NMSU Panorama - Fall 2018

PANORAMA New Mexico State University Alumni & Friends Magazine

Volume 72 Fall 2018 • FREE

NEW FACES, NEW SPACES

NMSU embraces change across the system

+ALSO INSIDE: NMSU builds on $500 million New Mexico film industry

PRIDE of New Mexico unveils new uniform

Time transforms many places and people, and in the last 109 years, the New Mexico State University PRIDE of New Mexico Marching Band is no exception. But despite the many changes in physical appearance, the root of its passion remains the same – using music to spread Aggie pride. The band formed in 1909 with just 18 members. During World War II, while many college bands across the country disbanded because of the draft, the NMSU marching band stayed strong, serving as both the ROTC band and the marching band. Now with more than 200 members, the PRIDE continues serving as the spirit of campus and unveiled its new uniform (center) this year.

PHOTO BY ANDRÉS LEIGHTON

Spring 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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HELLO, AGGIES!

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reetings to all of NMSU’s alumni and friends. As I start my new role as NMSU Chancellor, I could not be more pleased nor inspired to be returning to my alma mater where I have so many fond memories and where the foundation was laid for my professional journey.

We are fortunate that as a collective community of innovators, including NMSU faculty, staff and students, we are tremendously talented. We are bold in our thinking and in our work. I am confident this university is well-positioned to tackle the challenges ahead and to shape the future.

Our top-level priorities are to improve student success, elevate research and creativity and amplify our outreach and economic development. With these priorities in mind, we will address fortifying K-16 education in New Mexico, creating healthy borders and modernizing our critical infrastructure with regard to water, food, energy, information technology and agriculture.

Going forward, when it comes to our efforts at NMSU, you will begin to see and hear the phrase, “Be Bold. Shape the Future.” This is indicative of what is to come – we are bold, we are fearless. We will search for new innovation in the classroom, in the lab and outside of NMSU. We will deliver solutions for the future, creating change. I look forward to accomplishing this with each of you.

Dan Arvizu, Ph.D. ’73 NMSU Chancellor

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t’s time for another great edition of Panorama, and we have incredible stories to share.

On behalf of the NMSU Alumni Association, we first want to welcome Chancellor Dan Arvizu back home and embrace President John Floros into our proud Aggie community.

Along with our new leadership, we also recently welcomed thousands of alumni and friends to campus during Homecoming to celebrate Aggie traditions. Seven alumni received special honors for service in their communities and success in their careers, including our 2018 Distinguished Alumni – Dr. Rebeccah L. Brown ’86, Tara Jaramillo ’93 ’95, Dion Messer ’84, Rance C. Miles ’80, Eric Powell ’80 and Tommy Sheppard ’91 – and the James F. Cole Memorial Award for Service recipient, Dr. Patty Lopez ’80 ’82 ’89.

When our alumni succeed, so does NMSU. For the sixth time in the last seven years, our university ranked as a top-tier institution by U.S. News & World Report, and the Center for World University Rankings also stacked NMSU in the top 4.3 percent of institutions worldwide.

All of this success, in part, comes from our Aggie family who continues to invest in our students, faculty, programs and facilities throughout the NMSU system. As we near the final year of our “Ignite Aggie Discovery” campaign – the largest cash campaign in NMSU history – we ask for your continued support to help NMSU reach a goal of $125 million, including $50 million for student scholarships. There are thousands of students in need and numerous ways to give.

Thank you to each and every one of you for getting involved and supporting your NMSU community. It’s a great day to be an Aggie!

Leslie Cervantes ’86 Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Stewardship NMSU Foundation and Alumni Association 2 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

This issue of Panorama is produced by the office of Marketing and Communications, New Mexico State University, 575-646-3221.

Correspondences may be sent to Marketing and Communications, MSC 3K, New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003-3590 or panorama@nmsu.edu.

Panorama is published two times annually.

ISSN 2470-0649 New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and educator.

The magazine can be found online at panorama.nmsu.edu.

Editor Angel Mendez Assistant Editor Tiffany Acosta Art Director Gerald Rel Contributors Elijah Banegas, Minerva Baumann ’13, Adriana M. Chávez, Christ Chavez, Daphne Griffin, Andrés Leighton, Carlos Andres López ’10, Gary Mook, Jane Moorman, Darren Phillips, Melissa Rutter ’17, Ximena Tapia Chancellor Dan Arvizu ’73 President John Floros Interim President and Chief Operating Officer, NMSU Foundation Tina Byford ’00 ’11 Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Stewardship Leslie Cervantes ’86 Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Justin Bannister ’03 ’13 Director of Marketing and Web Communications Melissa Chavira ’03 ’05 ’11 Director of News Darrell J. Pehr Director, Alumni Relations Rebecca Galves ’01 NMSU Alumni Association International Board of Directors Executive Council President Tony Martinez ’96 ’98 President-Elect Scott Sponseller ’96 ’98 Secretary/Treasurer Kay Brilliant ’71 Past President Crystal Lay ’02 ’10 Executive Council Members Kim Archuleta ’95 ’02, Steve Duran ’90, Connie Lee ’69 ’73, Carol Smallwood ’83, Daniel Sonntag ’14, Andrea Sparkevicius ’91 ’99, Adam Thompson ’08 2018© New Mexico State University POSTMASTER: Send address change notifications to Panorama, MSC 3590, New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM, 88003-88001

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HOLLYWOOD FINDS A HOME IN LAS CRUCES

Creative Media Institute attracts, creates jobs in $500 million New Mexico film industry

CONTENTS

FALL 2018

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NEW ADMINISTRATION ARRIVES On the cover

NMSU gains leadership duo with promising vision

PHOTO BY CHRIST CHAVEZ

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CROWDFUNDING

A more than 200-year old concept facilitating NMSU student success

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FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: PRESIDENT JOHN FLOROS, STUDENTS ALEXIS YI AND ALBERT VALDEZ, CHANCELLOR DAN ARVIZU

A NEW LOOK

NMSU works to update facilities on campus

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HOMECOMING 2018

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SERVING THE UNDERSERVED

Native American programs at NMSU target student recruitment, economic development

ALSO INSIDE 4 Around Aggieland 30 Alumni Connections 35 Pete's Corner 36 Aggie Pride

A photo spread of our favorite Homecoming moments

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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AROUND AGGIELAND

Seven faculty, staff honored during fall convocation

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ANDRES LEIGHTON

ANDRÉS LEIGHTON

ew Mexico State University honored its faculty and staff at the 2018 Fall Convocation ceremony in August. Every fall and spring, convocation is held to celebrate the start of a new semester.

Catherine Brewer, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, and Ernesto Moralez, Department of Public Health Sciences, received the Patricia Christmore Faculty Teaching Award.

Jaime Ramirez-Angulo, Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and John Shonk, Center for Academic Advising and Student Support, received the Excellence in Academic Advising Award.

Kathryn A. Hanley, Department of Biology, received the Westhafer Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.

Teresa Dean, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Extension agent in Doña Ana County, received the Distinguished Extension Award for her outstanding leadership and unwavering dedication to Extension.

Regents Professor Elba Serrano was honored for receiving the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Jane Moorman

Cifuentes named vice president for research

L Awardees are joined by NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu, right, and NMSU President John Floros, left, for a group photo following the 2018 Fall Convocation ceremony at the Atkinson Recital Hall. From left are: Catherine Brewer, John Shonk, Elba Serrano, Jaime Ramirez-Angulo, Kathryn A. Hanley, Ernesto Moralez and Teresa Dean.

Doctorate student awarded NSF research fellowship

Samantha Ceballes, a doctorate student at NMSU, has received the 2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award. She began her doctorate studies in mechanical engineering in January 2018. The fellowship has a stipend of $34,000 per year for three years and an additional $12,000 per year for university tuition and fees.

