Services of the African American Cultural Center include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Assessing the interests of African-American students in educational and social programs, and responding to the extent that personnel, facilities, and resources permit.
- Providing and encouraging effective advisement of minority student organizations and individual students as needed.
- Assisting in the orientation of African American students to the culture of the institution, and providing support for those students as they progress through the university.
- Providing opportunities and support for African American and other minority students and organizations to develop and sponsor appropriate programs and to otherwise fully participate in the IUP cocurriculum.
- Providing training in leadership skills and other personal social skills for African American students, and supporting those seeking to assist them.
- Promoting and sponsoring events that focus on African American heritage and multicultural diversity.
- Serving as a supplement to classroom instruction as needed.
- Aiding in the facilitation of academic and multicultural programs and workshops for faculty, staff, and students that focus on:
- awareness of cultural differences.
- self-assessment of cultural awareness and possible prejudices.
- changing prejudicial attitudes or behaviors.
- Supporting the academic, student development, and programmatic goals of the offices of the Center for Student Life, Social Equity and Diversity, and Women’s Studies.
- Systematically promoting the participation of African American and minority students for leadership roles in campus governance organizations.
- Encouraging and acknowledging outstanding accomplishments and contributions of African American students at IUP.
- Encouraging and participating in collaborative programming with African American groups and other minority and university organizations.
- Assisting with, identifying, and responding to the specific programmatic and academic needs of African American and minority students, making referrals to other university offices as appropriate.
- Providing mailboxes for a limited number of student organizations.
- Maintaining a library of African American cultural and educational resources (books, magazines, journals, videos, etc.).
- Maintaining meeting facilities to accommodate up to fifteen persons, lounging, and study facilities (TV, VCR, DVD, computers).
- Publishing a biannual calendar of events, newsletter, and webpage calendar.
- Promote and/or encourage African American, other minorities, and/or underrepresented students in community service activities.
- Serve as a clearinghouse of information related to the success of African American or other minority and underrespresented students (e.g., Bulletin of Jobs, Scholarships, and Graduate School opportunities ).
