Professor Emerita Harriet Bloom-Wilson’s legacy, which was attested to by a large crowd of friends, staff and current and former students, will have a permanent place on campus. 

At Thursday night’s annual Taste the Nations event at Northwest College, Bloom-Wilson, the night’s special guest, was honored by the college, which announced the intercultural center would be renamed the Bloom Wilson Intercultural House, or Harriet’s House.  

“I’m actually stunned by the honor,” she said. “This is truly a gift.”

Bloom-Wilson thanked the staff of the college for carrying on her legacy for international students and her husband for being by her side, and being the reason they moved to Powell in the first place when he got a job at the college. They are leaving at the end of the month to move to Washington to be closer to children. 

She also spoke to the international students spread around the room, all eating a classic French chicken dish, finished with chocolate mousse. 

“I’m so proud of you and impressed with your coming here,” she said. “You have a chance to be an ambassador for your country. And Powell will always be a second home.”

Trustees had unanimously approved the request made by the NWC Foundation via trustee Carolyn Danko at their Monday night meeting.

“She is a human tornado,” Danko said. “She still goes out and welcomes new students from other countries. The things she did are almost magical. NWC has the most international students of any community college in Wyoming. 

“Not only do they learn about us, we learn about the rest of the world.”

Bloom-Wilson has served as Northwest College’s primary cultural ambassador for 40 years, first as a member of the faculty and now as a retiree. Born and raised in New York, she completed her graduate studies at the University of New Mexico, where she met her husband, Dr. Richard Wilson.

In January 1981, the couple moved to Powell, where they raised their daughters and established roots at the college and in the community. Since her retirement in 2012, Harriet has continued her service as an adviser to the NWC Intercultural Programs Office staff, and as a dedicated programming volunteer.

Amanda Enriquez, who took over as NWC Intercultural Program Manager when Bloom-Wilson retired in 2012, spoke about Bloom-Wilson’s importance to the international community on campus both during her tenure and since then as a volunteer. Enriquez said she saw, as a NWC student with many international friends, the work Bloom-Wilson put in to welcoming international students, including inviting them to her house for Christmas. 

“Harriet has worked to bridge people around the world,” she said. “She put Northwest on the forefront when it came to internationalizing rural community colleges in the U.S.”

That work has paid off. NWC has a record 75 international students this year, which is not only the most in school history, but the most in the state and in the region amongst community colleges. 

Bloom-Wilson was key to the establishment of the house that now bears her name. 

The vision came when, after visiting her daughter at Georgetown College, she sought to purchase and renovate a house adjacent to campus. The ICH features programming, meeting and cooking space, plus a suite for live-in scholars. The home-like setting also functions as a gathering spot for international and minority students attending Northwest College.

Taste the Nations is a major fundraiser for the NWC Intercultural Program’s Global Passport Partners. Additional donations provide international student scholarships and supports student travel funding.