Ceballes earned a bachelor’s degree in both aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering with a minor in mathematics in December 2017. An Alamogordo, New Mexico, native, Ceballes says she was thrilled to receive the award, which allows her to focus full-time on her studies and research.

Tiffany Acosta

4 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

uis Cifuentes joined NMSU as vice president for research July 1 and also became dean of the graduate school Aug. 15.

Prior to NMSU, Cifuentes served as special assistant to the president at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. From 2012-2017, Cifuentes was vice president for research, commercialization and outreach at TAMUCC.

Cifuentes is no stranger to New Mexico.

Since the late 1980s, he and his wife, Lauren, have visited the state regularly – she has close relatives who grew chile in Hatch, New Mexico.

He was particularly interested in joining NMSU due to its land-grant mission and status as a Hispanic-serving institution.

Cifuentes has a bachelor’s with honors in chemistry from Swarthmore College as well as a master’s in marine studies and a doctorate in oceanography, both from the University of Delaware.

Darrell Pehr

Three NMSU seniors have

adventure of a lifetime

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COURTESY PHOTO

hree NMSU seniors participated in an adventure of a lifetime during the Red Bull “Can You Make It?” competition in April 2018.

Team Naray, consisting of Emilio Baca of Belen, Torbyn Nare of Albuquerque and Jonah Kennon of Roswell, traveled from Budapest, Hungary, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in one week.

The trick of the adventure? You have no money or credit cards.

To get from one place to another, Team Naray had to ask strangers for help by offering them cans of Red Bull energy drink in return.

As Team Naray traveled through Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, the Sigma Chi fraternity brothers discovered people under the age of 30 were more willing to help them earn points by completing challenges and reaching Amsterdam in seven days.

The team traveled 1,171 miles and used 140 cans of Red Bull energy drink to accumulate enough points and finished 28th overall.

Jane Moorman

Team Naray, (left to right) including Jonah Kennon, Torbyn Nara and Emilio Baca, demonstrate their yodeling in traditional lederhosen fashion while at the Innsbruck, Austria, checkpoint during the Red Bull "Can You Make It?" adventure challenge.

C-SPAN visits Las Cruces, NMSU faculty interviewed

A BILLY HUNTSMAN

number of NMSU faculty and staff members shared their expertise with C-SPAN producers in summer 2018 as part of the network’s 2018 Cities Tour.

Their trip included visiting various literary and historic sites and interviewing historians and authors, including NMSU’s own Martha Shipman Andrews, Paul Bosland, Blanca Araujo, Jon Hunner and Dennis Daily.

Local segments recorded during the first week of June 2018 aired on Book TV on C-SPAN2 and American History TV on C-SPAN3 in mid-August 2018 during a special Las Cruces weekend.

Minerva Baumann ’13 NMSU history professor Jon Hunner (right) discusses his new book, "J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Cold War and the Atomic West" during an interview with C-SPAN.

NMSU helps WIC shoppers at Lowe’s Markets in Las Cruces

With the assistance of NMSU’s College of Business’ Consumer Behavior Lab, Lowe’s Market grocery store chain has developed a new point-of-sale system that has quadrupled healthy food sales. Those participating in New Mexico’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children can now maximize use of their cash-value benefits for authorized fruits and vegetables.

The NMSU study found that WIC participants and cashiers previously could not see the remaining balance on the WIC card until the purchase was complete, causing many WIC families to regret and miss the opportunity to purchase more fruits and vegetables.

Working with New Mexico’s WIC agency, Lowe’s Market redesigned its computerized system to inform cashiers of how much remains on a family’s WIC card before the sales transaction is completed.

The store has fresh fruits and vegetables available in each checkout stand for the WIC participants to seamlessly purchase if remaining credit is available.

Jane Moorman

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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AROUND AGGIELAND

AGGIE BRAGGING

rights

College of Education earns accreditation

NMSU ranks as a national top tier university

New Mexico State University has been recognized as a top tier university for the sixth time in the last seven years according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges for 2019 National Universities rankings. These rankings are based on seven factors: assessment of excellence, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and the number of alumni who give back to NMSU.

The NMSU College of Education has received accreditation from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation for its educator preparation programs, the first college in the state to earn accreditation from CAEP.

The accreditation, which lasts seven years and was granted with no stipulations, was given based on rigorous, nationally recognized standards that were developed to ensure excellence in educator preparation, according to CAEP officials.

Forbes ranks NMSU as one of America’s Top Colleges in 2018 Forbes has recognized NMSU as one

of America’s Top Colleges. On the 2018 list, NMSU ranked 195th in America’s Best Value Colleges, 648th in top colleges and 118th in the West. Additionally, NMSU ranked 251st in public colleges and 258th in research universities.

Forbes used multiple sources to formulate its rankings including the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, U.S. Department of Education and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System along with privately-owned websites such as PayScale and Niche.

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Center for World University Rankings recognizes NMSU

According to the 2018-19 Center for World University Rankings, NMSU has been ranked in the top 4.3 percent of institutions of higher education worldwide. With 18,000 degree-granting institutions of higher education worldwide evaluated, NMSU ranked 770th and earned a national rank of 184th this year.

The Center for World University Rankings distributes the only global university performance tables that gauge both the quality of education and training of students along with prestige of faculty members and the quality of their research without the use of surveys and university data submissions.

ELIJAH BANEGAS

KRWG Public Media collected multiple awards in 2018, including several from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association.

(Left to right: seated) Fred Martino, Edmundo Resendez, (standing) Ralph Escandon, Joe Widmer and Jacob Lockwood were among the honorees.

KRWG takes home regional awards

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he vital partnership between KRWG Public Media and New Mexico State University started when the NMSU Board of Regents licensed the station in 1965. Since then, the alliance between the two has proven beneficial for both parties in many ways.

Take for example, the nationally televised, 13-episode series, “Field Trip!” produced in partnership with the NMSU Cooperative Extension, which focused on the farm-to-table aspect of agriculture in southern New Mexico.

“This program brought accolades to KRWG, raised the profile of NMSU Cooperative Extension and highlighted various economic drivers in southern New Mexico,” says KRWG General Manager Adrian Velarde. “KRWG Public Media helps fulfill NMSU’s land-grant mission of education by serving our listening and viewing areas in southwest New Mexico and far west Texas with relevant, thought-provoking and educational programming.”

That programming has not gone unnoticed. KRWG received two first-place awards from the Colorado chapter’s Society of Professional Journalists “Top of the Rockies” contest in April 2018 and five awards from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association’s 2018 Excellence in Broadcasting awards in June 2018. “Top of the Rockies” is a regional, multi-platform contest for reporters and news organizations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

KRWG News Director Anthony Moreno and KRWG

Director of Content Fred Martino were part of a statewide team in the Solutions Journalism Network’s State of Change project.

The project received first place in the Public Service Journalism medium market category and first place in the Business Enterprise Journalism medium market category.

“This award recognizes the impact of in-depth journalism produced by public media and the other partners across the state,” Martino says.

KRWG-FM received four awards from the NMBA. Martino received the award for best website, and reporter Michael Hernandez’s story, “Shattered Lives,” received the award for best feature news. The Best Social Media Integration award went to Edmundo Resendez, operations manager, and Jacob Lockwood, engineer, for the “Red or Green Confidential.” Resendez also received the award for best station promotional announcement for the KRWG Testimonials.

KRWG-TV received the award for best local programming for its documentary project titled, “Our Stories: Vietnam Part 3.” The award went to the KRWG production department, Ralph Escandon, Christian Valle and Joe Widmer, producers/ videographers, and Glen Cerny, former KRWG general manager.

“This is a reminder that great things come from hard work, organization and a commitment to professional development,” Martino says.

