Staff

Karen Taillon
Office Manager

A graduate of Concordia University, Karen Taillon has been the Association’s Office Manager since 1994. Karen is responsible for the front-line services offered to all members who call or drop in and assists part-time faculty maneuver through the sometimes-murky waters of Concordia. If she doesn’t have the answer to your question, she can steer you in the right direction.
E: info@cupfa.org
T: 514-848-2424 ext. 3691


Jacqueline Peters
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Coordinator

CUPFA introduced Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) services in 2021 and has expanded to an EDI team coordinated by CUPFA member Jacqueline Peters. EDI advises fellow members and the Executive on a range of matters, contributing other perspectives, training, and support for fair, respectful, and equitable treatment in and beyond the classroom and workplace.

Jacqueline received an Honours BA in Linguistics from Concordia University, a MA in Linguistics from the University of Toronto and is a Doctoral Candidate in Linguistics at York University. Her doctoral dissertation, “Feeling Heard”: The Discourse of Empathy in Medical Interactions, is a qualitative study on Empathy in Medical Interactions.

Jacqueline’s research has been funded by a Master’s SSHRC and a Doctoral SSHRC.

Her publications are “Black English in Toronto”: A New Dialect? (Co-authored with Laura Baxter) Conference Proceedings of Methods in Dialectology 14. 201, and “”(Be)coming Jamaican”: (Re)Constructing an Ethno-Cultural Identity.” In Identity through a Language Lens.  Kamila Ciepiela (ed). Lodz Studies in Language (23). Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien: Peter Lang Publishing House. 2011. Pgs.109-118.

Jacqueline has previously examined identity construction of non-European immigrants living in Montreal and young people of Caribbean descent in Toronto, and has presented her work at numerous international linguistic conferences.

Jacqueline is a member of the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Working Group at Concordia University where she teaches Sociolinguistics. She is the first EDI Officer for CUPFA, Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association.

E: jacqueline.peters@cupfa.org


Sally Cooke Sally Cooke
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team

Sally Cooke is both an alumni of Concordia University and Swansea University, Wales. Having earned her BSc in Economic and Social Studies in Wales, she moved to Montreal and completed a Fine Arts undergraduate degree and a Masters in Art Therapy at Concordia University.

Sally began teaching part-time at Concordia in 2005 and has served CUPFA in a variety of roles, as a Senator and representative on a variety of advisory, curriculum, hiring, and departmental committees. She also served on the CUPFA Executive as Chair of Communications from 2013 to 2016.

As a credentialed, registered art therapist and licensed psychotherapist, Sally offers knowledge and support to CUPFA’s EDI team particularly in the area of disabilities. She has extensive experience in the health sector, working as clinician for the last 27 years in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and in private practice at the Queen Elizabeth Health Centre.

E :  sally.cooke@cupfa.org


Alexander Louis Alexander Louis
Lawyer

Alexander joined CUPFA as a legal intern in 2019 after having obtained BCL and LLB degrees from McGill University Faculty of Law and passing the Quebec Bar exams. Before law school, he graduated from Concordia University with an honours degree in Political Science.

Alexander advises and assists CUPFA on all aspects of employment & labour law, including our ongoing labour negotiations for a new collective agreement.

E :  alexander.louis@cupfa.org
T : 514-848- 2424 ext. 3691


Katerina Cook Katerina Cook
Lawyer

A member of the Quebec Bar, Katerina Cook completed her BCL and JD at McGill University. Prior to law school, Katerina graduated from the University of King’s College, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she obtained her Honours Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Contemporary Studies. During her time at McGill, Katerina was a caseworker at the Mile End Legal Clinic, a student advocate at the Legal Information Clinic at McGill, and president of OutLaw at McGill. She joined the CUPFA team in 2023 as an articling student.

E :  katerina.cook@cupfa.org
T : 514-848- 2424 ext. 3691


Stuart Thiel Stuart Thiel
IT Consultant

Dr. Stuart Thiel is a part-time faculty member, a software developer and a Professional Engineer. He spends his time teaching, researching algorithms, tinkering with software and working on various non-computer community projects.

Stuart has been teaching part-time at Concordia since 2006, and currently sits on the Gina Cody School Faculty Council, Computer Science and Software Engineering Department Council, as well as a variety of advisory, steering, implementation, curriculum and hiring committees.

As CUPFA’s Technical Consultant,  Stuart advises the executive on any IT matters they find salient, evaluates IT offerings from the University and maintains oversight of the technical nitty-gritty of the union operations.

E: stuart.thiel@cupfa.org