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Western New Mexico University held its signature cultural event, ¡Fiesta Latina!, June 6-9. The event is designed to recognize, celebrate and assist in the preservation of New Mexico’s connection with its Mexican heritage, customs and traditions. The university has held the event since 2017, with attendance growing. This year’s fiesta drew in over 5,000 visitors. At the center of the festival was a juried artisan mercado featuring the handmade work of approximately 50 highly skilled traditional artisans from across Mexico. The mercado represented a wide range of different artistic traditions, including metal working, ceramics, textiles, embellished shoes, leather, woodwork, alebrije—colorfully painted carved figures—and popotillo, a traditional art using dried grass. Alberto Orta, one of the artists from Puerto Nuevo Gallery in Baja California, explained the tradition of popotillo, which involves adhering dyed straw to a surface to create colorful images. The designs...

The sounds of mariachi music could be heard throughout the western part of the WNMU campus June 4-7, as the university hosted El Son de la Gila, its annual mariachi conference. Drawing students and their mariachi directors from across the southwest, the conference provided an opportunity for high school students to learn from master mariachis, and it allowed their group leaders to network and learn from each other. Organizing the conference was a group effort, involving not only WNMU music faculty and staff, but also the members of the university’s mariachi group, Mariachi Plata de WNMU. One member of the Mariachi Plata de WNMU, guitar player Jesus Mendoza, said that he and his fellow group members assisted with the classes. “We are like substitute teachers for the maestros that came to teach here,” said Mendoza, “so we help them out with the students, translating, and making sure they have what they need.” Mendoza, who has been playing guitar for ten years, said that...

Silver City and Grant County have a new Poet Laureate in WNMU professor Heather Frankland. Frankland, who will be promoted to the rank of Associate Professor upon the start of the new academic year, teaches composition in the Humanities Department. The Silver City/Grant County Poet Laureate program was established in 2011 as a way to promote poetry as part of the diverse cultural fabric of the town and region. Past laureates have also had ties to WNMU, including Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jack Crocker, Professor Emeritus Bonnie Buckley Maldonado and graduate student and Writing Center tutor Allison Waterman. Frankland will be the program’s sixth poet laureate. The Poet Laureate role was created by the steering committee of what is now known as the Southwest Word Fiesta. According to their website, “This honorary role is awarded to a person who has established a presence in the world of poetry, demonstrated a commitment to the literary art form, and...

A report released in May 2024 by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions found that there were 6,017 unfilled registered nurse positions statewide this spring. Shortages in nursing staff have been linked to a higher level of error in patient care, adverse patient outcomes, and increased mortality. WNMU is positioned to help expand the state’s nursing workforce through its School of Nursing and Kinesiology. Since WNMU graduated its first class of nursing students in 1993, the university’s programs in nursing have changed and grown, but the school’s role in meeting community needs has remained a common thread. The university first developed an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) in response to requests from area health agencies and community members who saw the need for more nurses to serve southwest New Mexico.  Today, the university offers both BSN and MSN programs and also offers an accelerated RN to MSN option. In addition to the nursing programs, the university...

Those looking to start or grow a small business in southwest New Mexico have a wealth of resources they may be unaware of in the WNMU Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The SBDC, led by Director Mark Speirs, is part of a nationwide network that aims to encourage and support the development of small businesses. Speirs, who joined the university in August 2023, said that the range of services the SBDC provides is wide, stretching across most of the areas that might challenge a new entrepreneur.  “If someone comes in and is interested in starting a business, we can help with all of it,” he said. “We can help them set up the LLC, get all their insurances, all their government stuff—their tax forms and registration. Once they are in business, we can help with marketing, with branding, with business planning. If they need any loans, we can help them with the paperwork. We help with pretty much the entire timeline of a business cycle.” With a background as the...

