GREEN & SILVER
REFLECTING ON OUR YEAR
Dear Greyhound Family,
This time of year has always been one of reflection and anticipation.
Looking back on last year, I find I am honored and proud to be a part of ENMU. We enjoyed substantial increases in resources from the State and through our philanthropic efforts. We began celebrating our 90th anniversary by recognizing families whose ancestors helped found ENMU and the role of the Portales Chamber of Commerce. We ended the year of celebration with a 90th-anniversary Homecoming that genuinely lived up to the theme “Out of This World.” We saw strong growth in enrollment for the third year in a row. We saw tremendous generosity from alumni and friends and formed partnerships for our future. We also began new traditions for firstyear students and those nearing graduation. Most importantly, we celebrated student success through very large commencement ceremonies. For all of these things, I appreciate the dedication and efforts of our ENMU employees who made this possible.
I am excited about the future of ENMU. One Eastern continues to grow and strengthen our system. We have aligned many of our behind-the-scenes processes and practices to serve our students better system-wide.
That work will be ongoing as we grow and innovate together. The second phase of One Eastern has begun and is focused on academic program offerings and how we make those available to all ENMU System students to meet their career goals. No matter a student’s career path or point in their career, we will be here to meet their educational needs.
I am also building and strengthening partnerships so ENMU, Portales, and our region can grow together. It is vital to the success of ENMU, and we will do our part. I will share updates on our success in the coming year.
In closing, I hope you have been able to spend time with family and friends and reflect on what has been an equally successful year for you. I wish you happiness and good health as we look forward to another great year together.
All the best, and GO HOUNDS!!!
James Johnston, Ph.D. President and Chancellor
DEAR GREYHOUNDS
“Out of This World” can conjure many ideas, such as interstellar space travel, leaping into radical new ideas, unlimited success, or departures from the norm.
In this issue, we illuminate new worlds of discovery and opportunity: from the futuristic idea of reverse engineering photosynthesis, to an Eastern alumnus who works to send rockets to space to advance scientific research, to harnessing drone technology illuminating our 90 years of tradition in the clear night sky. We also celebrate a science fiction writer’s tribute to alumnus Jack Williamson, a pioneer who invited us to imagine new worlds. And for those of you who are especially celestially inclined, we have a treat — an other-worldly yoga experience with alpacas beneath a full moon.
In our previous issue, we touted Eastern’s alumni engagement platform, launching soon. No pun intended. As the former namesake of ENMU’s yearbook for 73 years, the Silver Pack will reach into the past to propel us into the future.
The Silver Pack was conceived as a virtual online alumni engagement platform from its inception. It is meant to compliment and propel the history of the printed edition of the Green & Silver.
Gathering our alumni from across the virtual world to affect change in the real world is guiding our journey. As we set our course, we hope you will join us in our mission.
Todd Fuqua (MA 22, BA 93) Associate Writer and Editor
Ashley Stevens (BFA 20) Editor of Digital Design and Content
We Want to Hear From You!
Submit your story ideas, news, and memorials to us at alumni.affairs@enmu.edu, or call 575.562.2125.
Launching Spring 2025
Out on the High Plains of Eastern New Mexico, we are a rare breed of Greyhounds
Answer the call
PIONEERING NEW WORLDS
“Science is the doorway to the future, scientification, the golden key. It goes ahead and lights the way. And when science sees the things made real in the author’s mind, it makes them real indeed.”
—Jack Williamson, 1928
Connie Willis’ experience with Dr. Jack Williamson (MA 57, BA 57), Eastern New Mexico University’s “Grand Master" of science fiction, began when the two met at a Mile Highcon Convention in Denver, Colorado, in the late 70s.
Connie, winner of 11 Hugo and seven Nebula writing awards, has been writing science fiction since 1970. After their first meeting, she was honored that Jack asked her to be the guest of honor for the Jack Williamson Lectureship in Portales, New Mexico. The two bonded immediately.
“I came down and loved Portales and him [Williamson]... and everybody,” she said.
As Eastern celebrated an Out of This World Homecoming in 2024, Connie found the road to Portales once again to read from her story “Non-Stop to Portales.” The work is named after Williamson’s novelette Non-Stop to Mars, first published in 1939.
