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If Higher Education Bond 3 passes in November’s election, Western New Mexico University will receive $9 million for the first phase of construction of a new home for the New Mexico Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education. In this first phase, the university plans to expand its Child Development Center by constructing a new building to house infant and toddler classrooms. While the new center’s primary purpose is to improve child wellbeing in southwest New Mexico by providing age-appropriate educational spaces and a new lab site for WNMU students, it would also have a strong impact on the region’s economy. The most obvious economic impact is in terms of jobs created. Construction of the building would require contractors in the field of construction but also in electrical and plumbing. It is estimated that passage of Bond 3 would create nearly 2,300 new jobs statewide, including 90 in Grant County. The economic impact extends well beyond short-term job gains....

Western New Mexico University Mustang Athletics has some new faces leading its teams this fall. Women’s Basketball Coach Brenda Nichols comes to WNMU with extensive experience coaching both collegiate and high school teams. Her playing career included two years at Sam Houston, from 1987-89, where was the leading scorer for the 18-9 Sam Houston squad in 1988. Nichols also spent two years as an NJCAA All-American at Western Texas Junior College, where she holds the record for most points scored in a game with 44, a feat she accomplished twice. Her 17.8 career scoring average stands as the second-highest mark in Sam Houston women’s basketball history. In 2014 she was inducted to the Sam Houston Athletics Hall of Honor. Nichols earned her undergraduate degree from Sam Houston in physical education in 1989, and her master’s at the University of West Florida in 1992. Nichols also earned her minor in art and is a published children’s book illustrator. Executive Director of...

Western New Mexico University and the Youth Mural Program dedicated a new mural at the Child Development Center on campus Thursday, August 15, 2024. The mural, titled “Once Upon a Time,” has been in progress since 2021. The Child Development Center is part of the New Mexico Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education. The center received its legislative distinction for having developed a full-service center that has been providing early childhood and family services for decades. The Youth Mural Program, led by artist Diana Ingalls Leyba, is a visually dynamic program that engages young people and teaches them about the history and culture of their community while providing artistic jewels throughout the area. The program has been a huge success, with over 80 murals created on the sides of buildings, on the risers of high sidewalks, and on long-blocked-in windows in Silver City, Gila, Bayard, and Santa Clara. “Once Upon a Time” was designed by Aldo Leopold...

Outreach and Instruction Librarian Madeleine Nittmo has only been with WNMU since last January, but she has been on the path to becoming a librarian since high school. She was mentored along the way by an observant school librarian who recognized her passion when Nittmo was a high school senior. “I have always been a big reader,” said Nittmo, “and the district librarian noticed that, and she came up to me and said, ‘I can tell you how to become a librarian.’ She told me all the steps: this is what you need to do, this is the program you need to be in. So, the minute I went to college, I had a very clear path, and I never diverted from that. I have always had my eye on it from the very beginning.” Prior to coming to WNMU, Nittmo served as the outreach librarian at Tyler Junior College in Texas. When she heard WNMU was hiring, she was eager to apply in order to be closer to her family in Arizona. Now as Outreach and Instruction Librarian at WNMU, Nittmo is helping...

Welcome Week on the WNMU campus will provide plenty to do as fall semester starts. The fun begins Monday, August 19 with a game of Grocery Bingo at 1:00 p.m. in the Student Memorial Building Life Lounge. On Tuesday, students can enjoy the movie “Kung Fu Panda 4” in Light Hall Theatre at 6:30 p.m. The next day is Wing Wednesday, with wings served at noon and Casino Night starting at 7:00 p.m., with both in the Life Lounge. On Thursday, students can enjoy lunch with the WNMU Campus Police at the popular Cops and Burgers, starting at 11:00 a.m., on the SMB Patio, and Friday brings Western Night to the Light Hall Patio, with country and western music and dancing as well as free food starting at 6:00 p.m. The Welcome Back Bash, which is free and open to the public, concludes the week Saturday evening, August 24, on Regents Square. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. This year’s Welcome Back Bash will feature Albuquerque-based band The Mango Cakes, which performs a fusion of pop, soul and...

