News

Comrade Advancing Fellow Veterans’ Lives Through Education

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Laura Kubik is the university’s veteran education benefits liaison. She served 11 years in the Army, doing a year-long tour in Korea and two tours in Iraq. She had been in the process of enlisting in the military on September 11, 2001, and was sent away in case the facility was also a target. When she returned on September 12, she knew the environment was different, that she’d be serving through war. “I looked around the room and said, ‘These are my comrades,’” Laura remembers. “I felt even more empowered to want to go.” While both of her grandfathers were in the Navy and she’s from “essentially a military family,” Laura did not enlist right out of high school. “I joined when I was 30 to get myself further ahead, get my education for free and get my son his braces when he needed them. I was willing to sacrifice,” she said. As a signal support system specialist, Laura installed communications technology — radios, computers, phone wiring, and blue...
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A plate fit for adventure

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Earlier this year, voters selected a revised Western New Mexico University collegiate license plate design. Winning by a landslide was The Overlander, a theme fit for journeys on high-mountain roads and trips off the beaten path. It’s available through the MVD right...
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MSW Student Aims To Create Healthy School Environments

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“As part of the LGBTQ community, I know how confusing it can be to create a self-identity and how painful it is to be questioned and judged. As a future school social worker, my experiences and knowledge will help me create healthy school environments,” wrote Lisa Origlio, who received PFLAG Silver City’s Nancy Kailing Memorial Scholarship through the WNMU Foundation as a result of the essay this quote was excerpted from. From Brighton, Colorado, Lisa has always worked with children so tried her hand at teaching. “It never really stuck for me,” she said. Now seeking a master’s in social work, Lisa said that because she usually connected with kids who struggled emotionally, she explored careers in which should could help them. “I took a long time deciding on social work, and WNMU had everything I was looking for,” she said. “I’ve learned that social work is similar to teaching because a lot of it has to do with problem solving and using interventions. We...
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WNMU School of Nursing Partnering with Walgreens on Free Flu Shot Clinic Saturday

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Western New Mexico University students, faculty and staff as well as members of the public will have the opportunity to receive their annual flu shot on campus this Saturday, as the WNMU School of Nursing is partnering with Walgreens to help ensure the continued health of the Mustang community. “While we’ve worked to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in our campus community, it’s important that we also take steps to mitigate the spread of the flu virus. Although flu shots are in short supply, we’ve been able to acquire a limited number and hope those who live and work on campus in particular take advantage of this free clinic,” said WNMU Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Isaac Brundage. On Saturday, November 7, shots will be administered from the WNMU School of Nursing building near the intersection of College Avenue and E Street. Students may walk in to receive their immunizations between 10 a.m. and noon. Faculty, staff and members of the public may walk...
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WNMU COVID-19 Updates

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WNMU Information Regarding the Virus That Causes COVID-19 Western New Mexico University works to ensure the health and safety of its community and is monitoring the global public health concern related to the new coronavirus. This page contains updates regarding the WNMU plan to mitigate the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, protect the Mustang community, and ensure those pursuing degrees may continue working toward their goals safely.   To reach the New Mexico Department of Health, call 1-855-600-3453. Thursday, February 17, 2022 A Message From the President Dear faculty and staff, Early today, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham lifted the indoor mask mandate for the state of New Mexico. As such, effective immediately, Western New Mexico University is likewise lifting the indoor mask mandate. While COVID is still part of daily life, it is important to learn to live with this virus as we return to the new normal. I have noted in the past that we...
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Studying Nostalgic Consumption Through SRPD Summer Scholars Program

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Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies student Jillian Alexander is studying nostalgic consumption with the support of the WNMU Student Research and Professional Development Summer Scholars program. “A hundred years ago when nostalgia was first mentioned in literature, it was considered a disease you could die of: a sentimental longing. With this research, I was seeing if nostalgic consumption is a terror management response,” she says. Jillian had noticed a shift in the music people streamed while at home during the pandemic. “New bands weren’t getting listened to as much. They wanted music that made them feel comfortable and safe,” she says. She wanted to see whether people get the same feeling from eating banana bread, for example, as from listening to songs from their youth. “I built a psychometric scale for nostalgic consumption. I’ve uncovered a lot of interesting stuff, but I’m still analyzing the data,” Jillian says. If her psychometric scale...
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WNMU and Silco Theater Partner on Drive-In Cinema [POSTPONED]

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Western New Mexico University Cultural Affairs and the historic Silco Theater are partnering to offer drive-in movies for the local community. On five different weekends throughout the fall, films will be projected onto a 24- by 36-foot screen on the southern wall of the WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre for viewers in the parking lot. Kicking off the series is American Graffiti on Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17. Future dates for the Friday and Saturday movies at WNMU are October 23 and 24; October 30 and 31; November 6 and 7; and November 13 and 14. “Through partnerships like this one with the Silco, Western New Mexico University is working to find innovative ways to bring the community together during these unprecedented times,” said WNMU Special Assistant to the President Faye McCalmont. “We are so happy to be bringing movies to campus. Continuing to offer rich experiences and appealing entertainment options is one way the university can help build a strong...
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WNMU Acquiring On-Campus Rapid Testing Capabilities

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Western New Mexico University will soon have rapid testing capabilities on campus. To better mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and maintain a healthy campus and community, WNMU leadership has been researching testing units over the past few months. This month, the university expects to have the ability to conduct SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing on campus and receive results within 15 minutes. Nonemergent testing will continue to be made available through WNMU medical partner, Hidalgo Medical Services. “Rapid testing, combined with thorough contact tracing and quarantining, is one of the best ways to effectively minimize the spread of COVID-19 in a community. Our goal is to help students return to class and sports sooner,” said WNMU president Dr. Joseph Shepard. As the NCAA will soon require more frequent and regular testing of student athletes, Director of WNMU Mustang Athletics Scott Noble is coordinating the efforts to acquire nasal swab testing units and complete...
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NM-INBRE Summer Experience Deepened Brenda Prieto’s Love for Science

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“I’m trying to double major in cell/molecular biology and chemistry and might possibly triple major in math. For now, it’s just a minor,” said sophomore Brenda Prieto. “What I want to be is a dentist.” The Mustang cross country runner who hails from Las Cruces is attending WNMU “because it’s really pretty” in Silver City and she wanted the opportunity to keep running. This summer, Brenda participated in a NM-INBRE Summer Experience. While the program would normally have had Brenda looking into a microscope, the 2020 version took place over Zoom. “Usually it would have been hands-on in the lab. Because of the pandemic, they had to make it online,” she said. “We began with taking classes. They taught us about DNA sequencing and phylogeny. Once we went over the basics, we started talking about BLAST alignment which helps with the building of phylogenic trees.” Supplied with laptops equipped with an app that enabled them to code, Brenda and the other...
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Banned Books Week 2020

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By JJ Amaworo Wilson, WNMU Writer-in-Residence Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses came out in 1988. He spent the next ten years in hiding. Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, didn't approve of Rushdie's portrayal of Mohamed, and pronounced a fatwah, a death sentence, on the author. The fatwah was eventually lifted after Khomeini's death (although officially fatwahs can only be rescinded by the person who made them, so in theory Rushdie is still under it). Mario Vargas Llosa hated his Peruvian military school - Leoncio Prado Military Academy - so much that he wrote his first novel about it (La Ciudad y los Perros, translated as The Time of the Hero). The academy took offense and organized a mass public burning of one thousand copies of the book. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's co-written political play "I Will Marry When I Want" was shut down after six weeks by the Kenyan government, and wa Thiong'o jailed. He famously wrote his novel Devil on the Cross on...
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