Author Archives: Linda Brown

Four WNMU students—Soozy Wollard, Itzela Darkenwald, Devin Larsen (BS ’23) and Abel Lazzell—led teams of high school students on outdoor expeditions in the northeastern United States this summer. The opportunity was organized by WNMU Outdoor Program Manager Will Tracy in a partnership with the Oliverian School, a private, alternative boarding school in the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire. The expeditions were part of a series of three, two-week long learning modules with both experiential and academic components. Students in the program went hiking in the White Mountains, caving in New York and Vermont and paddling in northern Maine. As an example of how the experiential and academic components fused, Tracy said that in the caving module, students learned about geology and then were in “this amazing, novel environment that they would never be in—caving—and that . . . crystallized the learning from the classroom.” The WNMU students on the expeditions were...

“In order for to be successful,” said Elizabet Woche, “we have to set them up to be successful.” Woche started at Western New Mexico University as a recruiter in the Office of Admissions and Recruitment and now also serves as the compliance official for students attending WNMU on student visas. The position has given her insight on what international students need to succeed and she is now implementing her ideas through an orientation program and by advising a new student organization. This year, Woche planned and led the university’s first orientation program dedicated to international students. The need for the orientation became apparent to Woche as she observed the complex processes that international students had to navigate. “Students would come to WNMU and figure out everything by themselves,” said Woche, “Transportation from El Paso or Tucson, classes, laws, immigration, visas—all those responsibilities were on the students.” The complexity of...

Valerie DeLaCruz’s tightly knit ranching family thought that they could fend for themselves. That all changed about two years ago when both of DeLaCruz’s grandfathers approached the end of their lives within a few months of each other. Suddenly, DeLaCruz and her formerly independent family found themselves welcoming hospice workers into their homes. “Hospice was just great to us,” said DeLaCruz, “They were amazing. They helped us mentally, physically. They helped with everything.” It was this experience that made DeLaCruz realize she wanted to be a social worker. “It was seeing that people do make a difference in families,” she explained. The experience made such an impression on her that she wrote an essay about it, “Rock Bottom,” that is soon to be printed in “The Maverick,” published by Mimbres Press of Western New Mexico University. Now in her second year in the WNMU BSW program, DeLaCruz is already making a difference in the world. This year, she was...

Two WNMU master’s degree programs, the Master of Arts in Counseling and the Master of Social Work, have teamed with the New Mexico Expanding Opportunities Project (EOP) to support graduate students who plan to provide mental health care in the state’s school system. Sponsored by the NM Department of Education’s Safe and Healthy Schools Bureau, the EOP “aims to recruit and retain school-based mental health (SBMH) professionals to serve the needs of students across New Mexico, focusing on rural and frontier communities with a high percentage of at-risk and vulnerable student populations,” according to the program’s website. The program is funded with a grant from the United States Department of Education. The EOP funds current graduate students in behavioral health fields as well as SBMH providers that are already licensed. Awardees of the grant are required to commit to working for at least two years in a New Mexico school. While the EOP was originally designed to...

“The longer I have been here, the more and more and more I love it,” says Phoenix native Breya Brown of living in Silver City. Brown, who graduated from WNMU with a degree in Kinesiology in May, is the new Campus Recreation (C-Rec) Coordinator. One of her goals in the role is to help students love living here as well, and she certainly has enough activities planned to keep students happily busy when they are not in class or studying. One of the first items on her agenda when she began the new position was to start an intramural sports program. “Being in charge of the gym and all the intramural sports is something I am really passionate about,” said Brown. So far, the sports in the intramural program include basketball, volleyball, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, and pickleball. “Pickleball is a really popular one right now,” she said, “A lot of the community members come for that one.” Involving the community in C-Rec programs is important to Brown. “I think it is...

“I wanted to concentrate and take my art practice more seriously,” says ceramics artist Susie Meskill about what brought her to Western New Mexico University. Recently, Meskill completed her second year in the ceramics post-baccalaureate program at WNMU, a program that helps aspiring artists develop their practice. The post-baccalaureate program is designed for people in the position Meskill was in when she started: artists who are ready to focus intently on their art practice as they transition from student to professional artist. The program is one that benefits both the individual and the university. The post-baccalaureate student is provided with studio space and mentorship from WNMU faculty, and in return, they work a number of hours each week to manage the ceramics studio, assist with classes, and lead workshops. During their time in the program, artists are able to develop a portfolio of work that can help them in getting into graduate school or pursuing other...

While the United States aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, Western New Mexico University has set a more ambitious goal: to be carbon neutral by 2030. Many of the initiatives that will be needed to achieve this goal are well underway. At present, approximately 50% of the energy the university uses comes from carbon-neutral sources. The greatest single source of this energy is a solar farm operated by PNM’s Community Solar Direct program, located on the Jicarilla Apache Nation in northern New Mexico. According to Vice President of Facilities and Operations Kevin Matthes, WNMU currently receives one megawatt of electricity from this farm, which is enough to satisfy approximately one-third of the university’s energy needs. WNMU also generates solar power on campus. In 2022, the university added a parking structure with photovoltaic panels next to the Fine Arts Center Theatre, and this summer, additional panels were added near the WNMU Museum. These on-campus panels provide...

After years as a teacher, head basketball coach, assistant principal, principal, educational consultant and eventually as a superintendent in three different states, Assistant Professor Robert Neu found his way to WNMU, where he is teaching in and leading the Educational Leadership Program. While he has only been at WNMU since last January, Neu has already been instrumental in revamping the program’s curriculum to center it on “futures literacy.” Futures literacy is “the skill that allows people to better understand the role of the future in what they see and do,” according to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “Being futures literate,” says UNESCO, “empowers the imagination, enhances our ability to prepare, recover and invent as changes occur.” Neu provided an example from recent history to explain the concept further. “When you think about the pandemic,” he said, “no one was prepared for that. But those that...

Western New Mexico University hosted the New Mexico Basic Economic Development Course on July 16 – 20. The course was open to municipal and county managers and department directors, tribal leaders, community planners and developers, and others interested in community job creation in New Mexico. Accredited by the International Economic Development Council based in Washington, D.C., the course provides one week of intensive training on how to select the right combination of strategies to cost-effectively create jobs in New Mexican communities. It is intended for “practitioners and community leaders committed to building healthy and resilient economies at the local and regional levels,” according to the program’s website. The Basic Economic Development Course features faculty that share their professional experiences and introduce participants to academic theories about economic development. The course began in 1992 as a partnership between Western New Mexico University and...