Ximena Tapia

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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AROUND AGGIELAND

AGGIE MILESTONES 125 years

The New Mexico Collegian, the college’s first paper began publication in February 1893. The Round Up replaced the

120 years

The NMSU Alumni Association was founded

paper 14 years later in 1907.

in 1898. It is one of the oldest organizations on campus. The group was formed to provide a means of continuing communication between graduates of the institution and the formulation of social events.

50 years

The Pan American Center opened Nov. 30, 1968. It is home to the Aggie men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball teams. The arena has hosted the NCAA Men’s Basketball Midwest Regional, state high school basketball

tournaments and hundreds of concerts featuring some of the top entertainers in America, including George Strait, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam, Notorious B.I.G. and Carrie Underwood.

40 years

The President’s Associates Scholars program was created in 1978 and is one of the most prestigious scholarships in the state. Former NMSU President Gerald Thomas, former Vice President for Development Steele Jones and local business

and community leaders established the scholarship, which is awarded to New Mexico high school students who exhibit a combination of outstanding academics, leadership skills and a commitment to community service.

8 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

45 years

Pistol Pete became the NMSU mascot in 1973, and he made his first public appearance at an NMSU home football game against Utah State University.

The pistol-toting cowboy is named after Francis “Frank” Boardman Eaton, who avenged his father’s murder in 1881 in Albuquerque. Eaton earned his nickname "Pistol Pete" for his quick draw.

NMSU-Grants celebrates historic milestone

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cant appropriations for capital improvements to plan, remodel and construct the NMSU-Grants physical plant. He also helped establish the Severance Tax Permanent Fund through which a revenue source was created to fund higher education and other state capital outlay projects.

The campus gymnasium was dedicated as the Joseph A. Fidel Activities Center in October 1993 in recognition of the New Mexico state senator who was a friend and mentor of NMSUGrants, helping form the college while serving on the GrantsCibola County School Board.

Five years later, the remaining Job Corps building on campus was named in honor of Francis (Frank) W. McClure in recognition of his crucial role in the campus’ successful beginning.

Today, the mission of NMSU-Grants is to provide an accessible, quality education through innovative teaching and learning that promotes respect and service for its diverse students and community.

“We have solid standards that drive our strategic planning,” Best says. “The institution is embarking on a formal enrollment and retention plan that will serve our service communities and students very well. Our certificate and associate degrees prepare students for success.”

Adriana M. Chávez

DARREN PHILLIPS

ew Mexico State University-Grants is marking its 50th year of providing quality education to the diverse communities of Cibola County and rural northwest New Mexico in 2018.

“I am learning more and more from our communities that NMSU-Grants is widely recognized for quality adult education, career and technical education and transfer coursework for those students who wish to pursue a four-year degree,” says Mickey D. Best, who was named president of NMSU-Grants in early 2017.

In 1968, thanks to the cooperative efforts of NMSU and Grants Municipal Schools, NMSU-Grants was established as a branch of the university. During its first year of existence, classes were held in the evening in public school facilities.

The following year, the college moved to its present site at the location of the former Job Corps vocational buildings and gymnasium. Renovation of a main building in 1977 resulted in a functional space to house classrooms, a student lounge, the campus bookstore, a library and faculty and administrative offices. Over the years, NMSU-Grants has expanded to include additional classrooms and offices.

In 1987, the campus’ main building was dedicated as the Walter K. Martinez Memorial Hall, in memory of the former state representative and New Mexico Speaker of the House.

During Martinez’s tenure, the Grants campus received signifi-

Established in 1968, NMSU-Grants first held classes in public school facilities. A year later the college moved to the former Job Corps vocational buildings and gymnasium at its current location. NMSU-Grants now offers 12 certificates and 15 associate degree programs.

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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Faculty members around the globe

Houston takes on Japan

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COURTESY PHOTO

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rom Mexico to the Maldives and many countries in between, numerous New Mexico State University faculty members have traveled to dozens of countries as Fulbright Faculty Fellowship award recipients in the last four decades. Through a United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program, NMSU faculty members have participated in an international educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and other countries.

“We are very proud of our NMSU faculty members who inspire students here and around the world as outstanding instructors and cutting-edge researchers,” Chancellor Dan Arvizu says. “We have tasked our faculty and students to help with confronting global challenges and traveling to international locations that help our faculty create solutions.”

Currently, Jessica Houston, Chemical and Materials Engineering associate professor, is spending the fall semester in Japan at Saitama University in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering after receiving an award of about $43,000.

“Dr. Houston is well deserving of the Fulbright Faculty Fellowship,” says Lakshmi Reddi, College of Engineering dean. “She established her value as a faculty member early on with a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and continues to be one of our strongest faculty members. She contributes heavily to the college and her department as a teacher, instructor and leader.”

Houston is working alongside Professor Miho Suzuki, a biochemist. The pair has collaborated for several years.

“My work involves going into Miho’s laboratory, working with her students, learning about their research projects, writing research papers and planning future collaborative grants and projects,” Houston says.

Houston made the trip a family affair with her husband, Kevin Houston, an NMSU chemistry and biochemistry associate professor, and their three children, Joaquin, Kaleb and Kyraluna, who are accompanying her.

“I believe this is truly an opportunity of a lifetime,” Houston says. “So far, it has been an amazing experience for the whole family. We have toured around all of the popular Tokyo attractions and have learned a lot about the culture of respect and patience here in Japan.”

Tiffany Acosta

COURTESY PHOTO

AROUND AGGIELAND

Top: A Fulbright Faculty Fellowship awardee, NMSU Chemical and Materials Engineering Associate Professor Jessica Houston (front right) is spending the fall semester at Saitama University in Japan. She is working with Fulbright host Professor Miho Suzuki (front left) and her students.

Faculty

Bloomquist inducted into New Mexico Tourism Hall of Fame

The New Mexico Hospitality Association inducted New Mexico State University’s Priscilla Bloomquist into the state’s Tourism Hall of Fame in May at the 2018 Governor’s Conference on Hospitality and Tourism. She is the interim department head for the Family and Consumer Sciences and Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Departments at NMSU and is a professor in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management.

“This award illustrates the important role NMSU plays in developing programs to meet the needs of the state,” says Bloomquist. “It is an incredible honor to be selected for this recognition and to join the many past recipients who I have long admired and respected.”

Bloomquist played a crucial part in the early success of the School of HRTM. She came to NMSU in 1988 to help start the program, which now offers the state’s only bachelor’s degree in the field of hospitality and tourism.

Ximena Tapia

Lt. Col. Blanca Reyes, NMSU’s first female and first Hispanic professor of military science, was selected as the 2018 Professor of Military Science for U.S. Army Cadet Command out of 275 programs nationwide.

“It’s very humbling,” Reyes says. “I never expected it. We do our jobs day in, day out, not because we want to be recognized but because we love what we’re doing.

We take our job very seriously that we’re molding future leaders.”

Under Reyes’ command the last two years, NMSU’s Army ROTC increased the number of cadets in the program and, for the first time, the cadre hosted the grueling 25th annual Brigade Ranger Challenge Competition.

Reyes was deployed to Afghanistan as a military intelligence officer prior to coming to NMSU and was sent to a new assignment in summer 2018 to San Antonio, Texas, where she will be the Brigade Executive Officer at 5th Brigade Senior Army ROTC.

Minerva Baumann ’13

DARREN PHILLIPS

ROTC Commander named Military Science Professor of the Year

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Successes

Serrano received presidential award

NMSU Regents Professor Elba Serrano is among 27 individuals across the country named in June 2018 to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

The PAESMEM award recognizes the critical roles mentors play outside the traditional classroom in the academic and professional development of the future STEM workforce. The National Science Foundation administers the program on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Serrano’s biomedical research has two components, including a focus on the brain’s glial cells that help maintain brain health and can also cause many brain cancers, and on neurosensory disorders of hearing and balance. She has brought in more than $15 million in external research funding to the university, taught more than 2,500 students and mentored around 120 student researchers in her lab.

