CHEYENNE, Wyo.  Plans for a long-sought American Indian center at Central Wyoming College in Riverton have gotten a boost with the University of Wyoming joining the project and the state Legislature’s approval of $1.1 million in funding.

College officials hope to start construction of the Intertribal Education and Community Center in spring 2009. The building will serve as a central point for American Indian student services and the headquarters for the school's Native American Studies classes. It will also house the Riverton campus of UW’s Outreach School, officials said.

Central Wyoming College spokeswoman Carolyn Aanestad said from 17 percent to 20 percent of the community college’s 2,000 students are American Indians. Most of them are members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes from the Wind River Indian Reservation surrounding Riverton.

Preliminary plans call for the building to be designed in the shape of a traditional drum. Along with classrooms, the building will have space for public meetings, career counseling, powwows and a display of the college’s American Indian art and artifacts.

Helsha Acuna, director of the college’s Native American Studies program, said the center's design also includes a kitchen, which she said will contribute to an atmosphere intended to make American Indian students feel comfortable to visit and study.

“But we don’t want this just to be the Indian place, you know,” Acuna said. “The idea is to make it very diverse, because we do want all students, all community members, to feel comfortable and to know anybody is welcome.”

Aanestad said the college has collected $5.3 million for the project, including federal and state funding and private donations. Those funds should cover the cost of the building, but the college is now raising a minimum of $400,000 more to pay for expenses, including site improvements and excavation costs, she said.