2018, Spring

SPRING 2018

M A G A Z I N E THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO I ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

UNM’s New President Garnett S. Stokes is Battle-Tested and Ready to Lead

Meet the Presidential Partner / Son of Chile Farmers Solves Problems With Engineering Business School Grad Helps Pro Athletes Build Wealth / Fueling America’s Soldiers New Athletic Director Laces Up / Like Acai Berries? You Can Thank This Alumnus

Contents 16 HE’S A FIRST, TOO Stokes’ husband Jeffrey Younggren fills a new role

By Leslie Linthicum

18 HUMBLE, GRATEFUL AND KILLING IT IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT Lameck Humble Lukanga has a celebrity roster

By Leslie Linthicum

22 FUELING THE TROOPS Lameck Humble Lukanga (’08 BBA, ’09 MBA) helps pro athletes manage wealth.

Photo: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

4

LETTERS

5 ALBUM

Keeping current with classmates

7

MESSAGE

From UNM President Garnett S. Stokes

8 CAMPUS CONNECTIONS

What’s going on around campus

12 READY TO LEAD

Meet UNM’s first female president, Garnett S. Stokes

By Leslie Linthicum

Alumna Joetta Khan is feeding the Armed Forces

By Keiko Ohnuma

25 A LIGHTBULB WENT ON

Engineering alumnus Kenneth

Armijo takes solar power to another level

By Jenell Pollard

28 GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS New Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez

By Leslie Linthicum

On the cover: UNM President Garnett S. Stokes in her new home on campus.

Photo: Josh Lane

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MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Mirage was the title of the University of New Mexico yearbook until its final edition in 1978. The title was then adopted by the alumni magazine, which continues to publish vignettes about UNM graduates.

M A G A Z I N E

30 LEGACY OF

GOOD WORKS

Two-time alum discovered acai

32 SHELF LIFE

Books by UNM alumni

38 HONORING ALUMNI Meet the recipients of our Winter Awards

40 ALUMNI CALENDAR 41 FROM THE VEEP A message from Alumni Association’s Dana Allen

Spring 2018, Volume 38, Number 1 The University of New Mexico Garnett S. Stokes, President Dana G. Allen, Vice President, Alumni Relations

42 ALUMNI NETWORK

UNM Alumni Association Executive Committee

Did our cameras catch you at an alumni event?

Harold Lavender (’69 BA, ’75 JD) President

43 IN MEMORIAM

James B. Lewis (’77 MPA, ’17 LHD) Past President

John Brown (’72 BBA) President-Elect

Daniel Trujillo (’07 BBA, ’08 MACCT) Treasurer Dana G. Allen Secretary Sandra Begay-Campbell (’87 BSCE) Member At Large Bill Dolan (’68 BA, ’73 MPA) Member At Large Rosalyn Nguyen (’03 BBA, ’07 MBA, JD) Member At Large Henry Rivera (’68 BA, ’73 JD) Member At Large Alexis Tappan (’99 BA, ’17 MA) Member At Large Robert Doughty (’98 JD) Member At Large Mirage Editorial Dana G. Allen, Vice President, Alumni Relations Leslie Linthicum, Editor Wayne Scheiner & Company, Graphic Design Cortney Webb, Marketing Manager

Mechanical engineer Kenneth Armijo (’05 BA) Photo: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

Address correspondence to MirageEditor@unm.edu or The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, MSC 01-1160, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001. You can also contact us at (505) 277-5808 or 800-ALUM-UNM (800-258-6866).

Web: UNMAlumni.com Facebook: Facebook.com/UNMAlumni Twitter: @UNMAlumni Instagram: Instagram.com/UNMAlumni Flickr: Flickr.com/UNMAlumni

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editor LETTERS TO THE

FROM THE EDITOR:

F

or some, the turning over of a new year is a time to party. For others, it’s time to reflect on the past and look forward.

Whether you’re the Dec. 31 party hat and champagne reveler or the Jan. 1 list-maker, there’s no denying the power of ringing out the old and ringing in the new.

There’s a lot of new on the campus of your alma mater this 2018 and, three months into it, the year still seems fresh with possibility. Most exciting is the opportunity for UNM to change and grow under new leadership in the president’s office.

You might have heard some buzz around Garnett S. Stokes, who started as president March 1. She was the unanimous choice of the Board of Regents after a nationwide presidential search and she comes with warmly glowing recommendations from her former colleagues at the University of Missouri.

I got to know her and her husband, Jeffrey Younggren, in lengthy phone interviews before they arrived on campus and came away impressed by their thoughtfulness, humor and eagerness to get to Albuquerque and begin to learn about their new home. They’re walkers and bike riders, so don’t be surprised if you see them on Albuquerque’s extensive network of trails. You can read about Stokes and the University’s first “first husband” in this issue.

Also profiled in this issue is Eddie Nuñez, the new athletic director, who brings a ton of energy, a promise of transparency and a big smile to the office.

And we have some impressive alumni to introduce you to as well—from the top nutritionist for the United States Army to a solar innovator at Sandia National Laboratories to an immigrant from Uganda who is managing the millions of some of pro football’s top players. Here’s to a bright 2018 and beyond.

Leslie Linthicum MirageEditor@unm.edu

We Regret These Errors An Album entry for Matthew N. McDuffie in the Fall 2017 issue misstated his accomplishment. He had foreign rights to his film “Burning Bodhi” acquired by Imagination Worldwide.

TO THE EDITOR:

I

enjoyed the latest issue of Mirage, as I always do. Of particular interest to me was the article by Gwyneth Doland on beer (“A Career in Beer” Fall 2017). I just had to point out that she missed a local UNM grad who is earning a great reputation for his carefully crafted beers—my son, Antonio Fernandez, who is the master brewer at The Ponderosa Brewing Company in the Sawmill District. He earned a degree in guitar performance (’02 BA) before finding his other love, namely craft beers.

Thanks for keeping us old Lobos up on what happens at UNM!

Marcia Beauregard Fernandez (’73 BA, ’86 MA) Albuquerque

Also in the Fall 2017 issue, the incorrect years were given for Natalie Umphrey’s stint as Lucy Lobo. Her first year as Lucy was 2000, not 1999. The 1999 Lucy was Megan (McGinty) Sebastian (’00 BA).

E OR DEV SKYE

New Mexico’s fast-growing craft brewing industry opens new job avenues for UNM grads.

S

kye Devore (’03 MBA) never intended to own a brewery.

She wanted to be an FBI agent.

After graduating from the accelerated 3-2 MBA program, which she heard was a good background for FBI agents, she started working at a small family-owned manufacturing company in Albuquerque.

The family was involved in several side-businesses, one of which was Tractor Brewing.

One day the person who had been running the brewery left and the owner came into her office and said, “How would you like to run a brewery in your spare time?”

She said sure, thinking it couldn’t be different from running any other business. And it wasn’t. But adjusting to the craft beer culture took a little time.

“I went for my first ride along with a distributor and they said, ‘What are you having?’ and I said ‘Miller Light!’ And they were like, ‘No you’re not,’” she remembers.

That was 10 years ago. Today she owns Tractor Brewing, teaches the introductory brewing class at CNM and is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer).

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3 ’0

8/17/17 9:18 AM

Look for a friend on every page!

W

ith regard to UNM’s new logo (“Campus Connections,” Fall 2017), personally, I was always a big fan of the old Mesa Vista Hall/half moon logo.

I think it captured the true spirit of the university better than anything else I’ve seen. It was simple, elegant and unique.

The new logo certainly succeeds in immediately saying “UNM” just as UCLA immediately says University of California, Los Angeles, or USC says University of Southern California, or UTEP says University of Texas at El Paso.

It would be interesting to know how much money the university spent to come up with the letters UNM as the new logo.

With a committee and communications firm involved, I’m sure it wasn’t cheap.

I wish they would have asked me; I’m a creative person. I would have done it for a tenth of the cost and I’m sure I would have come up with something much more interesting and unique.

Thank you and keep up the great work with Mirage magazine.

Marcus Prazniak ('90 BA) El Cerrito, Calif.

Send your alumni news to Mirage Editor, The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, MSC 01-1160, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001. Or better yet, email your news to UNMAlumni@unm.edu. Please include your middle name or initial and tell us where you‘re living now.

O

pened my Mirage edition today and was very disappointed to read the article (“Campus Connections” Fall 2017) about all the new construction on campus (“Building Boom,” Fall 2017).

Not anywhere in the article is mentioned who the architects or contractors were for the new buildings. I assume the architects have been selected (contractors maybe not) as you used visuals probably produced by the firms. As a UNM graduate of the School of Architecture and Planning in 1972 and distinguished alumnus of the school in 1994, I can only hope that those architects and or general contractors for the new construction are not alumni. An oversight not repeated in “Shelf Life,” books by UNM alums.

Good thing you remembered to mention the authors.

(End note: I do enjoy my copy of the Mirage. Thanks for your hard work.)

Ron Peters AIA, AICP (’72 BA) Mesa, Ariz.

(Editor’s note: UNM paid Torch Creative, a Texas firm, $11,125 to design the interlocking “UNM” logo.)

Spring deadline: January 1; Fall deadline: June 1

1940s Dan Judd (‘44 BSEE) and Juliette Judd (‘73 BSED), Albuquerque, celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on Sept. 12.

1950s Arthur M. Duran (‘55 BS) and Sandra. J. Duran, Albuquerque, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Aug. 27.

Charles Ederer (‘58 BA) and Emily Ederer (‘88 BUS, ‘91 MA), Albuquerque, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Aug. 24.

1960s Lonnie R. Nunley (‘62 BSPH), Ruidoso, N.M., was one of six recipients of the UNM Alumni Association‘s 2017 Zia Award.

Jonathan B. Sutin (’63 LLB), Albuquerque, retired from his position as New Mexico Court of Appeals judge after nearly 19 years on the bench.

Campus Connections The School of Engineering is well into its complete renovation of the four-story, 67,000-square-foot Farris Engineering Center. Farris was built in 1967 and is getting plumbing, electrical and mechanical upgrades, including a new air conditioning system. The sleek, remodeled Farris, which sits on the southwest corner of campus facing Redondo Drive and houses the departments of chemical and nuclear engineering and computer science, will also include more lab space, computer research rooms, administrative suites and student study and event areas when it reopens. It is scheduled to be completed in the next few months.

Deadlines:

A new $27.3 million building connects via a sky bridge to adjacent buildings in the Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education.

When it opens in August it will allow for interprofessional education for students in medicine, pharmacy, nursing and population health in Active Learning Classrooms that make use of advanced technology.

The energy-saving design includes windows with electrochromatic glazing that automatically darken or lighten based on sun exposure, reducing the energy needed to heat and cool the building. It will also include solar panels to further reduce energy use.

Dale F. Giese (‘64 PhD, ‘69 PhD), Silver City, N.M., was the speaker for the Westerners meeting in August, reading from and discussing interesting and entertaining letters written in the 1800s from some of New Mexico‘s forts.

Physics and Farris buildings

BUILDING BOOM Cranes are in the air above the University campus, and not just the feathered fall flyers. Big construction equipment, beeping dump trucks and pounding jackhammers—along with orange traffic cones and miles of caution tape—have come to roost on campus amid a multi-million-dollar building and renovation campaign.

Funded by combinations of state, UNM and severance tax bonds, along with some private donations, the building boom includes renovations to or replacements of five buildings and Smith Plaza, the major cross-campus artery between Zimmerman Library and the Student Union Building.

8

McKinnon Center for Management

The $25.5 million price tag also covers building out more space for labs in the basement of the Centennial Engineering Center, the state-of-the art anchor of engineering just north of Farris.

On North Campus, students returning for fall classes will have the use of 76,000 square feet of additional classroom, lecture and laboratory space at the corner of Stanford and Marble NE.

At the Anderson School, the McKinnon Center for Management is a new $24.7 million replacement building. The new 60,000-squarefoot building will hold classrooms, class labs, faculty and staff offices for the business school. An important component of the new design is group study rooms and student-gathering areas. There will also be a new Advisement and Career Center

Carlos Cortes (’65 MA, ’69 PhD), Riverside, Calif., has published his first book of poetry, "Fourth Quarter: Reflections of a Cranky Old Man," which received Honorable Mention in the 2017 International Latino Book Awards.

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SPRING 2018

5

“The time I spent on campus and my interactions with faculty members were invaluable. I’ve been given so many opportunities — others deserve those opportunities too.”

- Michelle (Linn-Gust) Rusk (MS ’96, PhD ’08)

Every gift to UNM can change worlds. Michelle has chosen to make a lasting impact at UNM by including the University in her estate plan. Legacy gifts help students succeed, advance research, aid patients, and assist health care providers for years to come. For more information about how you can create a legacy at UNM, please visit unmgift.org.

Look forward by giving back.

@UNMFund

UNMFoundation

@UNMFund

505-313-7600

An Introduction Dear UNM Alumni –

A

few short weeks ago, I began a new chapter of my life here as the 23rd president of your alma mater, The University of New Mexico. I moved with my husband Jeff to the stunning Land of Enchantment, and have been welcomed to my new role as Lobo in Chief with open arms. It is clear that the Lobo community is genuinely warm and welcoming.

I am honored and excited to work with this proud pack. I have begun my journey of discovery, learning about the exceptional UNM community and culture, examining the institution’s challenges and considering the opportunities that we will pursue together. I am thrilled to begin my exploration of the Lobo life—discovering the points of pride that connect us and shared experiences that make our campus and alumni community strong.

As I had stated upon my selection as president, my long history in public higher education has taught me the importance of building relationships with the people whom the institution serves. I have had the opportunity to meet several inspirational Lobos locally, and I look forward to expanding that circle as I am able to attend chapter events in your areas. I will depend on your experiences and perspectives as we move UNM forward.

I have arrived at a time when the campus is undergoing some wonderful transformations. If you haven’t had a chance to reconnect, I encourage you to revisit UNM when you are able. I am appreciative of your ideas, enthusiasm and support.

Randy Eakin (‘66 BA) and Rose Eakin (‘67 BS), Albuquerque, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Stephen Part (‘68 BA, ‘83 MA) Albuquerque, retired from Albuquerque Public Schools after teaching social studies, and occasionally English, for 32 years. He last taught at La Cueva High School for 24 years.

1970s Enrique L. Lamadrid (‘70 BA), Albuquerque, and Anna M. Nogar (‘00 BS), Los Alamos, N.M., co-authored a bilingual children‘s book entitled, “Sisters in Blue, Sor Maria de Agreda Comes to New Mexico.”

Veronica E. Tiller (‘70 BA, ‘74 MA), Albuquerque, nationally regarded author, historian and Jicarilla Apache Nation member, was inducted into the Albuquerque Wall of Fame at the Alvarado Transportation Center.

