BSUFA Caucus

Equity Caucuses

IFO Equity caucuses were developed by faculty to support and organize faculty of color and American Indian faculty, Women faculty, LGBTQ+ faculty and faculty with disabilities statewide, to mobilize their collective voices to improve the working conditions and encourage higher participation in union membership and leadership by marginalized faculty. You can find out more about the Equity Caucuses structure and working at a statewide level.

At BSUFA, we have four equity caucuses which participate in the shared governance of the university. Our goal is to ensure that our union and our campus is an inclusive one, and that voices of those groups that are traditionally marginalized are heard.

Participation in the equity caucuses on our campus is voluntary. If you self-identify with any of the categories prioritized by the caucuses, you are welcome to join and participate in the caucus structure. We do not maintain a roster of participants to ensure privacy, and leadership in our equity caucuses is organic. Each caucus will set their own agenda and meeting times individually, although occasionally all-caucus meetings are held to strategize together and maintain solidarity. In addition, each year the equity caucuses will choose a representative member to the Executive Committee of the BSUFA to ensure our concerns are prioritized.

Below are listed the contact people for each caucus. Please feel free to contact any one of us in order to learn more about the equity caucuses. While caucus business is carried out over personal emails in general, we list the BSU email addresses for easy access.

Faculty of Color Caucus

Dr. Baozhong Tian
baozhong.tian@bemidjistate.edu

LGBTQ+ Faculty Caucus

Dr. Shannon Norman
shannon.norman@bemidjistate.edu

Women’s Caucus

Dr. Valerie Wallingford
valerie.wallingford@bemidjistate.edu

Faculty with Disabilities Caucus

Dr. Thomas Dirth
thomas.dirth@bemidjistate.edu

Executive Committee Representative for Equity Caucus

Dr. Rucha Ambikar
rucha.ambikar@bemidjistate.edu