Formerly the International Resource Center, the Mills International Center has been housed in the Erb Memorial Union’s Taylor Lounge since December. Its main space, above the post office on the mezzanine level, has been involved in a major renovation project.
The new-and-improved international center will be unveiled in September, and the staff is excited to go home, so to speak.
“It’s definitely going to be a homecoming,” said international center Office Manager Kellen Wertz, a University senior double majoring in Japanese and Asian Studies. “It’s really exciting to be going to this brand new facility with all kinds of awesome equipment.”
Tom Mills, retired head of the University’s Office of International Programs, started the international center seven years ago.
Funded by the University Student Building Fee and Allocation Committee, as well as dozens of other sources from around the world, the $1.3 million renovation project was also spearheaded by Mills, which is why the center was renamed in his honor this summer.
“It’s all thanks to Tom: that we exist and that we have this space,” said international center Coordinator Sonja Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said that while users of the international center have enjoyed being downstairs “in the thick of things,” the Taylor Lounge is ultimately too small to accommodate the center.
In previous years, the international center has had 200 events in its space, including film series, World Poetry Night, International Education Week, and many other activities put on by different campus groups. Much of the construction was done with the international center’s hosting capabilities in mind.
The international center’s space in the EMU was originally built in the 1950s as a library and music room, with multiple small rooms. In addition to a more wide-open area than before, the new space, called one of the premier reception sites at the University by EMU Director Dusty Miller, also includes a kitchen and a staging area for catered events.
Other additions include new furniture; new, more sustainable windows; built-in shelves for the international center’s travel library; new audio-visual equipment, including a large projection screen that comes out of the ceiling; and updated electrical wiring. Prior to this winter, lighting was the only thing that had ever been upgraded.
“The goal was always an incredibly functional space that would enhance the University’s efforts in internationalism,” Miller said. “It’s hopefully going to create a destination place in the EMU and renovating what the 21st Century in this building can mean.”
He added the project has had the support of the international center’s advisory board and the approval of the EMU Board of Directors from the beginning.
Part of the new international center is dedicated to eight offices, a conference room and a common area for the International Student Association. ASUO-funded, ISA is an umbrella group that includes the Japanese Student Organization, European Student Association, and MEChA, among others.
For his part, Wertz is excited not only to see what the future holds for the international center, but also to see how the finished product looks.
“I was actually involved in a lot of the planning stages for the design, so I’m especially excited to see my dream come to life, as it were,” he said.
Previously gray linoleum, the stairs leading up to the international center are now covered with forest green Terrazzo tiles. The surrounding walls are white, but only temporarily. Eventually, Rasmussen hopes they will be decorated in a warm, inviting manner to reflects the goals of the new center.
Being welcoming is important to the international center. It is designed to sponsor cultural activities, promote international understanding and provide resources to help students explore the world around them. But most of all, the international center is based on encouraging local and international students alike to socialize in a “meeting place for the world.”
The international center is one big lounge for every student at the University.
Rasmussen thinks the new space conveys this message. When completed, the glass panels surrounding the base of the crescent-shaped reception desk will read “welcome” or “hello” in 37 different languages.
“It’s welcoming and warm and cozy,” she said. “It’s like a big, comfy, gorgeous living room.”
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