About the Podcast

RU Listening is a podcast of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, exploring issues of Academic Unions, Social Justice and Labor on Campus. Created by the Media and Narrative Committee of the union to address the University, our production team brings together grad workers, PTLs, NTTs, and a recent undergrad alum to foreground the concerns of some of our university’s more precarious academic workers.

Production Team

Jade Stepeney (she/her) is a Rutgers-New Brunswick ’21 graduate in Journalism and Political Science. She is a freelance podcast producer and works for a local New Jersey news station.

Danyel M. Ferrari (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Media Studies at the School of Information in New Brunswick. She has been a department representative since 2019 and is currently co-chair of the Media & Narrative Committee.

Ihsan (eh-sAn) Al-Zouabi (she/her) is a 4th year PhD student in Criminal Justice in Newark. She is a department representative and serves on the Graduate Steering Committee, Organizing & Action Committee and the Media & Narrative Committee.

Michelle “Mich” Ling (they/them) is a 3rd year PhD student in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in New Brunswick. They are a department rep and serve on the newly formed Grad Steering Committee.

Heather “HP” Pierce (she/her) is an adjunct professor (“PTL”) in the Political Science Department in New Brunswick. She is on the Executive Board of the PTL Faculty Chapter of the AAUP-AFT. She is a department representative and also serves on the Media & Narrative Committee.

Bridget Purcell (she/her) is an NTT (non-tenure track) faculty member in Cultural Anthropology in New Brunswick. She is a department representative and also serves on the AAUP-AFT Executive Committee.

Mi Hyun Yoon (she/her) is a PhD candidate in American Studies in Newark. She is a department representative and serves on the Newark Chapter executive committee and the Academic Freedom Committee.

Dylan Simpson (he/him) is a fourth year PhD candidate in Ecology & Evolution. Broadly, he is interested in social and environmental justice, and conservation. He studies wild bee populations.