Author Archives: Linda Brown

Dara Naphan-Kingery’s trajectory from graduate school to her current position as an assistant professor of Sociology at WNMU has not been a straightforward one. After earning her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, she felt she needed additional experience before aiming to become a professor. “I knew that I always wanted to teach,” she said, “but I needed to beef up my CV a little bit, so I ended up doing a postdoc at Vanderbilt University.” This postdoctoral research position became much more than just a CV-builder for Naphan-Kingery. “I worked with this group that was focused on broadening participation in engineering, specifically focused on black engineers,” she said. “I had done my dissertation on women in engineering. I got interested in that because engineering is just such an exclusive field. It can be a chilly climate for a lot of women and minoritized groups. … I was interested in things like sense of belonging and how people...

Campus Security Specialist Barbara Perez did not always imagine she would be coordinating communications for a six-member police force. In 1995, when she started working for WNMU, she served as a cashier in the Business Office. But when a position with WNMU Campus Police opened up in 1997, she came aboard with the assumption that she would be an administrative assistant. Instead, she has become the department’s go-to person not only for police communications, but also for campus event security and crisis intervention, compliance, budgeting, and the supervision of student workers. What motivates Perez in all of her work is a desire to help others. Twice awarded WNMU Employee of the Year, Perez acknowledged that the awards “made me feel good, but I am not all about that. I love the university and I love helping people.” Her natural impulse to help is just the start of her qualifications for her position. In addition, she has completed training with the NM Department of...

Access Services Librarian Andrea Jaquez fell in love with history when she was a child growing up in California’s San Fernando Valley. There, she would ride her horse along the old stagecoach road that ran between the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, wondering about those that traveled the road before her. The passion for history that developed during her childhood rambles has fueled both her professional career and pastimes. Jaquez came to WNMU J. Cloyd Miller Library in 1998, following a first career as an auditor for Nordstrom. Since then, she has assisted numerous library patrons as they have researched local history, investigated their own personal genealogy, or conducted research in the library’s special collections. In southwest New Mexico, Jaquez has put down roots that bind her to the region’s history and culture and have made her inquisitive about the area’s past. “There is so much here that people don’t know about or that they take for granted,” she...

The WNMU J. Cloyd Miller Library and the Humanities Department held the annual National Poetry Month celebration on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The winners of the WNMU Humanities Creative Writing Contest were announced at the event. Winning first place in both the poetry and prose categories was English major Brandon Lee Miller. Tying for second place in the poetry category were English major Ariana Zuniga and art major Felix Gutierrez. Winning second place in the prose category was art major Gabe Farley. Presenters at the celebration included Miller Library Director Samantha Johnson, Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education/Spanish Gregory Robinson Guerra, Assistant Professor of English Heather Frankland, students from Frankland’s English 097 class, the WNMU Writer in Residence, JJ Amaworo Wilson, Outreach and Instruction Librarian Maddy Nittmo and the former poet laureates of Grant County. Miller’s winning poem, “The Joys of Cycling,” focuses of the exhilaration of...

The WNMU campus office of Manda Jost seems reflective of the mind of the biology professor who occupies it. There are specimens floating in glass jars on the desk, nineteenth-century natural history texts on the bookshelves, and curious and colorful works of art that reflect diverse, wide-ranging travels. In this eclectic space, where the boundaries between art and science blur, Jost's multifaceted background shapes her approach to biology as she encourages a new generation of students to explore the natural world. “I am a first-generation American on my mother’s side,” said Jost, reflecting on her diverse heritage that spans continents and cultures, including her mother’s home country of Chile. Her family’s background has shaped her worldview and fueled her passion for exploration. Jost’s upbringing in Houston, TX, was a blend of cultural diversity and the avant-garde, with roots extending from Ukrainian and Belorussian Jews to Chilean and Mennonite heritage....

With just weeks to go until commencement, Mustangs can be sure spring has arrived on...

Each year, students at Jose Barrios Elementary School run a community-wide food collection campaign, benefiting residents experiencing food insecurity. The focus of this year’s five-week drive, which was facilitated by fourth-grade teacher Ben Duran, was dedicated to stocking the shelves of the WNMU food pantry, the One Stop. ⁠ ⁠ Each donation earned a special reward, from extra recess time to the chance to win an epic class pizza party.  The effort was part of K-Kids (Kiwanis Kids), which has locally benefitted a number of Grant County non-profits, according to Duran⁠. WNMU Student Services Coordinator Kim Woodward, who runs the One Stop, commended Duran and his students, noting how food donations are central to addressing food insecurity. “Food donations,” she said, “play a crucial role in addressing food security in several ways:  donations provide essential food items to individuals and families facing food insecurity, ensuring they have access to nutritious...

WNMU recently announced that it had earned the 2024-2025 Military Friendly® School Designation. The university has been honored with the silver award, indicating that it is surpassing the criteria for Military Friendly® Schools. Institutions earning the Military Friendly® School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,800 schools participated in the 2024-2025 survey with 537 earning special awards for going above the standard. The 2024-2025 Military Friendly® Schools list will be published in the May and October issues of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com. Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Viqtory, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business that connects the military community to civilian employment, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities. Viqtory also had input from the Military Friendly® Advisory Council of independent leaders in the...

Complex and delicious aromas wafted through the second floor of WNMU Harlan Hall on a recent Monday afternoon. But the seven students in Associate Professor Shiva Kyasa’s organic chemistry laboratory were not cooking up dinner; instead, they were working to identify the molecular composition of a variety of spices. Kyasa described the project as a “Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience” (CURE). The project is one of five at WNMU that is being sponsored by the NM IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence this year. At the beginning of the course, each student chose a spice that would be the focus of their research throughout the semester. The assignment was succinct but in no way simple: to identify the molecules that make the spice unique. “Many people know that foods have carbohydrates and proteins and fatty acids, but food is not just those three things,” said Kyasa, “There are organic molecules. Any time you smell some aroma, it is not from...

Mary O. Parker has worn a lot of hats in her professional life—as a teacher, a marketing researcher, a writer, and a business owner—but none have fit her quite as perfectly as her current position as the Executive Director of the Western Institute of Lifelong Learning (WILL). “I was already a member of WILL and loved the organization,” explained Parker. “When the Executive Director position came up, I could have pinched myself.” Reflecting on her previous career experiences, especially her many years in the business field, Parker said, “It is as if everything I did in the past prepared me for this position.” Before taking the position as Executive Director of WILL, Parker most recently worked with her husband, a nature photographer, to run their business, Explore in Focus, which offers nature photography tours. “We have taken people all over the world to photograph wildlife and natural scenery,” said Parker. In recent years, however, Parker began to...