ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Professor Adolphus Belk Jr. will join the Winthrop University Board of Trustees this summer as the new chair of Faculty Conference.
The political science professor recently was elected by faculty members and will replace outgoing chair Michael Lipscomb at the beginning of the new academic year in August. According to the faculty manual, the chair must be a full-time tenured faculty member and will serve as a non-voting board member.
One of Belk’s primary duties during his two-year term will be to work with President Dan Mahony.
Belk said he is ready to get to work with his new assignment. “Being elected chair of the Faculty Conference is both a great honor and a tremendous responsibility,” he said. “I will do my best to work with the faculty, the president, and the board of trustees to help our students and advance the university.”
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Belk completed his graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. He joined the Department of Political Science at Winthrop in 2003.
Belk has taught courses on American government, black politics, public policy, and race and ethnic politics in the United States. He also is the former director of Winthrop's African American Studies Program.
Belk’s research has concentrated on the politics of crime and punishment in the United States, as well as white nationalism in American government and politics. His work has been published in The Journal of Race and Policy; Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society; The Journal of Political Science Education; The Journal of American Ethnic History; The Journal of the Center for Policy Analysis and Research (a project of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation); and by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, one of the nation's premier public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses squarely on matters of interest to African Americans and people of color.
In addition, Belk has collaborated with Political Science Professor Scott Huffmon on several projects for the Center for Public Opinion & Policy Research, which conducts the widely respected Winthrop Poll. Together, they have constructed groundbreaking surveys on black political attitudes in South Carolina and across the entire southern region. National and international news organizations such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio and the BBC have covered the results of the Winthrop Poll.
In 2009, Belk was named Winthrop’s Outstanding Junior Professor, an award that recognizes excellence among assistant professors. In 2015, he won the Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university’s highest teaching honor.
Other faculty elections conducted in February resulted in the following:
Academic Conduct: Jessie Hamm
Academic Council: Dustin Hoffman
Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Promotion: Amanda Hiner
DiGiorgio Student Union Advisory Board: Jennifer Schafer
Faculty Representative to Council of Student Leaders: Fatima Amir
Faculty Personnel: Kristen Wunderlich
Judicial Council: Amanda Hiner
Rules (2 seats): Arran Hamm and Jay Hanna
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or e-mail her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
