Feb. 11, 2015

By Rumasa Noor

From staying overtime to help students meet advising requirements to serving as a mentor to faculty, Freda Briscoe’s career has touched many lives in her 25 years.

Briscoe decided to announce her retirement, effective April.

Han Ngo has assumed the position of Interim Director of Multicultural Business Programs.

Career beginnings

Briscoe started her career at UW-W in 1989 as the counselor of the Educational Opportunity program (EOP). She left UW-W for a brief period of time to take on a position at the College of Lake County in 1992.

But soon after assuming the role, Briscoe realized it wasn’t the right fit for her.

“I say I was away for about five minutes because immediately I realized that ‘oh wow,’ I just missed Whitewater, just in the first week I knew it wasn’t for me,” Briscoe said. “I was just blessed that I was able to come back as the director of minority business program in April of 1992.”

Briscoe has been taking care of her mother for years, who is suffering from dementia. Originally she planned on retiring in 2016, but due to her mother’s increasing illness she decided to retire a year early.

Advisor, aid, mentor 

Ngo has known Briscoe for more than a decade, first as an undergraduate student at UW-Whitewater in the late ‘90s, and then as a faculty member in the early 2000s.

She said Briscoe went out of her way to help students. She advised some students from the athletic department who couldn’t make it during the times of advising, Briscoe stayed over time to assist them.

“She did everything for students in her power that she could,” Ngo said.

Ngo also said Briscoe served as a guru for her.

“She is kind of like more of my mentor but is also like a spiritual model on the side,” Ngo said.

She taught her many things about advising.

Advising is a lot more than telling students which classes they should take, Ngo said. It is about getting to know the students and their backgrounds in order to help them effectively. If a student is looking for a job to help pay for tuition, the advisor could aid them in finding a work-study on-campus, said Ngo.

Throughout her career, Briscoe had been passionate about assisting students, which is why she treasured the roles that required her to work closely with them.

“I have enjoyed both the counseling position and the director position,” she said. “But I guess if I had to pick, probably the counseling position because my most rewarding experiences have come to working with students.”

Fondness for Whitewater

Originally an Arkansas native, Briscoe found comfort in the rural community of Whitewater. She considered Whitewater to be a blessing for her.

“It’s a very comfortable community, and Whitewater campus community has been kind of like a second family,” Briscoe said. “It’s so easy to work with people on campus and I think the fact that it’s been so comfortable, friendly, welcoming environment, everyone in the campus community seems to be very student-oriented and social.”