Press Releases

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...

This fall semester, Western New Mexico University and global mining company Freeport-McMoRan New Mexico Operations have been collaborating with the mission of preparing welders for employment in Grant County’s Chino and Tyrone mines. Freeport-McMoRan New Mexico Operations donated $10,000 to WNMU’s Department of Community and Workforce Development, which runs the applied technology programs, designating the funding specifically for the purchase of training equipment and supplies in the welding program. So, with Freeport’s needs in mind, WNMU has begun introducing new processes into the existing welding program and may in the future be able to offer continuing education courses for those already welding in the mining industry. “Universities need to be more responsive to corporate needs,” WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard said. “The partnership with Freeport-McMoRan not only illustrates this but also enhances the local economy by providing meaningful opportunities for...

Western New Mexico University’s early childhood teacher preparation program received a $42,000 grant in order to develop a master’s degree and a salary structure to incentivize staff members to continue their educations. From the Brindle Foundation, this grant award will help WNMU fill the gap in the state’s early childhood workforce. “There is a demand for high-quality early childhood educators in New Mexico, especially with the additions of home-visiting programs and various state-funded initiatives like pre-kindergarten. Research says educators with higher levels of degrees are better prepared to support improved outcomes for children,” said Executive Director or WNMU’s Early Childhood Programs Shannon Rivera. Over the next couple years, WNMU will use this award to create an Early Childhood Master of Arts program and to set up a salary structure similar for recruiting and retaining staff at WNMU’s Child Development Center and Growing Tree Infant/Toddler...

The Western New Mexico University board of regents granted longtime Mustang volleyball coach Jim Callender emeritus status at their meeting on Thursday, December 13. The regents also recognized two retiring faculty members for their service, agreed to allow Math and Computer Science Department Chair Dr. Tom Gruzska one semester of sabbatical leave in 2019-2020, and discussed possibilities for future innovation and growth at WNMU. During the meeting, the regents approved the mid-year budget adjustment request for fiscal year 2019, fiscal year 2019 first quarter financial certification, revised capital projects transmittals for Ritch Hall and for Regents Row, asset disposal, and changes to WNMU’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Collective Bargaining Agreement. When presenting Callender with his staff emeritus designation, WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard said, “He’s been a life changer. He’s taken many players and helped them understand how...

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...