Willis’ story references Jack’s work several times and is intertwined with his roots in eastern New Mexico.
In the story, an inventor and agricultural salesman, Carter Stewart, finds himself seeking employment in what he considers a “dead-end” stop in Portales. While looking for something to appease his boredom he has a chance encounter with a bus tour from
beyond time and space. Steward discovers a wealth of treasures hidden right in front of him among the dusty plains of Eastern New Mexico. Strange shifts in the space-time continuum turn out to be the remnants of Jack Williamson’s futuristic vision.
Jack Williamson famously said, “No one can predict the future, [they] can only point the way.”
However, Williamson did, in fact, predict the future. In his voluminous body of work, he invented many cultural and scientific innovations that proved true and are now part of our everyday vernacular, including ‘androids’ and ‘genetic engineering.’
“There’s no way to adequately describe his influence on the field [of science fiction],” Connie said.
Among the many terms Williamson coined, one may have been closer to home than others: terraforming.
In a covered wagon at the turn of the century, Jack Williamson arrived in Portales with his family.
Sharecropping was their goal. The landscape they found looked unwilling to share much of anything except possibly its other-worldly view. They were challenged to coax fertile crops from the harsh elements, in essence, becoming early 20th Century terraformers.
While we don't know the exact route Jack and his family braved in their covered wagon to find Portales, the chances are high the asphalt highway on which Connie Willis returned at 70 miles per hour was similar.
Her road back to Portales and her deep relationship with the legend Jack Williamson was certainly out of the world — however, in keeping the mystery of the story “Non-Stop to Portales,” it is worth at least wondering — was she actually here?
“Science is the doorway to the future, scientification, the golden key.”
- Jack Williamson
WALKING ON
“If we can figure out photosynthesis and make fuels and products, we can change the entire chemical industry.”
Innovations
to help us find and create alternative energy sources to propel us into the future are more vital than ever.
It turns out many answers can be gleaned from the biggest source of heat and light we encounter every day — the sun.
One such other-worldly innovation is being pursued by Dr. Joel Ager and his staff at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California. Ager was a special ENMU 90th-anniversary Homecoming guest lecturer in October.
The team at LBNL uses electrolysis on various metals like gold, silver, platinum, cobalt, and copper to create novel products.
Our own Dr. Juchao Yan, professor of chemistry, is honored to have been part of this research.
“Dr. Ager is a world-renowned scientist, and LBNL has a world-class research facility,” Yan stated. “I have been fortunate to work on this project with Dr. Ager and his team.”
Out here on the High Plains, where the sun can often be adversarial, our students — especially those who slather on sunscreen or live behind dark sunglasses — have a chance, in a small but scientific way, to “walk on sunshine” and explore some of the beneficial potential of the sun’s extraordinary power.
Through a collaboration with LBNL, Dr. Yan is working to develop out-of-this-world opportunities for ENMU students, who now have the chance to work on processes that reverse engineer photosynthesis.
“If we can figure out photosynthesis and make fuels and products, we can change the entire chemical industry,” Ager stated. “That’s my challenge.”
(Left to Right) Juchao Yan, ENMU professor, Yesol Kim, mentor, Chemical Sciences Division, and Joel Ager, mentor, Chemical Sciences Division (CSD), at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Sunshine
Examples of products that Dr. Ager’s team is working to create are ethylene, an important platform chemical that can be used to make polyethylene, and ethylene oxide, which, in turn, is used to manufacture plastics and industrial liquids.
Currently, these chemicals are created with processes that contribute significantly to carbon dioxide (CO²) and other greenhouse gases, raising the planet’s average temperature. One solution — no pun intended — is to recycle the excess CO² into the process to create more products.
The wide use of this process could reduce carbon emissions by 14 megatons per year in the production of ethylene oxide alone.
While Dr. Ager’s research experiments are promising, they still exist on a comparatively tiny scale and can only be run for short periods of time. The longest they’ve been able to conduct their artificial photosynthesis process is 20 days before corrosion and degradation force them to shut down the
experiments and rebuild their systems.
“We were feeding our artificial sunlight device pure CO²,” Ager said. “Plants just pull it out of the atmosphere with other gases in the air. Also, the products we were creating weren’t in a usable form, while nature makes plenty of biomass, we have a ways to go.”
