as a Term Adjunct and Gender Studies Representative on QUFA Council (and later, a Continuing Adjunct rep). Since that time, I have served on the Political Action and Communications Committee (PACC), the Joint Committee to Administer the Agreement (JCAA), the Executive Committee (as a Member-at-Large and later as a Continuing Adjunct Rep), and the Adjunct Advocacy Committee (AAC; as co-chair and chair). I was also a member of the 2018 QUFA Bargaining Team.
My interests in running for QUFA Vice President stem from my on-going work with the union and a desire to serve the membership in a larger capacity. I am keenly aware of the many issues and inequities that adjunct members face and will continue to advocate for adjunct rights. Having been an Undergraduate Chair (UGC) in Gender Studies for 10 years, I have been concerned with the increased workloads associated with teaching and administrating undergraduate courses while departmental supports and resources decrease. I believe my knowledge and experience with undergraduate program administration will help inform Executive discussions on teaching-related workload concerns. Lastly, as VP, I would like to see better representation of the labour interests and concerns of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) QUFA members, and where possible I would like to work with and support QUFA committees, caucuses, and initiatives with these interests in mind.
I look forward to working with upcoming QUFA President Karen Rudie and supporting her leadership over the next two years, as we work together to represent and address the concerns and interests of the membership.
Political Action and Communications Committee (PACC) Chair
Vanessa E. Thompson
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies and the Black Studies Program. I came to Queen’s in 2022. I bring long-term experience as an Equity and Diversity General Board member at Goethe-University Frankfurt (Germany), as well as a history in transnational abolitionist community and labor organizing. In the university context, I have been active in campaigns advocating for non-carceral approaches at German universities as well as better working conditions for term adjuncts and teaching assistants. At Queen’s, I have been involved in organizing against austerity, against carceral mechanisms, and for the safety of multi-marginalized groups on campus against the background of increasing anti-gender and racist attacks at Canadian universities (and beyond). This work is connected to my research and organizing as a critical black studies scholar and feminist sociologist with a focus on abolition, justice, and liberation.
I have been a member of QUFA’s Political Action and Communications Committee (PACC) since August 2023. As a member of this committee, I have been involved in advocating for greater equity and anti-racist principles at Queen’s and within QUFA, better working conditions (especially for more precarious folks), and solidarity with labor and community organizing also beyond the university. I’ve also witnessed membership interest in advocating for academic freedom, support and safety for vulnerable groups on campus, and further solidarity building among the unions at Queen’s. In July 2024, I took on the role as PACC Chair and continued to focus on these commitments and principles. In the last year, the PACC committee was very active. We have founded the first BIPoC Caucus so that our racialized members are represented and have a space to address their experiences and concerns. This commitment translated into a survey, designed by the co-chairs and members of the Caucus, to gather further information and insight on our racialized member’s needs and concerns. As PACC, we further organized the QUFA Lecture series entitled Divesting from Austerity. Solidarity and Equity in Labor Struggles. We thus revived the tradition of the annual QUFA lecture, but also transformed it a bit as we organized two panel sessions. The first panel explored the connection between labor struggles and equity issues. The second panel interrogated the relationship between AI, austerity, and pedagogy. Both events were very well attended. As PACC chair, I plan to continue to oversee and co-organize these lectures to further educate our QUFA members, and to contribute to building spaces in which we can discuss strategies against austerity collectively. In these intense times of austerity and immense workload for our QUFA members, PACC has also continued to keep channels of communication open with our caregiving members and new faculty. We have organized open sessions for new faculty so that they can share their concerns, and continue to work closely with networks of caregiving QUFA members.
In my role as PACC chair and in these increasingly difficult times, I hope to continue to contribute to campus equity, strong labor organizing and solidarity, anti-austerity work, and anti-racist justice for QUFA members and at Queen’s (and in Kingston) more broadly.
Continuing Adjunct Representative
Megan Edgelow
After nearly two decades at Queen’s as an adjunct, my involvement with QUFA has grown in recent years. I joined the Faculty of Health Sciences as a part-time Term Adjunct in 2008 and became a Continuing Adjunct in 2017, working through the ranks from Lecturer to Assistant Professor and most recently to Associate Professor during that time. In recent years I have been a member of QUFA’s Adjunct Advocacy Committee and am also a current member of the QUFA Bargaining Team. Having occupied many roles and ranks as an adjunct at Queen’s, I am well situated to represent the interests of Continuing Adjuncts on the QUFA Executive Committee.
