Division of Continuing Education and Community Services

Dean Jeronimo Domínguez
505-277-2527
dominguz@unm.edu

Listed below are the community and outreach programs of the Division of Continuing Education and Community Services.

The Division of Continuing Education and Community Services is a multi-faceted outreach unit of the University of New Mexico. Division activities include providing credit and non-credit coursework, workforce training, and opportunities to pursue leisure pastimes. The Division's Conference Center also offers conference and event coordination, and provides facilities to meet a broad spectrum of community needs, serving both local and statewide organizations.

The Training Center - A partnership between Professional Training and Computer/Information Technology Training, this unit provides customized training for business and industry; a Leadership and Management program; academic, professional, and occupational certificate programs; and computer/IT training. Training is primarily provided in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties.

Personal Enrichment Program - Offers a variety of non-credit classes in an informal and non-competitive environment. Sports, movement, and health, visual and performing arts, as well as crafts and hobbies, gardening, cooking, languages, finances-all are areas in which courses are offered under Personal Enrichment. Many classes are held at locations throughout Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Community Behavioral Health Services Program - Provides professional workshops for Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors, as well as the basic training program, which is one of the steps that leads to this licensing. Provides special workshops for individual school districts on recognizing and working with students with special needs, as well as sexual harassment training and school safety training. Works with the Albuquerque Partnership to provide training to neighborhood organizations concerning violence and substance abuse and grant proposal writing. Also has provided violence workshops, free of charge, to various organizations across New Mexico.

Testing Center - Provides students, faculty, staff, and community members with information and access to standardized testing. Administers national, state, and local standardized examinations. Some of the exams offered include the ACT, SAT, GED, GMAT, GRE, LSAT, and the MCAT. The Center also provides the PRAXIS exams, specifically developed for teacher licensure or prospective teachers, and the Prueba, used to certify bilingual education teachers.

SIPI Agreement - The Division coordinates more than 180 credit courses annually at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) under an agreement to provide University courses for SIPI credit. The Institute serves Native American Students from throughout the state and the nation.

International Activities - Several activities provide the opportunity for local educators and business leaders to participate in international collaborations and tours, such as the Dual Vocational Education trip to Germany. (See also Arts & Sciences, Foreign Languages and Literatures - ABCR)

CAREER Works - Assists individuals in transition to become successfully employed through the use of educational, case management, job placement, and retention components. Offers a variety of work-related preparatory courses, including life skills, GED, and basic computer operations, as well as job-specific training. Provides these services under a contract with New Mexico Works, serving a client base of several thousand in Bernalillo County. Also participates in a statewide consortium sharing information with other providers in the welfare-to-work effort.

Mariachi Spectacular - Includes a three-day student workshop, a Friday night Student Showcase, and a Saturday night Spectacular Concert. The workshops draw student musicians from throughout the country, but the majority of participants hail from New Mexico. Students come from many communities, including, Chama, Questa, Española, Las Vegas, Villanueva, Pecos, Taos, Portales, Clovis, Grants, Gallup, Las Cruces, Silver City and Hurley.

Spanish Resource Center - Housed at the National Hispanic Cultural Center the Center is one of six in this country designated by the government of Spain. The Center provides library and other Spanish language and cultural resources to educators and communities throughout the state. Additionally, the Center has been instrumental in establishing exchanges of public school teachers between Spain and New Mexico.

DWI Awareness Training - Provides the DWI awareness class for first-time licensees under an agreement with the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department and the Traffic Safety Bureau. This class requirement is one of the strategies employed by the State to help lower the incidence of driving under the influence and related traffic fatalities. Currently about 700 students, in the 18-24 age range, required under current legislation, take the self-study correspondence course each month. Course materials are provided via the mail and with the participation of 57 libraries throughout the state that lend the required supplementary video.

Conference Center - More than 225,000 citizens use the Continuing Education Conference Center each year. Government agencies, public schools, businesses, organizations and community groups from throughout the state are served at the Center.

Comments to dgon@unm.edu