Grand Geneva Resort & Spa

7036 Grand Geneva Way

Lake Geneva, WI 53147

March 26 - 28, 2010

The BSU Advisor is a faculty or staff member who advises the BSU.  The BSU Advisor is crucial to the success of the BSU.  The advisor provides the oversight and continuity for the BSU to maintain high educational standards and to maximize the use of university resources in the accomplishment of its goals and objectives.  The advisor provides the BSU with insight and a historical overview of the campus and connections with alumni and professional networks beyond the campus.

BSUs have played an important role in the arrival of African American faculty on campus. The hiring of African American professors as well as the establishment of Black Studies departments was directly related to students’ protest movements in the 1960’s and 1970’s. African American faculty members who arrive on campus generally arrive in a somewhat discrete manner.  As a result of their discrete arrival, many African American faculty members feel that their allegiance is not to the student but to their department.

African American faculty and staff play a vital role in the recruitment, retention, and graduation of minority students on campus. Their recruitment and orientation to the campus must be respectful of the interests and concerns of African American students. African American faculty members need to be hired for their academic ability as well as their ability to be strong student advocates.  Numerous situations have been discussed about African American faculty whose presence on campus is minimal and/or nonexistent, particularly in becoming a resource to students and/or their presence at selected student activities.  This lack of presence is inconsistent with the need to engage African American students to a greater degree. 

It is reasonable to expect that a member of an African American fraternity or sorority, a member of the gospel choir, a member of the BSU, and members of related African American entities would prefer an African American faculty or staff member to be their advisor (Kelsey-Brown, 2001).  From a sheer academic standpoint, given the lifetime experience of the typical African American faculty member, it is possible for them to engage students in undergraduate research on topics such as Barbershops, Beauty Shops, African American Churches, African American Fraternities and Sororities; topics often beyond the educational and experiential domains of typical faculty members.  

Like African American students, an overwhelming number of African American faculty members are likely to be first generation college students.  Their first generation college status could make it possible for these African American faculty members to have a high degree of identification with TRIO or related educational programs that broaden the prospects for students to pursue a college education.  African American faculty and staff members need each other in order to fulfill a common cause. 

In regard to African American staff members, a majority are employed to work in a direct capacity with African American students: Multicultural Education Center; TRIO; related M/D programs. An assessment of the distinct differences between the two employment modes is that the multicultural staff person is in a good position to direct African American students to African American faculty members. African American faculty members can reciprocate by enriching and expanding the classroom experience for the students so that they might be retained and graduate.  More than likely, African American faculty members are in a unique position to encourage staff members to continue their education.