NE State stages soft opening for its multicultural center

Last Thursday, Northeast State staged a soft opening for its multicultural center in the Student Services Building on the Blountville campus.

“We know research says the more diverse the ideas you have around any concept, the better the outcomes,” said Northeast State President Bethany Bullock. “We are symbolically opening a new center of learning about ourselves and others. That’s what this is, a center of education.”

The evening’s highlight came when the center was dedicated to honor longtime Northeast State employee Linda Calvert. She is Vice President for Administration and Grant Development and Chief Diversity Officer. Elaine Washington, a Foundation member and the evening’s keynote speaker, made the announcement.

Upon Calvert’s future retirement from the College, the space will become the Linda W. Calvert Center for Inclusive Excellence.

“I am thankful, and I do thank God for this,” Calvert said. “I’m thankful for the recognition, but even more so, I’m thankful for the space we can provide to our students and assist them as they travel this route to getting an education.

All of us have played a part in this development, and I’m just so thankful that it is coming to fruition. I look forward to working with each of my NE State colleagues as we further the programming that will come. It’s one thing to have a space; it’s even more important to provide those supported services with supported programming. I thank you for this honor.”

The center is designed as a space for students to feel included and experience a sense of belonging.

The well-appointed center features a relaxed space accented by artwork and artifacts. The area offers students, staff, faculty, and community members the opportunity to relax, converse, and attend cultural events and workshops. Also, the center will provide resources to groom students for leadership roles in college, the workplace, and the community.

“The past year, we have experienced many tumultuous events in our country and community, and students bring that with them to campus—life for them does not stop because they are on campus,” said Tongai Maodzwa, coordinator of Inclusive Excellence. “Whatever programming we have in the center, we want it to be geared to the core values of inclusion and belonging.”

Washington, who chairs the Foundation’s Investment committee and the College’s Inclusive Excellence Community Advisory Council, said she attended college in the 1970s and struggled because she had no place to go for help and understanding.

She praised the College for having the foresight to create a space dedicated to ensuring students have the means necessary to succeed and a place for conversations to promote understanding and progress in the community.

“I did not have a safe place to go to have challenging multicultural discussions,” Washington said. “My mother didn’t understand, my family didn’t understand, there was no one at the school I could go to. So tonight, I am so pleased and happy to support NE State as a Foundation member and be part of this organization…for ensuring our students have all the resources necessary to succeed.”

Calvert holds a bachelor’s degree from the Mississippi University for Women and a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She has worked at Northeast State since 1989.

Calvert earned the Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Award from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) in 2014 for demonstrated success in public service. In 2013, she was awarded the Bristol YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award for work and dedication in education.

In 2019, she was named a Distinguished College Administrator by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Calvert has been a Maxine Smith Fellow with the Tennessee Board of Regents and is a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.