Balloons, food, a keynote speech from Cynthia Izaguirre (’97), co-anchor of WFAA’s News 8 Daybreak, and the unveiling of a floor-to-ceiling mural marked the opening of the newly renovated Multicultural Center in September, led by Gilda Garcia, vice president for institutional equity and diversity.
As UNT’s “window to the world,” the center in the University Union sponsors an average of 80 events a year to honor ethnic minority cultures and foster relationships between different ethnic and social groups.
The new mural by Chicago artist Damon Lamar Reed depicts college-age people of different cultures, showing the populations the center serves. Reed was one of six artists to submit proposals to reflect access, diversity, equity and inclusion.
“When I think of multiculturalism, I think of something colorful, and a celebration of peoples,” Reed says.
The new space also has an expanded student lounge with computer and photocopy services, an expanded Alton and Renay Scales Ethnic Studies Library, and a Norma Williams Collection of books. The center served more than 9,000 students in 2009-10.
