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Western New Mexico University hosted the Bi-National Indigenous Expo/Encuentro: Multi-Faced Expressions of Indigenous Cultures from Both Mexicos on June 15-17. The event, which was coordinated by the Division of External Affairs and open to both students and the public, was designed to acknowledge and better understand the historical and current experience of Indigenous cultures that define the borderlands region. The Expo/Encuentro brought together members of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, whose ancestral lands span much of what is now southwest New Mexico as well as parts of Arizona, Chihuahua and Sonora, along with other Indigenous scholars, artists, and musicians. Featured participants included Hugo Morales (Mixtec), co-founder and executive producer of Radio Bilingüe, Andi Murphy (Diné), host of the Toasted Sister Podcast, Cayuga actor and musician Gary Farmer, Zapotec textile artist Porfirio Gutiérrez, WNMU Assistant Professor Melissa Teller (Diné) and the dance troupe...

Since 2011, mariachi music has been included on the list of “Intangible Cultural Heritages in Need of Safeguarding,” published by UNESCO, the education, science and culture arm of the United Nations. This summer, the WNMU music program took action to safeguard this heritage by hosting high school mariachi ensembles in a four-day conference, the inaugural event in what it expects to be an annual tradition. El Son de la Gila: Exploring Culture through Mariachi was held on campus June 12-15. Drawing students and their mariachi directors from across the southwest, the conference provided an opportunity for high school musicians to learn from master mariachis and each other. The idea for the conference came from a recognition that the rich cultural and musical heritage of mariachi deserves to be highlighted, celebrated, and passed down to future generations. Mariachi music is engrained in the identity of WNMU, a Hispanic Serving Institution, and the continued legacy of the art...

When students were moving out of the WNMU residence halls this spring, they may have observed something unfamiliar: donation boxes set up by the Choose to Reuse program. Choose to Reuse is the brainchild of Kinesiology major Itzela Darkenwald, who explained what motivated her to create the program: “When I was a freshman here and . . . everyone was moving out, I noticed that a lot of people were throwing away good, reusable stuff because they couldn’t take it back home—it wouldn’t fit in their car, or they didn’t need twin sheets or a mini-fridge once they had graduated—so a bunch of stuff was going to waste.” She wondered why there was no system for preventing this. “We really needed to do something about it.” She was also concerned that the move-out process was encouraging dumpster divers on campus. A conversation with a person taking material from the dumpsters, however, revealed that some of those collecting the students’ cast-offs were from the local...

The undergraduate and graduate teacher preparation programs at WNMU have been recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) as among the best in the nation in preparing future elementary teachers to teach children to read, earning an A+ distinction. The programs are among just 48 nationwide and are the only programs in New Mexico highlighted by NCTQ for going above and beyond the standards set by literacy experts for coverage of the most effective methods of reading instruction—often called the “science of reading.” National data shows that more than one-third of fourth grade students—over 1.3 million children—cannot read at a basic level. In New Mexico, the situation is even more dire, with over half of fourth grade students unskilled at basic reading. By preparing teachers in the methods that research has shown to work best, WNMU College of Education is doing its part to change these devastating results. To evaluate the quality of preparation being...

WNMU held an open house and ribbon cutting for the WNMU Gallup Learning Center on May 20. While WNMU has had a Gallup campus in the past, with the new center, WNMU renews its commitment to offering its education programs to students from McKinley County and surrounding areas. Located at 425 N. 7th Street, the center will offer bachelor’s level programs in elementary education, secondary education, special education and early childhood.  The university plans to start offering courses at the location in the fall. WNMU had a campus in Gallup that closed ten years ago. With its return to the area, the university is starting small, with plans to grow the program in the future. In addition to offering courses for new students, WNMU also welcomes students who are returning to school, current teachers who are seeking certification in a new field, and those with degrees in other fields who wish to change their career path. The main campus also has a graduate program in education that...

Passionate about the written language and a self-described “book fanatic,” first-generation college student Devin Long plans to spend her time at Western New Mexico University majoring in English and minoring in sociology, a combination of subjects that she trusts will help her in her career. Long was encouraged to continue her higher education by the CEO of the organization she works for, New Beginnings, where she serves as the Community Outreach Liaison. New Beginnings is a nonprofit organization in San Juan County, NM, that provides transitional housing and resources for survivors of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and stalking. The scope of Long’s work extends far beyond San Juan County, as her organization serves all of New Mexico and the surrounding states. Said Long, “We do not turn away anyone who knocks on our door.” New Beginnings is “one of only four transitional living programs in the state and holds the state’s only trauma-focused childcare...

Respect for those she works with and serves is essential to Betsy Miller. A long-time member of the WNMU community, Miller was recently appointed Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, a position she has held in an interim capacity since June of last year. A lifelong resident of Grant County, Miller has held a variety of positions at the university on her way to becoming a vice president, from working as an assistant director in the admissions office to serving as the registrar. Now, she oversees the offices that are responsible for undergraduate and graduate admissions and recruiting, outreach programs, the registrar’s office, financial aid, campus police, student life, mental health, veteran services, and student housing. What has kept her at WNMU so long has been the satisfaction of helping students and co-workers. Said Miller, “It is satisfying to get to know them well enough to identify and respond to their needs. … We need to learn our culture,...

WNMU hosted Mescalero Apache youth who recently came to Silver City as part of a school field trip to harvest agave plants on nearby Freeport-McMoRan property. Agave, also known as mescal, is not only a staple food of the Mescalero Apache people but is also used for spiritual purposes. In particular, agave hearts play a significant role in the Sunrise Ceremony, a rite of passage that marks an Apache girl’s transition to womanhood. This four-day ceremony is filled with blessings, music, dance and the sharing of food. This sacred ritual is especially meaningful to many Apaches today because for nearly a century it was banned by the United States government and had to be practiced in secret. Since 1978, when the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act restored basic civil rights to many Indigenous people, more young Apache women are openly practicing the Sunrise Ceremony, which strengthens not only the individual but the Apache people as a whole. On campus, the...

While other states celebrate Nurses Week, here in New Mexico the entire month of May 2023 has been proclaimed Nurses Month by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and WNMU observed the month in equally grand style by installing a recently commissioned sculpture of nurse and former faculty member Pam Kuthe. Kuthe, who retired from WNMU in 2007 and passed away in 2020, was a long-time Silver City nurse, a dedicated nursing educator, and a valued colleague. She was recognized as a Nursing Legend by the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence, and she was pivotal in establishing the modern nursing program at WNMU, which graduated its first class of associate degree students in 1993. To honor Kuthe’s legacy, WNMU commissioned a bronze sculpture of her, titled Nursing is a Calling, created by a local collective of artists. The sculptors who worked on the project all have ties to WNMU: Chelsea Boone earned a BFA in 2016, Maurice Camacho earned the same degree in 2019, Colette Beers...

For first-generation BFA graduate Ashley (Burrows) Banegas, art has long been a way to seek out connection with other people. Her passion for art was fostered early in life by a middle-school art teacher who behaved unlike any teacher she had ever known. “I had never experienced anyone who lived in such a free, openly communicative kind of way.” Despite this early inspiration, Banegas, who is originally from Greencastle, PA, started college in 2006 as a business major. On a trip to visit friends at another university, however, she again saw how art connected people. “There is really nothing like an art community to pull you in and let you be you,” she said. She changed majors and was quickly drawn to ceramics. For a number of years, life got in the way of completing her degree. After a divorce, a move across country in a conversion van and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Banegas felt motivated to complete her undergraduate education at WNMU. She said of her early...