Intercultural Center to Have its Grand Opening in Webb Center
It's fitting, for a university that embraces its profoundly multicultural community.
Old Dominion University's Office of Intercultural Relations has moved into a new, larger space in Webb University Center.
The area includes the new Intercultural Center (IC). Organizers believe that the student center connected to the office will become a magnet for all students and faculty members eager to share experiences with friends and colleagues from around the world.
Lesa Clark, assistant dean for intercultural relations, said work started on the center long before construction of the physical structure.
"We began meeting with student groups a year and a half ago, and it's been an ongoing dialogue," Clark said. "We've been preparing the ODU community for the philosophical change this office encompasses.
"We want to create a community, so people of all backgrounds and faiths can feel comfortable, to have a conversation, to learn about another culture. Too often we stay in our little communities, whether they're a small town or an urban neighborhood.
"We want to break down those barriers, not to pull people out of their communities, but to bring other people in."
On the first day of classes, Clark was in the new office's drop-in center for about 10 hours, "and there were students from 10 different countries who came in here," she said.
"We want students from Senegal, but we also want students from Cincinnati, who are interested in finding out about the world."
The IC has two 42" plasma televisions, computer stations, and features books videos, and video and board games from around the world. It has Rosetta Stone software to teach languages, and beautiful artwork from all corners of the globe adorning the colorful walls. It's also the site for ODU's Diversity Institute. The Intercultural Center is designed as a place for students to hang out and enjoy their friends and make new connections in a relaxed environment. It's designed to be the ultimate stress-free zone.
Dean of Students Geneva Walker-Johnson said she hopes the center isn't so attractive the students can't feel at home.
"We want them to come here and be themselves," she said.
The administration envisions places like the new center being "bump into" spaces, where students can bump into one another, "sitting across from a person of an entirely different culture," Walker-Johnson said.
"This kind of center is a huge manifestation of what this university has become - a multicultural melting pot."
Although the center opened its doors with the start of school on Monday, Aug. 31, staff members are urgently putting the finishing touches on the new space.
The grand opening will take place at an open house Thursday, Sept. 17 at 3 p.m.
A plaque in the Office of Intercultural Relations commemorates Dr. Hugo Owens Sr., the Hampton Roads civil rights leader who was appointed rector of ODU's Board of Visitors in 1992 by then President James Koch.
Owens died in July 2008, at age 92, after a lifetime of fighting for human rights causes in the area.
"It's his spirit that we're trying to capture here, while creating opportunities for our students to evolve into citizens of a world which values and embraces all," Clark said.