Term Adjunct Representative
Debra Haak
My name is Debra Haak and I am writing to express my interest in serving on the QUFA Executive Committee as the Term Adjunct Representative. I have been teaching in the Faculty of Law at Queen’s since 2015, first as a Teaching Fellow while I completed my PhD, and now as a Term Adjunct. I currently serve on the Adjunct Advisory Committee reviewing results of the adjunct survey to make recommendations to the bargaining team. My contributions draw on my experience teaching at Queen’s and at York University, as well as on my experience as a practicing lawyer. For 20 years, I regularly represented clients in mediation and arbitration proceedings and appeared before all levels of court in Ontario.
Adjunct Members are the most precarious employee group within QUFA. We are facing uniquely challenging times in the postsecondary sector and at Queen’s. QUFA plays an important role in representing the interests of its members, including its Term Adjunct Members, to Queen’s Administration, Board of Trustees, and Senate, and to those in the wider community and in government who form and implement policy on university education. As the Term Adjunct Representative on the QUFA Executive Committee, I will work to ensure that the unique and diverse experiences and interests of Term Adjunct Members across the university are well represented.
Health & Safety Representative
Lorena Jessop
I’m a Continuing Adjunct in Languages, Literatures and Cultures (LLCU) where I teach Linguistics. For the past year, I have been your Health and Safety Representative, and I am seeking re-election. It has been a pleasure serving QUFA members in this capacity, and I have learned a lot in that year about QUFA as well as Health and Safety on Campus. After 5 days of Provincially Mandated Training, I am now a certified Joint Health and Safety Member. In my role as QUFA’s Health and Safety Representative over the past year, I have also served on the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC).
If I am re-elected, I would like to continue working with you on issues that matter to you. In near term, I see an increased focus on the quality of drinking water across campus. If I am re-elected, I will also put my name forward to be the Worker Co-Chair on the FAS JHSC, a position that has been vacant for the past year.
QUFA is an important way for its members to come together to improve their working conditions and to voice their concerns to the University. In my opinion, that voice should be based on respect, building consensus and collaboration. At this difficult budgetary time, these characteristics are more important than ever. With attention elsewhere, safety is not getting much attention. However, safety risks continue to threaten our members. In fact, safety risks may be exacerbated because we are distracted.
If given the opportunity to serve as your Health and Safety rep again, my goal would be to keep everyone as safe as possible, improving safety conditions for everyone at Queen’s.
Member at Large
Brooke Cameron
My name is Brooke Cameron and I am an assistant professor in the department of English and Creative Writing. I teach nineteenth-century literature and culture, with a specific interest in class and labour politics. I would love to become an active member of QUFA’s exec so that I can learn more about the union and how I can help/serve.
Alicia Cappello
I have been with Queen’s University since 2021, first as a Research Data Management Librarian and now as an Engineering & Science Librarian. I have been involved with QUFA since 2022, including serving on the QUFA Executive between 2022 and 2024 as the Library & Archives Representative; serving as a QUFA member on the LOA #6 Compensation Working Group in 2024; and most recently as a member of the 2025 QUFA Bargaining Team.
I have always enjoyed my time working with QUFA and on behalf of QUFA members and I look forward to being able to continue that service. I am a pragmatic decision-maker who is never afraid to ask questions or start a discussion to ensure I have all the information I need to make a balanced decision. My experience, style, and passion for ensuring fairness and accountability make me an excellent candidate for the Member-at-Large position.
Michael Greenspan
I started my career at Queen’s in 2001, and I’ve have many interactions with QUFA over the years. When I previously served as a Department Head, I often suggested to my faculty colleagues that they contact QUFA when they encountered particular issues, many times advocating on their behalf. Our system is setup to have a balance between the roles of QUFA and administration, so that issues can be resolved cooperatively when they arise. My view is that the current administration has chosen to take an increasingly distant and adversarial approach, and that our best response to maintain and promote collegiality is through a strong and organized QUFA.
For the past year, I’ve served on the QUFA Executive as Member-At-Large. Over that time, I developed QUFA’s Campus Conversations podcast, which explored the issue of Intellectual Property as it relates to our roles as faculty members, and I contributed a 3-part series on IP to QUFA Voices. I also proposed a change to the QUFA Constitution (Article 2(vi)), to include academic freedom in our purpose statement.
I’ve found the people at the heart of QUFA to be dedicated and principled. My interest is to get more involved through a renewed term as Member-At-Large, and where I can help advance and strengthen the goals of QUFA and our faculty.
Shobhana Xavier
I am an associate professor and graduate chair in the School of Religion. I have been active with equity-based initiatives in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, such as serving as a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee from 2019-2021 and the University Council on Anti-Racism and Equity (UCARE) from 2022-2023. Currently, I am a faculty member of the Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Retention and Support (FSRRS) committee, which is a sub-council of UCARE, and am an active member of the QUFA BIPOC Caucus.