Patrick Conroy (‘71 MATSP), Los Angeles, is now chapter leader emeritus after 21 years of leading the UNM Alumni Association Los Angeles Chapter.

Yvonne C. Ambrose (’72 BSED) and Richard Ambrose, Albuquerque, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Central America.

Baldwin G. Burr, Jr. (‘72 BAFA, ‘73 MA), Los Lunas, N.M., lectured as part of the Taos County Historical Society‘s participation

Warmest regards, and Go Lobos!

in the Taos Arts and Cultural Consortium theme of “Taos Legends and Stories.”

The lecture was presented in partnership

Garnett S. Stokes President, The University of New Mexico

with the Taos Arts Council.

Bernard Herman (‘72 EDD) and Renee Herman, Albuquerque, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on July 6.

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Campus Connections

BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY At 40 feet tall and weighing more than 2,000 pounds, a totem pole belonging to the Kwakwaka’wakw Tlowitsis Nation of Canada has stood on the UNM campus for more than 70 years.

A familiar sight to anyone walking on the west side of campus, the intricately carved and brightly colored pole stood without protection or explanation. For decades it has been a beautiful mystery.

Where did it come from? Which tribe—certainly none with an indigenous relationship to New Mexico—did it belong to?

Those questions have been answered, thanks to a collaborative investigation that involved Anthropology Department Chair Les Field, Maxwell Museum Director Dave Phillips, Director of the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies Lea S. McChesney, and graduate student in ethnology Blaire Topash-Caldwell.

What they found was the pole originated in 1907 on Turnour Island in British Columbia. Chief Smith Sewid of the Tlowitsis Nation commissioned

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a now-famous artist, Charlie Yakuglas James, to carve the pole.

But how did this chief’s pole get from British Columbia to New Mexico? That part of the story remains murky, although it is now known that it was acquired and transported here in 1941. In the spirit of the evolution of how museums think about their collections in relation to the people whose heritage those items represent, the totem pole is now considered a guest of the University.

Descendants represented by Tlowitsis Chief Danial Smith prefer the pole to remain at UNM, provided it receives proper care. If in the future they want the pole returned, it will make its way back to its home on Turnour Island.

Meanwhile, it is getting some muchneeded restoration in the atrium of the Hibben Center, where conservators stabilized paint and removed debris left in the pole by woodpeckers and other pests. Then, master Kwakwaka’wakw carver Tom Hunt Jr. and apprentice

Bertram Smith spent weeks working to restore the pole—filling missing areas of wood with wood plugs, carving new

elements that were missing, and working with students, staff and faculty to prime and repaint the pole.

A replica of the totem pole will be erected on Turnour island so that future generations of the tribe can learn about Charlie Yakuglas James’ carving style and understand the pole’s history and cultural legacy in their homeland.

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Students, faculty, staff and alumni have been able to get their hearing tested at bargain prices at UNM’s Department of Speech and Hearing Services for the past four years. Now, if the audiological exam shows hearing loss that calls for an assist, hearing aids are also available to members of the Lobo family at a discount.

Audiologist and clinical instructor Michael Flores heads up the new initiative, an extension of the program that offers a complete hearing test for $25 for students, $45 for faculty and staff, and $50 for alumni.

“We not only provide the evaluation but also counsel about the various

James F. Rhodes (‘74 MPA, ‘92 PhD), Placitas, N.M., was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez to represent District 1 on the Sandoval County Commission.

fellow in UNM’s Department of Biology. “We’re looking at what forest managers can do to minimize the impact these wildfires have on the system.”

The issue has two main components, according to Krofcheck, both stemming from human impact to the environment. Global warming, due to human-caused carbon emissions, has worsened already hot and dry climates, while aggressive firefighting and fire suppression efforts have left a large amount of fuel, in the form of underbrush, throughout the forests.

That has led to massive blazes— like the ones that tore through communities in California in 2017, destroying land and homes and taking lives.

Forest managers trying to prevent such devastating fire employ two primary treatment practices. Thinning thick underbrush with machinery or by hand—a method that is effective but also expensive—and using prescribed burns to clear areas.

The UNM research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, examines how to most efficiently use those two methods.

Krofcheck, along with UNM Associate Professor Matthew Hurteau FIRE MANAGEMENT and colleagues from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Forest Wildfire is inevitable, but new research from UNM biologists is giving Service, ran forecast simulations using projected climate data in an forest and fire management teams area of California’s Sierra Nevada across the country a cost-effective range. In Scenario A, researchers way to lessen the severity of large, mechanically thinned the entire devastating wildfires. area—an unrealistically expensive “Big wildfires will always happen,” endeavor in practice. In Scenario B, says Dan Krofcheck, a post-doctoral ways to improve hearing and communication that might not involve any assistive devices,” Flores says.

If the test shows hearing loss, students, faculty, staff and alumni are eligible for discounts on assistive listening devices through Speech and Hearing Services. The prices depend on the degree of hearing loss and the specific needs of the patient.

Testing is performed Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and can be scheduled during regular semester terms. Call 505-277-0443 or 505-277-4453 and leave a message for an appointment.

Robert W. “Bill” Piatt, Jr. (‘75 JD) and his son Robert W. “Bob” Piatt, III, Dallas, completed the Swim With The Centurions, Robert W. Piatt, Jr.

a 1.25-mile swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

Elaine S. Lewis (‘76 BUS), Albuquerque, debuted her collection of bonehead/skull art at the Day of the Dead Open House at Masks y Mas in November.

Ruth Schifani (‘76 JD), Albuquerque, a shareholder at Modrall Sperling, has been named Lawyer of the Year in the area of Banking and Finance Law by Best Lawyers 2018.

Ruth Schifani

Helen R. Lucero (‘77 MA, ‘86 PhD), Albuquerque, received a 2017 Annual Governor‘s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Lucero, Helen R. Lucero

one of the first female Hispanic

curators in the country, has spent her career helping to promote and educate the public about the Hispanic arts of New Mexico. She received a Governor‘s Arts Award in 2015.

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Campus Connections

Dan Krofcheck

they thinned only the most at-risk portions of land, about two-thirds less than in Scenario A. After nearly 1,000 simulations, the results showed that both scenarios reduced the mean fire severity by as much as 60 percent.

“Even though we thinned about two-thirds less of the forest, we saw the exact same treatment outcomes,” Krofcheck said.

“This research and way of thinking about optimally using your resources, in terms of where you thin, could go a long way in helping these organizations use their dollars most efficiently to achieve their desired outcomes, which is less severe fires,” Hurteau said.

physician workforce, and the rate appears to be declining.

That study found a bright spot in New Mexico, though. A higher percentage of graduates from the UNM School of Medicine enter family medicine residencies than any other MD degree-granting institution in the nation.

During a three-year period, 20.7 percent of UNM graduates chose family medicine as their career path.

East Carolina University followed with 19.6 percent, and the University of Minnesota was third with 18.9 percent.

UNM’s family and rural medicine programs are regularly ranked among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Graduating medical students spend another three years or more in residency before they go out to practice on their own.

Arthur Kaufman, M.D., UNM’s vice chancellor for community health, credits an admissions policy that selects students predisposed to a career in family medicine.

FAMILY MEDICINE Most American medical schools are failing in their mission of graduating enough primary care providers to meet current and future needs, according to a study published in the journal Family Medicine. Primary care doctors represent about 35 percent of the

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Arthur Kaufman

“Ninety-five percent of our students are from New Mexico, and many are from rural and ethnically diverse backgrounds,” Kaufman said.

UNM’s Combined BA/MD Program, which recruits promising high school students from around the state into an educational pipeline leading to medical school, has also played a key role, he added.

PASSING THE BAR It is the bridge between completing three years of law school and becoming licensed to practice law: The Bar Exam. Graduating law students have the opportunity to take the test two times each year—in February and in July.

When the New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners adopted a different exam in 2016, the Uniform Bar Exam, used to make law licenses more portable across state lines, pass rates for UNM graduates began to drop.

In February 2015, the pass rate for first-time test takers was 90 percent.

A year later, only 71 percent of UNM law grads passed on their first try.

Concerned with dropping test scores, Co-Deans Alfred Mathewson and Sergio Pareja set a goal of a firsttime pass rate of 80 percent in the next two years and refocused student supports to get there, including coordinating with faculty to adapt curriculum, offering a bar strategies course, providing free material to help study for the exam and discussions and lectures on subjects covered by the new exam. And it worked.

Jack L. Fortner (‘78 BA), Farmington, N.M., was named the 2017 Lobo Award recipient by the University of New Mexico Alumni Association.

“Our school’s first-time passage rate on the July 2017 exam was 91 percent, which greatly exceeds our stated goal of getting up to 80 percent by 2018,” Pareja said.

The overall passage rate for the exam was 83 percent, which was also higher than previous years.

Lina Cui

CANCER RESEARCH More and more, many earlystage cancers can be cured with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy. But once cancer migrates, it becomes more difficult to control and more deadly.

“It’s a big problem that we need to solve and hopefully, the research we’re conducting will be a part of that solution,” says Lina Cui, assistant professor in the UNM Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Cui recently received a renewable five-year, $1.89-million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s General Medical Sciences division to support her research focused on the chemistry and biological function of the enzyme heparanase, a molecule that plays a

crucial role in cancer metastasis, as well as in the progression of many other diseases.

The enzyme is responsible for a process that essentially breaks down the extracellular matrix holding diseased cells in a specific area. Once that breakdown occurs, the cells are free to travel and interact with other areas of the body.

Along with the breakdown process, heparanase is also involved in cancer proliferation and angiogenesis, a process of new blood vessel formation. She says the enzyme releases biomolecules that trigger cell or blood vessel growth, so learning more about it will not only give clues on how to limit extracellular matrix breakdown but also possibly shed light on how to slow cancer growth.

“Using chemistry, we want to build molecules that allow us to map the various aspects of heparanase activities,” Cui explained. “Doing this will give us a better understanding of how these enzymes are involved in disease progression.”

Researchers say understanding the precise role of heparanase will give them the knowledge to be able to build molecules into diagnostic tools that target that particular enzyme. The idea is that if they can prevent the enzymes from breaking down the extracellular matrix, they can prevent the spread of disease, giving patients better odds in their fight.

“It is very exciting to be able to do this work,” she said. “If something significant comes from our research, it will be incredibly rewarding.”

Joseph W. Brazil (‘79 BAFA), Tatum, N.M., spoke at Old McDonald Had a Farm held by the Pecos Valley Baptist Association in September.

Jay D. Rosenblum (‘79 BA, ‘82 JD), Albuquerque, president and CEO of Sutin, Thayer & Browne law firm, has been selected New Mexico‘s 2017 Business Lawyer of the Year.

1980s Cynthia D. Borrego (‘80 BSED, ‘83 MPA), Albuquerque, represents District 5 on the Albuquerque City Council.

Michelle A. Coons (’83 BBA), Los Ranchos, N.M., is senior vice president and regional president for Washington Federal’s New Mexico territory.

Earl DeBrine (‘84 BBA), Albuquerque, a shareholder at Modrall Sperling, has been named Lawyer of the Year in the area of Oil and Gas Law by Best Earl DeBrine Lawyers 2018. He has represented major energy and manufacturing companies, and advised on oil and gas development and regulation for nearly 30 years.

Amy Miller (‘85 BA, ‘93 MPA), Albuquerque, is the director of external affairs for The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico.

Ireena A. Erteza (‘86 BSEE), Albuquerque, was named a 2017 Distinguished Alumni by the UNM School of Engineering. (continued on page 29)

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Ready To LEAD New president values listening, collaboration

By Leslie Linthicum

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G

arnett Sue Stokes, The University of New Mexico’s 23rd president and its first female leader, is settling in at University House with her husband, Jeff Younggren, and approaching her new job and life in the Land of Enchantment with enthusiasm and an open mind.

She smiles quickly, laughs easily and describes herself as a collaborative leader who doesn’t mind—and, in fact, encourages—hearing all points of view, good and bad, especially when it comes to her own performance.

“I think it’s been really important to be willing to listen to negative information—even if it’s about me—in a nondefensive way,” Stokes says. “So I work really hard to create an environment in which people never have to be afraid of saying what’s on their minds.”

At the very least, she says, there’s little value in hearing only what people think she wants to hear. “And,” she says, “there’s no way that we can work together as a team and make good decisions for the institution if we’re not having honest conversations about what’s really going on.”

Stokes, the first in her family to graduate from college, went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D., became a college professor and then climbed quickly to the top of academic leadership at the University of Georgia, Florida State University and the University of Missouri. On March 1, she began her newest post and her biggest challenge— president of UNM. At UNM, she replaced Interim President Chaouki Abdallah, who took over in the spring of 2017. This is the first time Stokes has been hired as a university president, but she brings significant experience in university leadership.

The 62-year-old comes to Albuquerque from the University of Missouri. She was brought on in 2015 as provost, the school’s chief academic officer, but spent three months of last year as Missouri’s chancellor, the school’s top job. At FSU in Tallahassee, Fla., she served as provost, but also stepped in as interim president there.

Stokes received sweeping support for her presidency throughout the UNM community. In announcing Stokes’ appointment, Board of Regents President Robert Doughty called her “hands down the consensus candidate” and praised her “vision, passion and direction” to shape the future of the University.

In announcing her departure at Mizzou, MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright called her “an exemplary leader who has made positive contributions to our culture that will impact Mizzou for years to come.”

No stranger to challenges

Stokes is aware that most public university leaders deal with controversial issues­—it’s part of the life of running a big complex institution.

When she moved to Missouri, Stokes was attracted by the opportunity to be involved in community engagement, which hadn’t been a significant part of her role at FSU. She walked onto a campus and a community that was awash in racial protest and administrative turmoil. During her three years in Missouri, her commitment to the value of what public research universities bring to their states allowed her to navigate challenging times while building trust in university leadership.

She arrived in February 2015. Months earlier, the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., about a two-hour drive from campus, sparked weeks of protests there and ignited the Black Lives Matter movement.

Before she arrived, she says, “I was aware there were difficult conversations taking place around issues or race, racism and inclusion that had been brought to the forefront on the campus because of events in Ferguson.”

As Stokes was conducting a listening tour to get to know the deans and departments she was now overseeing, she began to understand the protests were deeper than Ferguson and broader than race.

“There wasn’t a lot of trust in the administration.

When you’re making difficult decisions in an environment in which the administration isn’t trusted, it allows things to go from a simmer to a raging fire.”

One of the biggest lessons Stokes takes from her time at Missouri is the importance of listening to and learning from a broad spectrum of the campus community and also building connections with the off-campus community.

She says that it’s “critical that those who care about the well-being of the University are able to hear the truth and be willing to make changes.”

Stokes recommended the campus create a high-level leadership position to navigate the serious concerns around race. She appointed the University’s first interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity and established an Office of Civil Rights & Title IX. Last year she was named interim chancellor.

