Press Releases

Adele M. Springer has held six job titles at Western New Mexico University over the past two dozen years. From Oklahoma, Springer arrived in Silver City with an associate degree in data and began her career at WNMU while working toward a bachelor’s. Most recently, she worked as the administrative and executive secretary for Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Jack Crocker. As of fall 2019, she makes up the Office of WNMU Institutional Research and Outcomes Assessment. “The only person who wasn’t happy about the switch was my husband, who complained that I was already staying up until eleven o’clock at night playing with data anyway,” she says. Adele is fixing past errors and staying on top of what’s being input now so the university has accurate, reliable, and, ultimately, useful data. She hopes her work helps WNMU operate more efficiently and cohesively. “I want a data warehouse that everyone contributes to and pulls from when reporting. I want be...

“I really wanted to just get out there,” says WNMU transfer student Yen Chu, who was born in Taiwan and raised in America, where she graduated from Silver High School at age 16. “I applied to UNM. I didn’t know what I was going to do yet so I spent a couple of semesters taking classes left and right — until I took a ceramics class.” Yen had a blast in the studio and decided to major in art, returning to her hometown to finish her degree. “WNMU costs less, the art department is great, and I can chill out and take all the classes I want,” she says. With a multitude of interests, there’s no subject Yen hates. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always really loved science, and I actually love math too. Art lets me explore all of that because you have to worry about chemistry in ceramics too. It’s like acrobatics in my mind,” she says. At WNMU, she’s experimenting with styles and honing her technique. “It takes a while to let your hands catch up with what...

“I love languages — learning languages, listening to, reading, and speaking them — so I majored in Spanish and minored in French. My goal for my undergraduate degree was to study in as many countries as possible. This paved the way for my studies in cross-cultural education and learning and second language development,” says Associate Professor of Education Dr. Margarita P. Wulftange, who teaches people who want to be elementary and bilingual teachers. She studied in Mexico, Spain, Canada, France, Ireland, Ecuador, and Costa Rica and has since traveled around the globe to research more ways about how children learn. Dr. Wulftange says offering bilingual education fully enforces the New Mexico constitution. “All the decisions you make as a teacher impact your students’ futures and their families, so valuing the languages students come to school with is important.” Also the assessment coordinator for the WNMU School of Education, Dr. Wulftange is dedicated to...

“Being regent is a very good job for me. It brings together my academic experience and my experience at Western with my political knowledge of the state and my in-depth knowledge of the community,” says Mary Hotvedt, Ph.D., the newest member of the WNMU Board of Regents. As an anthropologist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Dr. Hotvedt was in private practice as a counselor, researcher and consultant for 24 years. Plus, she’s been a teacher in various forms all throughout her life, having worked in academia for institutions worldwide. She became an adjunct professor at WNMU in 2010 and stepped down when New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham appointed her to serve as a member of the WNMU Board of Regents last March. Dr. Hotvedt prioritizes education above all else at WNMU. “The most important thing to me about the university’s success is that it has to be academically of the best standard — demanding the best of the faculty and of the students. I’m...

New Associate Dean for the WNMU School of Nursing and Kinesiology Dr. Kimberly Petrovic brings an extensive background and level head to some of the university’s most innovative and impactful programs. With a Ph.D., MSN, MA, and RN, Dr. Petrovic is leading WNMU in offering a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, training working nurses with master’s degrees, and — soon — educating master’s-prepared nurses to be primary care providers as Family Nurse Practitioners in rural settings. “My leadership style is more of a circle rather than a pyramid,” she said. “We are all seasoned nurses and to not make use of everyone’s expertise and experiences is foolish.” Dr. Petrovic’s professional focus on geriatrics and gerontology is applicable particularly to New Mexico’s rural areas, which have aging populations. “As we go through the life course, we gain a lot of things, but we lose a lot of things as well,” she said, noting her interest is in helping patients keep their...