Minerva Baumann ’13

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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AROUND AGGIELAND

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A BLEND of Time

hile it’s hard to see time as it’s ticking second by second, one New Mexico State University student has discovered a passion for creating some of the most beautiful illustrations of time happening on campus and around the state. Her name is Jamie Jaramillo, a senior nursing student, whose work finds inspiration through pure appreciation for her hometown roots in New Mexico.

What inspired this project? Is it for fun or part of a class?

Jaramillo: This project is entirely for fun.

Growing up in Las Cruces, I have always been interested in the history of this town and the surrounding area. As a student at NMSU, I became fascinated with the history of the university as well. I started to go through yearbooks, learning stories that I had never heard before and seeing faces that had walked the very same paths that I had going to class. When I saw a similarly blended photo, but of a place in a foreign country, I thought, I could probably learn to do that with pictures of my own community. So, I asked my uncle Jesse to show me how to use Photoshop, and I started retaking the old photos that I had grown to love and enjoy.

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What’s the exact process behind each photo?

Jaramillo: Once I find an older picture, I go out and retake the photos to the best of my ability.

Then, I open all of the photos I took in Photoshop, eliminating the ones that are completely the wrong angle or focus. Oftentimes, none of the photos I took are at the right angle, so I have to go back and retake them. My goal when I’m editing is to show enough of today that it can relate with people who have been to that specific place, but show enough of the past in the older photo so that it’s obvious that the place has aged and changed.

Occasionally, there is a little bit of information available on the photo, which allows me to teach people about the history of the community.

What do you hope visitors get or feel when they visit your "A Blend of Time" pages?

Jaramillo: I want my photos to show what a person at that time would have seen. I want my visitors to be able to look through someone else’s eyes from the past to see how they experienced the world. My hope is that people can gain an enjoyment of history.

Angel Mendez

"Young Hall" 1927-1928 Top: Young Hall was built in 1928 by Trost & Trost architects and was originally the campus library. The Trost brothers ran an architect firm in El Paso, Texas, which was well-known for the beautiful buildings they designed.

"Fish Pond"- 1942-2018 Bottom: This photo shows a pond near Dove Hall, also known as a “fish pond” – not because there were fish in them but because freshmen (or fish) were often thrown in.

To see more photos from Jaramillo, visit her Instagram or Facebook pages @ablendoftime.

By the

Numbers 1888 MINUTES OF GIVING

PRESIDENT’S ASSOCIATES BALL

May 1, 2018

April 21, 2018

324 290 $36,059

350 $75,000+ $34,340

$3,620

$13,265

$6,550

$22,999

$5,635

$15,000

TOTAL GIFTS

TOTAL DONORS

TOTAL RAISED

AGGIE CUPBOARD

AGGIE FINISH LINE SCHOLARSHIP

AGGIE ATHLETICS

$7,747 ACADEMIC COLLEGES

TOTAL DONORS

TOTAL RAISED

SILENT AND LIVE AUCTION

ONLINE AUCTION

TICKET SALES

SPONSORSHIPS

15

STUDENTS IN 2018-19 PA SCHOLAR CLASS

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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ANDRÉS LEIGHTON

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Arvizu’s plan for taking the NMSU system to the next level By Justin Bannister ’03 ’13 pend just a few minutes with Dan Arvizu and you’ll see he isn’t a guy who likes to stand around. He’s full of energy – and in a hurry to get some big things done. For Arvizu, those traits will definitely come in handy. As New Mexico State University’s new chancellor, he is working to position the university to address some of the grand challenges of our time.

“We are fortunate,” Arvizu says. “NMSU faculty, staff and students are tremendously talented. We are bold in our thinking and in our work. I am confident this university is well-positioned to tackle the challenges ahead, and to shape the future.”

Arvizu graduated from NMSU’s College of Engineering in 1973 and went on to have a long, distinguished career in advanced energy research 14 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

and development, materials and process sciences and technology commercialization. He worked for Bell Labs, Sandia National Labs and eventually went on to serve as the eighth director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Most recently, he served in various roles at Emerson Collective, including chief technology officer, STEM evangelist and senior adviser.

On the job with NMSU since June 2018, Arvizu has begun to outline top-level priorities for the university and learn how those priorities relate to a number of grand challenges NMSU will begin to address. Those priorities are to improve student success, elevate research and creativity and to amplify outreach and economic development.

“All of us, working together, must ensure we have the highest quality instruction and degree programs,” he says. “Our students must complete

GARY MOOK

NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu speaks to students and their families at an Aggie Welcome Orientation session in summer 2018.

ANDRÉS LEIGHTON

their academic studies on time and become highly qualified leaders ready for the work of tomorrow. We must align our research with the most pressing challenges of our region and the world. We are a catalyst for change, and we will partner with businesses, agencies and communities to further economic development.”

With these priorities in mind, NMSU will address the challenges of fortifying K-16 education, creating healthy borders and modernizing critical infrastructure.

“As a state, we have a K-12 system that needs a lot of help,” Arvizu says. “This is something where I believe a university has a role to play. It’s incumbent upon us to provide training to help students come better prepared to enter college. This also includes reaching into the middle schools and working with our programs that train teachers.

We must take ownership of this.”

Arvizu says NMSU benefits from its geographic location near the U.S./Mexico border, and he feels there are opportunities to shape the discussion on how international trade should occur.

“When it comes to the border, it won’t be just changing the tone of the conversation, it will be us demonstrating and showing the way,” he says.

In the area of modernizing critical infrastructure, Arvizu wants to focus on water, food, energy, information technology and agriculture. He says NMSU has an opportunity to build on existing partnerships and make NMSU students more relevant in the workplace over the coming decades. Those partnerships can also aid in economic development.

“There’s a growing interest for NMSU to be engaged, not just with our local communities, but to strengthen our partnerships with business and industry everywhere, and that’s exactly what we are going to do,” he says. “Moving forward, we are going to be bold, and we are not going to be afraid to shape the future and deliver solutions that will create positive change.”

NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu chats with Luis Garcia (right) and Jacob Martinez (left), participants in the NMSU Verizon Innovation Learning program, a three-week, summer camp in July 2018 that focused on STEM activities for minority middle school boys.

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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A fo

stud 16 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

CHRIST CHAVEZ

ocus on

dents Floros’ priority for a student-centric campus

By Justin Bannister ’03 ’13

J

ohn Floros was born and raised in a small mountain community in Greece. His family was one of only about 300 in the town, and he was the first in his family to go to a university. This past summer, as Floros drove from Manhattan, Kansas, to Las Cruces to begin his job as New Mexico State University’s new president, he found a sense of comfort as he noticed the Organ Mountains off in the distance.

“The moment I saw the mountains, it felt strangely like home,” he says. “It truly felt like a place I had seen before. By the time I arrived, I knew I had made the right decision.”

His story is strikingly similar to that of many in New Mexico, growing up in a small town, not too far from the mountains, and becoming the first in their families to attend college.

“People where I come from, they didn’t get that kind of opportunity,” Floros says. “I know many of our students at NMSU are also first-generation college students.”

The key for Floros is to build a university with students, and their success, at the center of everything.

“We’re going to look at students, student-related services and student metrics,” he says. “In the Board of Regents’ plan, students show up in many areas, and we have to address all of those together.

It’s not good to get more students if you don’t keep them here. It’s not good to keep them here unless you’re graduating them. It’s not good to graduate them if they aren’t going to be successful once they leave the university.”

