The small meeting rooms and kitchen in the renovated Jacobs House may not look like much to the casual observer, but to members of the NIU Asian community, the house is a new home.

NIU’s Asian American Center will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at the Jacobs House, 429 Garden Road.

Michelle Bringas, director of the Asian American Center, said the center serves many purposes. It will host workshops and outreach programs and coordinate programs with other departments, she said. The center also will be used as a resource for the 15 to 20 Asian organizations on campus, but Bringas has a broader goal in mind.

“The overarching goal of the center is to boost retention and recruitment of Asian students at Northern and create a focal point, a home – a place where they can feel welcome, gather and get involved,” she said.

The Family Center of NIU used to be located in the Jacobs House, but the building of Barsema Hall freed up room in Wirtz Hall, so the Family Center moved there. A proposal was made for Jacobs House to be the permanent residence of the Asian American Center, Bringas said. The building was renovated this summer, and staff moved in Sept. 27.

More than 100 people – excluding alumni – helped in the development of the center, Bringas said.

“We just feel that impact of what a community has done together,” she said.

The Asian student population at NIU hovers around 7 percent, Bringas said, which would come out to about 1,750 students.

NIU started looking at what resources Asian students needed in 1999, Bringas said. She said for NIU to respond to their needs in that amount of time is pretty amazing.

“I think it says that we’re [NIU] taking things to the next level to support diversity,” Bringas said.

NIU is the first institution to establish a stand-alone center in the northern Illinois region, she said.

Heather Skalski, a junior business management major who is also vice president of the Asian American Association, is among the five student partners on staff.

“It makes me feel that the Asian community belongs at NIU,” Skalski said. “It’s really, really exciting. I can’t even explain it.”

Kris Wong, a junior art major who is also on staff, sees the center as an opportunity for the Asian community at NIU to spread its voice.

“Normally, Asians are stereotypically always quiet – now we can tell people how we feel, what we think … things like that,” Wong said.

Students and staff will give tours of the center today and provide refreshments. Skalski said she expects about 200 people to attend.