DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Pre-business sophomores Brian Druding, Kelly Mercer and Doris Minardi work on a business math project in the ILC yesterday. The ILC will be renamed the Manuel T. Pacheco Integrated Learning Center, after the UA's 19th president.

The Integrated Learning Center will be named after Manuel T. Pacheco, UA's 19th president, in a ceremony at the ILC tomorrow.

"We're not abandoning the phrase Integrated Learning Center, we're just naming the Integrated Learning Center after the president who was in office when the concept was developed," said UA President Peter Likins.

The concept for the ILC was developed during Pacheco's presidency, but was built during Likins' presidency and completed in 2001. It cost $26 million.

Located in the heart of the UA Mall, the soon-to-be Manuel T. Pacheco ILC is 86,000 square feet and was designed by the architecture firm Gresham and Beach built underground, connected to the Main Library.

"I think it's fantastic," said Socorro Carrizosa, director of Chicano-Hispano student affairs, about the ceremony.

Carrizosa said she is proud the dedication is taking place during Hispanic Heritage Month, and that Pacheco is very deserving of the honor regardless of his cultural background.

"He is very deserving because he worked very hard for the university," she said.

Research awards, as measured by the National Science Foundation, grew from $273 million to $285 million during Pacheco's presidency, according to a press release. During that time, there was also a renewed emphasis on undergraduate education.

The ILC was constructed with the hope that access to computers, tutors, advisers and other services would encourage freshmen to continue their college education.

The retention of freshmen into the sophomore class is at 75 percent this semester, "the highest percentage we've ever realized," Likins said.

Likins said he initiated the name change, but the process required approval from the naming committee. Likins also said the people who work in the ILC were also consulted about the name change.

Carrizosa said she hopes a lot of students will attend the dedication to help honor Pacheco for all he did for the UA.

Austin Lewis, a pre-business freshman, takes a class in the ILC auditorium and attends group meetings with classmates in the computer lab.

"(The ILC) offers a place to go and study and has nice classrooms," Lewis said. "It's cool that it's underground too."

Brett Buchferer, a management information systems freshman, said he only goes to the ILC to do homework between classes because it is too inconvenient to walk there from his dorm.

"I don't think it's in the right place because it's a pain to get there and I don't think the facilities warrant the trip," Buchferer said.

Pacheco, Likins and several others will attend the renaming ceremony tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.

Pacheco also helped the UA acquire the Science and Technology Park in 1994, creating a nationally regarded research-and-development facility, according to the press release.

Before he became president of the UA in April 1991, Pacheco was president at Laredo State University in Texas from 1984 to 1988 and at the University of Houston, Downtown from 1988 to 1991.

After Pacheco left UA, he was president of the University of Missouri System until he retired in 2003. He now resides in Scottsdale.

"I greatly respect and admire Manuel Pacheco and I want to make sure that he gets the proper credit for taking the initiative in this student center project and it pleases me to honor him," Likins said.