The sunlight conversion rate to energy in the natural world is one percent. Dr. Ager’s experiments are running at an average of about five percent efficiency. With a long road ahead of them and much more light to be shed on the challenge, Dr. Ager says it’s humbling to see how beautiful the natural processes are.
Sometimes, in the elegant and natural processes of the real world, hints exist to answer the most out-ofthis-world challenges.
In the meantime, we look forward to seeing Greyhound students trading in their sunglasses and sunscreen for lab coats. They’ll be walking on sunshine, and won’t it feel good?
90th
Anniversary Homecoming
ENMU – OUT OF THIS WORLD
90 years
How do we recognize 10 decades of academic excellence on the High Plains? How do we celebrate such a monumental achievement for all to see?
In the clear night sky.
At Eastern New Mexico University, we created an out-of-this-world celebration.
Homecoming 2024 was replete with tradition. The weekend featured our signature bonfire, crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen, the whimsical parade for children of all ages winding its way down the streets of Portales,
and the Homecoming football game. But it was in the night sky that traditions were on display and where a new one possibly began.
ENMU alumni, guests and community members were treated to the school’s first-ever drone show.
Spectators watched as 150 drones created the ENMU letters, the Greyhound head, and the outof-this-world Homecoming logo.
These and 20 other images morphed, transposed, and integrated to illuminate the night sky in green and silver.
ROCKET MAN
by
As a
child, Davis Booth (BAAS 21) watched the Space Shuttle launches and knew
he wanted to be part
of
that exciting world.
Now, he’s helping humanity go to worlds beyond, reaching unimagined heights with his work.
He’s not going to space personally. Instead, he’s part of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) team in Cape Canaveral, Florida. His work is critical to successfully launching the rockets that carry payloads to assist in space exploration and scientific research.
ULA rockets propel many missions. They have been instrumental in deploying national security satellites for the U.S. Department of Defense, launching communication and broadcasting satellites for private companies, and supporting science and exploration missions for NASA. They also have helped position weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
ULA recently furthered human space exploration with a Boeing crew flight test, in which Booth participated. Booth’s role with such missions is as an 'out-of-thisworld' engineer. Essentially, Booth is a troubleshooter in the high-pressure environment of a rocket launch, as the clock ticks toward execution.
“My work involves the reliability and performance of our launch vehicles,” Booth said. “I’m responsible for ensuring the electrical ground support equipment and the ground command, control, and communication equipment are working properly during the countdown to launch. If an anomaly is reported during this time, it is my job to offer recommendations to the vehicle systems engineer.”
It isn’t easy to launch a 20-story rocket into space.
Countdown and preparation begin several hours before liftoff. Booth and the rest of the crew sometimes pull all-nighters to get the job done. All that work and attention to detail pays off when an Atlas V rocket thunders into the early morning sky.
Booth’s work to secure safe and efficient methods for interplanetary exploration and research is helping to move the horizons between humans and space.
But before he was launching rockets beyond our atmosphere, he gained the knowledge that launched him into the space exploration industry right here in Eastern New Mexico.
“The ENMU Electronics Technology Program is valuable to getting a foothold in this industry,” Booth said. “The education [at ENMU] prepared me as an engineer and was accepted by my peers as being on par with other engineering programs from larger universities across the country.”
The next time you gaze at the night sky, wondering what other worlds and galaxies are out there, know that a fellow Greyhound is helping to make known what still remains out of this world on the edges of our universe.
“The ENMU Electronics Technology Program is valuable to getting a foothold in this industry.”
Photos
United Launch Alliance
“CUSHING” WITH THE MOON
Across the millennia of mythical and scientific traditions, the moon has played a central role.
Its mysterious phases have affected human lives and our planet for as long as we’ve been able to imagine. The tides, our sleep cycles, and the werewolf’s howl are prominent examples. The full moon is also fabled to inspire lunacy and is believed by many to have a direct pull on human emotions. While the moon is popularly connected to the erratic, its mysterious power can be harnessed for peace, serenity, and calm.
Out on the Eastern New Mexico plains, the moon pairs well with yoga and alpacas.
You read that right. Yoga and alpacas.
