A dream for an improved International Center is starting to become reality for Delia Koo.
The addition of a third floor to the center is set to begin in the coming months and preparations, including building a temporary loading dock, are underway.
Last fall, Koo donated an undisclosed amount to fund the project and the MSU Board of Trustees later announced the center’s academic wing will be renamed the Delia Koo International Academic Center.
Koo, who received her master’s from MSU in 1954, said the idea originated when the Volunteer English Tutoring Program, which until recently she was coordinator for, needed more space.
“It will provide a nice place for all international students and scholars to stop and realize that Michigan State University is interested in helping them.” Koo said.
“Now there are going to be classrooms for the (tutoring program) and seminar rooms and offices for other programs, it will be very nice when it is finished.”
A native of China, Koo still volunteers to teach students English as a second language.
The program’s current home in Holden Hall does not meet the needs of the Volunteer English Tutoring Program and thousands of students who participate in the program, she said.
The Asian Studies Center will be one of the International Studies and Program’s departments that will benefit from the addition.
“We are expanding our program and the existing space is not enough,” said Hiromi Maenaka, assistant director of the Asian Studies Center. “We have already set up how we want to arrange the additional space. We will have a multipurpose room that we can use for conferences and programs.”
Maenaka said conflicting schedules often force Asian Studies Center programs to other areas of campus. She said she will be patient with any noise the construction causes.
University Engineer Robert Nestle said the building’s structure will only need minor adjustments to handle an additional floor.
“The International Center will be comparatively easy,” he said. “The first thing we did was get the original architect back and involved and see if it could carry an additional floor.”
Ralph Calder & Associates, Inc. designed the original building, which was constructed in the early 1960s.
Nestle said the stairwells and elevator shaft will be extended and the existing elevator machinery is set up to handle a third floor.
“There will be some disruption to the building operations,” he said. “They won’t have to move out, but they will know someone is doing something over their heads.”