Ben Trachtenberg, an associate professor of law at Missouri, served as the chair of the Faculty Council from 2015 to 2017 and witnessed Stokes’ leadership up close.

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“When things got hot on campus,” he says, “she was a calm person.”

He also describes her as deliberative and collaborative.

“You can expect someone who is very consultative,” Trachtenberg says. “She is someone who is not afraid to make decisions, but someone who will first consult with a lot of people and get as much information as she can. She is interested in what people have to say.”

Stokes oversaw nine dean searches during her time as Mizzou provost and Trachtenberg remembers seeing her on campus carrying thick folders full of comments she had solicited about each candidate.

Trachtenberg said Stokes’ experience as provost at two large public research universities and her interim experience as the chief executive of both should give her a head start at UNM. And, he says, “Beyond her professional qualifications, she’s also an extremely nice person.”

Stokes calls her time at Missouri a privilege, and the institution a “wonderful land grant flagship University that works hard to serve the state of Missouri.”

Her experiences there, she says, affected and influenced the way she thinks about public higher education.

Stokes was the chair of the psychology department at Georgia and a tenured professor at the time she met Younggren.

Her expertise was in industrial and organizational psychology, a discipline focused on the study of work and workplace issues facing individuals and organizations.

Stokes and Younggren, a forensic psychologist who specializes in military court martial cases (See Page 16), were both appointed to the accrediting committee of the American Psychological Association and met at a committee meeting.

Younggren was taken by her spirit as well as Stokes’ leadership qualities.

They were colleagues, then friends, then more.

“I’m not the most patient person,” Younggren says. “And Garnett has this ability to listen and consider and balance things out. She’s not impulsive. She doesn’t get angry easily.”

It was obvious to Younggren that Stokes was going places. She quit the committee when she was appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgia in 2004, a promotion Younggren calls his high-achieving wife’s “first booster rocket.”

The two were married nearly six years ago, soon after Stokes took the FSU job.

Stokes could have remained a tenured An unexpected path professor at Georgia. She liked both Stokes was born in Washington, D.C., teaching and research. Her interest in where her mom and dad—a secretary leadership didn’t come from a dream working for the National Education of someday being a university president, Association and an Air Force Chief Master Not the first time being first but in wanting to see some changes in Stokes being the first female president Sergeant—met. Her dad was deployed to the psychology department.

Korea when she was 9 months old. When at UNM has been an inspiration to many, “As a faculty member,” she says, “I was he returned, the family moved to bases but it’s not entirely new to her. “It’s not really interested in the direction of our the first time I’ve been the first,” she in Florida, Alaska and Arizona before he doctoral program. I had ideas of ways we says. She has held the distinction of was sent to Vietnam. Stokes, then in the could improve our program and improve being the first female in her positions 9th grade and still going by her middle the experience of our students. I was really name “Sue,” moved with her mother and of department head, dean, provost interested in making a difference. I know three younger brothers to Georgia. When and interim president. Her progressive that sounds trite.” he returned, the family moved to Indiana, roles in academic leadership are also an It didn’t occur to her to consider where Garnett Stokes finished high school inspiration to her biggest fan, her husband, aiming higher until a senior faculty Jeff Younggren. and embraced her distinctive first name, member took her aside one day and

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which she shares with her mother and grandmother. And, by the way, the accent is on the first syllable.

While attending Maconaquah High School near Grissom Air Force Base, where her family had moved when she was in the 10th grade, going to college wasn’t on her radar. Neither of her parents had attended college and a university education was not encouraged by those closest to her.

“My parents didn’t go to college, and I didn’t plan to go to college,” recalled Stokes. “I had a lot of misconceptions about what college was, so for me it was about exposure.”

Events within her personal life led her to decide to sign up for a few classes at the Kokomo branch of the University of Indiana. She was a high-achieving student, and it was there that she discovered a love of psychology.

“I guess I was drawn to understanding human behavior,” She says. “I tend to think a lot about what motivates people and really try to understand individual differences.” She went on to earn advanced degrees at Georgia and became an advocate for student success.

Her own experience has helped her identify with many first-generation college students. “I had no idea how deeply I would appreciate the fact that I ended up going to college,” Stokes says, “and the ways in which it opened up an experience of a world that I didn’t know existed.”

Stokes was selected to be

UNM’s 23rd president after a 10-month national search process. She accepted a fiveyear contract with an annual salary of $400,000.

Stokes dishes up ice cream at Florida State.

said, “You’re going to be our next Psychology Department head.”

“He saw something that I would have never thought of,” Stokes says. “I see that as really the turning point for me.”

She did become chair of the Psychology Department. And when the dean’s position at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at Georgia became open, she applied and was selected.

Stokes stepped up another rung into her first provost position at FSU in 2011, then Missouri in 2015 and UNM this year.

the “rich diversity” of New Mexico and its flagship institution as one of the reasons this position intrigued her.

At UNM, you won’t find President Stokes just her behind a desk either— expect to see her around campus or even at the Frontier.

At Missouri, she had a tradition of traveling office hours, where she set up at various departments and made herself available for anyone who wanted to talk.

“It’s been a really, really good opportunity for me to have private conversations with people but also Ready to dig in conversations with groups of people,” Relocating is second nature to Stokes, a self- she says. She wants to continue that described Air Force brat. And so is travel. tradition at UNM and also to reach out to She has lived all over the country, from the business community in Albuquerque Alaska to Florida and in between, and has and New Mexico and to alumni. paid a visit to every state.

“It strikes me as a wonderful place Most of Stokes’ travel this year, however, where, if I can dig in and get to know will be more local. She is looking forward the community of scholars as well as to learning about Albuquerque and New the people of the state of New Mexico, Mexico. She and her husband share a love including other leaders in business and of biking, hiking and the outdoors—she education, there is potential for partnering has even received some tips on which local in ways that could benefit the entire state.” trails to tackle.

While Stokes has just begun at UNM, “Something I see as really critical is her passion and commitment are clear. truly getting to know the place,” she says.

"The University of New Mexico is Though her first visit to UNM was last fall, also the University for New Mexico,” she had traveled to Albuquerque and other she says. ❂ parts of New Mexico previously and cited

Stokes earned a bachelor’s

degree in psychology from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., and master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Georgia in Athens.

She is a fellow of the

Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

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Partners in Life The first husband of the first female president is feeling out his role

By Leslie Linthicum

J

effrey Younggren has been packing up his house in Missouri and getting ready for the move with his wife into University House in Albuquerque, the historic 7,000-square-foot Pueblo Revival home that serves as the University of New Mexico president’s residence.

When Garnett Stokes took over as UNM’s first female president on March 1, Younggren became the school’s first “president’s husband.”

Younggren, who has his own long and impressive résumé as an officer in the U.S. Army, as a practicing forensic psychologist and as a university professor, is comfortable with the public role of president’s spouse and happy to stand beside the wife he respects and adores as she takes on her biggest job yet.

Since getting to know one another while both served on the accreditation committee for the American Psychological Association, and marrying five years ago when Stokes’ career took her to Florida State University as provost, Younggren says he and Stokes have managed to balance two distinct and demanding careers and still have time to relax and recharge together.

“We’re independent people,” Younggren says. “Neither of us is an extension of the other and we never have been. It works really well for us.”

The couple have two adult children from Younggren’s first marriage. Brad is an emergency room physician who lives in Seattle and Beth Ann is a medical malpractice defense attorney, who lives with her husband and two sons in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Following Stokes to Florida, then Missouri and now New Mexico has not limited his career. While he maintains an office in the Los Angeles area, most of his work is on the road, preparing

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reports for and testifying in criminal and civil proceedings.

“As a forensic psychologist, I do federal crimes and my cases are all over the country and all over the world,” he says.

He usually travels to two trials a month and, he says, “I just have to be close to an airport.”

Younggren logs about 160,000 air miles each year and had been driving two hours to St. Louis for flights, so he is happy he will be living close to the Albuquerque International Sunport. “For me,” Younggren says, “that’s really a blessing.”

Younggren specializes in military forensic psychology and many of his cases are court martial cases, where he testifies for both the prosecution and the defense.

His cases include murders and he was part of the trial of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who was found guilty in 2013 of carrying out the largest mass murder at a military installation in American history, at Ft. Hood in Texas.

Sexual assault cases are much more common; Younggren estimates those cases make up about 75 percent of his military caseload.

He is also a specialist in memory contamination—how memories change over time. And he has been involved in his private practice in sexual abuse cases involving Catholic priests and school personnel.

Younggren received all three of his degrees— bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology—from the University of Arizona.

He joined the Army Reserve while in

Arizona and retired in 2002 as a full colonel.

He has had an appointment in the medical school at UCLA since 1980 and in 2015 joined the faculty of the University of Missouri when Stokes’ career took them to Mizzou.

He now has an appointment as a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the UNM School of Medicine.

“I research, I write. I have academic things I need to do. And I like students.

Students are wonderful,” he says.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni can expect to see Younggren at events, he says, but he won’t be on campus year-round.

UNM staff will have access to his calendar for events and he will accompany his wife when he is available.

His role, he says jokingly, has been “just to go where I’m told and do what I’m told.”

Younggren and Stokes share a love for hiking and the two are most comfortable “putzing together,” Younggren says. “I like to cook and we do that together. We go to the gym. I'm a car guy so we work on our antique car." Indeed, he is the proud owner of a deep blue 1911 Model T Roadster that he has restored to shimmering show car condition. ❂

Photo: Josh Lane

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E

leven-year-old Lameck Humble Lukanga arrived in Denver with his mother, father and brother—a boy from rural Uganda who needed to learn English fast.

“It never came easy to me,” Lukanga (’08 BA, ’09 MBA) remembers, “but when I was learning English and all these foreign concepts, I would do it over and over and over and over again. And so I got a formula early in life that if I could stick to something long enough, I’m going to figure it out.”

By 12 he had mastered English well enough to put it to use in business.

His business plan was simple and lucrative. He bought boxes of candy at his neighborhood supermarket, then took the bus to wealthy neighborhoods and went door to door. His sales pitch: “Hello. My name is Humble. Instead of playing video games, I choose to go out and practice entrepreneurship and by doing that I sell candy.”

He would sell out each weekend at a markup of around 600 percent. And he had an investment plan. Fifty percent of his gross profit went to his mother to help with the family bills, 25 percent was saved for next weekend’s trip to the supermarket and 25 percent he kept for spending money.

Although he was poor, he says, “All the kids at school thought that I came from a rich family because I had all the newest clothes and all the newest shoes.”

Repetition, practice, adhering to his values and having an investment plan have paid off big for Lukanga, who is 31 and owns Life Line Financial Group, a wealth management firm with a client roster of superstars.

Lukanga, who goes by his middle name Humble, traces his core values to the village in Uganda where he grew up with no electricity and no running water but a warm and strong community and parents who were inspiring. But his decision to come to the University of New Mexico is where his career began.

Lukanga had a dream of attending New York University, majoring in the arts and eventually going into entertainment law.

But his mother was ill and he put that dream on hold to stay nearby. He could have gone to college closer to home, but Lukanga studied Greyhound bus schedules and picked UNM so he could stay close, but still explore.

“To be able to grow,” he says, “you gotta leave. Even if you come back, it’s important to just go somewhere where you don’t know anybody and just find your way.”

So he showed up in Albuquerque to find his way.

“In retrospect,” he says, “it’s been the best decision of my life.”

Part of the draw was size and pace of life.

“I felt like New Mexico was fast enough to learn, to meet new people, to explore, but yet at the same time slow enough to

mature,” he says. “It gave me a baseline to really find out who I was and more importantly who I wanted to be. It’s so important to mature at the right pace. I was able to just get focused and locked in.”

Both of Lukanga’s parents died while he was an undergraduate at UNM. But he met his future wife, Heidi Oliver (’10 BA) in the SUB and his first clients in business classes.

He also met Brandon Burnett (’08 BBA, ’09 MBA), who now works as a CPA for Life Line, in the dorm and spent Sundays at his house, milking business advice from Burnett’s father, Brian (’78 BSCE, ’80 Engineering), president of Bohannan Huston, Inc. “I’m grateful,” he says today. “The people you meet in college, those become your brothers and your sisters. Everything in my life that I really, really treasure, I can see how Albuquerque really played a part in it.”

Lukanga, who is based in Los Angeles and Denver, travels the world helping the athletes and entertainment figures who are his clients make business deals.

“It’s crazy how life works, man,” he says.

“If you stay honest with your journey and you stay true to yourself, things may not go as planned, but you end up somewhere worth being. I thought I was going to be in New York City being an entertainment lawyer. But I find myself in Albuquerque, New Mexico, eating sopaipillas and then my life is completely different. But I was exactly where I needed to be.”

Lukanga talks about wealth and values at the Anderson School of Management's 2017 McKinnon lecture.

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Humble and Successful Business grad has a stable of celebrity clients and a plan for their financial future

By Leslie Linthicum

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

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Lukanga was back in Albuquerque last fall for Homecoming as the Anderson School of Management’s 2017 McKinnon speaker.

Before his talk, he took a moment to scroll through his phone, reading off the names of some of his clients: Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner.

Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall and cornerback Bradley Roby.

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson. Lions cornerback Darius Slay.

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Oakland Raiders quarterback

Award-winning director Malina Matsoukas and actor/writer/director/ producer Issa Rae, star of HBO’s “Insecure.”

And then there’s Detroit Lions star safety Glover Quin (’08 BBA), a Pro Bowler who came to the Lions on a five-year $23.5 million contract in 2013 and recently signed a two-year extension worth $13 million.

Back when Lukanga and Quin got to know one another in an early-morning business law class at UNM, neither was thinking of contracts with that many zeros. Quin was trying to make

out of 10 NFL players were broke three years after they retired.

“That just blew my mind,” Lukanga said. “I couldn’t imagine escaping poverty, reaching that level and then going right back to it.”

He got curious and read more.

“Everything I was finding was so disparaging of the athletes: ‘They’re stupid, they’re undisciplined, they’re frivolous.’ But all these guys have financial wealth managers.”

Obviously, those wealth managers were not very effective.

Photo: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

EJ Manuel. New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshall Lattimore.

Also on that list are some stars who don’t play football on Sundays: former Boston Celtics guard J.R. Giddens, Los Angeles Laker rookie and former UCLA standout Alonzo Ball, Grammy

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the NFL draft and Lukanga was thinking of strategies to keep young, talented athletes—mostly African Americans and from poverty—from burning through their cash.

Lukanga was in Zimmerman Library when he read an article that said eight

“So I said I want to build a firm where it’s not even about managing wealth, per se. It’s about managing wellness. Not being a financial adviser, but somebody who is really into their well-being. I got tired of seeing these people getting taken advantage of and I wanted to do something about it.”

