more
learn it. Try to relate it to their life somehow. Like, how would this affect you? Or how has this affected you? Dan: Maybe they could keep all freshmen
VB Price, ’62 BA (anthropology), has taught classes in UNM’s Honors Program since 1986 and the UNM School of Architecture
—even if they are not signed up for the Freshman Interest Group classes—more informed on what’s going on, where certain things are, what’s happening.
book Anasazi Architecture and American
Ashley: I think it was good that FIG
Magazine, Century magazine, and
was not mandatory. I have friends at schools back east and almost all of them have mandatory freshman classes and they hate going to them. I think the fact that the FIG and the FLC are voluntary makes them better.
and Planning since 1976. He co-edited the
Design, and has edited New Mexico
The New Mexico Independent. Barrett’s latest book of poems is 7 Deadly Sins. He writes a weekly column on politics and the environment for the Albuquerque Tribune.
VB Price: I hope you have a great semester. Thank you so much.
i
Easing the Freshman Jitters
It’s tough being a freshman. Especially a freshman at a big university where the place, the people, the expectations are all new. Many can’t handle it, or they barely get by. That’s why UNM, under the direction of University Studies Dean Peter White, has been working diligently over the past five years to create a freshman experience that will ease the transition into college life. White and others hope to keep more kids in school and help them raise their grades enough to qualify for New Mexico Lottery Success Scholarships their second semester. On a voluntary basis, freshmen may choose among several Freshman Academic choices, including: • Freshman Learning Communities (FLCs) A group of freshmen takes two classes together. Faculty from various disciplines work together to introduce the students to the intellectual life of the university. • Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) Freshmen enroll in a one-credit, theme-based class along with a regular, core-curriculum class. The weekly FIG meetings support academics and create bonds among students and teachers. • Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) Students not only have classes together, but live together in the Student Residence Center. According to White, all of the programs are “aimed at making this university into a closer and more personal community, where faculty, staff, and students feel identification with this place and one another.” It appears to be working. Freshman retention to the third semester grew from 70.7 percent in 1997 to 75.8 percent in 2001, with larger increases among minorities. Freshmen who qualified for the lottery scholarship (minimum of 2.5 GPA and 12 credits the first semester) increased from 53.3 percent in 1997 to 70.2 percent in 2001. Freshman enrollment in 2002 was 2,821. Of that number, 1,173, or 41.6 percent, participated in a Freshman Academic Choice.
album Daniel Lopez, ’71 BA, ’72 MA, ’83 PhD, has been honored by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government with its first William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Award in Education. Earlier last year, he received the Alumni Association’s Bernard S. Rodey Award. He was also a recipient of the New Mexico Public Service Award. He is president of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Irene Zenev, ’71 BA, exhibits curator for the Benton County Museum in Philomath, Oregon, writes to say that in the course of inviting a local artist/teacher, Shepard Levine, to have a retrospective exhibit in the art gallery, she discovered he too is a UNM alum, class of 1950. Ron Feingold, ’72 PhD, has been re-elected as president of the International Association of Physical Education in Higher Education. He was also awarded the “Gold Cross,” the highest honor of the Federation Internationale d’Education Physique, the 19th given in its 85-year history. Ron lives in Wantagh, New York. Charles R. Hickam, ’72 BSEE, ’81 MD, has joined Radiology Associates of Albuquerque. Jim Maddox, ’72 BUS, was named the REALTORS Association of New Mexico’s 2002 REALTOR of the Year. He is president of Maddox & Co./REALTOR. Herbert J. Hammond, ’73 BS, of Dallas, has been elected to The Best Lawyers in America, a legal referral guide in the US. Frank Ruvolo, ’73 BABA, is buyer at Baker Utility Supply in Albuquerque. Ross Wirth, ’73 BS, of Claremore, Oklahoma, was recently named manager, organizational learning, at CITGO Petroleum in Tulsa. Joe Abeyta, ’74 BA, ’75 MAPA, teaches third grade at Carlos Gilbert Elementary School in Santa Fe. Bruce A. Benham, ’74 BUS, chief technology officer at RE/MAX International, Inc., has received the CIO of the Year Award 2001 from the Center for Information Technology at the University of Colorado at Denver School of Business. He lives in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Sandra Jaramillo, ’74 BAED, is the new administrator of the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe. Scott Evans, ’75 MSPE, ’82 EDSP, is Albuquerque Public Schools athletic director.
s p r i n g
2 0 0 3
17