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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...

The Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art is hosting an exhibition of ceramic art created by two WNMU post-baccalaureate students, Hugh Remar and Allyson George, and BFA student Victoria Prejean. The exhibition includes both sculptural and functional ceramics that are the culmination of the artists’ experiences working in clay at the university. The artists chose to title the show the Studio 118 Exhibition in recognition of the working space where the students create their art, said Prejean. In the ceramics studio, “We all get to learn so much from each other,” she said. “It has been exciting to work alongside both to see the kind of work they make and their process. … It has been super helpful and insightful.” The works that Prejean has on display in the exhibition include a highly decorated tea service, which reflects two of her strong influences: fourteenth-century English porcelain and her heritage as a Mexican American. The latter influence can be seen in...

Nine current and former WNMU students and a local community member participated in the Sin Fronteras Creative Writing Project on campus April 18-27. The project, organized by Assistant Professor of English Heather Frankland, included craft talks, writing sessions and readings of international and regional literature. It also addressed the idea of borders in multiple ways, pushing participants to stretch their writing in new directions. The project was a pilot program for what is expected to become an annual event. Session topics ranged from magical realism to how a border identity affects style and voice in writing. The session leaders included novelist Fabienne Josaphat, winner of the 2023 PEN Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, borderlands poet Miguel De La Cruz, WNMU writer in residence JJ Amaworo Wilson, and poet and English Composition professor Frankland. The event was held with the support of the WNMU Foundation President’s Society Program Support Fund and the...

This spring, 535 students earned degrees or certificates from Western New Mexico University, 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 WNMU at a distance. Of the graduates who received diplomas from WNMU this spring, 408 chose to participate in the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 3, with 355 walking across the stage at Ben Altamirano Field and 53 participating virtually. WNMU awarded 106 associate degrees, 163 bachelor’s degrees, 148 master’s degrees, 67 graduate certificates, 14 certificates and 37 fast track certificates. Additionally, 67 baccalaureate students graduated with honors. To earn this distinction, undergraduate must receive a 3.5 GPA or higher. Three graduating students were selected to the Student Hall of Fame: Itzela Darkenwald, Trent Jones, and Stephen Lindsey. Faculty Excellence Awards were...

The WNMU Dual Enrollment program, which allows New Mexico’s secondary students to take college coursework while completing high school, has been steadily increasing in enrollment in recent years, with a record 509 students enrolled this spring. This May, 75 of those students are earning a WNMU certificate, degree, or both in addition to graduating from high school. By taking dual credit courses, students are able to get a head start on their futures, whether they are on the road to a career or to higher education. Joshua Estrada, who is graduating with an associate’s degree in Welding Technology from WNMU as well as earning his high school diploma from Aldo Leopold Charter School, described his experience at the university as “a sort of second home to go to after school. Dual Enrollment consumed a lot of my time but the people and classes along the way were really worth the time and effort to get me where I am now.” According to his high school counselor, Cheryl Head,...

The Western New Mexico University signature cultural event, ¡Fiesta Latina!, returns to campus June 6-9. Through ¡Fiesta Latina!, WNMU seeks to recognize, celebrate and assist in the preservation of New Mexico’s connection with its Mexican heritage, customs and traditions. At the center of the four-day festival is a juried artisan mercado that features the handmade work of approximately 50 highly skilled traditional artisans from across Mexico. These folk artists will be on-hand to educate fiesta-goers about their processes and to answer questions about their artistic traditions. In addition to traditional art such as metal working, ceramics and textiles, the mercado this year will feature new artists working in media that have not before been part of WNMU ¡Fiesta Latina!, including masks, embellished shoes, leather and wooden utensils. Artisans will also be demonstrating their techniques at a dedicated tent where patrons can get hands-on experience with projects that vary...

Western New Mexico University is ramping up its efforts to train those looking to enter the healthcare workforce. The university currently offers courses in phlebotomy and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). The CNA class is offered every spring, fall, and summer and is taught in both Silver City and Deming. The phlebotomy course is currently in Deming, but the university also plans to offer it at the Silver City campus. According to Healthcare Workforce Programs Director Victor Stephen Gonzales (BSN ’17, MSN ’23), the next healthcare workforce program under development is a pharmacy tech program. The curriculum for the program has been developed, and WNMU is currently seeking instructors to teach the coursework. Gonzales was recently hired into the role as Healthcare Workforce Programs Director because WNMU recognizes southwest New Mexico’s strong need for workers in the healthcare field and understands the university’s crucial role in providing training and education...

Dara Naphan-Kingery’s trajectory from graduate school to her current position as an assistant professor of Sociology at WNMU has not been a straightforward one. After earning her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, she felt she needed additional experience before aiming to become a professor. “I knew that I always wanted to teach,” she said, “but I needed to beef up my CV a little bit, so I ended up doing a postdoc at Vanderbilt University.” This postdoctoral research position became much more than just a CV-builder for Naphan-Kingery. “I worked with this group that was focused on broadening participation in engineering, specifically focused on black engineers,” she said. “I had done my dissertation on women in engineering. I got interested in that because engineering is just such an exclusive field. It can be a chilly climate for a lot of women and minoritized groups. … I was interested in things like sense of belonging and how people...

Campus Security Specialist Barbara Perez did not always imagine she would be coordinating communications for a six-member police force. In 1995, when she started working for WNMU, she served as a cashier in the Business Office. But when a position with WNMU Campus Police opened up in 1997, she came aboard with the assumption that she would be an administrative assistant. Instead, she has become the department’s go-to person not only for police communications, but also for campus event security and crisis intervention, compliance, budgeting, and the supervision of student workers. What motivates Perez in all of her work is a desire to help others. Twice awarded WNMU Employee of the Year, Perez acknowledged that the awards “made me feel good, but I am not all about that. I love the university and I love helping people.” Her natural impulse to help is just the start of her qualifications for her position. In addition, she has completed training with the NM Department of...

Access Services Librarian Andrea Jaquez fell in love with history when she was a child growing up in California’s San Fernando Valley. There, she would ride her horse along the old stagecoach road that ran between the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, wondering about those that traveled the road before her. The passion for history that developed during her childhood rambles has fueled both her professional career and pastimes. Jaquez came to WNMU J. Cloyd Miller Library in 1998, following a first career as an auditor for Nordstrom. Since then, she has assisted numerous library patrons as they have researched local history, investigated their own personal genealogy, or conducted research in the library’s special collections. In southwest New Mexico, Jaquez has put down roots that bind her to the region’s history and culture and have made her inquisitive about the area’s past. “There is so much here that people don’t know about or that they take for granted,” she...