As of Tuesday, December 7, 2021, Jennifer Kerns has stepped down as PSU-AAUP President. Per our bylaws and constitution, Mark Leymon, VP for Collective Bargaining, has stepped into the role of President.
After doing the heavy lifting of navigating PSU-AAUP through 19 months of a pandemic, Jennifer is long overdue for a break, and needs to put herself and her family first in taking a step back from the demanding role of PSU-AAUP president at this time.
Jennifer would like to share the following:
I have served in leadership for PSU-AAUP for almost 5 years, three years as VP for Membership and Organizing and, since May 2020, as President. It has been incredibly rewarding work and has brought me a significant amount of joy. I have enjoyed working to advance the interests of our members and PSU-AAUP and I am very proud of the work that I have done in close collaboration with terrific member volunteers and leaders. I have also greatly enjoyed meeting and working with and for different folks across campus. It has been a sincere pleasure to work among so many thoughtful, committed colleagues and it really has been a highlight of my professional career here at PSU.
While this may seem like a trite politician's reason, I am making this decision to resign due to the responsibilities I have as a single mother to two teenage children. My eldest is going away to college in the fall and time seems to be moving forward at an incredibly distressing pace. While I was able to strike some work-life balance while President these last 19 months, I do not foresee the ability to do so in the coming months. This was a difficult decision, but one that I must make for myself and my children. I will continue to support our wonderful organization in other ways and remain committed to PSU-AAUP, which has and will continue to advocate for our members in myriad ways. I am very grateful that we have this union.
In solidarity,
Jennifer Kerns
Our leadership team is gearing up for a busy winter “break” and we will be following up with all of the following as soon as we can: announcements about an interim VP for collective bargaining, updates on the member vote, updates on interim employee staffing.