Staff

Bio pending.

Michelle has been a Union Representative and Labor Educator for over 35 years. Prior to becoming director of CLCS in 2022, Michelle worked at Wayne State University where she served as the Executive Director of the American Association of University Professors-AFT from 2007-2022 and as a Labor Educator at WSU’s Labor Studies Center from 1996 until 2007. Before working at the university, Michelle worked as a Union Rep and Organizer for UFCW Local 951, and SEIU Local 79. She also worked as a Health and Safety Specialist for the ILGWU and RWDSU at the international level. For her education, Michelle received both her Master's and Bachelor's Degrees from Michigan State University: dual Bachelor's of Science Degrees in Employment Relations and Political Science with a concentration in Women's Studies, and a Master's of Labor & Industrial Relations.

Michelle has also been active in public service and in 2012 was elected to the Michigan State Board of Education, retiring in 2020. In 2021, she was appointed to Michigan’s Teacher Tenure Commission. She is a strident activist for the rights of workers, unions, people with disabilities, those in the foster care system, as well as those in the LGBTQ+ community. Her activism is rooted in her family experiences. Her father was a president of his teachers’ union.  She and her husband Eddie Hejka live in Detroit and have two children by birth, their oldest with autism. They also fostered 11 children, 5 they adopted. In addition, they have parented 8 others who needed a home, outside of the foster care system.

Ghana Goodwin-Dye is a proud mother of four children and a proud Grandmother of three grandchildren. She has been a resident of Southfield, Michigan for 33 years. She retired from UAW-General Motors after 34.5 years and started a new career with the University of Michigan Center for Labor and Community Studies as an Education Specialist/ Coordinator.

She started her career at General Motors in 1985, working in production on the assembly line before gaining her Journeyman’s card as an Electrician (after completing a four-year apprentice in 3.5 years). She has an Associates degree in Business Administration and is currently working on a Bachelors. She became involved with her union through standing committees’ structure and volunteering for union and community activities. She was on the Women’s committee, Union Label committee, Election Committee and Community Service committee. She gained knowledge of the union and its purpose through the involvement on these committees and from the brothers and sisters she worked with.

She was elected Vice-President and later President as well, elected three times to serve her membership of 1000 members at UAW Local 909. She served on the 2011 UAW-GM National Negotiation team. She spent several years working as a special assigned at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources in the Education and Training department in various capacities.

Ghana is also involved with Southfield/Lathrup Village Democratic club and holds the position of first chair and has gained the respect of the members of the club through her hard work and dedication to do what is right for the right reasons. She is on the board of Detroit Downriver chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute which works diligently to get out the vote and help in communities. She sits on the board of, Education Begins with Each Gift (EBEG), an organization that sponsors labor education tuition. She is the President of her condominium association. She also is a proud member of Coalition of Labor Union Women (Cluw), and Canton Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and a co-founder of One Voice Community Activists a non-profit that works to bridge the gap between communities and resources.

She has been blessed to participate and organize many community outreach and fundraiser projects that help communities. One of her most memorable experiences was introducing the 44th President of the United States of America Barack Obama in 2011 at the Labor Day March in Detroit. Ghana has been blessed to help many and to meet many amazing people that have supported, encouraged, educated, and sometimes voluntold her what she was going to do. These are the people and experiences that made her who she is. Family, Friends, Community and HER UNION!

Ghana has the leadership skills of self-awareness and prioritizes personal development. Her focus is on developing others, encourage strategic thinking, innovation, and action. She is ethical and civic minded in her daily routine. She practices effective cross-cultural communication and the ability to connect and collaborate with others. Her passionate and optimistic vision causes her to be capable of being agile, adaptable, and flexible. Her mother taught her the basic principles of honesty, integrity, accountability, while having clear goals and objectives that will motivate others, when you provide them with clear direction you can succeed in everything you do!

Under her wise, fearless and strong-hearted leadership she has helped move her union UAW, community organizations, the labor movement and the University of Michigan Center for Labor and Community Studies to new heights of achievement! 

David Reynolds, PhD retired as the director for the Labor and Community Studies Center in 2022.  His research and teaching specialties include state and local government, labor-community coalitions, and regional strategies to build long-term progressive power. In 2021, Routledge published his book, with Louise Simmons, Igniting Change and Progressive Power:  The Partnership for Working families Cities. His previous book, A New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement, was coauthored with Amy Dean. 

In his spare time David plays all kinds of strategy board games, paints miniature figures, accompanies his wife and singer Shirley with guitar, and likes to go out into the woods to throw round discs at baskets. 

Nolan Rosenkrans joined the CLCS in June, 2023. Prior to working at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Rosenkrans was a journalists and activist within the NewsGuild-CWA, the largest union of journalists in North American.

After a three year stint at the Winona Daily News in Minnesota, Rosenkrans joined the staff at the Toledo Blade, where he was a reporter and editor for more than a decade. While at The Blade, Rosenkrans was elected as president of the Toledo NewsGuild, leading the union through two hard contract fights.

Rosenkrans played a role in the NewsGuild's successful organizing campaigns of the past decade, helping or leading new union campaigns in Texas and Ohio as a member organizer. In 2021, Rosenkrans left journalism to work for the NewsGuild of New York, where he helped lead internal organizing efforts at The Blade, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, NBC News, and the tech union at the New York Times. 

Riordan (or Rory) joined CLCS in June 2023 as part of CLCS’s introduction of Workers Pride. As a queer, transmasculine person, Rory is thrilled to be part of CLCS’s creation of this new community for LGBTQIA+ workers and allies.

Rory is a passionate activist both in the queer community and beyond. Rory graduated with his bachelor’s from Eastern Michigan University and has spent his professional career working for different government organizations and nonprofits. In that time, he assisted in the renovation of crisis centers, designed a suicide prevention and emotional resiliency program for youth, and led courses on topics ranging from cyberbullying to sexual assault. He most recently finished five years leading the communications program at International Samaritan, where he and his team worked in special consultative status with the United Nations to bring education, healthcare, and better infrastructure to refugees living in extreme poverty around the world.

Outside of work, Rory is involved in primarily LGBTQIA+ activism, focusing on bridging the gap between the LGBTQIA+ community and churches by helping LGBTQIA+ people who grew up in the church heal from religious trauma and helping churches understand what Christ-like allyship looks like. He's in the process of pursuing his Master of Divinity with a focus on Ecotheology from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio. He also volunteers as a coordinator for his local branch of Habitat for Humanity, as a conflict facilitator for the Dispute Resolution Center, and as a lead moderator for a couple of large safe-space communities online. Rory’s fiancé, Alex, is also an activist, so he helps her with her work around environmentalism and sustainability when he can. Together they're also planning out their own homestead, pollinator garden, and mini-food forest.

In the time he has left to himself, Rory spends as much of it as he can recharging with his fiancé and their six pets. He enjoys writing, drawing, gaming with friends, and feeding birds.