WNMU dedicated its new John Arthur and Janette Smith Educational Center at a public ceremony May 24 in Deming. The 8,697 square foot center will house the university’s Deming health sciences offerings, including its Nursing, Phlebotomy, Pharmacy Technician, and Certified Nursing Assistant programs. Construction of the center began in November 2022 and cost $10,765,000. Funding came from the New Mexico Legislature in 2019 and 2020, Severance Tax Bonds in 2020, 2021, and 2022, as well as from General Obligation Bond 3 in 2022. These resources covered land acquisition, architecture and engineering, site preparation, utilities and construction. The building’s furniture, fixtures, and equipment were funded by a federal pass-through grant to the WNMU School of Nursing and Kinesiology that was administered by the New Mexico Higher Education Department. According to WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard, the location of the new building was chosen in part for its proximity to Mimbres...

With residence halls at capacity, Western New Mexico University is looking toward additional opportunities to house students and is turning its eye to a campus building that served as a residence hall for many years, Ritch Hall. Currently the home of Aldo Leopold Charter School and the WNMU Office of Marketing and Communications, Ritch Hall served as a dormitory from when it was built in 1906 until 2016. The building, which over the years has undergone renovations and an addition, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Director of Housing Jason Quimby said that enrollment numbers and the need for housing has grown steadily in recent years, with the squeeze being felt most acutely this past year. At the start of the year, “We had to temporarily house students in a barracks style classroom in the PE Complex,” he said. "This year we are experiencing the same problem and currently have approximately 51 students on an overflow waitlist.” Quimby added that the...

WNMU Chief of Police Eddie Flores (BS ’08, MBA ’15) has a long career in law enforcement, but his experience has recently taken a new direction as a member of the New Mexico Organized Crime Commission. This commission has existed in the state since the 1970s but was not meeting in recent years. In 2023, however, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham felt it was time to reconstitute it. According to Flores, the timing of bringing the commission back correlates with the frequency and nature of crimes that are occurring in the state. “New Mexico, like every other state, has been experiencing problems with human trafficking, sex trafficking, illegal guns and, of course, illegal drugs,” he said. “I think that the reason the governor wanted to bring the commission back was the increase in crime, especially up in Albuquerque.” The purpose of the commission, which meets once a month, is to bring together the various agencies—local, state, and federal—that are needed for a...

Two members of the College of Education, Dean Cindy Martinez and Professor of Bilingual/TESOL Education Alexandra Neves, spent part of spring semester in Asturias, Spain, where they visited la Universidad de Oviedo (the University of Oviedo), gave presentations, and made a number of classroom visits. The University of Oviedo is familiar to Neves, as she spent a year teaching there while on sabbatical from WNMU in 2019. The university is also an international partner of WNMU, and the two universities have a memorandum of understanding that allows students from either institution to study at the other. That memorandum was part of the motivation for making the trip, as it was set to expire. Martinez and Neves were also looking for ways to encourage the kind of exchange the memorandum facilitates.  “In past years, we regularly had exchange students from Universidad de Oviedo, but with COVID, that stopped,” said Martinez, adding that their trip was in part motivated by a desire...

WNMU will dedicate its new John Arthur and Janette Smith Educational Center at a public ceremony May 24 at 11:00 a.m. in Deming. The 8,697 square foot center will house the university’s Deming health program offerings, including Nursing, Phlebotomy, Pharmacy Technician, and Certified Nursing Assistant programs. Construction of the center began in November 2022 and cost $10,765,000. Funding came from the New Mexico Legislature in 2019 and 2020, Severance Tax Bonds in 2020, 2021, and 2022, as well as from General Obligation Bond 3 in 2022. These resources covered land acquisition, architecture and engineering, site preparation, utilities and construction. The building’s furniture, fixtures, and equipment were funded by a federal pass-through grant to the WNMU School of Nursing and Kinesiology that was administered by the New Mexico Higher Education Department. The center will be named for former New Mexico State Senator John Arthur Smith and his wife, Janette Smith. Senator...