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At its Spring Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 5, Western New Mexico University awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to Janice Baca Argabright, a former Regent of the university and long-time educator, educational administrator and restaurateur. Baca Argabright received her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from New Mexico State University and her master’s degree in educational administration from the University of New Mexico. In addition to being an elementary school teacher for many years, she also held a number of leadership roles, including serving as Director of Bilingual/Special Education and Support Services, as Special Programs Coordinator, as Teaching Principal, and as Associate Superintendent of Socorro Consolidated Schools. Most recently, she served as a member of the Western New Mexico Board of Regents from 2011 to 2023. Currently she is the fourth-generation owner of the Owl Bar and Café in San Antonio, NM. Started by her great-grandfather...

When Madison Gardner set out from her home in southern California to attend college, she did not expect to have her first college shutter after her first year, and she could not foresee that she would struggle to overcome two concussions during her university career. But Gardner has not only met these challenges; she managed to excel academically while doing so. Gardner began her higher education at a small, private college in New York. When that school closed due to financial problems, Gardner had to look for an alternative and found her way to WNMU. Here, she joined the volleyball team, but concussive injuries to her head ended that career and made everything about school more difficult. “That was my biggest challenge,” Gardner said, “It took a lot of discipline and time management to complete my coursework on time.” With a long-time interest in working with disabled populations, she chose to double-major in Rehabilitation Services and Psychology and has marveled at...

On Friday, 449 students earned degrees from WNMU, and the Mustang community celebrated their achievement through a hybrid commencement ceremony that once again allowed for the participation of graduates on campus as well as those living and attending the university at a distance. Of the graduates who received diplomas from WNMU this spring, 212 chose to participate in the graduation by walking across stage at Ben Altamirano Field and 61 chose virtually. WNMU awarded 87 associate degrees, 157 bachelor’s degrees, 172 master’s degrees, 74 graduate certificates, 29 certificates and 10 fast track certificates. In addition to the conferring of degrees, the ceremony featured a number of awards. Winning the Outstanding Faculty award this year was Assistant Professor Garrett Peltonen. The Excellence in Teaching award was shared by Assistant Professor Shannon Rivera and Associate Professor Paula Gentry. The Excellence in Research award was given to Associate Professor Shiva Kyasa, and...

A proud daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter of agricultural workers, Ismelda Garza says she was not looking to be an artist; art found her. Originally from Santa Maria, CA, Garza, who is graduating this May with a Bachelor’s of Fine Art, recently presented her work with other art graduates in the “Affinity” exhibition at Francis McCray Gallery on the WNMU campus. While much of her work has been in paint, she is not a single-media artist, exhibiting a bronze sculpture in addition to her paintings. What ties all her work together is her thematic concern with representing her family and her Mexican American culture. Her aim is to communicate “my culture, my love of life, how my family is a very happy, traditional family.” One way this theme manifests in her work is through repeated floral imagery. Her family worked to harvest roses on the farms near Pasadena, CA, and so roses are present in many of her paintings. She also favors a handkerchief motif...

April Burt may have just moved to Silver City, but the new Assistant Vice President of Student Life has already hit the ground running. Originally from Houston, TX, Burt comes to WNMU from the Art Institute of Dallas, where she was Dean of Student Success. Student Affairs—the office that oversees Student Life, the Campus Recreation Center, new student orientation, and events such as the Great Race—is a good fit for Burt, whose undergraduate degree is in psychology and whose interdisciplinary graduate degree included both counseling and education. She has spent many years in higher education working to improve the student experience and looks forward to continuing that work at WNMU. In her first weeks on the job in Silver City, she has already had conversations with faculty and staff about how Student Life can team with the different departments across campus to create a better student experience, and she is eager to hear from students about the kind of programming they want...

Margie Gomez has had a complicated path to graduating with honors from WNMU this May. In 2016 her adult son, Thomas, passed away unexpectedly. While still wrestling with what she describes as “complicated grief” she made the decision to finally attend university, as she had wanted to do when she was younger. By doing so, she feels, she is honoring her son’s life while providing an example to her grandchildren by pursuing higher education. A first-generation university graduate, Gomez will be earning her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Chemical Dependency. In addition, she will graduate as part of the Millenium III Honors Program, which she said gave her the “courage to try harder.” Honors Program Director Phillip Schoenberg, who is an Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, described Gomez’s academic career as “an amazing success story” that could inspire “other non-traditional students returning to school after a break.” She has accomplished all...

In recognition of Earth Day, the WNMU Outdoor Program will be hosting a table at the Continental Divide Trail Days x Gila Earth Day Festival in Silver City’s Gough Park on April 22. But that is far from the only environmental initiative to which the university has made a commitment. WNMU aims to be carbon neutral by 2025. As one way to work toward this goal, the university already features a number of solar photovoltaic panels brought to campus through a Community Solar Direct collaboration with PNM. As buildings are renovated or constructed in the future, additional solar panels will be added to capitalize on southwest New Mexico’s sunshine and use it as a source of power. The university also plans to add electric vehicle charging stations aided by a grant from Freeport-McMoran. Another key feature of the commitment to climate change mitigation at WNMU is the Center for a Sustainable Future and Outdoor Programs, spearheaded by Professor Kathy Whiteman, who also chairs the...

WNMU J. Cloyd Miller Library hosted a celebration of National Poetry Month on April 12. The event was planned in collaboration with the Humanities Department, with support from the Southwest Word Fiesta. The event opened with welcoming remarks by librarian Arminda Sandoval, followed by an introduction to the importance of poetry by WNMU Writer in Residence, JJ Amaworo Wilson. After this introduction, Assistant Professor Heather Frankland introduced Grant County Poet Laureate Allison Waterman, who joined the event by video to read from her work. A number of WNMU students also read from their poetry, including students in Frankland’s English 099 class, who also read work by published poets that they admire. Also sharing their work were poet and Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs Jack Crocker and the Silver City River Poets, Elise Stuart, a former Grant County Poet Laureate, and Leonore Hildebrandt. Toward the end of the event, Frankland gave a tribute to the late El Paso...

“Other students would go to me if they didn’t understand the lesson,” says secondary education major Erick Olivas about how his own schooling influenced his interest in becoming a teacher, “They would say to me, ‘You explain this so well.’ That is kind of where it started.” Olivas, who is a first-generation college student originally from Chihuahua, lives in Santa Clara and divides his time between his home town and the WNMU campus in Silver City. While he works with his father on the weekends and enjoys playing pool with friends in the Life Lounge on campus, like most college students he spends much of his time studying. His hard work and potential as a teacher resulted in him recently being named a Golden Apple Scholar. Golden Apple is a non-profit that makes a “material difference in resolving the teacher shortage through its Scholars and Accelerators programs by expanding the pipeline of highly effective, diverse educators,” according to the...

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman gave a talk titled, “The Breakdown in Congressional Governing Norms, and Impediments to Serving the Public Interest” on the WNMU campus of on Friday, March 31. The presentation was based on his book “Breakdown: Lessons for a Congress in Crisis,” published in 2022, and was sponsored by WNMU in conjunction with the 2023 New Mexico History Conference in Silver City. The evening opened with introductions by WNMU President Joe Shepard and History Professor Scott Fritz and concluded with a question-and-answer session and book signing. Bingaman, who grew up in Silver City, was elected to the Senate in 1982. During his time as a Senator, he served on the Finance Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Joint Economic Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which he chaired at the time of his retirement from the Senate in 2013. In his presentation, Bingaman summarized the ways that Congress has changed...