New AAUP Staff

The AAUP welcomed three new senior program officers this spring.

Mark Criley, senior program officer in the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance, joined the AAUP staff full time after a year of serving as a casework consultant with the department. Criley comes to the AAUP from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was an associate professor and a former chair of the philosophy department. As a member of Illinois Wesleyan’s AAUP chapter, he was deeply involved in faculty efforts to apply AAUP-supported principles and standards incorporated in the faculty handbook amid proposed program cuts.

Ellen Kress, an organizer, will be working closely with AAUP collective bargaining and advocacy chapters to respond to campus crises, create member-led organizations, and build membership. Kress is a PhD candidate in theater arts at the University of Oregon and was an active member of her graduate student employee union. She has served in multiple union leadership roles, including as president during the last round of collective bargaining. She also served as a state vice president for social justice organizing for the American Federation of Teachers Oregon.

Kaitlyn Vitez, government relations specialist, will be heading the AAUP’s work on federal government relations and mobilizing the membership on federal legislative issues. She joins the Association from the Student Public Interest Research Groups, where she was higher education program director. Before that, Vitez was a community organizer at Rutgers University. In addition to grassroots advocacy, she has worked on campaigns to counter corporate influence on campus, including by educational technology companies, textbook publishers, and big banks.