Floros says improving NMSU’s research portfolio will also benefit students. The university’s mission as a land-grant institution is to provide education, research and outreach to the people of New Mexico.

“Increasing our research operation will help us continue to attract the very best faculty members from around the world, which then benefits our students and the education we provide,” he says. “It also makes it possible to transfer that knowledge through our Cooperative Extension Service and other outreach programs throughout the university to improve the lives of the people in our state. We can’t be a successful university without a healthy, growing research enterprise.”

Before coming to NMSU, Floros was dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension at Kansas State University. He led the development of that college’s strategic plan and guided it to record student enrollment, retention and graduation rates.

Now at NMSU, Floros will look to achieve many of the same goals. Like the university’s new Chancellor Dan Arvizu, Floros shares the belief that NMSU must take bold steps in order to shape the future.

“We have to approach education in a different way because students today need different skills,” Floros says. “The vast majority of new jobs being created are ones for people with a college degree, and we need to ensure our students are ready for those jobs. Between our education, our research and our outreach efforts, I want NMSU to be one of the top land-grant universities and the top Hispanic-serving institution in the country.”

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ANGEL MENDEZ

HOMECOMING 2018

ANDRÉS LEIGHTON

CHRIST CHAVEZ

“A Moment in Time”

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Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

ANGEL MENDEZ

I

n fall 2016, New Mexico State University launched its official crowdfunding platform, Make A STATEment.

In just two short years, more than 1,450 gifts have been made on the platform, raising more than $163,000 to fund a variety of student programs, scholarships and experiences abroad.

Crowdfunding, as a concept, has actually been around for a while. In the 1700s, Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used the crowdfunding methods of his day to support performances in a Viennese concert hall. And, in the late 1880s, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer used his daily paper, the New York World, to raise more than $101,000 from 120,000 people to fund construction of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

Modern day crowdfunding emerged in 1997 when the British rock band, Marillion, pioneered a fan-based internet platform to raise more than $60,000 to fund a North American tour. That same online business model is used by many of today’s crowdfunding platforms.

Crowdfunding, a word that wasn’t coined until 2006, uses the internet to raise smaller amounts of money from larger numbers of people. It is used around the world by numerous

A more than 200-year old concept facilitating NMSU student success

By Daphne Griffin

20 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

industries – large and small. Higher education institutions, in particular, provide avenues for student-led crowdfunding to support a wide range of student-centric causes.

Launched through the NMSU Foundation, MAS empowers current NMSU students, faculty and staff to come together to raise awareness and financial support for projects through targeted crowdfunding opportunities. Unlike fundraising through GoFundMe or any other external site, all participating programs receive every penny they earn because MAS is owned and operated by the NMSU Foundation. To participate on the platform, projects must fund a specific program and priority within the NMSU system. All applications are considered based on urgency of need, team commitment, network size, project appeal and goal achievement potential. From scholarships and research to outreach and travel, NMSU students and faculty can leverage peer-to-peer networking on social media and MAS, raising money to not only better their higher education experiences but also those of generations to come.

To date, 41 projects have received funding through MAS, and as the 2018-2019 crowdfunding year begins to take shape, that number will increase. Each project is as successful as the people behind it, and the more promotion a program’s sponsors generate, the greater the fundraising success.

SHOWCASE Aggie Cupboard

As an ongoing MAS campaign, Aggie Cupboard provides students and staff with a safety-net pantry of nonperishable food items. The project encourages donors to give as little as $10 and explains how far those dollars can stretch to help an Aggie in need. Since 2016, the program has raised more than $4,000 from 71 donors through MAS.

SAE Baja Team

The Society of Automotive Engineers Baja Team is an on-campus student organization that designs, builds and races a rugged off-road vehicle. The team competes internationally for academic accolades, with potential to sell the vehicle for mass production. Donations through MAS support materials, parts and travel costs.

SAE Baja successfully raised 104 percent of their $15,000 goal from 209 donors.

Aggie Football

Right after the Aggies learned they’d be heading to the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, football head coach Doug Martin, former quarterback Tyler Rogers and former running back Larry Rose III started a MAS project to raise money that would offset travel costs and support the program’s Football Success Fund. In less than two months, Aggie football fans raised more than $43,600 from 181 donors.

To learn more about current MAS projects, visit MAS.NMSU.EDU.

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A NEW LOOK Additions update facilities on campus

300 MORE STUDENTS ON CAMPUS

NMSU’s new residence hall broke ground in April 2018. The $21.5 million, 300-bed residence hall is being constructed on a portion of the land that was under the 550-bed Monagle Hall, which was demolished in 2017. Revenue bonds issued by NMSU will fund the project. The bonds will be repaid using housing fees from students who will live in the building. It is expected to open in fall 2019.

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$22.5M ENHANCES ARTS CULTURE

ADVANCING AG RESEARCH

Devasthali Hall is named in honor of Ammu and Rama Devasthali, who championed the project for a new arts facility for several years. Construction started in March 2018, and the building is expected to open in fall 2019. The $22.5 million approved by voters in 2016 as part of General Obligation Bond C will pay to replace D.W. Williams Hall, the nearly 80-year-old converted gymnasium, which houses NMSU’s Department of Art and University Art Gallery.

IMPROVED TRAFFIC FLOW

Starting in early 2019, construction will begin on new entry points to the NMSU campus from I-25. For example, the entry off of Triviz Drive will turn into an underpass beneath University Avenue with a new roundabout prominently displaying a statue of Pistol Pete on his horse.

The NMSU Heritage Farm site spans 10 acres and is located off College Avenue, southwest of the Las Cruces Convention Center and west of Union Avenue. The farm will function as a gateway to welcome tourists and community members to campus and showcase NMSU’s agricultural roots as well as advance current research.

STRIKE A POSE

Made in the likeness of current Pistol Pete mascot, Caleb Gustin, this bronze statue in front of Corbett Center Student Union and installed in late July 2018, serves as a new pride point on the Las Cruces campus. Both the NMSU Foundation and the Chancellor’s Office provided the $25,000 needed to commission the art project. To see more photos, search the hashtag #pistolpetepix on Instagram or Twitter.

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Hollyw finds a home

esiree Ramirez, a credential coordinator in the healthcare industry, decided to do something completely different with her life, getting a college degree at New Mexico State University’s Creative Media Institute.

Ramirez graduated as a filmmaker in May 2018 with a music video on her resume for a No. 1 gospel hiphop artist. She launched her career producing her first music video, “I got Angels,” for Emcee N.I.C.E with help of professors and classmates.

“The first time I heard this song I knew that this was something I wanted to be a part of,” Ramirez says.

“Whether I am going to change the world or not change the world, we really need to come together to put out positive messages for people. That’s what I really want to do.”

Ramirez is one of hundreds of students who get real-world experience while earning their college degree through NMSU’s CMI in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Our students, when they graduate, have anywhere from 10 to 30 credits on their resume,” says Ross Marks, CMI professor and film direc24 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

LNG PHOTOGRAPHY

D

By Minerva Baumann ’13

IN LAS CRU

wood

Beatriz Loera graduated from NMSU’s CMI in May 2016 and has worked on multiple feature films and television shows as a production assistant.

Loera has worked on major motion pictures such as “Creed 2,” “Captain Fantastic” and “Independence Day: Resurgence” as well as television programs, such as “The Last Tycoon.” When she’s not working, she comes home to Las Cruces.

“When you’re on set, you’re working an average of 60-80 hours a week. It’s truly consuming and exhausting,” Loera says.

“If I am not working, then I do as little as humanly possible. I catch up on sleep and quality time with my dogs and family.”

Loera says the best opportunity she had in CMI was to work on a feature film, “The Heart Outright,” while she was a student.

