A long-awaited piece to the Talley Student Union puzzle was completed Wednesday with the unveiling of the Wolfpack World graphic in the Cultural Hearth, a word cloud of hundreds of translations of “Wolfpack,” “think and do” and other slogans in the shape of the continents of the world.
Ever since Talley Student Union officially opened in August, students have assumed that the section to the left of the main entrance was just another lounge — complete with a modern fireplace and one of the lowest noise levels in the whole building — when in fact it is the Cultural Hearth, according to the assistant vice provost for Student Diversity, Tracey Ray.
“This isn’t an afterthought; this has been a part of the whole design of Talley since pre-construction five years ago,” Ray said. “The notion is to have a space, what we call a ‘storefront space,’ so that when you walk into Talley, which has become a focal point of our campus, you know that there is the value not only for diversity but for dialogue.”
The Wolfpack World graphic was developed by the Office of International Services with an accompanying line of products such as T-shirts and mugs, which will be sold to benefit the “Our Three Winners” fund established to award scholarships in the names of students Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha, whose lives were tragically lost in 2015.
For Ray, the Cultural Hearth was meant to seek an answer to the question, “What does it mean to work among differences both domestically and globally?”
“I’m hoping that students gravitate to that space, and it naturally becomes a hub,” Ray said.
The Cultural Hearth was in the plans of Talley Student Union from the beginning, with a goal of being fully complete at the time of the grand opening, but was delayed several months because of bureaucracy.
The signage that will officially name the space will be added in the near future.
“When there’s so many people involved in the process, it’s just going to go slower,” Ray said. “But to me, everything happens when it’s supposed to, so I’m very grateful that it went up today with the start of a new semester and so much happening, I’m very, very excited about how this space will speak to some of the concerns that students have.”
The space has a retractable soundproof wall to allow for private meetings, or it can flow into the larger space.
“I would love for this to be a natural part of students seeking out understanding, everything doesn’t have to be a program,” Ray said.
One of the groups that will use the Cultural Hearth frequently is the Cultural Exchange Network, a group of nearly 200 NC State students who work to engage American and international students, according to International Program Coordinator for the Global Training Initiative Melissa Edwards Smith.
“The Cultural Hearth really speaks to what we want NC State graduates to have,” Ray said. “When you leave, we want you to have awareness because more than ever [students] are going to be living and working in diverse communities far more than even your parents.”
