Black culture center appoints new director

With the addition of Tuesday study tables in newly furnished lounges, partnerships with Atkins Book Club and a fresh, modern logo on the window, Stephanie Power-Carter has begun her latest IU career as director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

Power-Carter, formerly an associate professor of the IU School of Education, succeeded Audrey McCluskey on Aug. 1. 

“I was asked to do this job, and it’s been very exciting,” Power-Carter said. “I’m excited to work with the students. Making sure the center is running well is one of my top priorities.”

The center was named after black graduates Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall.
The building houses the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library, African-American Arts Institute and the Office of Diversity Education.

It also contains lounges, computer labs and study rooms for student use.

“Letting (students) know they are following the footsteps of black faculty staff who made great strides in creating and building this community at IU is important to us,” Power-Carter said.

“Just making sure people know we are here, and that we are out to serve them in the most professional way (is important).”

The four goals of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center are academic excellence, student services, recruitment attention and community, Power-Carter said.

“Those are things we want to emphasize here and let students know that they’re welcome,” Power-Carter said. “This is the kind of place where you can come, learn about black life, and have the experience to have someone to talk to and share with. It’s just that kind of place.”

Before her journey to Indiana, Power-Carter lived in a small, rural Georgia town.

She was a first-generation college student when she applied and graduated from the University of Georgia, then Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.

Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, said he is very excited about Power-Carter’s leadership and vision for the culture center.

“Dr. Power-Carter brings an energy and drive to the position,” Love said. “She has incredible vision and has transformed the Culture Center into a warm and inviting space.”

Power-Carter said there is always a learning experience, whether you are interested in learning or not.

She said an older man once told her she could not get into the University of Georgia, and that she spent her life fighting such expectations.

Power-Carter said, “He had no idea about me, but just looked at me. I fought against those expectations all my life, but my parents prepared me and that was just the world I grew up in.

“So the fact that there were people who saw me, and made assumptions about me, that’s my whole life, and that’s been a fuel to
the fire.”