Press Releases

The Western New Mexico University Department of Natural Sciences received a gift of preserved fish specimens from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, facilitated by the Scripps curator of fishes, Dr. Philip Hastings. The 18 jars of rare specimens include those of deep-sea fish species, many of which have long teeth and bioluminescent (or glowing) organs, said Dr. Manda Jost, who teaches ichthyology (fishes) at WNMU. Hastings has taught ichthyology for decades at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which houses about two million specimens of over 5,600 species in 120,000 jars. He owns a home in Silver City and reached out to Dr. Jost, who is teaching ichthyology for the first time this semester. “He offered to donate some specimens from the Scripps fish collection, and the specimens he brought this week include some amazing deep-sea oddities — bizarre species that human eyes rarely get to see,” Dr. Jost said. Hastings has also committed to help WNMU further...

Western New Mexico University will graduate nearly 300 of its students this fall. Of those, 200 graduates will walk across the Fine Arts Center Theatre stage during the fall commencement ceremony on Friday, December 14, 2018, at 2 p.m. They will receive their diplomas then shake hands with WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard and with newly elected Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico Howie Morales, who is an alum and WNMU’s fall commencement speaker. Overflow seating will be provided in the Global Resource Center auditorium, where the program will be streamed live in the event that all the families and friends of WNMU’s fall 2018 graduates do not fit into the Fine Arts Center Theatre. Diplomas being granted at WNMU’s fall 2018 commencement ceremony include those for 48 associate degrees, 124 bachelor’s degrees, 109 master’s degrees, eight certificates, seven fast-track certificates and 26 graduate certificates. Leading up to the graduation, WNMU will hold pinning...

For the first time, the Western New Mexico University Foundation is participating in Giving Tuesday, an international day of spreading the wealth and sharing the love. From 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27, people are invited to donate to the WNMU Foundation in support of university programs and student scholarships. The WNMU Foundation’s Giving Tuesday event is themed Momentum for Today and Tomorrow in honor of the students who are attending the university today and leading the world into tomorrow. This year alone, 330 different donors have made gifts to the WNMU Foundation, and the donation amounts range from $5 to $104,000. “Every contribution benefits WNMU students and increases the momentum for today and tomorrow for our university community,” WNMU Foundation Executive Director Jodi Edens-Crocker said. “Giving Tuesday is a way to participate and show support. Every single dollar makes an impact on WNMU students.” Giving Tuesday contributions...

Mustang Alum and Army National Guardsman Shared Intertribal Songs With Soldiers in Saddam Hussain’s Palace and With Students at WNMU A Western New Mexico University alum, Lt. Bill “Cody” Ayon, recently donated to the Smithsonian a drum he played during a Native American Appreciation celebration at Al Faw Palace in Iraq and for events held by WNMU Native American Club on campus. “That drum was the one I took to combat then brought home and used at school while I finished my degree,” he said. Now, it belongs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Born in Deming and raised in Silver City, Lt. Ayon’s mom is Mexican and his dad is Cheyenne. The family drum he enjoyed while deployed and in school is a large pow wow drum that he learned to play as a child when his parents taught him the language and customs of his relatives. Lt. Ayon joined a Shiprock-based pow wow drumming group called Talking Spirit, and his passion for singing and playing...

The CEO of 3D printing MAKEtake Emerging Objects will present “Alternative Materials for 3D Printing in Design, Art and Architecture” at Western New Mexico University on Monday, November 12, at 6 p.m. The free talk, which is the third in WNMU’s Emerging Technologies and Creative Commerce lecture series, will take place in Parotti Hall (just northwest of the Fine Arts Center Theatre on campus). Guest lecturer Ronald Rael is an associate professor of architecture and holds the Eva Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley, and he is also Co-founder of Emerging Objects, a 3D printing MAKEtank specializing in innovations in 3D printing architecture and building components. “I am very excited to hear Ronald Rael discuss how 3D printing can be used to produce tangible objects for architecture rather than just plastic prototypes. I believe that his expertise with making will be valuable to our community,” WNMU Expressive Arts Department Chair...

