Author Archives: Abe Villarreal

As part of a four-day celebration commemorating Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), the mariachi and folklorico groups from the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez (UACJ) will be performing at Western New Mexico University on October 31 and November 1. Mariachi Canto A Mi Tierra will perform on Monday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Theater. The UACJ ballet folklorico group will also perform. Free and open to the public, the performance will begin after a brief talk by Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, WNMU Scholar-in-Residence, who will discuss the important historical origins of the Dia De Los Muertos holiday. On Tuesday, November 1, the UACJ mariachi group will perform at 4:00 p.m. in the courtyard of the Silver City Museum. Following the performance, an ofrenda procession will begin at the museum and make its way through downtown Silver city, ending at the Miller Library on the WNMU campus. Festivities will continue at the Miller Library from 7:00 p.m. to...

Western New Mexico University professor Deborah Heller’s book Bluestockings Now! (2015) has been chosen for inclusion in a new Routledge series: Routledge Historical Resources: History of Feminism. The new History of Feminism series selected Heller’s text “for its decisive contribution to the feminist history of ideas in an international context.” “It’s an honor to be included,” said Heller. “The new series will bring the book to an even wider audience.” Heller has already received international accolades for her writing efforts. Dr. Elizabeth Eger, King’s College London, called the book “an exciting intervention in the field of eighteenth-century literary studies…particularly innovative and thought provoking.” Heller’s book deals with the Bluestockings, a group of women active in England and Ireland during the late 1700s and early 1800s. “Their social and cultural accomplishments were nothing short of world-changing,” Heller...

Valerie Plame will be the guest speaker for the WNMU Lecture Series on Thursday, October 27 in Light Hall Theater on the Western New Mexico University campus. The event is sold out. A live stream of the lecture will be available for attendees without an advanced ticket in Light Hall room 213. Plame is a former CIA operations officer. The subject of a 2003 CIA leak scandal, Plame had her identity as a covert officer leaked to the press by members of the George W. Bush administration. The name became public causing Plame to resign from the CIA. Plame has written a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation. During her CIA career, Plame worked to protect America’s national security and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons. Plame sits on the boards of Global Data Security, a cyber security company; and Starling Trust, a predictive behavioral analytics company. Plame serves on several nonprofit...

Registration is now open for the spring semester that begins in January 2017. New students to Western New Mexico University should first fill out an application for admission which is available online at wnmu.edu/applynow. Once the application is submitted, an Admissions Office representative will contact the student to schedule an appointment for registration. New students will be required to attend an online orientation in January. Students that are currently enrolled can find a listing of course offerings online. Current students can contact a Student Service Specialist or Academic Advisor to schedule an appointment for class registration. Spring courses begin Tuesday, January 17 and end Thursday, May 11. For more information visit the Office of Admissions located in the Juan Chacon Building or contact...

Several sculptures will soon populate the Western New Mexico University campus, an initiative of the Art in Public Places program by the State of New Mexico. The first sculpture will be dedicated on Friday, October 21 at 10:30 a.m. in the School of Nursing Building lobby. Titled “Alter 1”, the piece was created by Rose B. Simpson, an award-winning artists who resides in Española. According to Simpson’s Artist Statement, the piece originated from a conversation about sacred spaces. Simpson realized that most sacred spaces are moments when people consciously connect with each other and are influenced by energy. The original installation consisted of two equally large figures facing each other in a vacant space. The two pieces are now altered together, symbolizing the connection that people can make with each other. “The piece is building an identity, with the metal-strap constructed head and mask, it is creating a path to see the world in countless ways,” said...

Several recent publications focusing on early childhood reading development have included research by Dr. Ann Harvey, Western New Mexico University Professor of Reading. Academic journals in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and Europe have published at least seven pieces written by Dr. Harvey over the last two years on topics such as the achievement scores of Imagination Library students and the vocabulary development of English learners. Harvey believes that this is an important time to evaluate reading in the classroom, how it is taught, and how students learn, especially in the state of New Mexico. “Reading is important to New Mexico because our students score 49th on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),” said Harvey. “We have kids who come from poor families whose English is often limited because they have only arrived here.” These lower reading scores tilt the average for the entire state, and the effort to improve them is one of the reasons that...

Russian company towns and the challenges found within them are strikingly similar to many American communities, including Silver City, according to Western New Mexico University professor Dr. Allison Evans. A student of Russian history, Evans is a professor of political science who has travelled to Russia seven times and is working on a book titled Protests in the Provinces: Coming to terms with Capitalism in Russian company towns. Her last visit was in in June for research on her book where she plans to focus on four or five Russian cities. “It is estimated that there are about 300 company towns in Russia,” said Evans. “They are a mix of towns run by private companies and government entities such as the defense industry.” The towns in Evans’ research were selected based on demographics, political, and economic criteria with a population of 300,000 people. “There are parallels with Silver City and other company towns, such as Detroit, that are facing tough...

Western New Mexico University has recently been ranked high on several online ratings websites focusing on affordability and academic offerings. Most recently, the online master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies offered at WNMU was ranked second in a list of top 30 online master’s in liberal studies degree programs for 2016. Ranked by bestmasterdegrees.com, the interdisciplinary studies program was highlighted for its unique focus on allowing students to study in two or three concentrations, having a choice of 15 disciplines from which to pick. The master’s level program is offered fully online and is a growing area of choice for licensed k-12 teachers, life-long learners, and those seeking to advance in their respective career fields. WNMU also offers the interdisciplinary program online in the bachelor degree level. In September, the social work program was ranked as one of the best online offerings by collegechoice.com. The factors included in the ranking...