This coming Tuesday, March 2, Auburn University’s Multicultural Center is hosting its Lunch & Learn Series: “We All Count: The Importance of the Census.” Celida Garcia, the speaker of this particular seminar, will conduct an hour session from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in rooms 2222 and 2223 of the AU Student Center.

“You should expect to learn why the census is important and why you should participate,” said Shakeer Abdullah, the director of the Multicultural Center. “A lot of government funding comes out of it, so it should encourage people to get involved.”

Since the session is during the lunch hour, students should feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.

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Garcia is the founder and president of Puente, Inc., a non-profit educational and cultural awareness organization. She is also a partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, where her mission is to build relationships with governmental, faith-based leaders and community leaders for the purpose of effectively capture the most complete and accurate count for the 2010 census.

“AU Students are in a unique position to raise awareness and orchestrate change for the next ten years,” said Garcia. “My lecture will equip students with a brief 2010 census informational session to help promote the census in our communities, including those historically noted as hard-to-count, such as the Hispanic-Latino.”

Within this meeting, students will learn why the census is simple, safe and important to Latinos in Alabama and the nation as well. Garcia will also share how students can be a part of the largest domestic undertaking by of the decade.

For students who do attend, they will be able to choose from several census promotional materials to take home, in an effort to further promote the census to their friends and families.

For more information on how the census affects the nation, Garcia provided the following link http://2010.census.gov/2010census/why/index.php.

Throughout this semester, the Multicultural Center has already had three of its Lunch & Learn Series, and it has organized four more in the coming weeks, including The Importance of the Census. All lectures are supposed to reflect an aspect of diversity and culture.

“We want people to come to the Lunch & Learn Series to get a better understanding of diversity," said Abdullah. “Our schedule is designed to encompass all students at Auburn University.”

The Multicultural Center’s purpose is to be a hub of student activities. Individuals can come and learn about diversity in Auburn through a range of programming such as films, plays, speakers, panel sessions, round table discussions, events and more. Their office, located on the bottom level of the Student Center near the video game room, has a computer lab and conference room that is open to all students.

“Many students think that you’re only allowed to use our facility if you’re of a different ethnicity, that’s absolutely wrong,” said Abdullah “All students - white, black, purple or green –are invited to use our facility.

The next upcoming Lunch & Learn Series is Invisible Voices: Celebrating Minorities in Architecture, Design & Construction on April 14 at 11:45 a.m. in room 2310 of the AU Student Center.