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CenterStage
Only a year after it opened, Normandale'sCenter for
Multicultural Services has made a positive impacton
the collegecommunity--and it's only getting started.
One recent afternoon, WynfredRussell overheardtwo students talking in
Normandale'sCenter for Multicultural Services.They were discussinga
Center-sponsored event taking place later that day--the International
Fashion Show. "They were so excited about it," Russell says. "One of
them told the other that she couldn't sleep the night before because she
was thinking about the show."
That conversation made Russell, the director of the Center for
Multicultural Services, smile.
Only a year after it opened, Normandale students have already begun to
embrace the Center and its programs, from the fashion show to
multicultural professional tutoring and peer mentoring. The Center has
also led field trips to the Hmong New Year celebration, a live program
at KSTP-TV's studios, and the Pan African Conference at Minnesota
State University, Mankato. And it has provided a safe, comfortable
space for the 21.5 percent of Normandale's student population who are
people of color, as well as international students, socioeconomically
disadvantaged students,
as well as for people
from other
underrepresented
student groups.
"Often when people
think of
multiculturalism, they
think about race,"
Russell says. "But it goes
beyond race. It's about
serving all students; it's
about understanding
each student'sunique cultural narrative, whether they'refrom Eastern
Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the inner city of Chicago--or
even Crookston, for that matter."
Jimmy Stephen arrived in the United States from Sudan one year ago and
is in his second semester at Normandale. The Center has helped ease his
transition. "I've gotten to know differentpeople, and with different
people come different stories of life," he says. "That has basically
answered my own questionthat I am no different from them--and that
makes me feel at home, rather than feeling like a stranger."
Much of the credit for the success of the Center goes to multicultural
coordinator Lorrie Bortuzzo. "Lorrie is skilled in organizing and
programming, and she really connects with students. As a result,
participation levels have exceeded expectations," says Geoff Jones,director
of marketing communications, who works closely with the Center.
Russell, who had previously been an adjunct professor of African studies
at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus and the director of
diversity programming at University of Minnesota, Crookston,was
excited to be given the task of starting the Center in February 2008.
"That was a huge impetus for me to come here and take this job," he
says. "It was the understanding that the college leadership was completely
behind this effort, but it was also because I saw it as a unique opportunity
for me to come in and start from scratch, building the foundation for
multicultural education and thus creating a direction for the Center."
The Center's mission, Russell explains, is to recruit and retain
underrepresented students and to provide the programs and resources
necessary to support those students. Although Russell is pleased with the
progress the Center has made so far, he's even more excited about the
possibilities for the future.
"I'm looking forward to continuing to design our programs and initiatives
and to seeing this Center become a very integral part of this college and
greater community," he says. "This Center is needed at such a big
institution as this--we need a place where students can go and feel
welcome, valued, respected, and accepted. That'swhat this is about."
--Sara Gilbert Frederick
Multicultural Club members Ayan HersiandHannen Al-yasin
3www.normandale.edu
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