My name is Amy E. Borden. I am Associate Professor of Film Studies in the School of Film in the College of the Arts. I am from a multi-generation union family: both my father and grandfather were proud members of their local IBEW, as was I when we unionized as graduate students at the University of Iowa in the late 1990s. I’m a first-generation college graduate whose access to elite institutions was engendered by the power unions have to give voice to workers and to create the foundation for stable, middle-class lives. I chose to work at PSU because of its unionized faculty; I know they will always have my back, which is important because speaking up and speaking back defines my professional life.