By ABV Guest Columnist Suzan Anwar 

Regardless of age, culture or gender, dining tables are always a place where we can connect and build long-lasting trust. This was true in my home country and has been true of my experience studying and teaching in Little Rock. 

Building trust as a department chair on a college campus means adopting hundreds of young adults every year. My job isn’t simply to oversee schedules and instructional outcomes; it’s to ensure Philander Smith University students have the opportunities and tools to succeed when 

they cross the finish line. They have to be able to come to me when they hit bumps in the road and need some help finding stability. Luckily, they can. 

It warms my heart every time a student goes out of their way to say “hi” to me on campus, or comes to my office because they’re having a bad day (even when it’s not school-related). At times, these students aren’t even in my department, but I treat them as if they’re mine all the same. 

These relationships were incredibly important when I decided to bring a new student activity to the department two-and-a-half years ago: pitch competitions focused on entrepreneurship and design. At the end of each semester, the competitions bring together students, who are judged by faculty and staff, to present their ideas in front of an audience for a cash prize. For students who may not always get non-classroom presenting and public speaking opportunities, the competitions were designed to build both hard and soft skills. 

However, getting initial attention for the program was not easy. It was new, and students balancing jobs, academics, and career preparation are not always early adopters to unknown and time-consuming activities. So I built trust with them. That trust allowed me to find my first group of participants. That first batch of students told their friends, who told their friends, and, five competitions later, I could not imagine ever running short on participants. 

I also partnered with the HBCU Founders Initiative (HBCUFI) to offer another pitch competition, along with workshops and an eight-week pre-accelerator program that helps students turn ideas into a pitchable product. HBCUFI is a national non-profit created by Nex Cubed and funded with support from major philanthropic organizations like the Walton Family Foundation. 

Since 2021, they have supported 1,600 innovators across 80+ HBCUs with the same programming and opportunities as they offered my students. Their mission is to decrease the

wealth gap by supporting HBCU students and alumni along their entrepreneurial journey, encouraging them to pursue the launch of tech-fueled ventures across HBCU campuses. 

Our connection with HBCUFI brought even more attention and opportunity to our pitch competitions on campus. Now, students weren’t just competing for cash and experience, but they also had a chance to network with other HBCU students and entrepreneurs from Nex Cubed’s network of business owners. 

The competitions had another effect on my students: it whet their appetites. It was many students’ first foray into entrepreneurship or public participation. Once they’d done it, they realized how accessible – and fun – these experiences were, and wanted to do more. Since the competitions started, I’ve had students participate in opportunities that have taken them as far as Washington, D.C. 

None of what I’ve been able to accomplish with my students would have been possible without first building trusting relationships. I try to start as soon as possible and with what works: food. I was raised to believe that “you never forget who you eat with.” So, as much as possible, I try to take freshmen students in my department to group lunches to get to know them. As we talk and bond, I quickly go from being an unfamiliar staff member to an on-campus family. 

Families are built on food and trust, just like my connections to my students. Like many of them, I know what it means to be far from home, and how important it is to still be able to grow and thrive in a foreign place. This familiarity has, and will continue to, allow me to take my students’ education beyond classroom and academic spaces and onto successful career paths they can trust.

Dr. Susan Answer is Chair of the Department of Computer Science and a tenured Associate Professor at Philander Smith University. She specializes in artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, and data science. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is actively engaged in advanced STEM education, cybersecurity, and innovative technology research.