UNT International moves to renovated Marquis Hall
Courtesy | UNT
Alejandro Medellin | Staff Writer
Lisa Dreher | Staff Writer
After a yearlong wait, residents of UNT International finally have a new office today at Marquis Hall.
UNT International was previously located at Sycamore and at other offices around campus, but now the department has gathered under one roof.
Descendants of UNT’s sixth president, Robert L. Marquis, attended the opening ceremony Monday.
“They reworked the building into UNT International because international students have such a different life and this office is a place to come to get resources to help fulfill,” Robert Lincoln Marquis IV said. “We have a college president and two college professors all in the same family, so North Texas is a pretty important part of our lives.”
Peace Pole unveiled outside of Marquis Hall as sign of peace across nationalities @ntdaily pic.twitter.com/XiBzgMamzd
— Lisa Dreher (@lisa_dreher97) September 21, 2015
Students were gathered at Marquis Hall enjoying the renovations, refreshments and food. While the celebrating went on upstairs, there was a meeting downstairs with consuls from different countries including Mexico, Canada and Korea.
“Everybody can be together,” said Alejandro Bartolini, an employee at the Intensive English Language Institute computer lab. “Before we were a little bit separated around the campus, we didn’t have all the rooms together, but now we’re all in the same area and it’s easier to help each other.”
Facing the General Academic Building, there is a multi-faceted pole with engravings in different languages that says “May peace prevail on earth.”
The pole is seven-sided and contains the seven most commonly spoken languages at UNT: English, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Hindi and Thai. Peace poles such as this one can be found in over 180 countries dating as far back as 1975 with Japan being the first.
Offices occupy the first floor, and the second and third floors include classrooms and computer labs.
“It’s working very well for the number of students that we have. We have about 350 international students from over 30 countries,” said director Fernando Fleurquin. “It was worth it after a year with the renovation of the whole building but it was done based on our specifications. We’re really happy.”
Featured: Courtesy | UNT
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