The Board of Trustees nominations committee elected a new faculty chair for the 2019-2020 academic year. Political science professor Adolphus Belk was elected chair of Winthrop Faculty Conference starting in August 2019.
The Winthrop Faculty Conference is the legislative body of faculty who is responsible for policies, regulations and academic programs. The chair of the faculty conference is in charge of planning and facilitating faculty meetings. The faculty chair is elected every two years.
As faculty chair, Belk will also serve as the faculty representative for the university Board of Trustees. The faculty representative, like the Council of Student Leaders representative, does not have a vote in the Board of Trustees meetings. However, the faculty representative will be able to make decisions during the executive sessions.
Belk said he is going to learn as much as he can about the position by learning about board members, meeting and talking to previous faculty chairs and then start to formulate goals which will best serve the university. Belk said some of those goals will be an extension of President Mahony’s strategic plan.
“It’s an important position because you’re helping to relay information from the faculty to the board, from the board to the faculty. [That] requires a lot of skills and patience,” Belk said.
Belk said his political science background will benefit him as faculty chair.
“Political scientists study power,” he said. “Political scientists study institutions and behavior, ideology, organizations, management and I think those things offer me some insight into how organizations function.”
Belk said he has noticed many Winthrop students are lower-income, first-generation college students, or underrepresented minorities who have “barriers to success” compared to other students. He said he believes that Winthrop students can perform and compete well once they are given the resources needed to succeed.
“The reason I’m doing this right now is because I think we’re at a critical juncture as an institution, and I believe I can help guide us through some of these things,” Belk said. “I can’t do that without our students and without our professors.”
He also attributed President Mahony’s efforts in the strategic plan to benefit the university. Belk said he believes in the faculty because most of them show concern about students’ intellectual and professional development. Belk said he looks forward to collaborating with the university’s executive officers and faculty.
Belk went on sabbatical in December 2018 to focus on several political research projects including white nationalism in American politics, hip hop and social justice. When professors go on sabbatical, they take a break from teaching to pursue other academic goals like research.
Belk said he is doing a continuation project about white nationalism based on a book written by his mentor in 2003. The white nationalism project will focus on politics and events since Donald Trump’s election in 2016.
He is also editing a book about hip hop and social justice with a Winthrop graduate who is now a professor at Georgia State University.
In addition, Belk said he is studying how The National Conference of Black Political Scientists was founded. Belk and other members of NCOBPS researched the founding members of the organization and plan to publish their profiles in the NCOBPS’ publication, The National Political Science Review.
Belk will return to the classroom August 2019 and will begin his role as faculty chair.
