By this time next year, Illinois State University's new multicultural center should be open for business.
ISU President Larry Dietz this week announced the center's location: the current Instructional Technology and Development Center, 301 S. Main St., Normal. That's now the home of ISU's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT), which will move temporarily to Williams Hall before finding a permanent home at Milner Library.
Dietz announced planning for the multicultural center a year ago. With the student population growing more diverse, Dietz said students were expressing interest in having a multicultural space. Learning from other campuses with similar facilities, Dietz said the future center will be a functional area for the diversifying student body.
“I think there will be programming that will come out of there; the diversity advocacy staff will play an important role there,” Dietz said. “There will be meditation rooms, a kitchen for social programming, some room for some satellite student services...I think it will really be a boon for some students.”
Dietz said renovations will be underway after CTLT's relocation.
“If we follow the plan, and our plan is to follow the plan … if everything works the way it’s supposed to in terms of timing, this time next year we’ll have an operational multicultural center.”
Listen to Dietz's interview this week on WGLT's Sound Ideas:
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