Black Faculty Alliance (BFA)
Mission
The Black Faculty Alliance (BFA) serves as a source of support for all Black faculty at Bluegrass Community & Technical College. BFA strives to promote a culture that stresses upward mobility and advancement and Black faculty retention by creating an environment that enables networking, collaboration and mentorship, and by promoting a tradition of lifelong learning as part of professional development.
BFA encourages cooperative and interactive relationships with all members of the BCTC community and seeks to address the individual and collective concerns of Black faculty. The Black Faculty Alliance holds a commitment to serving as a role model and support network for BCTC’s student bodies. The Black Faculty Alliance may provide valuable input to academics for Black faculty recruitment and retention.
Objectives
- To educate the wider community college on issues that affect Black students and faculty
- To create a space where Black faculty concerns can be expressed and necessary help provided
- To provide resources and support that can address the concerns that Black students and faculty report
Black Faculty Alliance Photos
Interested in seeing photos of our faculty members and past events?
Visit our Black Faculty Alliance collection on Flickr (new window)!
What being in BFA means to me!
I need this support of my professional fellow African American faculty colleagues of the Black Faculty Alliance as we network and collaborate for the success of our students and faculty. The retention of BCTC Black faculty is often just assumed by BCTC rather than an executed active planned strategy. BFA certainly helps provide me with that sense of belonging that is needed.
The Black Faculty Alliance means being an organization that strives to bring together individuals who have an active interest in promoting racial equity at BCTC and in our community. Black Faculty Alliance also means we are interested in furthering the success of black faculty, creating campus awareness on diverse issues and creating an inclusive environment for all (faculty, staff, students, and administration). (With my BFA student mentees) We have weekly/bi-weekly meetings focusing on the following: course work, grades, career goals and scholarship opportunities. We create long and short term goals. Mentoring students is always a rewarding opportunity for me.
Participating in the education of the wider college community about issues that affect Black students and faculty. Helping to create a space where the concerns of Black faculty can be expressed and necessary help provided. Providing resources and support that can address the issues that Black students and faculty report.
BFA has been crucial in my development as a faculty member at BCTC. It has given me
a safe space
to ask questions and workshop ideas.
The Black Faculty Alliance is a safe space to discuss common challenges and to strategize about ways to make the BCTC environment as welcoming and supportive as possible to all faculty and students.
Black Faculty Alliance for me is a support network of individuals who share aspects of a common African American culture. The group functions as a sounding board to bounce new ideas or concerns. It also provides an opportunity to tap into the years of experience that faculty have amassed in teaching or administration. Additionally, BFA offers opportunities to brainstorm and strategize unique and targeted approaches to issues that uniquely affect people of color in our institution (including our staff and students of color).
I am so glad that I have my BFA network because it allows me to have a professional group of colleagues who share similar life experiences as myself. There are times when we get the opportunity to engage in social activities together, this is very important in fostering a close-knit network within and outside our academic environment. At the same time, we can also participate in academic conferences and present within our discipline as well as have the opportunity to represent our Black Faculty Alliance.
Where else can you find a group of like minded individuals with shared experiences and goals focused on personal and professional growth and development. Black Faculty Alliance is that group. We not only invest in each other, but also our students through targeted mentoring program. It’s been a great honor and privilege to be part of the change we need to see on our campus.