At Windrush Alpacas, located south of Clovis, New Mexico, Ric Metcalf (BSE 07) and Rosemary Metcalf offer a unique experience that focuses on integrating mind and body to produce peace among the alpacas — all of which occur under the other-worldly light of the full moon.
It has become a popular event, requiring reservations well in advance. The event’s popularity doesn’t surprise Ric, who finds peace and tranquility himself when working the farm. It’s a farm he and Rosemary bought while he was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base just before beginning his studies in education at Eastern New Mexico University.
“When I get to work on the farm, I enjoy it. I’m relaxed around the animals because I don’t have to pretend to be anyone other than who I am,” Ric said.
“I get physically tired, but at the end of the day, I feel good about what I’ve done.”
“To be honest, I don’t remember how I came up with this idea,” Rosemary added. “I have long been interested in the moon’s phases and their effect on people and animals, and it is calming to sit out with the alpacas as they settle down for the night.”
During brightly lit nights, full moon alpaca yoga allows visitors to feed and bond with the female alpacas before the sessions, led by yoga instructor Terri Golder. The alpacas are quite gentle and, as they are accustomed to this type of activity, will begin to “cush.” Cushing is when they settle down among the yoga mats to create a peaceful and tranquil environment.
It makes sense that this activity is focused on a full moon. Just like the cycles of the moon affect a diversity of life on Earth and beyond, so does this event utilize the push and pull of the moon’s phases to help solve real-world problems on this planet — even if in small and incremental ways.
Profits from ticket sales are donated to a designated local charity or needs-based organization each month. For its August full moon event, proceeds went to the Community of Lincoln County Shelter Fund, assisting those affected by the fires and floods in Ruidoso, New Mexico, last summer.
Just like the cycles of the moon affect a diversity of life on Earth and beyond, so does this event utilize the push and pull of the moon’s phases to help solve real-world problems on this planet.
“We realize there’s another avenue for people in the Clovis community to enjoy an evening out and do good at the same time,” Ric said. “We don’t raise much money each time, but we try to help a local charity. It’s just a nice evening for everyone.”
Thanks to an out-of-this-world Greyhound, people are inspired to affect change right here on the ground on the High Plains of Eastern New Mexico, with a little help from our mysterious celestial neighbor and a few of our “cushy” and woolly friends.
People You May Know CLASS NOTES
Stephen Hamrick
(BS 96) was honored by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches with the Class 5A Don Coleman Outstanding Coach Award in May. Stephen is the head boys basketball coach at Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas, and has led the Panthers to three district championships and a regional tournament appearance.
Jeff Howard
(BS 06) is the safeties coach for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League, joining the team in February 2024. Jeff is in his 12th year coaching in the NFL, having served as the linebacker coach for the Los Angeles Chargers and defensive backs coach for the Cleveland Browns.
Daniel Perez
(BM 12) returned to Clovis, New Mexico, in April to take a new role as the head band director at Clovis High School. Daniel was director of bands for Moriarty High School and Middle School in Moriarty, New Mexico, before taking the position in Clovis. Before his time in Moriarty, he was the director of the Clovis High jazz band, symphonic and concert bands, and was an assistant marching band director.
Tim Conyers
(BUS 98) has attained the Senior Certified Professional certification from the Society for Human Resource Management. He serves as personnel supervisor for the City of Farmington in Farmington, New Mexico, and is the Four Corners Human Resource Association president.
Bobby Springer
(BS 96) has joined the team at the PBS12 television station in Denver, Colorado, as president and general manager. Before this move, Bobby was president and general manager at KHOU 11, Houston’s CBS affiliate, for five years. He returns to Denver after serving as director of advertising and promotion for 9NEWS KUSA. He has earned regional Emmy Awards and numerous Colorado Broadcasters Awards.
Katie Cooper
(MED 07, BSE 04) has been the principal at Military Heights Elementary in Roswell, New Mexico, since August 2023. Before that, she was the principal at Hagerman Elementary in Hagerman, New Mexico, and a teacher in Roswell at East Grand Plains Elementary and Dexter Elementary in Dexter, New Mexico.
