CE, RESPECT
Belk said he has fashioned his teaching style on what he’s observed in others and his own personality. “First and foremost, student learning is built on mutual respect.”
He wants to get to know his students so he can connect and motivate. “Students must make a commitment to be engaged. They can’t be passive. This isn’t the comedy club, this isn’t a film, it isn’t a play,” he said. “They aren’t here to be entertained. They are here to learn. I want them to develop a longitudinal look and go deeper into issues in order to become life-long learners."
CONSIDER THESE COMMENTS ABOUT BELK FROM FORMER STUDENTS:
Malyn Pope ’16 feared his course rigor before her Introduction to African American Studies class. “I found that he is willing to meet you where you are and to help as long as you put forth effort,” said Pope, a psychology major from Columbia. “He definitely challenged me and when he saw a curiosity, he offered me more readings.” Belk helped mentor her for graduate school which she began this fall, to earn a master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology.
For Taylor Toves ’16, she asked Belk to serve as her McNair Scholars mentor. “The McNair summer research was one of the toughest but most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career, and Dr. Belk was there to provide guidance and advice,” she said of her project to study affirmative action in undergraduate admissions in the United States and Brazil.
The Columbia native started a master’s degree in higher education administration this fall to pursue her goal of becoming a chief diversity officer at a university.
Willie Lyles III ’06 remembered showing up for Belk’s African American Politics and Policy class with a sense of superiority in knowledge. “I was disavowed of this notion during week one,” said Lyles, who served as
chair of the Council of Student Leaders and student representative to Winthrop’s Board of Trustees. “Dr. Belk literally transformed my two-dimensional thinking to a three- dimensional paradigm. Every day in his class, whether we were talking about Assata Shakur or Angela Davis, I was forced to see the world through a different lens.”
Even today, Lyles said he sees Belk’s influence from a decade ago continue to pay dividends. “The once cocky kid from Blythewood, South Carolina, is honored to have been under the tutelage of Dr. Belk,” said Lyles, who worked in Congress for two U.S. Representatives and is now a 2017 Juris Doctor candidate at Southern Illinois University School of Law.
Watch the video “These Professors: Adolphus Belk Jr.” to learn more about Belk and his way of connecting with students.
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