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Eastern Political Science Alumnus Gaining National Attention
Eastern New Mexico University alumnus Matthew Barreto (BS98) has been gaining notoriety on the national political scene thanks to CNN and Time Magazine. The political science graduate was recently interviewed on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and in the Feb. 4 issue of Time Magazine.
According to Barretto, he had been doing research that he published related to Latino politics and voting habits and patterns across the country. “I have been starting to get calls from large media outlets asking me for my opinions on the Latino vote and the issues of race in the election,” he said.
As quoted in Time, “As I’ve been able to publish more of my research, I have been receiving calls from media asking for my opinion on topics of the day,” he said. He added that mentions in publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post has allowed the Eastern graduate to become better known. Barreto said that in this same time period a producer from CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 called and asked him to be a panelist on the program. “I went to New York City the day after the South Carolina debate,” said Barreto.
He credits his current success to his education and professors at Eastern. “I was always interested in politics and analyzing the results,” he said. “I had debated in high school and found it of great interest.” He added that through his experiences in debate on both the high school and the college level at Eastern, it piqued his interest in political science. Barreto said that because of his involvement in debate, he spent the most time around Dr. Anthony Schroeder. Barreto noted that Dr. Schroeder is a great supporter of the debate program as well as in the student’s individual disciplines. “I also had strong influences from political science professors Sue Strickler and Daniel Acheson-Brown,” he said. Barreto said that some of his fondest memories of Eastern relate to his time on the debate team. “I was originally from Kansas and I had an aunt who lived in Albuquerque,” said Barreto. He said that Eastern offered competitive scholarships to out-ofstate students. “I think they do a very good job attracting an out-of-state population.” Barreto said that Eastern’s small class sizes and the diverse population play in its favor as a university. “It gives you the ability to get to know the faculty on a one-to-one basis.” In reflecting on his time at Eastern, Barreto said, “I had the opportunity to travel and represent Eastern at various debate tournaments around the country. When we went to big tournaments that had the likes of Harvard or Texas competing, it was very gratifying.”
