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Voters in New Mexico have overwhelmingly supported General Obligation (GO) bonds in recent years, making possible crucial capital improvements to the state’s universities, colleges and specialty schools. On the WNMU campus, successful projects have ranged from the remodeling of existing structures to construction of new facilities that expand the university’s educational reach. One project funded by previous GO bonds is the WNMU John Arthur and Janette Smith Educational Center, an 8,697 square foot building that houses the university’s Deming health sciences offerings, including its nursing, phlebotomy, pharmacy technician, and Certified Nursing Assistant programs. Completed in 2023, the new center cost $10,765,000, partly paid for by GO bonds in 2018 and 2022. The new facility in Deming expands educational opportunities for people throughout Luna and Hidalgo Counties, who have traditionally been underserved. The new John Arthur and Janette Smith Educational Center, said...

The WNMU Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art is featuring a new installation by Assistant Professor of Sculpture Erin Monet Wheary. The exhibition includes a large-scale collaborative drawing as well as corresponding photographs and cyanotypes. The works have their origin in Santa Cruz de Mompox, Colombia, where Wheary was invited to an artist’s residency last winter. Wheary was inspired by the Magdalena River, which flows through Mompox and has changed course over the years. “This installation is an homage to the intrinsic power of the river, a celebration of its ability to carve and shape the very foundations of our existence,” said Wheary in her artist’s statement. “Water, an elemental force, serves as the sculptor of landscapes,” noted Wheary, “etching its passage through the earth, leaving behind a tapestry of layered memories in the form of riverbanks.” Meandro, she said, “encapsulates the essence of this dynamic relationship.” Expressive...

Thirty-two nursing student took part in a Purple Coat Ceremony to mark the start of their clinical education and commit themselves to compassionate care, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. The ceremony was modeled on the White Coat Ceremony, which was initiated in 1993 at Columbia University. Today, nearly every medical school in the United States, hundreds of nursing schools, and many other health profession schools participate in the tradition. The ceremony is designed as a rite of passage to emphasize the importance of compassionate patient care at the very start of training. Students recite an oath, dedicating themselves to providing the highest quality care and services. In addition to the oath, students come forward to be “cloaked” before family and friends. While a white coat is usually symbolic of the health care field, at WNMU, students receive a purple scrub jacket, consistent with the university’s colors. According to Professor of Nursing Krista Wood, who opened the...

Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard spoke to the Rotary Club of Silver City on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. The event was held in the Sunset Room of the WNMU Student Memorial Building. Shepard provided an overview of General Obligation Bond 3, which will be on the ballot this November, and he described the university’s plans to use $9 million in funding from the GO Bond to design, construct and furnish a new Child Development Center, which will be part of the New Mexico Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Education. “If we receive , that will be the beginning of building a new Child Development Center out behind St. Mary’s Church,” said Shepard. The new facility will increase the current center’s infant and toddler program capacity by 45% and include indoor and outdoor learning spaces, offices and space for future growth. In addition to this initial bond-funded project, the university also has longer-term goals for the site off Alabama...

Students in the Western New Mexico University School of Business Entrepreneurship II class created pop-up start-up businesses to begin the fall semester. For this assignment, Adjunct Professor Doug Fletcher’s students worked in small groups, and each was provided with $20 in start-up funding. Their task was to come up with a money-making business that could turn a profit in two hours. Fletcher said that the assignment is a common one in courses on entrepreneurship. “It was started about 20 years ago at Stanford,” he explained, “and became hugely popular just because of its craziness.” At the heart of the assignment is the question, “What can we do with $20 to create a product or service that people would willingly pay us for?” said Fletcher. Students had unlimited time to brainstorm their project, but they could only be open for business for two hours. “With those constraints, it forces you to be creative.” The start-up businesses they created ranged from a...

WNMU will be closed in observance of Labor Day, Monday, September 2,...

Officials from the Mexican Consulate in El Paso visited Western New Mexico University on Friday, August 23, 2024, to celebrate a new agreement between the two parties to provide scholarship funding for WNMU students who are either from Mexico or are Mexican American. The new IME Becas Scholarships are jointly funded by the WNMU Foundation and the government of Mexico. The WNMU funding comes from donors, while the funding from Mexico comes from the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, which is part of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Institute for Mexicans Abroad has as its mission “to improve access to educational opportunities in all levels for Mexicans and persons of Mexican origin living in the United States of America,” according to the agreement between the consulate and WNMU. Consul General of Mexico in El Paso, Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon, said that collaborations like the one between WNMU and the Mexican Consulate help to reframe how the borderlands are...

By Anna-Marie Menhenott, Career Center and Career Services Coordinator College flies by. Before you know it, it is time to order a cap and gown, study for finals and prepare for life after university. Many times, students are left with the daunting task of applying for a job in their field of study and scrambling to put a resume together, cobble together a cover letter and prepare for an interview. Those tasks can be overwhelming. That is where the Career Center here at Western New Mexico University can help. While the office of Career Services is not new here on campus, the implementation of the Career Center only took place this past July. The Center offers students and alumni assistance in their search for employment. While choosing a career can be exciting, it offers challenges that can seem overwhelming. Having a professional to help students to navigate these waters can help them make informed decisions and have higher success when seeking employment after...

With a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, experience as a mediator, and a background teaching Adult Basic Education, St. Paul, Minnesota resident Karl Blakely has known for some time that he wanted to continue his education at the graduate level. When he learned about the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at WNMU, he knew he had found a good fit for his diverse interests, but since starting the program, he has also found that his education has helped his career. Blakely is employed by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), where he works as the supervisor of the Member and Audience Services Department. His department provides general customer service as well as technical services, and his position also involves technical writing. He is currently developing training manuals for the staff on his team, a responsibility that has been aided by his WNMU coursework. “I took a course called Professional Writing with Dr. Heather Steinmann, and that course is really a bread...

If Higher Education Bond 3 passes in November’s election, Western New Mexico University will receive $9 million for the first phase of construction of a new home for the New Mexico Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education. In this first phase, the university plans to expand its Child Development Center by constructing a new building to house infant and toddler classrooms. While the new center’s primary purpose is to improve child wellbeing in southwest New Mexico by providing age-appropriate educational spaces and a new lab site for WNMU students, it would also have a strong impact on the region’s economy. The most obvious economic impact is in terms of jobs created. Construction of the building would require contractors in the field of construction but also in electrical and plumbing. It is estimated that passage of Bond 3 would create nearly 2,300 new jobs statewide, including 90 in Grant County. The economic impact extends well beyond short-term job gains....