They named it the Adawe LifePlan Center because of its history, its past.
The Ottawa Indian Tribe used the word Adawe to mean a trade or exchange. They used it to talk about themselves, about their people, about their heritage.
Today — at Ottawa University — the word Adawe takes new meaning, as administrators forge ahead with the new Adawe LifePlan Center, hoping to bring the university's past, present and future together.
"The work of the center is to provide each student with the opportunity to grow relationships that enrich their sense of purpose," Karen Ohnesorge, director of the center, said.
The Center kicked off the school year as part of recent university changes — including the creation of a School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and School of Business.
"We have what we call our CHE, or Center for Holistic Education," University President Kevin Eichner said. "It contains the responsibility for our liberal arts curriculum, which is to be very strongly invested in all of the schools."
The CHE and Adawe LifePlan Center will work closely to help students reach their potential, Eichner said.
Ohnesorge said one of the first steps in readying the new center for use was the hiring of three positions within the Adawe LifePlan Center — which has been done.
"We have filled some of the positions at the Center," Ohnesorge said. "The ones we have filled are for advisers."
Ohnesorge said the three advisers — who will work closely with students on a personal level — have been hired to fill available spots in the Center.
"Later, we'll add a fourth position," Ohnesorge said. "The fourth will be a counselor."
Most of the summer changes to the university still are up in the air, Provost Dennis Tyner said.
The naming of the schools already happened, Tyner said, but fully implementing the other changes could take longer, he said.
"I think that's going to happen by the course of the year," he said.
Until then, Ohnesorge said new students will continue to work with their academic advisers — as they have done in past years — and are enrolled in a first-year seminar course.
"The advisers in the Adawe Center are working on academics right now," Ohnesorge said. "They will work in collaboration with the academic advisers."
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