His first client was Lobo basketball player J.R. Giddens. When Quin graduated, he was picked in the fourth round and signed with the Houston Texans, his college friend Lukanga was there to talk about signing Quin to his roster and managing Quin’s $310,000 rookie salary.

“I was a little apprehensive about it,” Quin remembers. “I had good money for a new college graduate but it wasn’t much money. I was like, ‘Do I even have any money to manage?’”

Quin, 31 and now a venture capitalist and multi-millionaire, remembers Lukanga’s words to this day: “He said, ‘These are the times that you need the most help because you don’t have room for error.’”

They partnered as young kids and the partnership has paid off.

“We all have dreams,” Quin says.

“Back then I was trying to make it into the league. He’s got this vision to protect athletes and entertainers. We would throw up all these scenarios. And the amazing thing is, it all happened.”

Lukanga, who still speaks with a slight English accent, a legacy of growing up in a nation that was a part of the British Empire, has become a motivational speaker and his conversation is peppered with Humble-isms.

One is, “First you form habits and then habits form you.” It’s a core of the holistic approach he takes to working with clients, many of whom are overnight millionaires.

Lukanga, who has a waiting list for new clients, begins each encounter with a new client with an intimate conversation.

“I’m a complete 180 from a traditional money manager,” he says. Lukanga believes people should have five values that anchor how they live their life. His are family, community, gratitude, generosity and freedom.

“When I sign a client, we have a real honest and intimate and sometimes painful discussion of what do you really value and why,” he says. “And once we determine what those five values are that mean the world to you, then how is every single goal and every single behavior directly in sync with those values? I say, ‘Let’s let those values drive us. Because if

you stay true to them you’re going to end up somewhere worth going.’”

If those five values are the heart of his financial plan, the 70/30 formula is what helps that heart pump.

In a sentence: “You’re going to save 70 percent of your take-home pay and you’re going to live on 30 percent.”

That means that someone like Quin and his wife Gladys (’08 BA) lived very modestly in the first years in the NFL. That made him stand out from his free-spending teammates and attracted some ribbing.

“A lot of these guys, they maybe didn’t have much growing up and now they’re playing in the NFL and making money and they’re like, ‘You’re telling me I can’t spend it?’”

Lukanga admits it takes some persuasion to get young men to think frugally when it seems like they’ve just won the lottery.

“It’s a very hard sell. Especially if you come from poverty,” he says. But, he explains, if players save and invest early, they can help their families forever. And NFL careers, especially, are short. Banking and investing in the first years of a career might be the only years.

For Quin, it wasn’t a hard sell.

“I’ve never been a spender,” says Quin, who had a pragmatic approach to playing professionally: Get in, work hard, save as much money as possible and get out healthy.

Lukanga wants sports and entertainment stars to look into themselves to see that there’s more than spending money on flashy things. Spiritual capital, he calls it.

“How are you feeding yourself? What do you really want your purpose to be?”

And, with a son of his own now, 3-yearold Lennon Humble Lukanga, Lukanga is still very disciplined financially.

“I definitely take my own medicine,” he says. “I would like to think that if tomorrow I had nothing I would be the same person. For me it was never about representing superstars. It was about helping people.” ❂

Client Glover Quin (’08 BBA), safety for the Detroit Lions, dressed for business and on the field. Photos: Courtesy of Glover Quin

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Sowing the Seeds of Discipline A N D F EEDI NG AN AR M Y

By Keiko Ohnuma

Photos: Courtesy of Khan family

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G

rowing up on a farm outside Deming, N.M., Joetta Khan (née Ruebush) was considered the black sheep of the family. One of seven children in a rural clan that saw little use for a college education, she graduated from UNM in 2004 with a bachelor’s of science in Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Service, earned her Ph.D. in health education and behavioral science at Rutgers School of Public Health, all on full scholarships. Her rise through the ranks of the military and academia to be director of research in the graduate program of nutrition at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center tells a tale of persistence and grit that one could hardly guess from her roots in southern New Mexico.

“I’m not sure where I got it,” she says of her perseverance through more than a decade of higher education, “except maybe some of my teachers.”

As a high school sophomore, she was encouraged to apply for, and received, a scholarship to the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. It was an abrupt induction into a way of life that groomed her for much more than rifle polishing and marching.

The stereotypical image of military school is a discipline builder for delinquents, but it turned out to be a rigorous science-based prep school for students headed either to military academy or college.

“It’s all academics,” Khan says. “You have study hall for two hours every night, so in terms of getting you prepared for college, it’s really good.”

As the second eldest in a family of seven, she knew she would have to pay her own way through college. She chose UNM because her tuition would be covered through the lottery scholarship, and Albuquerque’s cost of living was relatively low. Also, she had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, and UNM has a good medical school.

Khan soon discovered that studying nutrition suited her interests better than pre-med, and the Nutrition & Dietetics Program in the College of Education at UNM turned out to be “really wonderful and encouraging,” especially her advisor, Donna Lockner (now associate professor emerita). But a new obstacle arose: becoming a registered dietitian requires a year-long internship.

“It’s pretty intense, and expensive, and once you pass that, you sit for a registered dietitian exam,” Khan says of the nine to 12 months of rotations through inpatient and outpatient clinics and food service.

Again she had to hunt for a scholarship, and the one she ended up with was with Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She had been relieved to be finished with military life, but meeting her future husband Saleem Khan (’03 BBA) as a sophomore at UNM shifted her thinking. He was already in the Army as a commissioned officer and she began to see the valuable life skills he had developed. “That opened my mind, like the military is not just this rigid, closed-off structure,” she explains.

By the time she graduated from UNM, the first in her family to complete a fouryear degree or serve in the military, she too was a commissioned military officer.

As one of five nutrition interns at Walter Reed, “I was amazed at how much more prepared I was than my classmates,” Khan says. “That speaks volumes for the UNM program.” In fact, she has met four or five dietitians in various branches of the military who also graduated from UNM, and other connections with New Mexico seemed to follow her military career from El Paso, Texas, to Honolulu to Iraq.

“I’m still a resident and have the license plate, and no matter where I go, it’s not unusual to find a note on my car saying, ‘I’m from N.M. too—let’s connect!” she laughs. “People from New Mexico have a close connection, even if we’re quite different.”

While serving as the only dietitian at the Army hospital at West Point, Khan began working toward her master’s degree in public health at New York Medical College in 2008. During the day she would handle everything required of a military dietitian— inpatient and outpatient nutrition services (counseling, managing patient dietary needs and feeding operations, pediatrics and sports nutrition) as well as running the hospital food service program—and then at night attend college on the GI Bill.

Her husband was busy pursuing his own military career, which often kept them apart for months at a time.

At her next posting, at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Khan gave birth to her daughter, Mina. While working and advancing her education as a military officer, she also wanted to deepen her study in the field of nutrition, and learned about an Army scholarship that would help her complete a Ph.D. The Army was looking to increase its research in this field, and was offering one scholarship to a dietitian, which she received. The only catch: She had

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to complete the doctorate in three years, though it typically takes five to seven.

“My daughter was 18 months old when I entered the program at Rutgers,” Khan says.

Her husband, now an Army major, was with her in New Jersey for the first year; he then deployed to Afghanistan for six months, was back home for six months, and during the final year of her doctorate was in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, at the Command and General Staff College. With some hired help and “wonderful neighbors down the street from New Mexico,” Khan was able to take on the maximum allowable credits at school, with no breaks, and finish her degree on time in May 2017.

The Army scholarship had been designed for research that would consider nutrition and obesity together with psychology, a direction that Khan pursued with an advisor at Rutgers whose specialty was alcohol and addiction studies.

Her dissertation ultimately combined these interests in “Military Readiness: Relationships Among Alcohol Use, Eating Habits, and Body Mass Index.”

“Sometimes we forget that all these relationships are occurring in a whole person,” she explains. “We don’t want to just target eating habits, for example, but

also look at alcohol use and exercise to understand the whole person.”

One surprising finding of her research was that exercise and alcohol use do not necessarily correlate.

“We found a set of moderate drinkers who exercise more than either abstainers or abusers,” she says. Her research also found a high correlation between alcohol use and body mass index (BMI): “Once your alcohol consumption goes up, your BMI goes up, and that alone explains the impact on military readiness.”

Khan hopes to get her dissertation research published as a first step toward implementing new Army policy. At Walter Reed, she is an Army major in charge of overseeing existing research and developing new initiatives toward helping maintain healthy forces and families. Currently, that includes projects like evaluating a marketing program in the dining facility that encourages healthy choices, studying the use of video conferencing to deliver health education and research into whether and how providing nutrition education for families impacts the health of service members.

She also supervises interns who are— as she was—taking their first steps toward becoming registered dietitians.

Khan, with husband Saleem and daughter Mina.

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“Now I get to train the new interns to be the nutritionists of the future,” says Khan, 36, as she looks forward to completing 14 years of military service in May. “For me, this is the best part of the job.”

What once looked to be a life of badge polishing has turned out to be “a great fit,” she says, in the structure and challenges offered by military life.

“I can’t complain—the Army has been really good for me and my family.”

The values acquired from working the family fields in alfalfa, chile and corn, raising stock, and showing animals in county and state fairs, then applying herself in academics has continuously paid off in benefits and promotion.

Khan also credits the education she received at UNM for laying the foundation that set her up for her graduate programs.

At New York Medical College, a private school, and in her nutrition practice, Khan says she repeatedly found that a private school education does not necessarily leave students better prepared.

“People think there’s a big difference, but I think the difference is in the programs, and the person who is going to school.”

As someone who grew up with parents who “couldn’t help me, because they didn’t understand the system,” Khan is living proof that support materializes for the hardworking and persistent. Her mother completed an associate’s degree in nursing the same year Kahn graduated from UNM, and her youngest brother will become the family’s third college graduate this year, and the second to join the military.

“I’ve always said you can sit around and complain, or hope someone else does things, but my goal has always been to make the soldiers better, to give back, because the Army has given me a lot,” Khan says.

She plans to continue serving for as long as she is enjoying her assignments and can make a contribution.

“And then I’m going to retire to New Mexico,” she declares. “I still miss it a lot—especially during chile season.” ❂

By Jenell Pollard

Under the Sun

Engineering grad tackles alternative energy challenges

“My family has been in New Mexico so long that my blood type is red chile … mixed with a little Lobo cherry,” says Kenneth Armijo (’05 BS).

Armijo, a senior member of the technical staff in the Concentrating Solar Energy

Technologies Department at Sandia National Laboratories, is a 14th-generation New Mexican who spent his childhood working with his parents in operating one of the only USDA organic-certified heirloom chile farms in the world.

Armijo learned that farmers “had to engineer to survive,” and his affinity for engineering began to develop.

Armijo’s knowledge of engineering conventions is rooted in an understanding of machine component design, fluid

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

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mechanics and basic chemistry that grew out of his upbringing on his parents’ farm in the village of Sabinal.

“What’s neat is whenever you grow up in a rural environment, a lot of [engineering] becomes intuitive,” Armijo says. That became the catalyst that propelled him into taking an interest in progressive engineering.

“My family was very built on doing things [in] the old ways and I always respected that,” Armijo says. “But I also respected—‘Is there a faster, more efficient way of doing things?’”

His interest in efficiency led him to pursue a bachelor’s degree concentrating in mechanical engineering. When it came time for college Armijo continued a family tradition, enrolling at UNM,

where his parents Ken (’88 BUS) and Rosa (’83 JD) met.

“It’d always been ingrained in [me] that UNM was special,” Armijo says, “and it wasn’t until I left… that I realized how special it was.”

At UNM Armijo met Andrea A. Mammoli, a professor of mechanical engineering, who “made very complicated concepts very interesting.” Mammoli encouraged Armijo’s interest in engineering and soon Armijo’s educational career was consumed with engineering-focused extracurricular activities and academic endeavors.

Later, Armijo developed his first senior design project with Plamen Atanassov, a professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.

Kenneth Armijo (’05 BS) at work at Sandia National Laboratories.

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Atanassov advised Armijo and his team as they developed an invigorating endeavor for his project of choice: creating a novel method for producing energy and water, which was tested in NASA’s Zero-Gravity Vomit Comet DC-9 aircraft, which allowed for what Armijo describes as an “exhilarating” experience.

Armijo completed a second senior design project with another professor, in which he competed in a student automotive design competition as part of Formula SAE. “The beauty of UNM—that I didn’t realize until after I left—is how UNM promotes internships and co-ops.” Armijo describes the Engineering Student Success Center, an Engineering Department program that helps students by providing academic resources and leadership and community building opportunities as “the gem of UNM.” It was “the one thing that impacted my career and my life in general, probably more so than anything else at UNM.” There, Armijo met Diversity Programs coordinator Tom Cummings, whom he views as a true advisor.

“Although I had great professors, he was a mentor to me. He didn’t have to be, but he would go out of his way to help students like myself,” Armijo says. “You don’t get that at other universities. UNM doesn’t take for granted the importance of working with students, and I feel like that is what makes the engineering program at UNM extra special and successful.”

After graduation from UNM, Armijo received his master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Management of Technology Certificate from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as well as a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a Designated Emphasis in Energy Science and Technology certification.

Armijo contemplated multiple career opportunities, including teaching as a professor or pursuing a career at Tesla or Google. Over time, Armijo concluded that a national laboratory would be an ideal fit.

“I realized there was something about a national lab that was great at bridging interests,” he says.

Mechanical engineer Kenneth Armijo (’05 BA) at work at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories.

Armijo’s work at Sandia specializes in phase-change materials, investigating ways to produce greater efficiency and cleaner power production, with a focus in concentrating solar power. As to the future of solar energy applications, Armijo believes “the sky is the limit.”

Outside of work, Armijo takes great pleasure in his community involvement, which he considers “substantial impacts.”

His outreach activities include the annual

DREAMBuilders event, in which more than 400 students, parents and teachers gather to showcase and celebrate the collaboration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and Art, as well as Noches de Ciencias (Science Nights), a bilingual program aimed at parents and students in Title I communities to encourage kids who want to pursue STEM careers.

Armijo continues to devote himself to his alma mater by organizing multiple

student-focused workshops at the University, assisting students in areas of professional development, such as creating an ideal résumé, getting accepted into Top 10 universities and how to survive, thrive and finish a Ph.D. “The one thing that I really love about Sandia is the same thing I really love about UNM: I get to do a lot of outreach and give back,” Armijo says. ❂

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Eddie Nuñez Welcomes the Challenge New AD brings new standards

By Leslie Linthicum

Coming aboard

Getting the jacket

With wife Jane and daughters

ith just a minute between appointments in his office in the South Campus athletics complex, Eddie Nuñez, UNM’s new director of athletics, has a small note card decorated with a snowflake open and pen in hand. He is writing a thank-you-and-nice-to-meetyou note, one of many he’ll compose in a week filled with coffees, lunches and other opportunities to meet members of the Albuquerque community and Lobo Nation.

