Dedication of the Julia N. Visor Academic Center Friday Afternoon

The dedication of the Julia N. Visor Academic Center at Illinois State University will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, at the Center, which is located in the newly created lower level of Vrooman Center between Manchester and Hewett residence halls.   The entrance to Vrooman Center is visible from Fell Avenue.

President Al Bowman, representatives from the Illinois State University Board of Trustees and other administrators will be present for the dedication.  A reception will follow.

The Board of Trustees last year approved naming the University Center for Learning Assistance (UCLA)/Minority Student Academic Center in memory of Julia Visor.  She was coordinator of UCLA from 1997 to her untimely death in 2001.  Visor was a powerful advocate for the center and was devoted to the success of all students.  She acted as tutor and mentor with a particular passion for helping first-generation college students make the transition to higher education and become successful graduates of Illinois State.

As a faculty member of the English Department, Visor taught courses in composition and rhetoric and in African American literature, serving as a mentor and advisor for many graduate students working in those areas.

In 1996 she was recognized with the David A. Strand Award for Diversity Achievement.  She is also recognized by the Julia N. Visor Award in the Department of English for the best undergraduate essay on the sociopolitical dimensions of any aspect of English Studies, a competition designed to encourage student research on issues of racism, colonialism and cultural diversity in literary and cultural studies, rhetoric, linguistics and education.