With women leading the way, students and professors are engaging in a variety of independent research projects at WNMU. From the two professors measuring the impact of a whole-family approach to math education to the social work faculty member who studied a population that crosses the border for schooling, faculty are investigating what interests them. Others, like Drs. Jennifer Johnston and Corrie Neighbors, mentor student researchers while also making their own queries. Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Jennifer Johnston’s study of the relationship between news coverage and mass shootings led to a national campaign requesting the media adopt a policy discouraging the use of any mass shooter’s name or likeness due to the evidence that perpetrators are motivated by a desire for fame. Dr. Johnston has presented her findings across the nation, making frequent media appearances herself, and even sharing her expertise with the Federal Commission on School Safety in 2018. With...

The WNMU humanities department presented an innovative instructional model dubbed “Fusion Courses” to other higher education leaders in the state last week at a conference (link to https://nmhear.nmsu.edu/) focused on assessment and retention. Four faculty members discussed how the university’s English, composition, communication, and philosophy programs have all integrated this pedagogical approach within their curriculum, bringing together online and face-to-face classes through the use of technology. “Fusion courses facilitate interaction between students in both media with each other,” says Associate Professor of Speech and Communication Dr. Benjamin Cline, who shared how he used a fusion course to teach Small Group Communication, promoting collaboration through zoom and lecture capture. This model combines the best practices from both online and face-to-face teaching. WNMU Humanities Chair Kate Oubre and past chair John Gist together birthed the model, which...

Twenty-seven years ago, WNMU Chief of Staff Julie Morales took a job as a media services specialist in Miller Library and headed up the Public Information Office and Alumni Affairs before accepting a position in the university president’s office. She grew into the role she fills today, which entails providing support to the president and the board of regents, leading special projects, working with legal counsel, overseeing Title IX, acting as the chief WNMU records custodian, obtaining governmental liquor licenses, plus “anything else that comes up — and it usually does,” Morales said. She attributes her success to her knack for following through, communicating well, paying attention to details, and asking questions. But Morales’ love for the work she does is the primary reason she has risen to the top at WNMU. “You get to see the students transform from the timid freshman into the confident senior ready to tackle the world,” she said. Western New Mexico University...

Western New Mexico University Freshman To Represent State, Nation at Championships A Western New Mexico University Mustang cross country runner will be representing Team USA at the 2020 Pan Am Cross Country Championships on Saturday, February 29, 2020. The Pan Am Cross Country Cup is in Victoria, Canada, where Daniel Beam and the five other Team USA runners in his category will navigate a hilly and sandy 8-kilometer course. Beam’s placement at the 2020 USATF Cross Country Championships in San Diego, California, a few weeks ago assured him the chance to race for the red, white and blue. “I’m really excited to be going. Obviously, I’d like to do well — run a smart race and maybe help Team USA bring home the gold for the men’s 8k race,” he said. Other U20 Team USATF runners include Evan Bishop of East Grand Rapids High School, Lucas Chung of St. Mary’s College, Alex Comerford of Syracuse University, Corey Gorgas of Northern Arizona University, and Jacob...

Kaissa Duran has worked as a pharmacy tech for nine years. She started as a delivery driver at Silver Rexall Drugstore, is now the lead tech at CVS Pharmacy, and has her sights set on pharmacy school. “I love science. All the classes I’ve taken at WNMU have taught me a lot and gotten me ready for the next step,” said the chemistry major and cell and molecular biology minor. Kaissa will graduate this spring and is giving herself a year to take the PCAT and get admitted to a program. In the meantime, she’s conducting research with WNMU faculty mentor Dr. Shiva Kyasa. She received funding from the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation to look into the decomposition of magic mouthwash, a solution prescribed to treat sores. “The rinse is a mixture of Benadryl, Maalox and lidocaine, which all have expiration dates of two years. Once it’s mixed, it can only be used for two weeks. I’m going to analyze it through GC-MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry,”she...