People You May Know
CLASS NOTES
Ed Sandoval
(BS 70) returned to ENMU for the 90th-anniversary Homecoming celebrations and donated two landscape oil paintings he created to honor the school where he was able to launch his career. His work has been featured in leading publications, including New Mexico Magazine, Cowboys & Indians, and Southwest Art, and his gallery in Taos, New Mexico, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Michael Madrid
(MS 01, BSE 98) is in his sixth season as head coach of the Texas A&M-Kingsville women’s basketball team, with 60 wins as coach at the school before the current season began.
Priscilla Murray
(BAAS 09) is a contract specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Hawaii, striving to help veterans receive the assistance and resources they need for a fulfilling life while also being a careful steward of taxpayers’ money.
Hannah Shelter
(BBA 16) is the audit manager at Haynie & Company, a firm of certified public accountants and management consultants based in Texas in the Midland-Odessa area. Before this current position, Hannah was a senior assurance associate for Haynie & Company.
Eastern New Mexico President James Johnston, center, was joined by members of the Board of Regents, past presidents
Dr. Steven Gamble, Dr. Patrice Caldwell, and Dr. Robert Matheney, members of the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce, and members of the Ryan family to dedicate the Duane W. Ryan Broadcast Center and celebrate 50 years of public television broadcasting at ENMU. Duane Ryan spent 55 years as broadcasting director, helping launch KENW public radio in 1968 and KENW-TV in 1974.
Across
3. First Eastern dignitary for whom a building was named
5. Drink made with grapefruit juice and vodka
6. Only coach to oversee men’s and women’s NCAA golf championships in the same year
7. Hard bop jazz pianist Horace
8. Word coined by Jack Williamson, first appearing in “With Folded Hands”
9. Spanish word meaning “doorways” or “entryways”
11. A ‘noisy’ village
Down
1. Current President of the ENMU Foundation
2. Literacy learning system name, paired with Fountas
4. “Alien” city
5. Color one turns when envious
10. Manga character, or our favorite university
Down 1. SteveDoerr 2. Pinnell 4. Roswell 5. Green 10. ENMU
Across 3. Golden 5. Greyhound
SteveLoy 7. Silver
Android
Portales 11. Ruidoso
Remembering Our Own IN MEMORIAM
60s
Joseph Lee (BBA 60)
July 27, 2024
Linda Ja Nell Turner (BA 63)
Sept. 10, 2024
Michael Croom (BA 64)
July 7, 2024
Dale Read (BA 64)
June 1, 2024
Donald Smith (BA 64)
June 5, 2024
David Smith (MA 66, BA 65)
July 21, 2024
Peter Morris (MA 71, BS 66)
Sept. 9, 2024
Francille Tamplen (MA 68)
April 19, 2024
Jimmy Anton (BS 69)
Aug. 29, 2024
John King (BBA 69)
June 4, 2024
70s
Charles Ward (MA 72, BS 70)
March 24, 2024
Jon Syferd (BBA 71)
June 7, 2024
Monty Bilberry (BBA 74)
June 25, 2024
Don Bigler (BS 74)
June 1, 2024
Lois Ratliff (BBA 75)
July 16, 2024
Rose Dunn (MED 91, BA 76)
June 6, 2024
Tom Norvell (BS 78)
July 9, 2024
Patsy Welsh (MED 82, BA 78)
Aug. 9, 2024
80s
Sam Cowden (BBA 82)
Aug. 28, 2024
Jean Scales (BS 83)
Sept. 23, 2024
John Kuborn (MA 84, BS 82)
June 17, 2024
David Valdez (BS 85)
July 23, 2024
Sylvia Gonzalez (BAE 89)
July 30, 2024
90s
Mark Moralez (BS 96)
July 23, 2024
Craig Henderson (BS 99)
June 2024
00s
Dr. Patricia Dobson (MA 00, BS 89)
July 19, 2024
Stanley Caudillo (BS 09)
Aug. 13, 2024
Faculty
Dr. Dolores Martin
May 26, 2024
Dr. Robert Pierce
July 9, 2024
Dr. Mohamad Ahmadian
June 8, 2024
Dr. Everett Frost
Oct. 21, 2024
Every Hound Matters
Read more about our beloved Hounds’ lives and see photos online at enmu.edu, or at the Silver Pack, our alumni engagement platform launching soon.
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