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“I have always been passionate about protecting and preserving wildlife but was unsure what education to pursue to qualify as a game warden. When I found WNMU and the wildlife/law enforcement degree, I knew it was exactly what I wanted,” said senior wildlife-law enforcement student Jeff Bell. The native of Key West, Florida, said, “Growing up, I saw what could happen to an ecosystem if it is not properly maintained. After moving to New Mexico and seeing this beautiful land and the amazing animals, my desire to become a game warden and protect this place only increased.” For his senior practicum experience, Jeff chose to work at City of Rocks State Park alongside WNMU alumnus and Park Manager Gabe Medrano and a couple others, performing maintenance work, riding along with Gabe to enforce park regulations, and contributing to operate the visitor center. “One of the best experiences so far has been seeing all the wildlife that inhabits the park. I’ve seen barn owls,...

“In my art pieces, subconsciously, I’d l put in elements of wildlife and nature,” said WNMU senior Yen Chu. Intertwining her artistic tendencies and her environmental concern, she now interns with Gila Resources Information Project — managing their social media channels and helping plan the group’s upcoming Gila River Festival, among other assignments which range from designing marketing materials to organizing photo shoots. “I never realized how much there is to do,” she said during her second week on the job. “Because it’s a nonprofit, everything is really self-propelled.” As an art major at WNMU, Yen has noticed many of her classes have touched on the environmental impacts on art, making her consider identity as it relates to place. “Creating art, I was once really focused on the network between people, but it’s broadened into how we relate to our surroundings as well as each other. “I want people to reconsider where they see themselves in the...

WNMU senior Nichole Bouvet once worked in corrections and was into conservation and hunting in her free time so dreamed of perhaps becoming a game warden. But her professors persuaded her to minor in geographic information systems. “I’d still love to work with the U.S. Forest Service,” she said, “but there are so many opportunities in GIS.” Having the course requirements behind her, Nichole sprung for a summer internship and senior practicum with the Silver City Watershed Keepers, a sister to GRIP. She started doing data collection in Pinos Altos Creek, San Vicente Creek and Silva Creek. Points of interest she was collecting include legacy trees—“the oldest, most beautiful ones”—around which the Watershed Keepers can work to minimize invasive species and allow local trees to flourish. She’s also marking homeless camps to help the Town of Silver City understand where people are staying and find somewhere safer for them to go. The organization's overall aim...

Grant County native Raquel Parga is finishing up a forest-wildlife degree at WNMU, doing her senior practicum with Heart of the Gila, and raising an almost two-year-old son. “I’ve overcome some obstacles in my life but I’m still going strong with my degree,” she said. Feeling fortunate to have been born in a place surrounded by forest, Raquel chose to stay in her hometown and pursue a bachelor’s in hopes of working in hydrology or ecology with the U.S. Forest Service. “I always loved being outside. The world seems kind of small at times, but when you’re out there, it’s so vast,” she said. Raquel opted to do eco-monitoring for Heart of the Gila “since the Gila River is one of our biggest assets here.” Over the past month, she has been in the field, testing the waters for PH levels, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and so on. The experience has opened her eyes to how much of the hands-on and classroom work she does at WNMU applies in the real...

The new greenhouse under construction outside Harlan Hall is thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant the university obtained last summer to build a research program in nano-enabled agriculture. The facility will enable WNMU undergraduate research experiences that explore solutions to global problems hindering the industry’s ability to sustain the growing population. But this grant also supports undergraduate students looking into ways to achieve food security and improve the sustainability of agriculture. In partnership with former WNMU natural sciences faculty member Dr. Illya Medina Velo, the university’s Dr. Bill Norris, Goyce Koeppl and Chala Werber are continuing to lead students in testing nano materials on local soil to improve agricultural practices....

The newly installed bronze sculpture at The Gardens near Light Hall is a tribute to the many generations Western New Mexico University has served since 1893. A trio of WNMU alumni spent six months creating “Ice Cream Girls” to pay homage to one local child’s sweetest memory and to the spirit of community that this institution represents. One summer in the 1930s, sisters Martha and Charley sat outside Light Hall while their mother was in class. A professor walked by and acted on his regret that they waited in the hot sun without ice cream. That experience was integral to their eventual pursuit of education at WNMU and to their lifelong investment in the local community. Before becoming a middle school teacher, Martha went on to make a name for the Lady Mustangs on athletic courts across the region as one of the first inducted into the Women’s Athletic Association Hall of Fame. Charley first worked at married student housing on campus and later worked at a downtown...

Since she started teaching in the Western New Mexico University Math and Computer Science Department in 2013, Tanya Rivers has worked to engage the whole community in math, working at the legislative level and empowering learners at the family level. During a ceremony on Thursday, June 10, Rivers will be presented with an Air Force Research Laboratory New Mexico Tech Engagement Office award, meant to honor a New Mexican dedicated to fostering the love of STEM in local kids through meaningful interaction. Rivers is being recognized for her dedication to fracturing stereotypes about math and improving access to education by introducing math and computer programming to young girls through Expanding Your Horizons workshops and leading events at Science Olympiad — both youth STEM education events at WNMU. The award also demonstrates the region’s appreciation of Rivers’ efforts to facilitate successful Family Math Learning nights in conjunction with math and computer...