His mom and dad taught him to be grateful and polite, and a coach he worked for taught him the power of the personal, handwritten note as a way to let people know you appreciate them and want to stay connected.

“He was a big believer in handwritten notes and just following up and making that personal connection,” Nuñez says.

“I make sure I make time in my schedule to write thank you notes.”

On the job a few months, Nuñez describes a schedule of nearly Biblical

proportions: 40 community engagements in 47 days. Hired to head up a department that has suffered public embarrassment in the past few years, Nuñez comes in as a reformer eager to make changes but just as eager to listen and try to understand the culture and community of Lobo sports.

One of his first innovations is a regular open letter to the UNM and fan community.

“It’s about trying to connect with everybody. Letting them know who we are and what’s happening,” Nuñez says.

“It’s trying to get to our fans and let them know, look, this is where we are, this is what’s in front of us and this is how we’re going to do things.”

When Nuñez was hired from Louisiana State University last summer, he donned the red blazer and walked into a department that had just received an unflattering financial audit by the state auditor.

“The way I look at it is we, as a department, need to do a better job,”

Nuñez says. “The path forward­—where we’re going, the way I’m going to do business—I’m implementing my standards.

I’m implementing my expectations for accountability for our department.”

Nuñez, who is Cuban-American and grew up in Miami, speaks fluent Spanish but has picked up a slight accent from the 17 years he spent in the South, in Nashville, Tenn., at Vanderbilt University and in Baton Rouge, La., at LSU. He says “yes, ma’am” and “no, sir” and has a bouncy enthusiasm that allows him to look at an audit as an opportunity.

“I get it, people don’t like to be audited,” he says, “but it’s as assessment. It’s an opportunity. I’m taking the information, good, bad or ugly, and we’re going to own this.

We’re going to take this as an opportunity to make this place better. We appreciate it, this opportunity. We’re going to take this and we’re going to learn from this.”

Nuñez , who is 6 feet 4 inches, played basketball for the University of Florida. He

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Frank Orona (‘86 BSE) Santa Cruz, N.M., was recently named interim dean of student services at Northern New Mexico College.

says he’s a better golfer than a basketball player but he loved the game so much he pursued it despite his limitations. “No one thought I was going to play Division I except myself,” he says.

After spending two years at a junior college in his native Miami, he reached that goal as a Gator. He wasn’t a starter and he spent enough time on the bench to learn plays and strategies and realize his career might be in coaching.

When he completed his bachelor’s degree in sports management, Nuñez spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Florida while earning a master’s degree in sports administration, and then was men’s basketball administrative assistant coach at Marquette University for one year.

He went to Vanderbilt to shift careers from coaching to administration. And when the opportunity came three years later to take the same position, director of game and event management, at LSU, he jumped for the bigger school and bigger program.

While at LSU, he had seven positions in 14 years, leaving as deputy director of athletics.

Nuñez met his wife Jane at Vanderbilt and the couple has two children, Elizabeth, 9, and Anna, 6. The family moved to Albuquerque during winter break after being separated for months and Nuñez happily got back into his morning dad routine: Get the girls up, make them breakfast and drive them to school.

Nuñez comes from a large extended Cuban family. Both of his grandfathers— one a banker and one a sugar producer— lost their businesses and were jailed under the regime of Fidel Castro. They relocated their children, including Nuñez’s mother and father, to Miami and the families began to rebuild from nothing.

“They were coming to a new country and starting a life from scratch,” Nuñez says. “That’s where I learned hard work, rolling up your sleeves and getting after it, but always being appreciative of those around you and those who have helped you get to where you are.”

Nuñez has been happy to find similarities among New Mexicans to his Cuban family and to the people of Louisiana.

“In Miami you had all these different Hispanic cultures. And in Louisiana you had a melting pot of cultures. So to come to another place that has so much rich tradition—the Native Americans, the Hispanics, the African Americans, the whites—I like this kind of community.

This is what my family and I enjoy.”

In addition to getting to know New Mexico and joining the community, Nuñez outlines three specific goals: improving the experience of student athletes, getting the financial house in order and improving fan experience.

On the last item, it didn’t take Nuñez long to understand how important Lobo sports are to the fabric of New Mexico.

He wants to make sure that sports fans, who can sit at home and watch just about anything on a big high-def TV, are encouraged to come out and experience Lobo sports in person.

“We’re going to put a major emphasis in our department and try to see how we can improve our fan experience. What can we do to get them out to see a game?

My hope is from the time a person leaves their house to the time they get back home—they drive over here, they park, they go into the venue to watch the game, they eat the food, they go back to their car and they drive home—that that experience is the best it can be.” ❂

Fermin A. Rubio (‘86 JD), Las Cruces, N.M., was recognized at a retirement ceremony at Kirtland Air Force Base for his service as an assistant adjutant general for air and commander of the New Mexico Air National Guard.

Jerry H. Ritter, Jr. (‘87 JD), Alamogordo, N.M., retired in September after serving 20 years as a 12th Judicial District judge.

Van Tate (‘88 BA), Albuquerque, was one of two recipients of the Living Legend Award from the UNM Black Alumni Chapter. He was honored as the first African American to serve in his position as a local sportscaster.

Stuart Butzier (‘89 JD), Albuquerque, a shareholder at Modrall Sperling, has been named Lawyer of the Year in the area of Litigation— Environmental by Best Lawyers 2018.

Stuart Butzier This is his sixth time he has received a Lawyer of the Year Award from Best Lawyers.

Tony Franklin (‘89 BSE, ‘93 MS), Urbana, Ill., associate director of Field Operations for University of Illinois Extension, received the 2017 Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award on Leadership in Diversity from the Office of the Chancellor. The award honors nominees who demonstrate exceptional dedication to and success in promoting diversity and inclusion.

Anna C. Hansen (‘89 BFA, ‘92 MA), Santa Fe, N.M., was elected to the Santa Fe Board of Commissioners in November. She was also elected Commission vice chair in January.

She also serves on the Santa Fe River Commission in Santa Fe.

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UNM

PEOPLE

CHANGING

WORLDS

A Legacy of Good Works Driven by Curiosity and Empathy, Two-Time UNM Alumnus Achieves Multifaceted Success Alexander Schauss poses at the Chenzhou train station in Hunan Province, China, following a presentation he made at a symposium by invitation of the Ministry of Land and Resources in 2015. Photos this article: Courtesy Alexander Schauss

By Katie Williams and Michelle McRuiz

D

o a Google search for Alexander Schauss (’70 BA, ’72 MA) and the diversity of the results may prompt you to wonder just how many people share this name.

Drug addiction treatment innovator, discoverer of the açai berry’s antioxidant properties, life scientist… these all refer to the same man. Relentlessly inquisitive, Schauss is driven by a desire to help others—particularly those who are misunderstood—through intellectual rigor and science.

That drive “didn’t come from within,” Schauss said, “but from the kindness shown to me by so many people I encountered who believed in me.”

Schauss’ parents wanted him to escape war-ravaged Europe, so the family immigrated to New York in 1953.

He loved to read, was curious about

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everything and was never afraid to challenge others, even his teachers. As a third-grader he questioned celebrating Columbus Day, given the trauma and pain that “discovering” North America caused the native population.

Although Schauss lived in a neighborhood dominated by New York’s largest gang, and his junior high school was located amid the highest concentration of heroin addicts in the country, he refused to succumb to drugs or violence and volunteered to help other young people at the West Side YMCA. Leaving New York for UNM, the city’s problems stayed on his mind, so as a student he decided to do something about it.

A focus on the family Schauss arrived at UNM in 1966. While earning his bachelor’s degree and running for the heralded Lobo track team, he often

returned to New York to study the causes of crime and delinquency. Meanwhile, Bernalillo County, which at the time had the highest felony crime rate in the country, offered abundant research opportunities.

Rather than accept a corporate job in New York after graduation, he stayed in Albuquerque and became a juvenile probation/parole officer and a Bernalillo County deputy sheriff.

“Immediately it became obvious that a different approach toward rehabilitation was needed,” Schauss said. “This inspired the idea to focus on the family, not just the offender. Punishing offenders with incarceration was not a panacea. Rather it often provoked anger against society.”

Schauss proposed that the juvenile court establish a sentencing option requiring young offenders and their parents or caregivers to attend an eight-week group-

counseling program. The First Offender Program, launched in 1970, within two years resulted in the lowest recidivism rate of juvenile offenders in the country.

It eventually caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and national judicial and criminal justice organizations.

“It was also the reason I continued my education at UNM, earning my master’s degree in guidance and counseling,” Schauss said. The satisfaction of making a difference in Albuquerque encouraged Schauss to develop similar programs in South Dakota and Washington that also received national recognition.

Antioxidant discovery After earning his master’s degree, Schauss worked as a criminal justice planner and administrator. He eventually sought new challenges, which led him to specialize in the treatment of eating disorders and the study of the effect of nutrients on brain function.

Schauss went on to earn a Ph.D. in psychology from California Coast University, studying the effect of zinc deficiency on perceptual dysfunction, which resulted in a breakthrough treatment for bulimic and anorexic patients.

In 1995, Schauss’s research garnered him one of his most noteworthy career accomplishments—the discovery of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of a palm fruit in the Amazon rainforest now known as açai.

Out of his many professional accomplishments, Schauss ranks his dietbehavior research near the top; it includes more than 250 publications and 23 books in the field of nutrition and botanical medicine. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, served on National Institutes of Health advisory committees, represented the United States on the World Health Organization’s Study Group on Health Promotion, and even gave an invited presentation on nutrition before a joint session of the British Parliament.

From superfoods to functional foods Schauss currently holds two research appointments at the University of Arizona and is the founder and CEO of AIBMR Life Sciences Inc., a scientific and regulatory consulting company. In collaboration with scientists, academicians and government agencies, AIBMR provides services for companies and institutions worldwide that develop and market natural products to ensure that health claims are not misleading.

Where Schauss sees he can make a change in the world, he acts—and he does it all with a sense of enjoyment and gratitude. “I love this planet,” he said. “What an honor it is to be alive and aware of Earth’s biodiversity and the recognition of our potential to demonstrate our humanity.” ❂ Editor’s note: If you would like to support UNM’s College of Arts and Sciences or any program, scholarship or research area at The University of New Mexico, please contact the UNM Foundation at (505) 313-7600 or visit UNMFund.org.

1990s Brent Wagner (‘90 BS, ‘92 BA, ‘95 MS, ‘99 MD), San Antonio, Texas, was invited by the United States Food and Drug Administration to provide the introductory talk at the Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee meeting in September.

Mahmood R. Zamanian (‘90 BSPH, ‘95 DM), Albuquerque, joined the Presbyterian Medical Group as a pharmacist and internist.

Maria Wolfe (‘90 BA), Albuquerque, was presented with a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for her outstanding work during the UNM NROTC 75th Anniversary Campaign.

Sandra Benischek Harrison (‘91), Oklahoma City, was named director of regulatory and legal affairs at the Oklahoma Hospital Association. She also presented on telemedicine at the Spring Summit of the Center for Telehealth and E-Law in Washington, D.C. Mary E. Cisper (‘92 BA), Santa Fe, N.M., read from her poetry collection, “Dark Tussock Moth,” at SOMOS Salon in October.

Kimberly A. Fredenburgh (‘92 BUS), Albuquerque, performed a Peter Gilbert duet in September at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

John J. Freisinger (‘92 BA), Albuquerque, is the president and executive director of Innovate ABQ, a public-private partnership meant to house students, scientists and entrepreneurs in one spot.

Alexander Schauss poses beside a rare mutation of the crested saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) taken at Saguaro National Park in southeastern Arizona.

Jacquelyn Marushka (‘92 BA), Nashville, is president of Marushka Media, a public relations and marketing agency.

Jacquelyn Marushka

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Shelf Life

Books by UNM Alumni

In “Brand Vs. Wild” (Bibliomotion, 2017) by Jonathan David Lewis (’06 BA), Lewis, a partner and strategic director at McKee Wallwork + Company, says, “Brands are lost like never before.” Why? What the business community calls “disruption” spells uncertainty and adversity for companies that bank on a reliable name and reputation. Lewis uses captivating tales of terrifying survival—surviving a plane crash in the Andes, being lost at sea in the Atlantic, floating alone in a rubber life raft hundreds of miles off shore—to get the blood pumping, then segues into accounts of how the intense human emotions and survival instincts those crises elicit can help businesses and marketers correct course and make their brands more resilient. As Lewis says to anyone who would dismiss the comparison between modern business and wilderness survival, “think again.”

“Indian Country” (IngramElliott, 2017) by John Young (’00 BA, ’02 MA) has a dizzying cast of bad guys: the Zetas Mexican drug cartel, the Bandidos motorcycle gang and al-Qaida operatives. They’re all crawling around the Arizona-Mexico border and they all come in contact with the novel’s hero, Wayne Kinkaid. Kinkaid is a veteran of the Iraq war and DEA agent who’s gone undercover with the Bandidos to get intel on drug cartels. Things go very bad for Kincaid when he’s captured by al-Qaida amidst a plot to bomb Los Alamos National Laboratory. Young has some real crime-fighting credentials. He has worked as a police officer and private investigator as well as a counterterrorism analyst for the FBI and a U.S. Army intelligence instructor.

Just in time for the resurgence of newspaper and magazine reporting comes “Inside Story: Everyone’s Guide to Reporting and Writing Creative Nonfiction” (LeafStorm, 2017) by Julia Goldberg (’95 MA).

Goldberg, who was the editor of the Santa Fe Reporter through the 2000s, has been teaching nonfiction writing at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. In this handbook, destined to become a text in many journalism courses, she breaks down in practical and granular detail the processes of finding stories, interviewing, structuring, constructing sentences, using quotes and editing. Journalists and essayists will find the book helpful in thinking through trouble spots in their work and seeing their craft anew. But any non-journalist who is adrift in the troll wars and “fake news” might also benefit from seeing how a smart and thoughtful journalist approaches her craft.

“The Book of Archives and Other Stories from the Mora Valley, New Mexico” (University of Oklahoma Press, 2017) by A. Gabriel Meléndez (’76 BA, ’79 MA) is a collection of short stories and vignettes, all set in the mountain villages of the Mora Valley. It is actually two books: the first written in English, the second written in Spanish. Meléndez is a professor of American Studies at UNM and the author of scholarly books whose topics range from Chicano cinema to Spanish-language newspapers in New Mexico. As Meléndez says in his preface, this collection is based on childhood memories but also embellished and changed (especially names). The result is part information, part imagination. Whether these cuentos are literal or imagined, they are lyrically written and conjure the landscape, history, faith and family connections of the valley.

