Advising centre a boost for black students

BSAC increasing advising efforts this year

BSAC Adviser Oluronke Taiwo in her office. Photo: Kaanayo Nwachukwu

Fenessa Williams, a part-time worker at the Black Student Advising Centre, started a new organization at Dalhousie University in August.

"Dalhousie Students for Success Society is set up to help promote education to the African Nova Scotian youth," says Williams, a sophomore studying sociology and anthropology.

She says it serves as a resource that will guide the black youth in a better direction in their lives so they can accomplish more.

Williams says BSAC is the reason she has succeeded so far in her studies and credits it with giving her a resume base which made the planning stages of the organization easier. The centre has also become an avenue for her to publicize her new organization.

Enlarge Image
Social work graduate student Alescia Green. Photo: Kaanayo Nwachukwu

"I have not only benefited from the services offered by the centre; I've been inspired and I am grateful for all the support I have gotten."

Alecia Green, a social work graduate student who also works at the centre, leads the black mentorship program at the centre. She says she has not only benefited immensely from the conferences and professional development opportunities the centre has afforded her; she has also been privileged to have met many influential blacks since she started working there.

"This place has been a bit of a family away from my family. I have had the opportunity to work with Oluronke who has been exceptional in more ways than one," she says.

Nigerian-born Oluronke Taiwo has been the adviser of the centre since 2008.

With the addition of math and humanities coaches this summer, BSAC is moving into its 22nd year with more academic advising. The coaches provide extra tutorials to students who struggle in these subject areas. The centre already boasts a writing tutor. 

"Attracting these students is not all that we do," says Taiwo. "We also strive to retain them with the wide-ranging services we provide."

Services

The services include:

• Access to job postings
• Books and magazines
• Campus and community tours
• Diversity and sensitivity training
• Information on scholarships and bursaries
• Referrals to Dalhousie departments and resources
• Professional mentorship

The centre also offers students a lounge area - a sort of meeting space and a makeshift kitchen - where they come around in the afternoons to talk and lunch together. It provides a comfortable setting for relaxing and taking a break from studies. 

A computer room is located off the lounge corridor. It's a comfortable, private room for students who require a space to do their assignments or to just browse the Internet.

Students also come to BSAC to seek counsel on dealing with or managing their day-to-day challenges and frustrations.

"The new coaches provide students with extra study strategies," Taiwo says.

Some of these strategies are time management and oral presentation skills.

The advisor and centre are available to students, faculty and staff who are associated with Dalhousie University and the University of King's College, regardless of race and ethnic backgrounds.

Comments on this story are now closed