Utah banned DEI programs in higher ed. Could a university’s new center provide another place of acceptance?

Logan • Crescencio López-González said Utah State University’s new Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center “sends a message.”

It’s not just because of the center’s gender-neutral restrooms, lactation and meditation rooms, or its international cafe that serves food and drinks from various countries. It’s also not solely due to its commitment to language and the humanities in a world increasingly neglecting their importance, said López-González, head of the school’s Department of World Languages and Cultures.

It’s because the Logan center will serve as a place accepting of diversity in a state that has banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education.

“We want them to come and feel value and feel that there’s something for them,” López-González said, “or at least not to feel [like] a stranger, but to feel welcome in this space.”

The new center, which opened Oct. 11 and overlooks USU’s quad, brings faculty members from the Department of World Languages and Cultures — who come from more than 20 countries — under one roof. Previously, the department had been scattered across campus.

“Before, we were located in the underworld of Old Main, and we thought of ourselves as orgs that came out and the light will hurt us, but not anymore” López-González said. “This has so much light that I think, if anything else, the building itself, with all these windows, is a reflection of all the opportunities that we now see.”

One such opportunity is expanding the school’s translation and interpretation programs, which will thrive in the larger space the center provides, said Elsa Pérez, an assistant professor of translation and interpretation.

Utah, she said, has a strong demand for medical interpreters in hospitals and clinical settings, as well as legal interpreters, particularly for Spanish, Mandarin and Portuguese speakers. In the medical field, there are about 8,000 instances a month requiring translators, she said, and 15,000 in legal and business settings.

“Languages have been seen as a field that is going to extinguish at some point,” Pérez said. “But we use those abilities, and we use them for a great good, for serving other people and for something that is in a huge demand right now.”

Because many students already speak multiple languages when they enter the program, the curriculum is designed to help them grasp specific terminology they might not know yet. The new center offers advanced technologies to enhance student learning, including artificial intelligence tools that simulate real-world encounters like medical appointments or 911 calls.

Pérez said many of her students have already secured high-paying jobs, even before graduating, thanks to the training provided by the program.

“It’s a very needed resource,” she said, “that we are providing to the state.”

Much of the language learning at USU will now take place in the center’s eight cultural hubs, which are designed to support students in language and cultural studies, said Rebecca Walton, the executive associate dean for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The center offers hubs for students studying Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, German, French, Russian and English for non-English speakers.

Walton said each hub features a large monitor where students can gather to watch films in the language they are studying, technology for video meetings with language classes worldwide, specialized books, cultural artifacts and holiday decorations. Because food is an essential part of culture, each hub also has a mini fridge for storing different types of food that will aid in learning.

“A lot of language learning and a lot of cultural learning is immersion,” Walton said, “and engagement with other people.”

The hubs were modeled after the existing Japanese cultural hub, previously located in the Animal Science Building and designed by Atsuko Neely, a senior lecturer of Japanese. That hub, now served in the new center, includes traditional Japanese soft mats, called tatami, and a tea set for students to enjoy Japanese tea.

“That kind of a setting actually foster the intimacy and person-to-person kind of activity,” Neely said, “rather than just using a internet app.”

Neely also anticipates the Heravi center serving as a place of belonging for multicultural students.

“That’s the whole reason of having this,” she said. “I think it’s a given, all the students come here kind of expecting that.”