My name is María Bulla (she/her). I am a fifth-year DMA Candidate in the Music Department, and currently I am CGSU-UE’s Communications Secretary. In the past few months, and in collaboration with members of the Local Executive Board, I have been in charge of our unit-wide communications: emails, newsletter, zines, flyers, website, and social media posts; as well as the design of our merchandise.

As part of a strategy to overcome email fatigue while keeping our membership updated about the constant activities of the union, we created the monthly newsletter The Stew. In this newsletter we have shared important developments of current fights, upcoming events, news, readings of interest, as well as opportunities of engagement and solidarity with the Ithaca community at large—this with the purpose of connecting our community with the town where we live because our fights are connected. The Stew has proven to have great engagement and reception from our membership, and I am excited to continue with this project in the upcoming months.

Along with the Communications Committee, which I chair, we have created a new zine for incoming students (a continuation of the success of our contract zine), multiple social media and flyer campaigns with the purpose of sharing current fights as well as celebrating our wins. We have revitalized the content and appearance of our website, and we keep it up to date with important information such as our events calendar, contact forms, and important links and documents. We have also created new stickers and buttons that highlight the essential presence of queer and international workers in our union. My goal as Communications Secretary has been to create clear forms of communication that reach every single graduate worker, wherever they are located. From experience, I know this is not an easy task, but with creativity, and alongside incredible organizers, we will keep working towards this goal.

Aside from my responsibilities as Communications Secretary, I am a member of the Political Action Committee. I am also a steward for Region 3 and I have been working on grievances that affect workers in multiple departments across the arts and humanities. I am an international worker, and as such, I want to keep working towards the growth of our strong and militant union. There are no fights we can’t take when we act as a united front.

Our first Local Executive Board faced unprecedented challenges, but we were able to work through them by staying together as a team, with the guidance of our leading officers and the support of UE National staff. In the past few months I have witnessed the incredible work all of our candidates have done in this new stage of our union, and I am excited to continue this work with them. I am running with the Build / Activate / Mobilize (BAM) slate, to continue with my work as Communications Secretary of our union.