Western New Mexico University is asking the NM Legislature for $250,000 to prepare for and construct a new greenhouse that will help to reduce food insecurity on campus. The greenhouse, which will measure 48 by 70 feet, is part of the university’s Food Security and Sustainability initiative as well as part of larger state-wide efforts, said Director of Food Security and Sustainability Katie Poirier. “Our efforts align with and are supported by Governor Lujan Grisham’s Food Initiative and the New Mexico Higher Education Department’s focus on eliminating food insecurity across New Mexico.” “Through this initiative,” said Poirier, “WNMU is committed to significantly reducing food insecurity on college campuses, and the greenhouse project will play a critical role in addressing these challenges.” According to a Basic Needs assessment conducted by the University of New Mexico, 68% of WNMU students and 50% of WNMU faculty and staff reported experiencing food...

A new team of editors at WNMU is gearing up to work on the fourth edition of the student-run journal “The Maverick.” The journal is published annually by the Mimbres Press. Leading the effort is this year’s editor-in-chief, English major Anais Orantez Middleton. “I have been a part of ‘The Maverick’ since its second volume,” Orantez Middleton said, noting that the experience has given her a solid understanding of the work that editors do. As an English major, said Orantez Middleton, “I wanted to write, but I wanted to still be comfortable with the idea of it actually giving me a career, so I found editing. … I am really happy that I get to learn the skills of what goes on in magazines, in newspapers, in literary journals. It is really exciting to gain experience before going into the workforce.” Joining Middleton this year are two new editors, Laisha Vargas Garcia and Arielle Certosimo, and a graduate assistant with the Mimbres Press, Marian Valle Angulo....

By Josh Brown The Mustangs had 126 student-athletes named to the Lone Star Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll, with 55 of them earning a 4.00 GPA. This is the highest number of student-athletes to make the list in the history of the WNMU Athletics Department. The Lone Star Conference announced that 2,681 student-athletes across the conference earned Commissioner's Honor Roll recognition for the Fall 2024 semester, including 907 individuals who posted a perfect 4.00 grade-point average for the just completed academic term. The Commissioner's Honor Roll is announced at the conclusion of the fall and the spring semesters with student-athlete qualification based on their grade point average for the specified semester. To be eligible for the recognition, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 grade-point average for the semester and be on the institution's sport roster. Participants in all 19 LSC championship sports, three non-conference sports, and student staff assisting...

WNMU is requesting $15 million from the NM Legislature to upgrade infrastructure and help the university achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. At present, the greatest source of renewable energy at WNMU is PNM’s Community Solar Direct program, which draws electricity from a solar farm in northern New Mexico. The university also draws power from photovoltaic solar panels located near the Fine Arts Center Theatre and the WNMU Museum, and the university plans to install additional solar carports as well as freestanding photovoltaic panels. According to the WNMU Campus Master Plan, the “best source of energy is produced right at the point of use. Therefore, onsite renewable energy generation systems are paramount for reducing carbon emissions in the most efficient method possible.” In order to increase the production of solar energy and achieve carbon neutrality, WNMU will need to improve existing power and water systems to make them more robust and efficient...

James Meredith challenged Mississippi’s racial order and paved the way for integration nationwide. His path down the road of affecting change on a national scale all began in a United States Air Force clerical/typist program on the campus of what was then known as New Mexico Western College. Read more about Meredith’s story...

This February, the Black Student Union at WNMU has a series of events planned to celebrate Black History Month. “Our Kings and Queens Social is our first event,” said BSU President D’esha Epps. “Everyone gets to meet up with each other and talk.” This social event is not just intended for students. “We also invited all of our Black staff and faculty,” explained club advisor Breya Brown, “so the students know who their mentors are and who they can reach out to.” BSU Vice President Amina Brown noted that the social was also a good way to promote membership in the club. “We are celebrating the fact that it is Black History Month,” she said. “But we are also getting the word out that we are a standing club where everyone is welcome.” While the club has a number of dedicated members, there have been some challenges to growing their numbers. “Many of our Black students are athletes,” explained Epps, “so working with their schedule is very hard.”...

WNMU is requesting $8 million of capital outlay funding for construction of a new home for the New Mexico Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education, which is dedicated to educating and training New Mexico’s early childhood educators. The new facility will be built on university-owned land off of N. Alabama St., behind the St. Mary’s Academy building in Silver City. The first phase of construction was funded with 2023 outlay from the Legislature and through the 2024 General Obligation Bond. The additional funding requested of the Legislature would allow expansion of pre-K programs and student services. At 12,500 square feet, it will house five classrooms, a kitchen, administrative offices and a reception area, and it will be powered by rooftop photovoltaic cells in keeping with the university’s plan to be carbon-neutral by 2030. Outside on the property will be a toddler playground, a school-age playground, an amphitheater and an outdoor classroom, and nearby is...

As Black History Month begins, Western New Mexico University recognizes the work of one of its distinguished alums, Anita Scott Coleman (1890-1960). Coleman, who was born in Guaymas, Mexico, grew up on a ranch outside Silver City. Her father came west from Florida as a Buffalo Soldier, a term given to Black men who enlisted to fight Native Americans after the Civil War. Coleman graduated from what was then known as New Mexico Normal School in 1909. She and a classmate were the first African Americans to graduate from the school. Even as a student, Coleman’s literary talent was recognized by her peers. In “The Normalite,” the school newspaper which at that time also served as a de facto yearbook, the editors included a short, tongue-in-cheek poem about each of the graduates. The poem about Coleman reads, “Annie, so good in the literature class / Found out in geometry, it was hard to pass.” Following a short career as a teacher, Coleman went on to publish short...

Anyone who has recently needed home maintenance or repair knows that New Mexico needs more skilled workers.  According to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, that need is only expected to grow.  The statewide need for workers in construction and extraction industries is expected to grow by nearly 14% between 2022 and 2032, and in that same period, the labor market in installation, maintenance and repair is expected to grow by more than 12%. Western New Mexico University is already addressing these shortages by training skilled workers through its Community and Workforce Development programs—including programs in welding, electrical and construction technology—but the university has plans to significantly expand its capacity through a new Career Technical Education Center. The new facility would offer trade training programs that tie directly to employment opportunities in southwestern New Mexico, especially those available in the four-cities region that...

The latest collection of artifacts donated to the Western New Mexico University Museum comes to the university from just up the road. The materials are from La Gila Encantada, a Late Pithouse era Mimbres site located in Little Walnut Canyon on property owned by the Archaeological Conservancy. Archaeologists consider the Late Pithouse period to be approximately AD 550-1,000. According to WNMU Museum Director Dr. Danielle Romero, the site was excavated in 2004 and 2005 as part of an archaeological field school run by Dr. Barbara Roth of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The site is a small one, said Romero, with nineteen pithouses and a small two-room field house. A pithouse is a mostly subterranean structure that Mimbres people inhabited before the Classic Era, when they began building larger above-ground pueblos. “We think they are all autonomous pithouses,” Romero said of Gila Encantada. “At some of the larger pithouse sites, we see evidence of extended households,...