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It’s Santa Fe in the Roaring Twenties and Amanda, who had been left at the altar, takes advantage of a botched haircut and decides to pass as a man. All it takes is a fake mustache, some trousers and a note saying she’s taken a train back East for Amanda to begin to roam Santa Fe’s Fiestas in another identity and try to find out what’s going on with her best friend’s suitor. In the tradition of Shakespearean farces of mistaken identity, “Madcap Masquerade” (University of New Mexico Press, 2017) by Janet Chapman (’96 MA) is a comic romp with plenty of Santa Fe name checking and nostalgia.

The ten short stories that comprise “What My Last Man Did” (Indiana University Press, 2017) link together one family through decades, around the country and across the Atlantic. Iris and Hannah Delgado are sisters dealing with their father’s death and the prospect of their mother selling the family land in Galveston in the 1970s. Hannah is a student at New Mexico State University; her sister Iris has holed up on the family land, protecting a nest of pelican eggs from the bulldozers that will soon come. Louis Paradiso, a mixed-race handyman at the place, figures in many of the stories that explore family connections and loss in this first short story collection by Andrea Lewis (’70 BA).

An outgrowth of the Borderlife Research Project at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, “Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, And Pelados: Class & Culture on the South Texas Border” (University of Texas Press, 2017) by Chad Richardson and Michael Pisani (’86 MBA, ’89 MA) offers a portrait of life along the borderlands. First published in 1999, it has been updated in include important recent developments in immigration, drug wars and cartel violence and changing demographics.

Richardson, a professor emeritus at UT, and Pisani, professor of international business at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, combine data and ethnographic accounts collected by student interviewers. They give deep insight into the lives of farmworkers, residents of colonias, maquiladora workers, undocumented maids in Texas towns, Mexican street children and Anglo snowbirds.

The pain in “The Pain and the Sorrow: A Moreno Valley Territory Novel” (Sunstone Press, 2017) by Loretta Miles Tollefson (’98 MA, ’12 MA) could refer to the jealous rages Charles Kennedy rains down on his young wife, Gregoria. The sorrow, perhaps the 15-month-old son he kills in a rage. There is sadness, murder and mayhem in this novel, based on actual events in and around Elizabethtown, N.M., in the Moreno Valley in the 1860s. Tollefson scoured newspaper and state archives and other sources to dig up the gruesome bones of a mass murderer, and then embroidered it liberally to form this engaging tale.

Tollefson’s role as a writer, she says, is to fill in the gaps of a historical record “and then (most importantly) imagine the emotions and motives of the people who lived those events.”

Children’s Literature There’s a moral to “Owl in the Straw Hat” (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2017) by New Mexico literary lion Rudolfo Anaya (’63 BA, ’69 MA, ’72 MA). The message in this bilingual children’s story is that going to school is nothing to fear and learning to read will help you navigate life more smoothly. At least that’s how it goes for Ollie Tecolote, an owl who lives in an apple orchard near Española in northern New Mexico. Ollie skips school and hangs out with his friends Raven and Crow. When his parents find out he’s been skipping school and doesn’t know how to read, they send him off to learn from his nana in Chimayo. But an owl that can’t read gets in trouble along the way. Tricked by a coyote, a wolf and a fox, he reaches his nana and is ready to learn from her at the Widsom School. Chock full of references to UNM and northern New Mexico slang, this children’s book is also a delight for adult readers.

This bi-lingual children’s book, “Sisters in Blue: Sor María de Agreda Comes to New Mexico” (University of New Mexico Press, 2017) by Anna M. Nogar (’00 BS) and Enrique R. Lamadrid (’70 BA) imagines an encounter between a Pueblo woman and Sor Maria de Jesus de Agreda, the Spanish nun who, legend says, made a spiritual visit to New Mexico in the 1600s and brought Catholicism to the pueblos. Designed for young readers, this story imagines two girls—the young nun and a Tewa girl named Blue Flower—meeting at a pueblo dance and exchanging a cross and an eagle feather as rumors swirl of the arrival of the “Metal People.”

“Difficult and tragic years would follow,” the authors write and in a historical essay they describe the Franciscan evangelization that followed. Nogar is an associate professor of Spanish at UNM; Lamadrid is a distinguished professor emeritus of Spanish at UNM. Told in rhyme, “Fall in Line, Holden” (Salina Bookshelf, 2017) by Daniel W. Vandever (‘16 MCRP), introduces young readers to Holden, a boy in an elementary boarding school on an Indian reservation. As Holden and his classmates walk in a tight, cadenced line toward the freedom of recess on the playground, Holden falls out—at least in his imagination—and encounters talking zoo animals, hula-hooping custodians, lunch lady witches, astronauts and jazz bands. While the book is bright and fun (“We pass the lunch crew/to the smell of mutton stew”), it is meant to spark discussion of a bleak period in American history when native children were separated from their culture in boarding schools. Vandever, who is from Haystack, N.M., is the communications director at Navajo Technical University and a member of the Navajo Nation. He both writes and illustrates “Holden Falls in Line.”

ATTENTION PUBLISHED ALUMNI AUTHORS: We would like to add your book to the alumni library in Hodgin Hall and consider it for a review in Shelf Life. Please send an autographed copy to: Shelf Life, UNM Alumni Relations 1 UNM, MSC01-1160, Albuquerque, NM 87131

Qinfeng Guo (‘94 PhD), Durham, N.C., a USDA Forest Service scientist and research ecologist with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center in Research Triangle Park, received an Award for Excellence in Academic Activities from the Northeast Normal University in China.

The award recognizes Guo‘s role in an international collaboration on experimental research in regional grassland ecosystems, focusing on plant-animal interactions.

Kenneth B. Keppeler (‘94 BA), Silver City, N.M., was honored by Gov. Susana Martinez for his success with his musical duo Bayou Seco at the 2017 annual Governor‘s Awards for Excellence in the Arts in September.

Michelle Hernandez (‘94 BA), Albuquerque, a shareholder at Modrall Sperling, has been elected chair of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. She has Michelle Hernandez been a member of the organization‘s Board of Directors since 2013, and has served as the Executive Committee‘s vice chair since 2016.

Tyler K. Young (‘94 BBA), Albuquerque, is the vice president of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors.

Joanne S. Bodin (‘98 PhD), Albuquerque, received the 2017 New York City Big Award as “distinguished favorite” in LGBT fiction and the 2017 New Mexico/ Arizona Book Award in LGBT fiction for her novel, “Orchid of the Night,” a dark psychological thriller.

Scott Czarniak (‘98 BBA), Albuquerque, is the regional president in northern New Mexico for First National 1870, a division of Sunflower Bank.

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2017-18 UNM Presidential Scholarship Program

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

– Booker T. Washington

UNM’s Presidential Scholars appreciate the power of your generosity in their lives. They represent just a few of the students that come to UNM with hopes, expectations, determination, and goals.

By making a donation to a scholarship fund, such as the Presidential Scholarship, you can change a student’s world and they - in turn - change the world around them.

Look forward by giving back.

Visit unmfund.org to make a gift today.

@UNMFund

UNMFoundation

@UNMFund

505-313-7600

Laura Elizabeth Onorato (‘99 BA), Albuquerque, received the 2017 Spirit of New Mexico Award.

2000s Hope R. Eckert (‘00 JD), Albuquerque, opened Creative Mediations, a firm helping to resolve civil cases and related issues.

Mark A. Koski (‘00 BSPE, ‘03 MS), Zionsville, Ind., was selected CEO of the National Federation of State High School Association‘s NFHS Network in Atlanta. He also continues to serve as the NFHS‘ director of marketing from his Indianapolis office.

Paper’s nice, but so is a device…

You’re holding a glossy paper copy of Mirage right now and we hope you enjoy it. We print and mail more than 150,000 copies of Mirage twice a year and we want every single alumnus who wants a paper copy to have one.

We also know that people’s reading habits are changing. Like a lot of us, maybe you have become fast friends with an iPad or addicted to your Kindle.

Maybe you like to read on your desktop or on your phone. And maybe you would just like to reduce your carbon footprint and the amount of paper in the world.

If you would no longer like to receive a paper copy of the Mirage magazine in the mail and would prefer an emailed version, please let us know by visiting UNMAlumni.com/Mirage and completing the digital opt-in form. Simply confirm your email address and the Fall 2017 edition will be sent directly to your email inbox and not your curbside mailbox.

If you opt for the electronic version only, rest assured you will see the same magazine—great color photos, engaging articles, news of alumni events and updates on your classmates—only in a digital format with easy-to-use pageturning features.

Justin E. Sells (’00 BSPE), Albuquerque, is coach of the Albuquerque Sol, a Premier Development League soccer team.

Jason Anderson (‘01 MBA) has been promoted to senior vice president and Channel Development Group manager with Bank of the West. He is also the national chair of the bank‘s Pride (LGBTQA) Resource Group. In 2017, he received a Diverse Leader Award from Albuquerque Business First as an LGBT business and community leader.

Ophelia J. Reeder (‘01 AASMC, ‘17 BLA), Gallup, N.M., was named a “Health Hero” by the Con Alma Health Foundation.

Kelly D. Hahn (‘02 MS, ‘06 PhD), Albuquerque, received the Emerging Leader Award from the Society of Women Engineers.

Lorie Johnson (‘02 BS, ‘10 MA) has accepted a full-time English Department faculty position at Baylor University.

Susan M. McGowen (‘02 PhD), Albuquerque, was selected as one of the National Athletic Trainers‘ Association‘s 2017 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award recipients. McGowen is the athletic training education program coordinator at UNM.

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SHOW YOUR PRIDE ON YOUR PLATE!

New Mexico motorists, get your Lobo license plate today! $25 from each plate is donated to the University.

INFO: www.unmalumni.com/license-plate

The University of New Mexico

Alumni Memorial Chapel A P L AC E TO C E L E B R AT E

ARE YOU A

LO BO? MAKE YOUR WEDDING HISTORIC

BEAUTIFUL NEW MEXICO LANDMARK NONDENOMINATIONAL LOCATED ON MAIN CAMPUS

505-277-5808 Visit www.unmalumni.com/chapel to take a virtual tour and book online

36

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

A New Beginning

T

he publication of this issue of the Mirage, your University of New Mexico Alumni Association magazine published twice a year, is truly a new beginning for our institution.

Elizabeth A. Cordova (‘03 BS), Belen, N.M., was recognized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as St. Mary‘s 2017-18 Teacher of the Year.

Garnett Stokes, Ph.D., UNM’s 23rd president, is the first woman to lead the University. As you read about her experience at Florida State University and the University of Missouri it is easy to understand why the Regents selected her as the candidate best suited to lead us at this point in our history. At each institution, she faced big public challenges and approached them with equanimity and candor. She is truly battle-tested and is well positioned to face the challenges here.

Adam Harrington (‘03 MBA), Corrales, N.M., is the CFO and leader of the accounting team at HB Construction.

John A. Heaton (‘03 BSPH), Carlsbad, N.M., was appointed by the Interstate Stream Commission as chair of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance.

Your Alumni Association will give her its full support and will assist her wherever possible to help her succeed. I had the pleasure of meeting her only briefly, and look forward to facilitating interactions between her and you, our alumni.

We at the Alumni Association cannot say enough about how much we appreciate the work of Chaouki Abdallah in his role as interim president, and we are deeply appreciative of the fact that he will return to his role as provost. He attended our events, and his door was always open. Special thanks go to Craig White who has returned to his role as the dean of the Anderson School after serving as interim provost, and to Shawn Berman who served as the interim Anderson dean.

James Lewis, my predecessor in this role, in his column a year ago encouraged each of us to become an ambassador for UNM. I would like to echo that charge. Please become involved.

Go to sporting events, attend a lecture and take in a performance. There are so many activities here that are interesting and stimulating and vital. Take advantage of them.

Lobo men’s and women’s basketball teams will be participating in the Mountain West Tournament the first week of March, and the other spring sports will be ramping up rapidly.

We wish all these athletes good fortune.

William R. Wilson, II (‘02 MFA), Santa Fe, N.M., was honored by Gov. Susana Martinez for his photography at the 2017 annual Governor‘s Awards for Excellence in the Arts in September.

Go Lobos!!!

Lucus W. Enslin (‘04 BSN), Albuquerque, is a family nurse practitioner for Lovelace Medical Group.

Cassandra R. Malone (‘04 MMU, ‘08 JD), Albuquerque, joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck law firm.

Kenneth M. Armijo (‘05 BSME), Bosque, N.M., was named a 2017 Distinguished Alumni by the UNM School of Engineering.

Vanessa R. Fonseca-Chávez (‘05 BA, ‘07 MA) and Raúl Chávez, Mesa, Ariz., were married at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Mesa Vanessa R. Fonseca-Cháves on Oct. 6. She also co-edited with Jesús Rosales “Spanish Perspectives on Chicano Literature: Literary and Cultural Essays,” published by Ohio State University Press.

Ursa A. Brown-Glaberman (‘06 MD),

Harold Lavender (’69 BA, ’75 JD) Albuquerque, received the National Cancer

Alumni Association President Institute‘s Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award in July. Brown-Glaberman is an assistant professor at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center.

SPRING 2018

37

UNM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS

T

he The University of New Mexico Alumni Association

proudly honored the recipients of the prestigious 2018 Winter Awards during the annual Winter Awards Dinner in February. “We are very proud of our alumni award recipients for their dedication to the Alumni Association, the University and the community,” said Dana Allen, vice president of Alumni Relations and executive director of the Alumni Association.

38

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

James F. Zimmerman Award

Bernard S. Rodey Award

Joy Harjo (’76 BA) Joy Harjo, whose bachelor’s degree is in creative writing, has published eight award-winning books of poetry.

Her most recent collection, “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings,” was on the short list for the Griffin International Prize and named the American Library Association’s Notable Book of the Year.

Harjo’s writing awards include the prestigious Ruth Lily Prize from the Poetry Foundation for lifetime achievement, the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. For her memoir, “Crazy Brave,” she won the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the American Book Award. She has published two award-winning children’s books, “The Good Luck Cat” and “For a Girl Becoming.”

She is a co-founder with tribal members Kenneth Johnson and Sandy Wilson of the Mvskoke Arts Association.

She holds the John C. Hodges Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Phyllis Perrin Wilcox (’93 PhD) Phyllis Perrin Wilcox, professor emerita in the Department of Linguistics, was instrumental in establishing the UNM baccalaureate degree program in signed language interpreting. Beginning in 1971, with eight non-degree students, the program evolved into one that teaches more than 1,000 students annually and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Interpreting Education.

Wilcox has written many books, grants and articles on American Sign Language, interpreting and sign language metaphor.

Wilcox holds the Certificate of Deaf Interpreter and is licensed by the New Mexico Signed Language Interpreting Practices Board. She served as president of the New Mexico Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, chair of the New Mexico Mentoring Board and an adjudicator for the Ethical Practices Committee of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. She served on the UNM Long-Range Planning Committee for 10 years, serving as vice chairwoman. She has been honored with the Dr. Phyllis Perrin Wilcox Endowed Scholarship in 2007, established by former students and colleagues.

