New facility for international students opens at Southeast

The new International Village at Southeast Missouri State University opened its doors recently and offers a space to build community among international students and branch out into the wider community, officials said.

Kevin Timlin, executive director of International Education and Services at Southeast, said he is excited to have all of the resources for international students in one place, with room to bring more people together than was previously possible.

The facility at 1025 N. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau formerly housed the Cottonwood Residential Treatment Facility for youths, and is the new home for the university’s Office of International Education and Services (IES) and the Intensive English Program, or IEP.

IES moved from 939 College Hill Place, a house near Kent Library that did not have much space for community gathering, Timlin said.

IEP’s offices were located throughout Pacific Hall at 347 N. Pacific St. — near the College Hill office, but not physically together. 

Kevin Timlin, executive director of International Education and Services at Southeast Missouri State University, shows some of the newly occupied areas in the administrative building of the International Village on Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

Now that the two are in one building, collaboration is much easier, Timlin said.

Timlin said the International Village will include the administration building, where offices and collaborative spaces, as well as a multipurpose room and kitchen, will be located, and two cottages now house IEP classrooms.

IEP is an integrative program designed to bring nonnative English speakers to fluency, in an academic setting, Timlin said. Students in the program have specific needs that can be tough to meet if students are scattered across campus without access to other members of the international student community.

The collaborative spaces will give students more opportunity to build community, Timlin added.

And, Timlin said, the administration building has a 20-station computer lab especially for IEP students.

Kevin Timlin, executive director of International Education and Services at Southeast Missouri State University, shows some of the newly occupied areas in the administrative building of the International Village on Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

The renovated learning spaces in a centralized location will be a key factor for their students’ continued success, Breanna Walling, associate director of IES and director of IEP, said in a news release.

“With a dedicated space, we can invest in the resources and support students need to find success,” she said in the release.

IEP began offering classes in its new location this semester, Timlin said.

The collaborative spaces in the administration building can be used for video conferencing, Timlin said, so international students can receive some orientation materials before they arrive on campus.

This will also be helpful for visiting scholars, Timlin noted, and in recruitment efforts.

Down the hall, in the multipurpose room, Tuesday afternoon, flags lined one wall, representing students from around the world. Chairs were set up in a loose semicircle around a wide screen, which, Timlin said, could be used to show movies or hold “culture nights.”

Since the room is also essentially a small gymnasium, table tennis, badminton and other pickup games could be held there.

And a near-commercial-grade kitchen adjoins the multipurpose room.

That kitchen could lend another feature to a culture night, Timlin said, giving students “an entree into a culture they may not be as familiar with.”

“We’re not trying to isolate international students,” Timlin said. “We want this village to be a hub where international events happen, and can branch out to other activities across campus.”

That will be a big benefit to students international and domestic, Timlin said.

“Having a global understanding is vital to being a productive student and professional in the 21st century,” he said. “Education is about collaboration, and the International Village will be dedicated to sharing and understanding global cultures across the Southeast community.”

Southeast had 615 international students enrolled last fall, according to the release.

Second-phase renovations, to be addressed in the future, will include repurposing the final three cottages on the property for residential housing, the release stated.

Renovations were completed in early December.

In July 2015, Community Counseling Center took over operation of Cottonwood and relocated to a new facility at 2852 Independence St. in Cape Girardeau.

A $2.5 million budget was approved for renovations in fall 2017 by Southeast’s board of regents.

Ann Hayes, director of university communications, said plans for the vacated office space at 939 College Hill are to be determined.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630