Her advice for current and future CMI students?

“Say yes to every opportunity and work with absolutely everyone.

When you’re on the set of a full-blown production, you spend 12-18 hours a day working very closely with every department,” Loera says.

Minerva Baumann ’13

Creative Media Institute attracts, creates jobs in $500 million New Mexico film industry tor. “Everything from short films, feature films, music videos and promotional videos. The thing about CMI that is so unique and so exciting is that our students get first-hand practical experience—not just classroom theory.”

Film and television production in New Mexico hit an all-time high in 2017 with the number of productions over the $1 million mark at 61, contributing more than a half billion dollars to the state’s economy.

“When I moved here, and we started CMI, the emphasis was on how to get those outside productions to come and invest their money here in southern New Mexico,” says Amy Lanasa, professor and CMI department head. “What’s been very wonderful for us is to see these great filmmakers graduating from our program who are creating their own content and their own opportunities.”

Left: Current and former NMSU CMI students along with a local production company, LNG Creative, worked on a RUSE OF FOOLS music video for “Happy Song.”

Top: Cast and crew of Emcee N.I.C.E.’s music video “I Got Angels” filmed at Chapin High School in El Paso, Texas. A team from NMSU’s CMI produced the video, which was released in April 2018.

PHOTO COURTESY BEATRIZ LOERA

COURTESY PHOTO

UCES

NMSU alumna works on films around the country

Beatriz Loera ’16 (left) is joined by film crew colleagues of “Godless,” a Netflix original series, at the Directors Guild of America awards in February 2018.

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LNG PHOTOGRAPHY

26 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

–Amy Lanasa, professor and CMI department head

MINERVA BAUMANN

NMSU’s CMI is also creating jobs by generating feature-length film projects locally, such as “Walking with Herb.” Marks, the director of the project that filmed in the Las Cruces area in September 2018, employed 41 CMI students.

Marks says this homegrown project is a first. Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff, who helped form CMI in 2005, is the writer and producer. Joe Bullock, an NMSU alumnus and Las Crucean, wrote the novel, while John Hummer and Brad Beasley, both Las Cruces residents, put together the financing.

“So everything about Herb from the genesis of the novel to the screenplay and the financing is all a Las Cruces effort,” Marks says.

In addition to his filmmaking efforts, Marks has added to the CMI curriculum by training students how to run a film festival from start to finish. The Las Cruces International Film Festival, which has welcomed well-known film stars, such as Brendan Fraser and Cybill Shepherd, will celebrate its fourth year in 2019. The 2018 festival was put on entirely by students with the exception of three people.

The LCIFF has doubled its crowds from year to year with about a third of the attendees coming from out of state. Marks expects as many as 10,000 people to attend the festival next spring, bringing what he estimates as $2 million to the Las Cruces economy.

“It’s been really rewarding and inspiring,” says Marks. “One of my students got a job working on South by Southwest based on his work on the Las Cruces film festival.”

Lanasa emphasizes that although CMI has many accolades when it comes to film, the program also has a top-notch animation program, among the top 50 in the nation.

“We are training students for jobs that haven’t been invented yet,” Lanasa says. “Our animation students are getting jobs at video game companies. That’s the area we experience the biggest amount of brain drain because they not only leave Las Cruces, but they also leave the state. We hope that will be changing in the future.”

Thirteen years later, NMSU’s CMI is graduating filmmakers and encouraging entrepreneurs, who become employers, to open their own production companies.

What’s been very wonderful for us is to see these great filmmakers graduating from our program who are creating their own content and their own opportunities.

NMSU student film at Cannes Film Festival

PHOTO COURTESY BRANDON GASS

MINERVA BAUMANN

A short film, “Good Night,” written and directed by New Mexico State University philosophy student Brandon T. Gass and starring NMSU students was accepted into the 2018 Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner/Cannes Court Métrage.

Jessica Jimenez, an NMSU senior who is the lead actress in the film, accompanied Gass and two other NMSU students, Taylor Rodriguez and Nick Check, to the film festival in May 2018.

The film festival not only provides recognition for their work but also the promise of professional contacts for their future careers.

“The Cannes Festival is one of the most prestigious in the world,” Gass says.

“If you want a career in film, it’s one of the best places you can go. The potential is nearly unlimited.”

Gass, who will graduate in May 2019, not only wrote and directed the film, but also served as producer, cinematographer and editor. He has made six short films, two documentaries and 10 music videos.

Minerva Baumann ’13

Top: RUSE OF FOOLS’ music video was filmed across southern New Mexico, including White Sands National Monument, the Very Large Array near Socorro and Las Cruces with the help of NMSU’s CMI students and LNG Creative.

Left: Students and alumni help film a critical scene in "Walking with Herb," filmed partly in Las Cruces.

Right: NMSU CMI professor Mitch Fowler (far right) supervises photography while filming a scene with star Edward James Olmos (far left) for “Walking with Herb.”

Brandon Gass

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Serving the underserved Native American programs at NMSU target student recruitment, economic development

By Jane Moorman • Photographs By AndrÊs Leighton

28 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

I

n a tri-cultural state, New Mexico State University strives to fulfill its land-grant university mission of serving the educational needs of its diverse population.

A point of pride for NMSU is being one of two land-grant university systems in the United States designated as a Hispanic-serving institution.

Yet, NMSU serves many other ethnicities, including a large number of Native American students. Another point of pride is NMSU’s dedication to designing programs that equip the Native American population of the state through local community training and college degree programs.

For four decades, the Indian Resources Development program has encouraged Native American students to pursue degrees. One component of the IRD is to introduce Native American high school students to NMSU through the DreamKeepers program. Hundreds of youth have visited the Las Cruces campus to explore career opportunities and degrees in business, agriculture, consumer science and engineering.

American Indian enrollment during the 2017 academic year throughout the NMSU system was 1,502, including 698 at the Las Cruces campus. NMSU’s community college campuses had 804 students with NMSUGrants showing the largest enrollment of 443.

Once a student selects NMSU, the university helps the students succeed and achieve their post-secondary goals through access to scholarships and the American Indian Program at the American Indian Student Center.

A generous donor recently pledged $125,000 toward the creation of an endowed scholarship for Native American and Hispanic students who major in Chemical and Materials Engineering at the Las Cruces campus and who demonstrate financial need.

“This endowment is a great recruiting tool to bring our Native American population to NMSU for their degrees,” says Michael Ray, director of NMSU’s American Indian Program. “And when these students come to NMSU, they are surrounded by our community and develop Aggie values, no matter where they come from. Aggies look after Aggies because we

want each other to succeed—on campus and in their destination communities.”

Outreach to assist tribal communities is another aspect of the IRD program. Recently, NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences leadership met with Mescalero-Apache tribal leaders to discuss the types of projects that could be done collaboratively.

College of ACES has three additional programs that focus on the Native American communities, including:

• Tribal Extension programs serve the Navajo Nation in northwest New Mexico, delivering communitybased education to revitalize agriculture, implement culturally appropriate youth leadership programs and strengthen the bonds between individuals, families and communities.

• New Mexico Pueblo Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program provides agricultural training to 100 tribal members of the state’s 18 pueblos who have less than 10 years of experience in agriculture.

• Indian Livestock Days, an annual three-day conference, provides current information to help ranchers improve their herd and economics.

The Indian Resources Development Act also encourages NMSU to work with other colleges and universities in New Mexico to provide programs to tribal members.

That’s why Arrowhead Center at NMSU and several other organizations are collaborating with Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint to help improve the economic conditions across the Navajo Nation by providing technological tools for future generations.

Funded with a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant, this partnership called, Advanced Rural Manufacturing, is a collaboration of several universities, incubators and manufacturers to help young people and businesses explore opportunities in technology and entrepreneurship.