Amanda Gallegos (‘06 BA, ‘09 JD), Albuquerque, was selected as a fellow with the Latino Center for Leadership Development.

Hae-Sun Chung (‘07 MACCT), Albuquerque, is an accounting specialist supervisor in the Audit & Assurance Department at REDW LLC. Eddie C. Padilla (‘07 BBA), Corrales, N.M., has created Q-Lead, a program with a mission to expand men‘s leadership by developing their strengths.

Erna S. Fergusson Award

Faculty Teaching Award

D.F. “Duffy” Swan (’68 BA) D.F. “Duffy” Swan graduated from Sandia High School in 1963 and from the University of New Mexico in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Swan worked for 35 years in the telecommunications industry, starting with Mountain Bell in 1965.

From 1986 to 1997, he worked for USWEST, as vice president and CEO for USWEST-New Mexico and for USWEST’s International Division. He returned to the telecomm industry in 2000 when he became vice president for a rural, domestic quasi-startup, VALOR Telecomm.

In 2004, he became president and COO of French Mortuary, Inc., and the French family of companies. In January 2008, he was named president and CEO of the French family of companies and was named chairman in July 2011.

Between 1998 and 2004, Swan served two different periods as UNM’s director of development and president of the UNM Foundation. Swan serves on several community boards and he is the 2002 recipient of the New Mexico Ethics in Business Award.

Karl E. Karlstrom Karl E. Karlstrom has been a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico since 1994, entwining research and mentorship.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1981, and taught at North Carolina State and Northern Arizona universities before joining UNM. His research spans the geologic timescale and addresses the formation and stabilization of continents, the supercontinent cycle and the neotectonics of ongoing uplift of the Rocky Mountain region. He has 188 published peer-reviewed journal articles, most of them co-authored with his students.

Karlstrom has taught Freshman Learning Communities, New Mexico Field Geology, Structural Geology and the Advanced Summer Field Course, and has mentored dozens of graduate students. He and his wife, Laura Crossey, developed the Trail of Time Geoscience Education Exhibition at Grand Canyon National Park, which opened in 2010 and received the 2011 First Place award from National Association for Interpretation.

Nina S. Simon (‘07 MSN), Albuquerque, is a midwife for Presbyterian Medical Group.

Ernestine K. Tsinigine (‘07 JD), Tuba City, Ariz., was confirmed by the Navajo Nation Council as a probationary district court judge.

Rebecca L. Coalson (‘08 MD), Las Cruces, N.M., opened Southwest Gynecology, Inc. in September.

Christina M. Gooch (‘08 JD), Albuquerque, joined the Sutin, Thayer & Browne law firm.

Jeremy Harrison (‘08, JD), Albuquerque, an attorney at Modrall Sperling, has been named a firm shareholder.

Jonathon F. Vigil (‘08 BS, ‘12 MS), Jeremy Harrison Albuquerque, is a physician assistant specializing in orthopedics at Presbyterian Medical Group.

Craig A. Robin (‘09 MS, ‘11 PhD) was appointed as a senior scientific professional for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/ Army Forces Strategic Command. He will Craig A. Robin serve as a senior research scientist focused on directed energy applications.

SPRING 2018

39

Alumni Events Calendar MARCH 2

BLACK ALUMNI CHAPTER*

3

AUSTIN CHAPTER

6

7-10

7

27

Recruitment and Networking Lunch Lobo Day with speaker Horton Newsom

ANDERSON HALL OF FAME Awards Banquet and Scholarship Fundraiser

2018 MWC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT Las Vegas, Nevada

LAS VEGAS CHAPTER* Tournament Welcome

VETERAN ALUMNI CHAPTER* Pints, Pins and Pizza at 377 Brewery, Albuquerque

APRIL 5 SCHOOL OF NURSING

Dean’s Reception with alumni 10 HONORS CHAPTER Reception & Discussion with illustrator and author of Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide

11

12

14

17

19

20

22

24

26

28

AMERICAN STUDIES ALUMNI GROUP Alumni Dinner at La Casita

of Nursing, Engineering

11

HERITAGE CLUB CELEBRATION

12

LAS VEGAS CHAPTER*

12

CHICAGO CHAPTER*

12

National College Fair, Anaheim Convention Center

SAN DIEGO CHAPTER School of Medicine Alumni Reception

2017 STUDENT RECOGNITION RECEPTION

7

CHAPTER LEADERS

8

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

8

21

21

22

LOS ANGELES CHAPTER* National College Fair, Pasadena Convention Center

DAILY LOBO BBQ & AWARDS Albuquerque Press Club

5

LOS ANGELES CHAPTER*

8

SA+P

10

NEW GRAD BASH

Cinco de Mayo FUN! Graduate Happy Hour Hodgin Hall Alumni Center

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Pints, Pins and Pizza at 377 Brewery, Albuquerque

CHICAGO CHAPTER

LOS ANGELES CHAPTER* Pints, Pins and Pizza at 377 Brewery, Albuquerque

Annual Membership Meeting and Elections

2

JULY

VETERAN ALUMNI CHAPTER*

Dreamstyle Arena

JUNE

Distinguished Achievement Awards Dinner, 6 p.m., UNM Student Union Ballroom National College Fair, Anaheim Convention Center

COMMENCEMENT

VETERAN ALUMNI CHAPTER*

LOS ANGELES CHAPTER*

Architecture River Cruise

29

Gold Circle Event with Alumni Awards Spring Wine Tasting and Wild Flower Hill Country Tour

Ice Cream Festival Meet Up

BLACK ALUMNI CHAPTER*

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AUSTIN CHAPTER

(formerly Golden Grads)

15

MAY

40

10 GOLDEN GRADUATE REUNIONS

Colleges of Education, Pharmacy and Schools

22

Bats & Brews, White Sox baseball game Council meeting Meeting

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION Reception

HONORS ALUMNI CHAPTER Happy hour at Matanza, Albuquerque

SA+P RECEPTION AIA Conference on Architecture, New York City

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY Golf Tournament

AUSTIN CHAPTER Ice Cream Social

AUGUST

18

DALLAS/FORT WORTH CHAPTER Green Chile Roast

25

AUSTIN CHAPTER

25

CHICAGO CHAPTER

Green Chile Roast & Brunch Green Chile Roast

*UNM Alumni Chapters with scholarships that support students attending UNM from that city. You can donate to these scholarships at UNMFund.org.

Go to unmalumni.com/events for updated information on alumni activities and events. Events, dates and times are subject to change. You can also contact the Alumni Relations Office at 505-277-5808 or 800-258-6866 for additional information.

From Dana’s Desk

P

resident John F. Kennedy once said that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” In that spirit, choosing to take the top leadership position at a University brings with it numerous opportunities to learn from a variety of sources about any number of topics. Since Garnett S. Stokes, Ph.D., was announced as UNM’s new president in the fall of 2017, alumni have shared with me their unbridled enthusiasm for the selection as well as advice for how she should best approach this historic role. (Tip No. 1: Choose a chile, stat!)

It’s been wonderful to hear all the well-wishes and Dana Allen statements of support that have come from you, Loyal Lobos, and I am excited about working with President Stokes to help her advance and evolve the University’s story.

As you will read in this issue, our alumni continue to tell that story in their own way through entrepreneurship, military service and high-tech research. Interwoven in each of these stories (and your own, I am sure), are moments where learning and leadership came together to develop outcomes never imagined in those first days at UNM. These moments from your experiences are what we need to help build the framework for the future.

Although we are past the official new year, I want to encourage each of you to think of March 1—the day President Stokes officially began her role—as the kickoff to making a resolution to renew and reignite your relationship with the University. Attend an event in your area. Come root on the Lobos in any number of sports and, while you’re there, say hello to our new athletic director, Eddie Nuñez, who you’ll also read more about in this issue. Offer to serve as a mentor or provide an internship opportunity for current students through the career services office. Support your particular program or major through a gift. Or, in true Lobo spirit, come up with your own way of connecting back to your alma mater, and let us know how we can help!

You can learn more about all the ways to fulfill this resolution by visiting our website at UNMAlumni.com. And, don’t worry if you’ve not gotten involved before—as Dr. Spock (yes, that Dr. Spock) once said, “For everything there is a first time.”

Welcome President Stokes, and know that the Alumni Association looks forward to being a part of the many firsts of your presidency.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

2010s James L. Crumbacher (‘10 BA, ‘14 MD), Albuquerque, is a family medicine physician at Nor-Lea Hospital Auxiliary.

Aaron M. Flores (‘10 BBA), Albuquerque, is the owner of A-Star Motors, which was named New Mexico Independent Auto Dealers Association‘s Dealer of the Year.

Roman E. Martinez (‘10 BBA), El Paso, Texas, started Pure Joy Basketball, an elite basketball training business, at The MAC in Rio Rancho.

Deborah H. Anyaibe (‘11 BAEPD, ‘15 MCRP), Albuquerque, made a presentation about water conservation and global warming during the Miss Navajo Council Elemental Talks and Dialogues Forum at the Navajo Department of Education in Window Rock, Ariz.

Beeling M. Armijo (‘11 MD), Albuquerque, is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

Brana L. Hardway (‘11 BA, ‘17 JD), Albuquerque, has joined the Sutin, Thayer & Browne law firm.

Mahvand Biazar (‘12 BBA, ‘15 MACCT), Albuquerque, is a supervisor for the Management Advisory and Accounting Services team at REDW LLC. Heather M. Greene (‘12 MD), Albuquerque, is a family medicine physician at the Presbyterian Medical Group.

Brandon D. Hajny (‘12 BA, ‘16 JD), Albuquerque, is the newest attorney at The Barnett Law Firm.

Elias S. Isaacson (‘12 MARCH), Albuquerque, is the planning and land use director for the Española Planning and Land Use Department.

Dana Allen

Vice President for Alumni Relations

Jennifer Kittleson

Jennifer Kittleson (‘12 MBA, ‘17 JD), Albuquerque, is an associate at Modrall Sperling.

SPRING 2018

41

Alumni Network Snapshots from Alumni events

Women’s Coach Mike Bradbury and Men’s Coach Paul Weir flank UNM Alumni Association President Harold Lavender ('69 BA, '75 JD) before Lobo Living Room: An Inside Look At Lobo Basketball in August.

Black Alumni Chapter President Barbara Brown-Simmons (’74 JD) with Living Legends Award Recipient C. Danny Spriggs (’74 BUS) before the Black Alumni Chapter Awards during Homecoming 2017.

Jaymie Roybal ('12 BA/BS, '16 JD), Rosalyn Nguyen ('03 BBA, '07 MBA, '07 JD) and Katie Williams (‘04 BA) show their Lobo spirit at Diner en Rouge during Homecoming 2017 in September.

Members of student acapella group Something Major pose with Lobo Louie at the All University Breakfast during Homecoming 2017 in September.

UNM Young Alumni Chapter Vice President Erica Krause Munoz (’10 BA), left, presents new grad… new alumna!…

Veronica McDermott (‘17 BA) Josten’s class ring gift certificate during the raffle at the New Grad Bash in December.

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MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Fall 2017 grad Rahmah Fithriani (’17 PhD) basks in the cherry glow of The U, and her accomplishments, during free grad photos at The U in November.

In Memoriam We remember alumni who recently passed away.

1930 - 1939

Hugh Raymond MacDougall, ‘52, ‘57

Margaret L. (Roundy) Myers, ‘38, ‘59

Lawrence H. Prentice, ‘52

Max Adam Kohler, ‘39

Donald A. Reed, ‘52

1940 - 1949

Delmar V. Schmall, ‘52

Betsy A. (Ross) Lackmann, ‘40 Vivian Y. (Yott) Reeves, ‘42, ‘64 Manuel Antonio Aragon, ‘43 Carol W. (Williams) Sallee, ‘44, ‘51 Harold B. Layne, ‘45 Anna Frances (Rice) Walker, ‘45 Frank Robert Eslinger, ‘46 Samuel E. Neff, ‘46 Lawrence R. Felicetti, ‘47 Joanann A. (Anderson) Lee, ‘47 Terry B. (Corbit) Sisty, ‘47 Charles W. Cooper, ‘48 Evelyn J. (Lackey) Largent, ‘48 Winton B. Pafford, ‘48 Rodney E. Hatch, ‘49 Wade K. Parker, ‘49 Tommy L. Spoonts, ‘49 1950 - 1959 James L. Brown, ‘50 Edwin V. Glaser, ‘50 Donald Miller Halsey, ‘50 Patience T. (Paulantis) McGuire, ‘50, ‘72 Lily (Townsend) Smith, ‘50 Wallace L. Cecil, ‘51 Frank Paul Clements, ‘51 Dolores P. (Pye) Josey, ‘51 Wilson Knapp, ‘51 Clare Clement Koogler, ‘51 Kathleen Kepner (Kepner) Thomson, ‘51 Ignacio Tinoco, ‘51 Raoul Cordova, ‘52 Felipe C. Gonzales, ‘52, ‘61 Robert Paul Goodkin, ‘52 Eleanor Gaynor Kinzer, ‘52

Robert Sanchez, ‘52 William Wade, ‘52 Marian M. (Barreras) Groman, ‘53 Sara Jane (Cudabec) Scott, ‘53, Clint E. Smith, ‘53 Margaret (Wang) Balling, ‘54 Joel B. Burr, ‘54 Charles Waller Daniel, ‘54 Pete Vichi Domenici, ‘54 Jim Reid Hightower, ‘54 James E. Riggs, ‘54 Herbert H. Brunell, ‘55 James Von Edelmon, ‘55

Geraldene F. Blackgoat (‘13 BAA, ‘16 MARCH), Albuquerque, is an intern architect at Greer Stafford/SJCF Architecture, Inc. Zoë Lees (’13, JD), an associate with Modrall Sperling, is chair of the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division Committee on Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Law and was appointed to the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Young Professionals Committee.

Jazmine J. Ruiz (‘13 BA, ‘16 JD), Albuquerque, joined the Montgomery & Andrews law firm.

Patrick A. Coronel (‘14 BA, ‘17 JD), Albuquerque, is an attorney for Rodey Law Firm.