A Deming family recently opened an endowed scholarship in honor of Paul A. Feil, M.D., who was a beloved physician in Deming and continues to be involved with Luna County community. The Paul A. Feil, M.D., Scholarship, was established with the Western New Mexico University Foundation in October and benefits graduate students who work in or are natives of Deming and are enrolled at WNMU with plans to enter the medical field. Earlier this year, Dr. Feil established a WNMU scholarship in his late wife’s name. When his children decided to endow a scholarship in their father’s name, they asked whether the alumnus of University of New Mexico and Baylor University College would rather have his scholarship with another university foundation. The 96-year-old said he preferred being where his wife is — at WNMU. “Your names will forever be part of Western New Mexico University,” WNMU Foundation Executive Director Jodi Edens-Crocker told Dr. Feil at the recent scholarship signing...

The Western New Mexico University Foundation celebrated the group of 40 donors who joined the President’s Society during its inaugural year, committing to give at least $1,000 in unrestricted funds annually, with a reception, a lecture, a recognition wall reveal and an al fresco dinner on campus in August. “This is the beginning of a community we hope continues growing,” WNMU Foundation Director Jodi Edens-Crocker said. The Foundation created the President’s Society to honor those who demonstrate support of WNMU through annual unrestricted gifts. “Unrestricted donations allow the university flexibility as needs evolve,” Edens-Crocker said. Some of the inaugural President’s Society members gifted as much as $75,000 in this first year, while many of the gifts were between $5,000 and $10,000 apiece. “These amounts are good indicators of people’s desire to be part of the positive changes happening at WNMU,” Edens-Crocker said. Each inaugural President’s...

The Life Quest Scholarship in special recognition of Dr. Richard F. Rodriguez was established with the Western New Mexico University Foundation in late September. The gift to the WNMU Foundation was presented in a ceremony, which included four other community organizations that received donations from Life Quest, Inc., which closed due to loss of funding from the state and so distributed its liquid assets to area nonprofits in order to continue Life Quest’s legacy in Grant County. “It’s a lemons into lemonade day,” said Debra Frasca, former CEO of Life Quest, Inc. Funded through an initial gift of $104,000, the endowed scholarship was created by Debra Frasca and Pam Gibson on behalf of Life Quest, Inc., and its board of directors. The Life Quest Scholarship in special recognition of Dr. Richard F. Rodriguez is meant to support WNMU students pursuing careers in special education and also WNMU students who have disabilities and are majoring in any field. “A...

The Western New Mexico University Museum in Fleming Hall will reopen to the public on Monday, October 8, 2018. It will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. while the transformation is being completed. The WNMU Museum’s new exhibits are being installed through this winter and next spring, so lower floor rooms will open in phases over the next few months. The WNMU Museum, which opened in 1974, will celebrate its 45th anniversary with a grand reopening black-on-white gala during CLAY Festival 2019. The date when the WNMU Museum’s collections will reopen to research, loans and tours will be determined as the transformation progresses. Home of the world’s largest collection of Mimbres artifacts, the WNMU Museum was temporarily closed while its official home, historic Fleming Hall, underwent a $3.2 million transformation funded through WNMU’s allocation from the 2016 General Obligation Bond for Higher Education. Updates on the WNMU Museum’s transformation and...

Western New Mexico University Cultural Affairs will present a retrospective exhibition by Edwina Milner at the Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art. The public is invited to the opening reception on Thursday, October 4, 2018, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibit, called “Seeing it Her Way: The Artistic Journey of Edwina Hawley Milner” will remain up through Saturday, November 3, 2018. The opening coincides with the Silver City Art Association’s Annual Red Dot Weekend at the Galleries, and refreshments will be available from The Duck Stop food truck. Milner’s sustained art practice is represented in this exhibition with an array of drawings, paintings and mixed-media artworks that she created over more than 65 years. “These works embody the joy of art and art-making and also hold the life lessons of a person who always sees the glass as half full,” said Faye McCalmont, WNMU’s Special Assistant to the President for Cultural Affairs. In this exhibition, guest...