The third floor of the Henderson Campus Center echoed with the bumping bass and smooth vocals of 90s R&B and rap music on Tuesday, Aug. 27. The IDEAS Center was the source of the celebration, drawing dozens of students for its first day of school coffee and donuts event.
With a remodeled lounge space and a new director at the helm, the IDEAS Center is poised to play a larger role in all students’ lives.
The updated space was designed to encourage students to meet each other, talk, hang out, celebrate and collaborate, according to IDEAS Center Director Natalie Brown.
For Jazmine Thomas, ’27, the remodel is a large improvement.
“I love the renovation,” Thomas said. “I think that it looks so modern and nice, and there’s so much more seating spaces, which I’m excited about because people were really having to find chairs (last year).”
Thomas chatted with fellow students near the spread of coffee, donuts, juice, chips and a platter of cheese and fresh fruit, tossing compliments toward those around her.
As a freshman, Thomas worked as a Jason Fellow, assisting in the daily operations of the IDEAS Center. The fellowship is named in honor of William C. Jason, an 1888 graduate and the first Black alumnus of Allegheny College, according to the IDEAS Center website.
“I think this year I’m going to continue being a Jason Fellow and work as a Gator Guide to put some more diversity into the guiding of the school,” Thomas said. “You know, we want to see the school look as vibrant as possible.”
The IDEAS Center — which stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Social Justice — provides support for “under-resourced student populations” and provides “a gathering place for dialogue,” according to the center’s website.
Brown believes that all communities of under-resourced students should feel welcome in the space.
“I think that a lot of people walk past the IDEAS Center and see Black and brown students and say, ‘Ok, that’s a place for them,’” Brown said. “This is a place for everybody.”
Brown took over as Interim Director of the IDEAS Center in September 2023 after the departure of former director Lisa Nicole Smith on Sept. 1. The quiet change in leadership followed a Feb. 2023 closed session of the Allegheny Student Government during which a student alleged that Smith made transphobic comments, and ASG consolidated power over Culture, Identity & Leadership Coalition organizations in response to the allegations. However, the allegations were never discussed or corroborated publicly, and Dean of Inclusive Excellence Heather Moore Roberson said that Smith’s departure was unrelated to the closed session, according to a Sept. 22, 2023 Campus article.
Brown was promoted to director of the IDEAS Center in December 2023. Though she had big ideas for what the IDEAS Center could be, Brown said she refrained from implementing significant changes during her first semester as director to maintain a sense of stability for students. But once summer came, Brown hit the ground running.
“I’m extremely excited to be the now permanent director of the IDEAS Center,” Brown said. “But also to create — have the ability to create new things.”
One of Brown’s initiatives, “Leave No Crumbs,” was enacted last semester and encourages students to achieve their full potential.
“That push of like, ‘Hey, get out here, get to it, leave no crumbs’ has left them excited, now coming back from internships and hearing all their experiences about now taking jobs,” Brown said. “That ‘Leave No Crumbs’ initiative really drove them to take advantage of resources and start creating a life for themselves.”
Brown wants to continue the theme while also expanding the center to participate in larger cross-campus activities.
This year, for example, the IDEAS Center and the Advancement of Black Culture student organization will host a Homecoming event during Blue & Gold Weekend tailored to alumni of color and students of color. In addition to creating a fun environment, Brown hopes the event will connect students with alumni and begin to establish relationships that can provide students with mentorship and career guidance.
The center will also continue its efforts to engage students through many strategic avenues that reach broad swaths of students.
Last year, in addition to other programs and training, the IDEAS Center helped organize several Springfest events, collaborated with FIJI to host the “Do You See Me?” community conversation series and trained student athletes on equity and mutual respect.
“That’s me trying to expand, not just serve as IDEAS Director, but serve as a learning vessel to bring people together, to bring unity, to teach people how to see their errors — because we all come from different backgrounds and make those adjustments so we can all be very comfortable living together here on this campus,” Brown said.
The recent establishment of the RISE program marks another step the college is taking to provide support for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
The RISE Program is a cohort program that was developed at Allegheny College, spearheaded by Associate Dean Dominique Turner in 2023, designed specifically for incoming African American and Latino students on Allegheny’s campus. This Fall semester was our inaugural cohort for the group.

In Allegheny’s RISE Program, students will receive comprehensive personal, professional and academic development, according to the college website. Program highlights include a first-year retreat before classes begin, alumni mentorship pairing, summer research through the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, attending the Great Lake College Association’s Students of Color Leadership Conference, personalized internship preparation and peer mentoring.
Michael Owens, ’28, is a member of the first Allegheny RISE cohort and has enjoyed his experience so far with the program.
“It’s been really nice having that support knowing that there are 13 people that you’re here in the beginning with,” Owens said. “And hopefully there will be 13 when you end with it, or more throughout the years and more people join.”
Owens said the program has already helped him establish close relationships with several staff members from the IDEAS Center and the ODEI, including Associate Dean of Inclusive Excellence Dominique Turner.
At the IDEAS Center’s coffee and donuts event, Owens relaxed on the new gray sectional couch with his laptop perched on his lap.
“Overall, this reminds me of an open house, kind of,” Owens said. “You know, like a party over with your family and certain people. So, it feels homey.”
For Brown, seeing students using the space and building relationships with each other is exactly what she’d hoped for.
“The IDEAS Center is made now to be that place of coming together for real,” Brown said. “Like, not just saying that everybody’s welcome here. It’s, ‘Everybody really is welcome here,’ because we want — we don’t grow unless we really come together and have the hard conversations. We can’t duck and dodge the hard conversations. We have to talk about them. Once we do — once we understand perspectives and understand the lives that we’ve lived before we got here — it makes everything more better. It makes it peaceful.”

This article has been updated to correctly identify the establishing organization for the RISE program. Updated: Oct. 25, 2024,, 11:13 a.m.