Author Archives: Abe Villarreal

Beginning October 14, Western New Mexico University will resume administering the High School Equivalency Exam, formerly known as the G.E.D. test. The exam is administered in the Juan Chacon Building testing room and is now done electronically rather than paper based. Test takers can register for the test online at www.gedtestingservice.com. For October, WNMU is offering exam opportunities on October 14, 15, 22, 28 and 29. All exams begin at 8:30am and end at 2:00p.m. Reservations for a test date must be made at least 24 hours in advance. After completing the exam, students can review their scores online at www.diplomasender.com. Adult Education Services offers free preparatory courses at Watts Hall for exam takers. Community members can enroll for the courses at any time. For more information, contact...

In a remote village, surrounded by people who speak a different language, more than 8,000 miles away from her hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, Brittany Chiapetti set out to research Asian elephants. “Elephants can live up to 60 years,” said Chiapetti, a junior double majoring in zoology and psychology. “Yet they often die from being overworked, exhausted and dehydrated.” For six weeks this past summer, Chiapetti lived and studied in a remote village in Thailand. She volunteered for Global Vision International (GVI) and researched elephant vocalization. GVI facilitates research projects throughout the world with more than 2,000 participants each year. “Up to four times a week, we hiked in the jungle and found the elephants,” said Chiapetti. “We collected proximity data and touch data from elephants that were born in camps and were reintroduced into the wild.” As a volunteer for GVI, Chiapetti was not required to do research during her experience. She informed...

Professor Jim Helgert was recently recognized by Molina Health Care of Albuquerque as one of six recipients of the Community Champion Award. Helgert is in his second year as professor of Chemical Dependency for the College of Professional Studies. He was nominated for the award for his 20 years of work with chemical dependent people and the programs he has facilitated to prevent addiction in the local community. Tripsitter has commended him for his recent work in harm reduction and advocating for the safe and responsible use of substances to prevent side effects and potential overdose through education. Throughout his career Helgert has held licenses in drug and alcohol abuse counseling and was certified as a suicide prevention and crisis intervention trainer. For the last two decades, Helgert has been instrumental in developing and facilitating successful programs such as the Grant County Drug Court. In Hidalgo County, he assisted with the Bootheel Youth Association, focusing...

Columbus, NM – A memorandum of understanding was signed by President Joseph Shepard and Village of Columbus Mayor Phillip Skinner on Saturday, September 13 increasing the opportunities of education offered at the local level for residents in the Columbus, New Mexico area. The signing took place at the old elementary school gym and was accompanied by other local festivities. It marks the latest in a series of agreements that Western New Mexico University is formalizing with schools, universities and communities. “This is a great opportunity not just for WNMU but for the students of Columbus that usually have to stay out late to take these classes,” said James Ortiz, Interim Chair for the College of Community and Workforce Development. High school aged students travel to Deming each day to attend classes and are also enrolled in the dual enrollment program, attending applied technology courses in welding and other subjects. The classes are often held after school...

Several events are planned for alumni returning to their alma mater for homecoming, the first weekend of October. The weekend of events will kick off with the third annual Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament on Friday, October 3 at 8:00 a.m. Individuals can register a four member team for $400, or $125 per person. Proceeds benefit student scholarships. The Office of Alumni Affairs is hosting a weekend check-in at Hunter Hall from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Following the check-in, the annual Alumni Association General Membership meeting will take place at 4:00 p.m. in the same location. Friday’s activities will conclude with a dinner recognizing Distinguished and Outstanding Alumni at the home of President Shepard at 6pm. Nicolas Otero ’99, Charles “Skeeta” Jenkins ’98 and Juanita Escobedo ’83 are this year’s alumni honorees. Saturday, October 4 is Homecoming Day. The Mustang football team will compete against Fort Lewis on Saturday, October 4 at 1:30...

It is not every day that a student receives a syllabus for the semester from the University President. At least 25 students are experiencing just that this semester with President Joseph Shepard as the professor of a developmental math class. “It’s not something that I expected when I enrolled so I think it’s a good surprise that the President is teaching our class,” said freshman Alex Sarkissian. “We know he’s the President, but when we are in class he feels just like any other professor.” President Shepard decided to return to the classroom, his first time teaching a course for Western New Mexico University, since he arrived in 2011 to serve as WNMU’s 15th president.  For Shepard, teaching a course, especially a math course, is familiar territory. He has taught at both graduate and undergraduate levels in quantitative methods, public finance and business leadership at other universities. He has also taught internationally in Mexico. “I went into the world...

The Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art is pleased to present a solo survey exhibition of paintings by Michael Cook titled “Michael Cook: The Notion of Landscape” featuring his work from 1981-2009. An opening reception featuring the artist and his work will take place Friday, September 12 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at McCray Gallery. Cook’s art making practice broadly explores the understanding of landscape and visual perception in a variety of media and from diverse perspectives.Throughout his work, Cook has conflated painting pictorial conventions and practice to question their distance from authentic experience. This work and other projects have explored the definition of landscape. Expanding the understanding of " landscape" beyond the literal image of geography has been at the core of his concerns by employing a method of visual semiotics. As Kathleen Stewart Howe wrote in her essay on the exhibition Veneer, “What are the conditions under which objects...

School of Nursing students facilitated the annual Well Child Check on September 2at Western New Mexico University’s Early Childhood Programs Child Development Center. Each year, students in the nursing program provide a series of screenings to the children at the Child Development Center to insure a healthy start to the year. The second year nursing students practice their skills at the center and throughout the community providing screenings at the public schools and El Grito Headstart. The check up included measurements and heart beat...