Ben Jones, director of the Navajo Tech Innovation Center says, “The role of this program removes poverty as an obstacle for our students and introduces a model capable of propelling Navajo Nation youth with potential to establish themselves in advanced technology industries.”

And when these students come to NMSU, they are surrounded by our community and develop Aggie values, no matter where they come from. Aggies look after Aggies because we want each other to succeed—on campus and in their destination communities.

–MICHAEL RAY, DIRECTOR OF NMSU’S AMERICAN INDIAN PROGRAM Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

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ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

Alumni

Adair Margo ’83

Alumna Adair Margo ’83 is one of three recipients of the 2018 American Spirit Medallion awarded in June by the National WWII Museum.

Bestowed upon individuals who, through their work and philanthropy, exemplify the highest standards of integrity, discipline and initiative, the American Spirit Medallion also recognizes the individual’s unselfish contributions to their community, state or nation.

Margo was recognized for her tireless work to promote and preserve the legacy of Tom Lea, an El Paso artist whose work con-

veyed his memories and visions of the battles and campaigns of World War II.

She described Lea as “the only wartime artist who conveyed the truth of war… the only one that depicted rounds being fired or soldiers being wounded.”

Margo, who is currently the First Lady of El Paso, Texas, has spent her career advocating for the arts and championing their significance in helping build relationships within and across multiple cultures throughout the region.

Daphne Griffin

THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM

Successes

Adair Margo (center) received the 2018 American Spirit Medallion for her work safeguarding the legacy of Tom Lea, an El Paso artist. She is pictured with James Courter (left), immediate past chairman of the board, and Stephen J. Watson, president and CEO at the Museum.

MILKEN FAMILY FOUNDATION

Melanie (Maynes) Alfaro ’02

Math teacher Melanie Alfaro was surprised to receive New Mexico’s 2017-18 Milken Educator Award. She won a $25,000 prize for her work inspiring her students and helping to improve their math skills.

Melanie (Maynes) Alfaro ’02, received the prestigious Milken Educator Award. Of the 44 honorees for the 2017-2018 academic year, Alfaro is the only recipient in New Mexico to receive the national award, often referred to as the “Oscars of teaching.”

Since 1987, the Milken Family Foundation has honored early to mid-career teaching professionals across the country for their achievements and their ability to inspire students to achieve more in the future.

Alfaro, a former Aggie basketball player

and member of the Athletics Department Hall of Fame, is a sixth-grade math teacher at Deming Intermediate School. She received the award in recognition of her efforts to improve math literacy. Deming has jumped two letter grades and 16 percentage points in end-of-year math assessments in the past few years, and Alfaro’s students lead the sixth grade in math proficiency.

Daphne Griffin

When Beth DeLucia Schulze was in high school, she wanted to be an astronaut and visit the moon. Today, she’s part of a team at Lockheed Martin who is assisting NASA with its Moon to Mars directive to send astronauts to Mars, starting with missions around the moon.

Schulze, who graduated from NMSU in 1984 with a degree in physics, is a software systems engineering manager at Lockheed Martin Space, specifically for the Orion spacecraft – the world’s only deep-space, crew

30 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

vehicle. Orion is also a part of Lockheed Martin’s Mars Base Camp concept, which once in orbit around Mars, could provide astronauts with a home away from Earth and a platform for conducting critical Mars science and landing site selections.

Schulze and her team are responsible for Orion’s software systems.

Scheduled for an un-crewed launch in 2020, Orion will travel beyond the moon and back and usher in a new era of space exploration.

Daphne Griffin

COURTESY PHOTO

Beth DeLucia Schulze ’84

Beth DeLucia Schulze will soon help send astronauts to Mars as part of Lockheed Martin’s work with NASA and the Orion spacecraft – the world’s only deep-space, crew vehicle.

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

A Champion of Women

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

H

air, heels and happy smiles – from the outside looking in, the Miss USA competition dons the crown on the country’s most beautiful women. Yet, a new face to the contest this year changed the stereotypes, adding champion of women to this list of what it takes to win.

After taking on the title of Miss New Mexico USA in January 2018, Kristen Leyva used her new spotlight to lift up three of her pride points – female engineers, the New Mexico State University Aggies and her mother, Jo Leyva. Kristen Leyva, a 2016 College of Engineering graduate, now works as a mechanical engineer for Raytheon in Las Cruces, a company specializing in building defense solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense.

In an industry seeking more female and racial diversity, Kristen Leyva understands the critical role she plays in inspiring others. But, her mother inspired her first. After graduating from NMSU in 1999, Jo Leyva worked as an engineer at NASA and mentored NMSU students.

“Being a first-generation college graduate, a single-mom and a female engineer, my mother defied odds and prospered far beyond them,” Kristen Leyva says. “It was during this time that I believe she became a true testament for what it means to not only be a strong, independent woman but also an inspiration for many.”

Just two months before Kristen Leyva’s graduation from NMSU, her mother passed away after a long battle with cancer. On that day, Kristen Leyva vowed to carry on her mother’s legacy to inspire others toward careers in engineering.

Two years later, she finally found her stage. As Miss New Mexico USA, Kristen Leyva represented her state in the national competition in May 2018. Though she didn’t win the ultimate crown, she did leave with countless memories and a new opportunity to use her story to encourage others.

Kristen Leyva will continue visiting schools and speaking at events across the state, and this fall, she met the very first product of her efforts to perpetuate her mother’s work – a recipient of an NMSU scholarship she started in March 2018 in honor of Jo Leyva.

“As an alumna, it’s important to me to give back,” she says. “My mom was raising two girls on her own during her time at NMSU, and I was bouncing around from hospital to hospital with my mom during my time. None of us know what the person next to us is going through or how they’re making it to class each day. I hope that with this scholarship, students will never have to compromise or put their dreams on hold.”

Hair, heels, happy smiles and a champion of women – that’s Kristen Leyva, Miss New Mexico USA.

Angel Mendez

Top: Kristen Leyva started an NMSU scholarship in honor of her mother Jo Leyva (left) who inspired her and many others to overcome stereotypes and pursue engineering.

Bottom: Kristen Leyva used her time on the national stage as Miss New Mexico USA to lift up women in STEM and her experience at NMSU.

32 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

Defending the line, saving lives

F

rom taking play calls in Aggie Memorial Stadium to, now, answering calls for emergencies, two New Mexico State University alumni agree that time on the football field as an Aggie prepared them for a line of duty.

Jeremiah Lay ’02, a former NMSU defensive end and current Las Cruces Fire Department battalion chief, finds firefighting as a way to help others and continue the teamwork atmosphere that he experienced inside Aggie Memorial Stadium.

“I was used to working with a team playing football, and it is no different in firefighting. Everyone has their role and function,” Lay says. “Our academy style is also very militaristic with a lot of structure and physical fitness. Obviously, the physical fitness of football helped out a lot and so did the teamwork, which is a necessity in the fire service.”

Lay also credits the education he received from NMSU as an agricultural economics and agricultural business major for aiding him in his career of service.

“NMSU has helped me out a lot with my position as a battalion chief,” Lay says. “The modern fire service is really data-driven, and some of the skills I learned in economics, marketing, management and finance I use daily. It’s not all kicking in doors and fighting fires, it’s also figuring out what to do in regards to allocating funds and establishing ways to respond to emergencies efficiently.”

Joel Navarro ’91, also a former NMSU defensive end and now battalion chief at the Phoenix Fire Department, agrees that the similar atmospheres and the chance to make a difference played a role in him joining his fire station.

“I am also a paramedic,” Navarro says. “When you can make a difference or impact someone else’s life, their families’ or save their lives, and then you have that person come visit you a week or two later - it’s really cool. Those are the moments you really appreciate what you do and what you’ve learned.”

