Instructor Bios

Mark Brenner – Mark joined the LERC faculty in 2018 and has been Co-Director since 2022. Prior to joining LERC he worked for 12 years as the director for Labor Notes, a Detroit-based nonprofit dedicated to “putting the movement back in the labor movement.”  Mark has coauthored several books including Secrets of a Successful Organizer.

Jasmine Chorley-Foster – Jasmine is an incoming assistant professor of political science at the University of Oregon where she is a member of United Academics. She was an active member of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3902, where she served as Grievance Officer and steward.

Krista Cordova – Krista is currently a partner at McKanna, Bishop, Joffe, with extensive experience representing public sector unions and their members in administrative hearings and arbitration. Prior to joining McKanna, Bishop, Joffe she served eight years as in-house council for ATU Local 757.

Susan Crumpton – Susan is a Field Education Coordinator for AFSCME in the Western Region. She joined AFSCME in 2022 with over 22 years of experience in organizing, representation, and labor education.  She supported the interests of public education employees in Oregon and now supports state, county, and city employees across the region. Susan is a core member of the labor education network in the Pacific Northwest. 

Ira Cuello-Martinez

Pradnya Garud – Pradnya is the chair of SEIU Local 503’s climate justice committee. She works as an environmental health data equity strategist for the Oregon Health Authority in the Data and Epidemiology Unit.

Ranfis Giannettino Villatoro

Ellie Gluhosky

Gordon Lafer is professor and Co-Director of LERC.  He has worked on multiple union organizing and contract campaigns, including for hotel workers, hospital workers, building trades, supermarket workers, K-12 teachers, university employees and more.  He also served as Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor, and has been called to testify as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate, Congress and numerous state legislatures. Lafer holds a PhD in Political Science from Yale University, and his most recent book is His most recent book is The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America, One State at a Time (Cornell University Press, 2017).

Sarah Pishioneri – Sarah is a staff member with the Oregon Education Association, representing workers around the mid-Willamette Valley. She has also worked as an organizer and representative for the Oregon School Employees Association and the Coalition of Graduate Employees at Oregon State.

Rajeev Ravisankar – Rajeev joined the Oregon AFL-CIO in April 2025 as an Organizing & Research Specialist. Prior to that he served in various leadership roles in the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF), AFT Local 3544, including President and External Vice President.

Scott Strickland – Scott is the Special Projects Counsel for SMART Local 16, where he works to represent over 2,000 sheet metal workers across Oregon and Southwest Washington. Working in construction before, during, and after law school, he earned his union card by organizing his workplace and has worked on staff for building trades unions since 2018