Lebron-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center

 The Lebron-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center provides a range of programs and resources to better serve and retain students of color and international students, and to support and promote their success at Hampshire. Additionally, the center provides programs and resources to the larger campus community for engagement in issues related to race, culture, and underrepresentation, with the underlying goal to effect social change.

The Center enhances its longstanding commitment to community and social change by:


 * providing and advocating for services, programs, and resources that assist international students and students of color for a successful transition to, matriculation at, and graduation from Hampshire College.
 * offering services, programs, and resources that foster academic success among international students and students of color.
 * ensuring a space for multicultural community building, individual expression, and the exchange of ideas.
 * fostering leadership skills for multicultural competence for students of color, international students, and multicultural student groups.
 * continually examining the fluidity of race, culture, and identity, examining specifically how race and culture intersect with other social identities and their impact on one's view of self and of the world.
 * serving as a campus partner in promoting multicultural competence through community engagement on topics related to race, culture, and underrepresentation

Overview of Programs and Resources
The Cultural Center organizes programs and resources that specifically address the needs of students of color and international students. The center also provides programs and resources for the larger campus community to increase awareness on issues of race, culture, and underrepresentation. At the Cultural Center, we recognize students come to Hampshire with their own terms of self-identity and will soon be placed in a new environment where identity will take on different terms and meanings. The Cultural Center aims to help students of color and international students navigate through that phenomenon.


 * The Peer Mentorship Program matches incoming students of color and international students with continuing students of color and international students to help with acclimation to life at Hampshire College.
 * The SCIENCES Network (SCI Net), for students of color and international students who are interested in and/or concentrating in Natural Science or Cognitive Science, provides academic and professional resources.
 * The Mitziko Sawada Resource Library offers a multitude of books, magazines, articles, and videos focused on multiculturalism and social justice.
 * The Kahlo Gallery (named after artist Frida Kahlo) runs exhibits and programs centered on underrepresented artists and the theme of underrepresentation.
 * The annual ASK for Social Justice program seeks to increase attitudes, skills, and knowledge on issues related to social justice.
 * The International Student Orientation each semester addresses the particular needs of international students and addresses immigration and work issues, as well as adjustment to life in a new country.
 * The International Student Host Family Program matches incoming international students with a staff or faculty member to provide additional support far from home.
 * Multicultural student groups that fall under the coalition of SOURCE (Students of Under-Represented Cultures and Ethnicities) meet at the Cultural Center. Currently, there are nine SOURCE groups who serve the following populations: indigenous; mixed heritage; queer people of color; international students; Asian/Asian American; Lattino/a American; African/African American; international; James Baldwin Scholars; women of color; and international women.  The student groups, along with the Cultural Center, have historically organized a number of successful initiatives that look at community building, campus awareness, and institutional change on topics related to race, underrepresentation, and social justice.
 * Additional Cultural Center programs include faculty talks, writing workshops, internship search workshops, study nights, film screenings, heritage month events, a newsletter, open houses, dialogues, speakers, and musical preformances.

If you have an idea for a program or would like to further explore a topic related to the center's mission, please call or stop by the Cultural Center.

Publications
The Cultural Center publishes a magazine called "inside," which contains an array of submissions from Hampshire students, alumni, faculty, and staff.


 * Fall 2009 issue: [[Image:Inside 09 complete for web.pdf]]