Melissa Rutter ’17

Jeremiah Lay ’02

Joel Navarro ’91

Obviously, the physical fitness of football helped out a lot and so did the teamwork, which is a necessity in the fire service.

–Jeremiah Lay ’02 Former NMSU defensive end and current Las Cruces Fire Department battalion chief

LAY

NAVARRO

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ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

Crossing the Aggie finish line

E

arning a degree is the unifying goal of every college student. Yet, a study by the National Student Clearinghouse shows a mere 57 percent of students actually graduate. No singular issue serves as the root cause of the trend, but an initiative at New Mexico State University aims to solve one – financial barriers.

In the last few years, donors to the NMSU Foundation have started scholarships that support Aggies in the final semesters of their degree programs, including the Martin Degree Completion Scholarship, the RAYVETS Scholarship for veterans, the RNBSN Scholarship for nursing students and the Aggie Finish Line Scholarship – which has awarded students more than $34,000 since the 2017-18 academic year.

Angel Mendez

While these students face different circumstances, a financial edge is the constant need among them. Meet some of the recent Aggie Finish Line Scholarship recipients:

"I am the first college graduate in my family. College has been my opportunity to be an example for my children. They have seen how hard it is to go to school and work full-time but that anything is possible when you set your mind to it."

TAWNYA M. HALL

"I’m a Mexican international – originally from Durango, Mexico. NMSU is my start to a new beginning, and after May, I will pursue a master’s degree and become a United States citizen. This is my biggest goal, so I can help my home country in Mexico and see my family again."

ABRAHAM INZUNZA

"As a full-time student living on my own, it can sometimes be very challenging to pay off school before the semester starts.

I also work a couple jobs to pay bills, and I have a mother and two sisters I really love and care for. I will use this scholarship to pay my schooling so that I may move on to complete my degree."

ALEJANDRO CORRAL SALAS

To make a gift to any of these degree completion scholarships, please visit https://giving.nmsu.edu.

34 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

"When I graduated from high school in 2011, I had the dream of one day becoming a pediatric or neonatal nurse. At the time, I was a new mother to my son. I knew completing this goal would be a tremendous challenge for me. Having my childhood dream be so close to a reality is truly an amazing feeling."

YVONNE HERNANDEZ

PETE'S CORNER

PRESERVING

AGGIE HISTORY W

ith a storied history that includes feats, such as an NCAA Final Four appearance and an undefeated football season led by eventual NFL players, a new collaboration between the New Mexico State University Athletics Department and NMSU Library is preserving that history. NMSU alumni, former coaches and Aggie fans will have access to an abundance of materials soon.

NMSU Athletics Director Mario Moccia and NMSU Library Dean Elizabeth Titus spearheaded the effort to create the Aggie Sports Archives.

“The Aggie Sports Archives are a remarkably comprehensive collection of records documenting the history of athletics and student-athletes here at New Mexico State University,” says Dennis Daily, associate professor and University Library,

While supplies last, the 2019 NMSU Library calendar is available. The calendar illustrates the traditions of NMSU athletics with photos of the past and present. To order a calendar, email aerica@nmsu.edu or call 575-646-1508.

Archives and Special Collections department head.

“We’re happy to have teamed up with the Athletics Department in order to preserve the memory and proud legacy of student-athletes at NMSU.”

While the NMSU Library has collected materials from the Athletics Department for several decades, in early 2017, the University Archives staff began to assess a large collection of records from Athletics Department storage and transfer the appropriate records to the University Archives to ensure their long-term preservation, Daily says.

About 250 linear feet worth of materials including important historical information, such as former players, coaches and staff files along with game statistics, programs, media guides, press releases, news clippings and tens of thousands of photographs, were collected from storage.

“Since that time, we have been organizing the files, re-housing them into archival containers and creating comprehensive inventories,” Daily says. “We have made substantial progress on the collection.”

The goal is to complete the preservation processing during the fall semester and to begin digitizing the collection later this academic year for public access.

“The most challenging aspect is definitely the size of the collection—collecting, arranging, describing, preserving and digitizing materials are all very time and labor intensive,” says Kim Gianfrancesco, digital projects librarian. “I know that alumni have a lot of interest in our collections, and it’s very rewarding to be able to share these materials with them.”

Tiffany Acosta

The NMSU Athletics Department is looking for missing media guides to complete its collection for multiple sports. To view the complete list of materials needed visit http://nmsu.life/guides.

Fall 2018 | New Mexico State University | Panorama

35

AGGIE PRIDE

be a Lobo.”

She decided that she wanted to attend a college in New Mexico that was far enough away from home to feel independent but still within driving distance to family.

After weighing her options, she opted to follow in the footsteps of many family members, taking a path that led to New Mexico State University, where she became a proud Aggie.

Rylie excelled as a nursing student and track and field student-athlete at NMSU. She participated in student leadership programs, volunteered in programs designed to help others and earned accolades as a research scholar. By the time she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2015, she was the 12th member of the Hightower family to have graduated from NMSU since 1970, a tradition that has endured for more than 40 years.

“Being an Aggie was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me,” said Rylie, now a licensed registered nurse in Alabama who is working on a doctorate in biomedical neuroscience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “I found a family away from family. I found a home away from home at NMSU, and I think that is what led me to be successful.”

The family’s ties to NMSU started when Rylie’s uncle, Michael Hightower, became the first member of the family to attend the university in 1970. He studied civil engineering and went on to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree. In 1977, Rylie’s father, Tim Hightower, also started studying civil engineering at NMSU and later earned a bachelor’s degree in 1982. Their brother, Steve Hightower, was the second member of the family to graduate from NMSU, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology in 1976.

And, if all goes as planned, the family will celebrate its 13th NMSU graduation at the end of the fall 2018 semester, when one of Rylie’s younger sisters, Hailey Hightower, will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

Carlos Andres López ’10

Left: In December 2017, (from left) Kaycee Hightower, Rylie Hightower and Hailey Hightower were among the 20 family members to celebrate the Aggie football victory at the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl in Tucson, Arizona.

Bottom: Since the 1970s, the Hightower family has had 12 family members graduate from NMSU with the 13th expected in December 2018. In 2003, Shaun Hightower (middle) celebrated his graduation at Aggie Memorial Stadium with Scott Hightower (left) and Julie Hightower (right).

COURTESY PHOTO

hen it came time for Albuquerque native Rylie Hightower to decide where to go to college, she knew one thing was for certain: “I didn’t want to

COURTESY PHOTO

Hightower family finds a home at NMSU W

Being an Aggie was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me.

– RYLIE HIGHTOWER

36 Panorama | New Mexico State University | Fall 2018

Help us ensure that EVERY deserving Aggie receives a scholarship from the NMSU Foundation.

Your contribution of any amount, combined with thousands of gifts from fellow Alumni and Friends, adds up to make a transformational impact on our students, our University system and our world.

$100.5M 24,482 dollars raised TO DATE

$26.8

$5.4

MILLION

for student scholarships

MILLION

alumni & friends HAVE GIVEN TO NMSU

$7.1

for faculty

MILLION

support

for facilities

$46.6

$3.1

for programs and research

for K-12 outreach

MILLION

MILLION

ONE YEAR TO GO

$125M GOAL $50M THE LARGEST CASH CAMPAIGN IN NMSU HISTORY!

for student scholarships

WE ARE HALFWAY THERE!

With your help, we can reach our goals!

ignite.nmsu.edu.

NMSU Alumni and Friends FACTS AND FIGURES REPRESENT TOTALS AS OF SEPTEMBER 2018. THE IGNITE AGGIE DISCOVERY CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN 2013.

PANORAMA New Mexico State University Alumni & Friends Magazine

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