Press Releases

Western New Mexico University and Hidalgo Medical Services are teaming up to offer expanded student health services starting Friday, February 15, 2019. WNMU was previously able to offer students some medical services and mental health counseling but no dental care. Under this new agreement, students will be able to access medical, mental health and dental care at HMS sites around the region. “We felt we were limited in what we could provide our students, so we decided to partner with the people who can provide those services and more,” WNMU Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Isaac Brundage said. As WNMU student fees cover health service expenses, registered students who pay tuition and fees are eligible to receive five medical visits, 15 mental health visits and one dental visit to HMS annually. Additional visits or outside referrals and services will be seamlessly provided and billed according to the students’ insurance or income levels, as the students will have...

A scholar of Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Hamilton” in particular, musical theater lecturer Megan McQueen will give an educational program at Western New Mexico University in Silver City on Monday, February 18. She will discuss the musical elements of the production and lead musicians in presenting numbers from the musical. Megan is an avid Broadway musical aficionado and has followed composer Lin-Manuel Miranda since he released his first musical hit “In the Heights” more than a dozen years ago. She has attended “Hamilton” in New York City twice, also participating in workshops with original cast members. In her program, Megan touts “Hamilton’s” complexity and explains how the score holds up to intense scrutiny, pointing out its hip-hop origins and traditional musical influences — from motifs to key relationships. “I find Megan to be enthusiastic about Broadway musicals in general, and ‘Hamilton’ is a production she is passionately committed to. It’s...

For the 37th year, Western New Mexico University students are offering tax help to seniors and low-income families in the southwest corner of the state. This free service, called the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and supported by Tax Help NM, is for people whose household income is $56,000 or less and for those who are 65 years or older. The Tax Help NM volunteers — WNMU business and accounting students by day — are certified by the IRS and are trained to help taxpayers identify tax credits. “The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program offers our students a chance to participate in the community and also gives them real-life tax preparation filing experience,” said Ashley Montenegro, the adjunct WNMU instructor and certified public accountant who sponsors this program. “Students can walk out of here with their degrees saying that they’ve done 50 to 100 tax returns already. The community benefits because they don’t have to pay for this service as long as...

Western New Mexico University will commemorate the 126th anniversary of its founding on Monday, February 11, 2019, by hosting the community for birthday cake. The WNMU Founders Day celebration kicks off at 3 p.m. in the WNMU Museum in Fleming Hall. The J. Cloyd Miller Library will also both be open to Founders Day guests and will exhibit historic objects representing the university’s past that day. At a later date, WNMU and the Town of Silver City will perform a ribbon cutting to recognize completion of the construction that made the entrance to WNMU safer and more...

The Small Business Development Center hosted by Western New Mexico University selected Mitchel’s Auto Service and Repair, LLC, in Deming as its 2018 Star Client. Since opening his business, owner Mitchel Boomgaarn has used the advising services the WNMU Small Business Development Center provides to entrepreneurs in Grant, Luna, Hidalgo and Catron counties. He persevered in his endeavor as a small business owner even after getting severely burned in an accident just weeks after opening his shop. “Mario LaFragola, my Small Business Development Center advisor, didn’t just sit me down and say ‘I will fix that for you.’ He walked me through everything so that I could understand it,” Boomgaarn said. “Now I have more insight into what’s going on, and I have a better chance for this business to succeed.” Continuing to work with the WNMU Small Business Development Center, Boomgaarn’s business has expanded to include towing services, and plans are underway to open...

After hearing that Western New Mexico University would offer a community health worker program, Hidalgo Medical Services requested that the training also be offered in Silver City so that HMS employees could participate. In response, WNMU offered an additional section of its brand-new program in fall 2018. “Though HMS has employed community health workers for several years, we felt it was important to support their continued education. Education is one of HMS’ core values, and we know that the knowledge gained in this program will benefit our patients and the community,” said Dan Otero, CEO at Hidalgo Medical Services. WNMU is the only university in southwest New Mexico providing this training. “Hidalgo Medical Service’s request demonstrates the demand for community health workers in southwest New Mexico and underscores the need for formal training of people already doing this type of work,” said Benjamin Jenkins, Ph.D., director of the community health worker...

About 400 middle school and high school students from two dozen schools in southwest New Mexico will compete during the Southwest Regional Science Olympiad Competition at Western New Mexico University on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. The Southwest Regional Science Olympiad Competition runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in the Fine Arts Center Theatre at 4 p.m. All of the events are held on campus in the Intramural Gym, Harlan Hall and the Phelps/Dodge-Martinez building. “The active events in the gym are likely to be the most interesting, and the public is invited to spectate at any of them,” Southwest Regional Science Olympiad Tournament Director Eric Casler said. The Science Olympiad teams compete in categories such as Earth and Space Science; Physical Science and Chemistry; Technology and Engineering; and Inquiry and Nature of Science. The individual events — 25 percent of which are new or different this year — have names like...

Western New Mexico University alumnus, former regent and honorary degree holder, David Darling, Ed.D., who passed away at age 89 on Monday, January 14, will be laid to rest next week. “Dr. Darling impacted the campus in so many ways through his various roles as Mustang athlete, Student Body President, Blue Key Honor Society member, alumnus, and regent,” WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard said. “He gave new meaning to the mantra ‘dream big’ when he brought a nationally popular big band group to campus; when he coordinated the original painting of the ‘W’ tradition; and when he returned to us as a member of our governing board.” Darling’s memorial service will be in the WNMU Besse-Forward Global Resource Center Auditorium at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, January 21. Mustang football players and cross-country athletes will be Darling’s pallbearers, representing offensive linemen and track runners from Darling’s days as a student athlete. Following the service, he will...

The Western New Mexico University Cultural Affairs spring 2019 season is packed with a dozen events from concerts to art exhibit openings and lectures, concluding with the three-day Fiesta Latina! in June. WNMU Cultural Affairs will be continuing its President’s Chamber Music Series and the Edwina Milner Women in the Arts Lecture Series this spring. “It’s going to be an exciting spring semester, kicking off with the incredible women’s mariachi group from New York City, Flor de Toloache, in Light Hall. Music from Ireland, a Hamilton Revue, chamber music and a symphony round out the offerings,” said Faye McCalmont, WNMU’s Special Assistant to the President for Cultural Affairs. Admission prices range from free to $15. The WNMU Cultural Affairs spring 2019 season schedule: — January 17, 4:30 p.m.: Chad Colby Solo Painting Exhibition Opening — January 23, 7 p.m.: 2017 Latin Music Grammy Winner Flor de Toloache Live at WNMU — January 29, 7 p.m.: President’s...

By JJ Amaworo Wilson, WNMU Writer-in-Residence Felipe de Ortego y Gasca was a man apart. His life was a picaresque tale – part Charles Dickens, part Great Gatsby. He was orphaned as a child, never graduated from high school but became a university professor, served his country in three conflicts, met James Baldwin and Richard Wright in Paris, published prolifically, acted in films and served in the government. Above all this, though, Felipe fought the good fight for la raza. It’s one of the stories he loved to tell. He was writing his Ph.D. dissertation at UNM. His subject was Chaucer. Halfway through, he was asked to put together a course on Mexican American Literature. He began researching Chicano writers. Chaucer versus Chicanos? No contest. He abandoned Chaucer and began creating a Chicano canon. The results were: his seminal study Backgrounds in Mexican American Literature; the coining of the term The Chicano Renaissance; and the making of a Chicano. The original...