By Matt SpectorThe Daily Northwestern

Until this month, nursing mothers working as students, faculty or staff on South Campus had difficulty finding a place to take care of their children.

Now, a room in the Rebecca Crown Center dedicated to nursing mothers offers them cleaning supplies, parenting literature and peace of mind.

“It makes it a more family-friendly environment for non-traditional students, either grad students or students with children coming back to NU,” said Katie Krauch, the child and family resources manager at NU.

The space is the result of a yearlong search by Krauch’s department to find a suitable, secluded location on South Campus to add on to the existing mothers’ facilities in Pancoe Pavilion on North Campus.

Once they found a location “out of the way and in a low-traffic area,” Krauch said they wanted a mural to make the space more inviting. She approached NU alumna Heather Hollenbeck, Weinberg ’06, to take on the job.

Hollenbeck used the motifs she developed during her graduate studies in art theory to make the room a better place for mothers who were going to be on campus after she left.

Hollenbeck had a child while she was studying at NU, and said it was hard to find places to breastfeed her child that were private and on campus. She said that if nursing mothers don’t have a room or office to go to, they feel trapped.

“You feel like you can’t feed your baby anymore, you’re struggling to get everything done,” Hollenbeck said.

As a former graduate student, Hollenbeck said it is difficult to balance long hours in class or at work with child care.

Krauch said the process of returning to work or school can be challenging for nursing mothers.

“We wanted to help the transition back to work be a little more convenient for the mothers,” Krauch said. “It’s a challenging time for mothers to be at work.”

In creating a room on campus to serve new mothers who want to keep learning and working on campus, NU is following the lead of other schools in the nation that are working to improve facilities and working environments for women.

“A lot of our peer institutions across the United States have some type of accommodations on their campus,” said Janie Savage, assistant to the senior vice president for business and finance. “We felt it was a family-friendly initiative to try to do.”

Savage said the room has a pleasant atmosphere and that the furniture is comfortable.

“Those rooms say that NU is supporting the mothers on the campus and that we’re trying to make your time here the best that it can be,” Hollenbeck said.

NU’s Childcare, Family Resources and Work Life department is currently planning another mothers’ room on the Chicago campus.

Reach Matt Spector at [email protected].