The Africana Research Center will celebrate its opening with a reception from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today in Heritage Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Cary Fraser, director of the center, will host the event and discuss his vision of what the center will become.

The event will begin with a performance by NOMMO Performing Arts Company, an African dance troupe.

The ceremony will also include a brief film created by Charles Dumas, associate professor of theatre and African and African-American studies. The film outlines the history of the research center, including the protests that took place last spring in response to the university's handling of a racist death threat. The protests, which led to the creation of a group called the Village, spurred changes in the university's diversity policies.

For more information, contact Michelle Way in the College of the Liberal Arts at 865-6482.