Q&A:又回到原点了

“我很高兴我能在这里长大.”

——塔玛拉·福彻

Q: What do you do and how did you join 贝洛伊特’s staff?

来源:格雷格·安德森I have been doing development work since I graduated. I kept in touch with President Scott Bierman throughout the years, and I was the only student on the search committee that hired him in 2009. It was a lot of pressure, but it was a good experience representing the student body. He came to me in March 2021 and said, “What do you think about coming back to the college?我说:“再给我讲讲。!” I have always loved 贝洛伊特 — it was very good to me — so it just made sense.

在进步, we work with 贝洛伊特’s supporters — alumni, 学院之友, community members — to raise money for the college.

在我的角色里, I have lots of one-on-one conversations and I support Scott in his efforts to raise significant dollars for the college. 我喜欢做这份工作, because I get to speak enthusiastically about the school I love with other people who also love 贝洛伊特!

Q: What stands out from your days as a student?

我是一个n RA, part of Black Students United, and in 三人组 [a nationally funded program to support low income and first generation students in college]. 我是一个 麦克奈尔的学者, which prepares low-income, first generation, and students of color for pursuing grad school.

I started a club called Students for Barack Obama, and that took up most of my time and energy. I went to volunteer at the campaign’s volunteer headquarters. Camp Obama was run by the campaign to train people to send them out to early states. I ended up working well with the lady who ran it, and she asked, “Do you want to intern for me here?我说:“是的。!从那以后, 我非常投入, so I came back to campus and started what became a successful college club. It culminated in then-Senator Obama coming to campus [preceding the primaries in February 2008] — and I got to introduce him. 太神奇了. That was a memorable moment in my life.

Tamara Fouché congratulates Scott Bierman after he was introduced as 贝洛伊特's 11th president in 2009. As a junior, Fouché served on the search committee that selected Bierman.
来源:约翰·埃尔伯斯二世我是一个 社会学 Major和a 政治科学 小. My professors were excellent and really worked on developing my confidence as a researcher, 一个学术, 还有一个学生. The ability to learn was paramount to my 贝洛伊特 experience. It’s not just being open to information, but it’s also having a critical mind, having a worldly understanding of different topics and issues and a theoretical basis so that you can understand different arguments people are making and where they come from.

My McNair advisor was [政治科学 professor emerita] Georgia Duerst-Lahti. She’s a titan in the field of presidential politics and gender in politics. I would credit the late Professor of Sociology Carla Davis with my understanding of race, class, and gender and the way our world is organized. Without that basis, you’re pretty lost in terms of how things actually are working.

Q: What drew you to 贝洛伊特 in the first place?

我来自伊利诺伊州的斯科基. I applied to the University of Illinois and the University of Iowa, and I got into their honors colleges, 但我不想去那里. I visited them and was like, “These are huge schools. No one is paying attention in the lecture. 我会迷路的.”

I visited 贝洛伊特 and my overnight host was wonderful. The next day, I did a tour and visited a women’s and gender studies class, which was fascinating. The professor came to talk to me afterwards. She really engaged me in conversation, and it was such a different experience from when I visited those giant schools where no one was talking to professors.

I had an amazing experience at 贝洛伊特, and it’s paid back in dividends. 我很高兴我做了那个决定. Not to say that everything was perfect, but things worked out. I think that’s just part of the growing pains of being in your late teens and early 20s. Your life is kind of crazy and you’re learning a lot and changing. 这是成长的一部分. 我很高兴能在这里长大.