Introducing Sam Gioia

Greetings. I am Sam Gioia and I teach in the School of Social Work. I grew up in a blue-collar household where my family were proud union members and never purchased “foreign-made” cars, yet when I worked in the field as a social worker, I was never in a union-represented position.  When I came to teach at PSU, however, I immediately joined PSU AAUP, which reacquainted me with the solidarity of coworkers that my father enjoyed.  Also, in every bargaining session, PSU- AAUP has given me tangible benefits. For example, when President Wiewel proposed to make all non-tenure track faculty positions one-year contracts, AAUP negotiated for continuous appointments. When my department decided to offer summer contracts at reduced wages, AAUP fixed that.  For ten years, I had never been funded for a conference; PSU-AAUP made sure that there are professional development funds available for every member, every year.  There are stories like this for every union member and that’s why I’m proud to be a leader, member volunteer, and advocate for PSU-AAUP.