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Western New Mexico University School of Education Associate Professor of Special Education Dr. Roberta Marquez and her Ukrainian student Tomas Gallegos presented a research paper at last month's 14th Annual Mentoring Conference. “Using InTASC Standards, High-Leverage Coaching Practices, and Technology to Video-Coach a Teacher Candidate Volunteering in a Rural Ukrainian Elementary School” was published in the scholarly, peer reviewed journal known as The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching. Gallegos enrolled in the WNMU Master of Arts in Teaching program while serving in a rural village in Eastern Ukraine as a Peace Corps Youth in Development Volunteer. “I began the program to be a more responsive and informed volunteer and to create opportunities to teach around the world after service,” he said. Dr. Marquez said their project’s ties to educators, students, and families in a rural school in Ukraine gives it a “unique and compelling angle that underscores the United...

The WNMU graphic design program was recently rebuilt “from the ground up” and is anchored by faculty member Ed Brandt, an experienced graphic designer and multimedia artist who is represented in Santa Fe galleries and locally. When revamping #WNMU Expressive Arts Department’s two associate degrees in graphic design, Brandt considered the kind of students might be interested in the program and what they will need to know to jump immediately into the profession. Bringing a background that he thinks many students can related to, Brandt said he grew up with artistic inclinations but a societal and familial expectation to get an education he could use to support himself. Graphic design is a path that enables creative minds to embrace their interests while preparing themselves for a career. “You’re showing yourself that arts are valuable, and you’re achieving something,” he said about the WNMU graphic design program. Having run a boutique graphic design business...

WNMU alumnus and former member of the WNMU Native American Club Bill "Cody" Ayon is featured in a PBS four-part documentary series “American Veteran,” which traces the veteran experience across the arc of American history and explores the present-day divide between civilian and veteran communities. Preview the program, which airs on October 26, here. See an in-depth interview with the producer and Ayon...

As part of the Southwest Word Fiesta, WNMU Assistant Professor of English Composition Professor Heather Frankland and her WNMU Rhetoric and Composition Workshop students will be giving a banned books presentation, while her Introduction to College English students will perform their original three-act melodrama. Both presentations will take place in J. Cloyd Miller Library on Friday, October 23, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Frankland, who is a poet and a Southwest Word Fiesta committee member, said, "Come see the class members continue to build on the work that they did with Miller Library in celebration of Banned Book Week during the last week of September. Watch and be entertained by the other class’s creative work in which students rush to save the book, "The Hunger Games," from being banned at their fictional high school." Students from Rhetoric and Composition Workshop spent time researching why their book was banned and reflecting on how they connect to the book. Jacqueline...

To kick off a series of Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations and programming, Western New Mexico University invited Las Cruces’ Zepeda to create a temporary chalk art installation at the base of the staircase between Student Memorial Building and Graham Gym. The mural, still in the process of being completed in this photo, combines pre-Columbian Mesoamerican symbolism and Catholic symbolism, Zepeda said. “Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered the mother of the Americas,” he said, addressing a crowd of students on Wednesday. Our Lady of Guadalupe brought together two different pre-Columbian myths, Zepeda said, explaining that the typical depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a glyph of the Aztec mother goddess. “It’s how the Catholics told indigenous people they’d been worshipping Mary all along,” he said. Zepeda used the pyramid structure of the staircase to create a Toltec temple motif with Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. He’s in here,” the artist said,...

Ivanna Chavarría has always been interested in business, and she honed in on marketing as a focus when she decided to participate in the dual degree program available through the University of Sonora in her hometown and WNMU together. “I always knew I would go into an economy career. Marketing is dynamic and involves a lot of creativity. When starting out, I think it’s a good career so then you can specialize and discover what you like while you’re studying,” she said. The opportunity to earn dual degrees is rare, Ivanna said. “And it’s as if you were just studying for one, because it’s only four years but you get double the knowledge.” Like her two peers currently in this program, Ivanna is enjoying meeting new people and having new experiences. “We’re all outgoing and love traveling. I think it’s cool you can walk wherever you want in Silver City. It’s been easy getting to places and knowing the city without having a...

On Friday, September 10, the Western New Mexico University School of Nursing is hosting its White Coat Ceremony, a rite of passage to emphasize the importance of compassionate patient care at the very start of training. The ritual will begin at 2 p.m. in Light Hall Auditorium. “Nurses are integral to patient survival, and we witnessed this to an even greater extent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite fears, risks and the unknown, nurses keep caring and keep working. By accepting the white coat, our nursing students demonstrate that they are entering our noble profession and will persevere too,” said WNMU School of Nursing & Kinesiology Associate Dean Dr. Kimberly Petrovic. With family and friends as witnesses, 31 nursing students will recite an oath to patient care. As the Level 1 professors, WNMU School of Nursing faculty members Krista Wood and Erin Wood will cloak each student in the iconic white coat that signifies their status as healthcare...

Lindsay Bryner started a graduate certificate program at WNMU to become qualified to teach at the college level, and in Dr. Heather Steimann’s Advanced Composition course, she completed an article that was published in the fully refereed journal “Education and Society” this July. Lindsay lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and took advantage of the online program offerings at WNMU, which was recommended by teachers she worked with. “Along with taking us step-by-step through the process developing our essays, Dr. Steinmann did a great thing from the start: She said, ‘Choose a topic that’s personal to you,’” Lindsay said. “Through the use of research in academic journals and articles as well as personal anecdotes, I attempt to prove that if the right changes are made then the teacher retention rate can be improved. Since students are the best possible investment in our future, it would be great to be able to retain teachers who are passionate about teaching and have...