Don W. Hyder, ‘55 Duncan W. Martin, ‘55, ‘56 Patrick A. Coronel

Margaret G. (Paine) Ussery, ‘55 Bud Westreich, ‘55 Margaret Ange (Ange) Wolf, ‘55 Marvin F. Daley, ‘56, ‘58 Mona May (Christensen) Moore, ‘56 Flora Stella (Maestas) Perea, ‘56 Beverly A. Seeds, ‘56 Charles A. Bankston, ‘57, ‘59, ‘65 Robert T. Batho, ‘57 Robert Vernon Battey, ‘57, ‘70 Mildred A. (Albert) Fitzgerald, ‘57 Nancy B. (Barrett) Jones, ‘57 Ambrosio J. Ortega, ‘57, ‘74 Frank W. Parker, ‘57 Dennis S. Peña, ‘57 Robert R. Kling, ‘58 Esther (Sacherson) Sutin, ‘58 Richard Lawrence Bechtel, ‘59, ‘62, ‘70 Dorothy J. (Hartson) Grange, ‘59 John T. Guiney, ‘59

Paola V. Jaime Saenzl

Paola V. Jaime Saenz (‘14 BA, ‘17 JD), Los Alamos, N.M., is an attorney for Rodey Law Firm.

Valerie Sartor (‘14 PhD) Santa Fe, N.M., along with Shernavaz Vakil and Wei Zhang, was named a principal investor of the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education and the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences five-year National Professional Development grant from the U.S. Department of Education totaling $2,370,987.

David C. Earl (‘16 MD), Albuquerque, gave a talk on sleep disorders in October at NAMI-Westside.

Emily J. Elliot (‘16 BBA, ‘17 MACCT), Albuquerque, has joined REDW LLC as an audit associate for the firm‘s audit and assurance team.

Andy Morales, ‘59 Anne M. (Garron) Musachio, ‘59

SPRING 2018

43

In Memoriam Nancy Liane (Cook) Robinson, ‘59

Gerald Leroy Williams, ‘66

Robert Dean Mathes, ‘72

Walter F. Schuman, ‘59

Kirsten J. Anderson, ‘67, ‘75

Dennis Ward Mewshaw, ‘72, ‘78

Robert H. Thomas, ‘59

Cynthia A. (Lamb) Gaedecke, ‘67

Alphonse Maurice Brodeur, ‘73, ‘78

Warren O. F. Harris, ‘67

Phillip George Chavez, ‘73

1960 - 1969

Thomas Eugene Malloy, ‘67, ‘69

Tom Henry Cloyd, ‘73

Patricia Estill Bates, ‘60

Rory M. Omalley, ‘67

Rita Irene Smith Elliott, ‘73, ‘76

Gayla (Glascock) Crossman, ‘60

Thomas J. Wellems, ‘67

Joseph R. G. Fulcher, ‘73

Charles B. Dowaliby, ‘60

Richard C. Wiedersum, ‘67

Anthony J. L. Tafoya, ‘73

Robert Lee Holloway, ‘60

Jon H. Buscemi, ‘68

Brian Ernest Tafoya, ‘73

Robert T. Jackson, ‘60

Francoline M. (Mcdonaugh) Czerner, ‘68

Roy S. Whitson, ‘73

Kathleen Hall Rich, ‘60

Roy Stanley Gunn, ‘68

Raymond M. Barlow, ‘74

Dorothy A. (Apalian) Rozelle, ‘60

Cheryll B. (Bolinger) Hartwigsen, ‘68, ‘71

Jane Ann (Cahill) Blumenfeld, ‘74

Donna (Dudley) Barker, ‘61

John D. Key, ‘68

Susan Wheeler Breden, ‘74

Daniel E. Patterson, ‘61

Robert H. Maschhoff, ‘68

Donald Fitzgerald, ‘74

G Micheal Riley, ‘61, ‘65

Peter J. Maud, ‘68, ‘74

John A. Hamilton, ‘74

Earl David Tonkinson, ‘61

Sharon Marie (Stafford) Peale, ‘68

Suleiman K. Kassicieh, ‘74, ‘75

Glenn C. Wonn, ‘61

Arnold Joe Rael, ‘68

Robert McGeagh, ‘74

George D. Zimmerman, ‘61

Alan B. Ferguson, ‘69

James Marvin Rancier, ‘74

Elissa Ledbetter (Ledbetter) Allen, ‘62, ‘65

Jon R. Klein, ‘69

Larry W. Emerson, ‘75

David Allen Byrne, ‘62, ‘68

Patricia A. (Marsh) Milligan, ‘69

Louis Gary Londis, ‘75, ‘79

Sylvia A. (Cram) Hossack, ‘62

Robert Robinson, ‘69

Ophelia H. S. Rinaldi, ‘75

Jon Warner Little, ‘62

P. George Simone, ‘69

Chrys Uhlig, ‘75

Jane Burcham Smith, ‘62

John Terry Briscoe, ‘76,

Manuel A. Ferran, ‘63, ‘64

1970 - 1979

Deborah Browning Bruns, ‘76

Nancy Jean Ruoff, ‘63

Lawrence Lomako, ‘70

Christian Earl Eaby, ‘76, ‘80

Sam H. Sperry, ‘63

Penelope A. (Oneal) Moeckel, ‘70

Claudia Leah Havel-O'Hare, ‘76

Zane L. Apgar, ‘64

Sarah Sue Steed, ‘70, ‘83

Sidney F. Hutcherson, ‘76

Norma Lou (Maloney) Cantrell, ‘64

Eric Paul Steinig, ‘70, ‘71

Barbara Jean (House) Lawless, ‘76

Nancy Gay (Wheeler) Cast, ‘64

John Asher Dunn, ‘71

Samuel Less, ‘76

Nancy B. (Buchanan) Ness, ‘64

Ricky Don Johnson, ‘71

Michael Shea O'Connor, ‘76

Karen Ann (Langell) Rose, ‘64

Margaret (Reed) King, ‘71, ‘84

Luis R. Ortiz, ‘76

Edwin S. Baxter, ‘65

Marion Kay Mortensen, ‘71

Melissa Valeska Rael, ‘76, ‘85

Lois Griffith Butler, ‘65, ‘71

Frederick C. Neely, ‘71

Dora A. Segura, ‘76

Robert J. Larsen, ‘65, ‘67

John R. Newill, ‘71

William J. Shlaer, ‘76

James P. Martin, ‘65

Donald Ernest Overton, ‘71

Paul Walker Smith, ‘76

George R. Murphy, ‘65

Paul Martin Raczke, ‘71

Janene Royce Souter, ‘76

Marilyn Jo Patrick, ‘65

Patricia Anne Smith, ‘71

Russell Scott Harvey Dayhoff, ‘77, ‘83

Thomas James Cordell, ‘66

Ben Quincy Adams, ‘72

Anthony J. Ferrara, ‘77

Rebecca (Valencia) Elfmont, ‘66

Mark Hurst Henderson, ‘72

Frederick W. Ledbetter, ‘77

Walter Kincaid, ‘66

Stephen Craig Land, ‘72

Charles Rider Muenze, ‘77

James L. Whalen, ‘66

Anu-Liisa Lukk, ‘72

Ronnie Orlando Garcia, ‘78, ‘83

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MIRAGE MAGAZINE

In Memoriam John Donald Hussey, ‘78

Manuel D. Romero, ‘84, ‘89

John J. Marron, ‘78

Nancy Sue Gagne, ‘85

Leann Eileen Puglisi, ‘79

Erin Watley (‘16 PhD) Owing Mills, Md., Tommy Ray Hook, ‘85 has been promoted Gary Richard Suder, ‘86 from visiting professor Eleanor Mary Wall Sullivan, ‘86 to assistant professor Martha Elizabeth Whiting, ‘86 of communication Paula Lynette Farkas, ‘87, ‘91 and cinema at Paula Lorraine (Pressley) Huguley, ‘87, ‘96 McDaniel College.

Alan W. Whitehouse, ‘79

Nick James Popovich, ‘89, ‘92

1980 - 1989

1990 - 1999

Juanita K. Benally, ‘80, ‘83, ‘90

Elizabeth Starkey Charette, ‘90

Frederick John Smigiel, ‘80

William Ernest Dodge, ‘90

Frederick Robert Taylor, ‘80

Lisa Ann Sapcoe, ‘90

Ronald James Gedrim, ‘81, ‘90

John Reed Vanhyning, ‘90

Thomas Michael Meyer, ‘81

Thomas Harold Haynie, ‘91

Thomas Gregory Schaffer, ‘81

Marian Joyce Shrader, ‘91

Bill P. Werntz, ‘81, ‘92

Diane Sue Jansen Kramer, ‘92

David E. Cook, ‘82

Ann Marie Penn, ‘92

Paul Steven Livingston, ‘82

Richard W. Sonntag, ‘92, ‘05

Wayne Evarts Maxwell, ‘82

Sandra Ann Goldstein, ‘93

Peggy Anne Connelly, ‘83

Linda R. Sanford, ‘93

David J. Kammer, ‘83

Alethea Loraine Hill, ‘95

Alan Dexter Swain, ‘83

Judith Ann Palier, ‘95, ‘00

Patrick Francis Tyrrell, ‘83

Jeffery Pohuma, ‘95

Bernice Berghuis, ‘84

Sophie Lynne Lancer-Bradford, ‘96

Victoria A. Fanning, ‘84

Carole A. Allen, ‘97

Marc Alan Mouchet, ‘84

Alexander Gonzalez, ‘97, ‘12,

James Dority West, ‘78 David A. Bailey, ‘79 Phillip Bluehouse, ‘79 William Lord Coleman, ‘79 Jeff Andrew Dill, ‘79

Have a Good Howl Our monthly email newsletter, The Howler, keeps Lobos up-to-date with Alumni Association news and events, as well as additional alumni profiles not published

Kimberly J. Blea (‘17 EDD), Las Vegas, N.M., is the permanent dean of students at New Mexico Highlands University.

Erin Watley

Sara M. Casaus (‘17 BA), Albuquerque, won first place in the New Mexico Girls Make Movies playwriting contest. She will direct as her script is produced with a professional film crew.

Susanna L. Diller (‘17 MS), Elephant Butte, N.M., is the planner/GIS tech for the city of Truth or Consequences.

Alyssa Lucero (‘17 BBA), Albuquerque, is a staff member at The Vigil Group LLC. Dominic Martinez (‘17 JD), Albuquerque, is an associate at Modrall Sperling.

Rudi B. Pohl (‘17 BS), Albuquerque, coordinated the National Eating Dominic Martinez Disorders walk in Albuquerque in November, which raised funds and awareness for the National Eating Disorders Association.

Ana G. Ochoa Rios (‘17 MCRP), Albuquerque, is a planner at Greer Stafford/ SJCF Architecture Inc. David A. Zarikta (‘17 MSN), Rio Rancho, N.M. is a certified nurse practitioner at Presbyterian Medical Group.

in Mirage. You can read it online at UNMAlumni.com/howler or subscribe to the email version by sending a request to alumni@unm.edu.

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In Memoriam Patrick C. Conlon, ‘98

Joseph R. Yazzie, ‘08

Ike R. Laumbach

Tiffany Lea Head, ‘99

Fabiola S. Rendon, ‘11

Richard H. Lopez

David Nigel Mullen, ‘99, ‘02

Michael J. Bauer, ‘12

Eunice (Caddel) Love

Arthur B. Flynn, ‘12

Ermelinda F. Martinez

2000 - 2016

Sacha Helene Washburn, ‘13

Kimiko (Hirokawa) Matsutani

Denise Marie Coady, ‘01

Robert Nickolaas Yankosky, ‘14

Priscilla R. (Robb) McDonnell

Miranda S. Cully, ‘01

Patrick Vernon Medina, ‘16

Betty Jean Angelos (Beals) Sabo

Shane Andrew Henderson, ‘01

Earline H. (Hazlitt) Seward

Betsy Beck Himmes, ‘02

OTHER ALUMNI

Daniel Arthur Sisk

Fidel Manuel Torres, ‘02

Edward Adams,

Davilay D. Wells

Jerome Clarke, ‘03, ‘04

Anne Somerville (Peterson) Betchie

Michael J. Wenzl

Vivian Tapahe, ‘04

Earlene H. (Houge) Copple

Winston Harold Wingerd

Adrian Cornell Byrd, ‘05

John W. Cover

Louis William Hanke, ‘05, ‘07

Evelyn A. Davis

FACULTY AND STAFF

Treva Begay Lee, ‘05, ‘10

Catherine Marie (Bunnel) Davis

Timothy C. Bishop

Kristina Marie Bair, ‘06

Gail (Kyle) Gholson

Robert T. Rosen

Albert Crespin, ‘06

Daniel H. Kinzie

Margaret M. Olona, ‘08

Richard A. Lake

Pack Your Bags The UNM Alumni Association gives Lobos with wanderlust the opportunity to continue their education by traveling the world through the Alumni Travel Program. With a number of unique trip opportunities—from New York to New Zealand—the Alumni Travel Program sets you up for success by handling all the travel plans and arrangements for you while offering amazing discounts too.

To view our full 2018 Alumni Travel Program options and book, visit UNMAlumni.com/travel. For questions, please call Kathie Scott at 505-277-9093.

Southern Grandeur April 22-30, 2018 Cruise from Memphis to New Orleans Riviera Rhapsody May 9-17, 2018 Cruise from Monte Carlo to Rome The Wonders of Peru June 10-21, 2018 Lima, Iquitos, Machu Picchu, Cusco Gaelic Exploration June 17-28, 2018 Dublin to Dublin sailing through the Emerald Isles

Maritime Coastal Wonders July 9-19, 2018 Halifax, Cape Breton Island, Cabot Trail and more Scotland August 15-23, 2018 Stirling, Trossachs, Edinburgh and Perth Glorious Greece October 13-24, 2018 Athens to Athens cruise New Zealand October 27-November 10, 2018 Auckland, Dunedin, Queenstown, Christchurch Spotlight on New York City Holiday December 3-7, 2018 Tour the Big Apple

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MIRAGE MAGAZINE

My

ALUMNI STORY

My journey as a Lobo started when I headed north from Las Cruces with dreams to study architecture in a city at the crossroads of culture and creativity. UNM represented an opportunity to explore the wide variety of architectural influences common to New Mexico while connecting with

®

staff and faculty with worldwide perspectives.

While studying in the School of Architecture and Planning, I worked for ResLife, in what was the most personally transformative role I have yet to take on, with a staff that continually advocated the growth and success of residents and fellow staff. I connected with a larger network of friends and colleagues that anchored my commitment to staying engaged to UNM beyond my time on campus.

Alongside some of my closest friends from Las Cruces, including my wife, we were able to define our own paths toward achieving our goals and making good on the commitment our community granted us through educational scholarships and research opportunities. Now working for TSK Architects in Las Vegas, Nev., I am inspired to connect with members of my new local community, where I am president of our Alumni Association chapter.

I will forever be grateful to be a Lobo.

Christopher G. Lujan (’05)

Stay in touch with your Alumni Association at UNMAlumni.com. Click on “Connect.”

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M A G A Z I N E

The University of New Mexico Alumni Association MSC 01-1160 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

save the date

HOME COMING September 24-29, 2018

C a n y o u h e a r t h e h o w l c a l l i n g y o u h o m e? www.unmalumni.com/homecoming