The beginning of a new academic year this August will bring renewed activity to the WNMU campus in Silver City, but it will also bring changes and growth to WNMU Deming and WNMU Gallup. The WNMU Gallup Learning Center offers programs in elementary education, secondary education, special education and early childhood, as well as support for online students in any discipline. The Gallup location opened in 2023. At its opening, WNMU President Joseph Shepard said that the university’s decision to reestablish a presence in Gallup was prompted by the area’s educational needs. “Gallup has always had a high need for teachers, as our state has as well,” said Shepard, “Western New Mexico University started its roots as a teacher college and it was a natural fit for us to come to Gallup and continue that tradition.” According to Cindy Martinez, Dean of the WNMU College of Education, the university has three faculty members that work full time in Gallup. “We have a Bilingual...

In a presidential election year, when most voters’ attention is directed to the top of the ticket, it can be easy to overlook other key items that are also on the ballot. This year, one of those items is Higher Education Bond 3, which provides essential funding for New Mexico’s public colleges, universities and specialty schools. This General Obligation Bond would deliver $229,565,000 funding without raising the property tax rate. The projects to be funded by Higher Education Bond 3 range from renovation of the College of Pharmacy at the University of New Mexico to upgrades to the agricultural science and experimentation stations run by New Mexico State University around the state. All of the projects are designed to ensure students have the tools and learning environments they need to excel. As part of Bond 3, Western New Mexico University would receive $9M for the first phase of construction of a new home for the New Mexico Center of Excellence for Early Childhood...

DuWaine Boone (MBA ’05) has become the new Chief Operating Officer of Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc. (NNSCI). NNSCI operates nine shopping centers across the Navajo Nation. The shopping centers are home to businesses from outside the Navajo Nation, such as Bashas’ grocery stores, as well as Navajo-owned businesses. Boone, who is originally from Monument Valley, AZ, has worked for the past two years as the tribal administrator for the Fort Bidwell Gidutikad Band of Paiutes in northern California. He sought his new position because he wanted to return home. “Two years is a long time to be away from Navajo Country,” he said. Boone has spent his first few weeks on the job getting to know the staff, becoming familiar with the policies of the organization, and learning more about shopping center operations. As Chief Operating Officer, Boone will oversee a number of areas within NNSCI. “We have a board of directors, and they respond to the Navajo Nation Tribal...

Since its founding in 2011, the Silver City CLAY Festival has offered events and activities for experienced ceramicists as well as those completely new to clay. One of the highlights of this year’s festival was a WNMU-hosted workshop with Diné artist Jared Tso. Tso, who comes from a family of Navajo potters, led participants in an exploration of traditional clay practices that included digging clay at NAN Ranch in the Mimbres Valley, learning forming techniques such as pinching and coiling, and pit firing. Now based in northeastern Arizona, Tso grew up in eastern Washington, and has been in the southwest since 2014. He came to New Mexico to get his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from UNM and worked as an engineer for several years. “I did clay in the background during that time,” he said, “and I started doing so many shows—and doing so much work after work—that I decided to go back for an MFA.” While his art has evolved over time, there are...

For six weeks this summer, WNMU is hosting the Preservation Archaeology Museum and Survey Field School, a joint venture between the university, Archaeology Southwest, and the University of Arizona. Twelve archaeology students from across the country are taking part in the field school, which introduces participants to archaeological analysis and field techniques as well as to the methods and approaches used to interpret archaeological data and apply them to anthropological questions. WNMU Museum Director Danielle Romero and Karen Schollmeyer, who is a preservation archaeologist with Archaeology Southwest, are jointly leading the field school. As part of the course, students have a chance to visit NAN Ranch, the site of a Mimbres Mogollon pueblo that was excavated in the 1970s and 80s by a team led by Professor of Archaeology Harry Shafer of Texas A&M University. According to Romero, students at NAN Ranch are “redoing the survey that was done in the 70s, and anything else that the...