  Cross-Border Group Travels to Chiapa
Richard Schaefer, associate professor, Communication & Journalism, led his UNM Cross-Border Issues Group from their base in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, to the state of Chiapas to further their research on immigration.
Schaefer’s group last year focused on Mexican immigration to the United States. This year, the perspective was expanded to include immigration from Guatemala to Mexico as well as intra-Mexico migration.
The trip included crossing the Mexican-Guatemalan border seeing the difference between that international border and the muro, or wall, being erected between the U.S. and Mexico.  [More] |
 Danizete Martinez wins CRS Graduate Fellowship
Danizete Martinez, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English, received a $15,000 UNM Center for Regional Studies Graduate Fellowship for 2008-09. The CRS fellowships foster studies about New Mexico and the Southwest that bring together historical and contemporary questions/issues/problems concerning the people of New Mexico, as well as projects that connect New Mexico to other cultures and regions of the Americas, Spain and Québec.
Martinez’s dissertation, “The Chicana/o Grotesque: National Origins, Subversive Traditions, and Bodies of Resistance in U.S. Southwestern Literature,” directed by UNM English Professor Jesse Alemán, investigates the origins and influences of the Chicana/o grotesque and how it functions in Chicana/o literature. [More] |
 Sandoval-Strausz’s Book on History of Hotels Wins National Award
Associate Professor of History Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz is the winner of the 2008 American Historical Association-Pacific Coast Branch Book Award for his book Hotel: An American History, Yale University Press, 2007.
The prize is awarded for the best first book in any field or period of history by a scholar living in the United States west of the Mississippi River or in the provinces of Canada west of Ontario. [More] |
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Professor Jesse Alemán speaks at the panel on “Redefining National Literatures in the Americas |
Department of English co-hosted Summer Seminar West
During June 23-26, the UNM Department of English co-hosted the annual Summer Seminar West of the Association of Departments of English (ADE) at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe.
Along with co-hosts Arizona State University, UNM and ADE played host to 120 English chairs and graduate directors from across the country.
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| The panelists on “Redefining National Literatures in the Americas”: (L-R) Jesse Alemán (UNM), Elizabeth Archuleta (Arizona State), and Robert Schwartzwald (Université de Montréal) |
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The four days of the conference included panels, plenary addresses, and breakout sessions. Gerald Graff, President of the Modern Language Association, spoke on “Involving Students in Critical Conversations.”
Reed Way Dasenbrock, former UNM Provost and N.M. Secretary of Higher Education, gave a dinner address outlining various crises in higher education locally and nationally.
Panels addressed the situation of non-tenure-track faculty and outcomes assessment. And workshop discussions covered such topics of interest to administrators as “Running Effective Department Meetings” and “Troubled and Troubling Faculty Members.”
Local faculty making appearances included Professor Gary Harrison, who co-hosted the workshop for Directors of Graduate Study and ran a discussion group on how to prepare graduate students for the job market; and both former Assistant Professor Elizabeth Archuleta (now of ASU) and Associate Professor Jesse Alemán, who took part in a plenary panel on “Redefining National Literatures in the Americas.
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Professor Philip Ganderton appointed as Interim Associate Dean for Research
I am pleased to announce that Professor Philip Ganderton has been appointed as Interim Associate Dean for Research. As you may know, Phil has served as Chair of the Department of Economics and is a dedicated member of the faculty. We look forward to his valuable contributions as we move into the next academic year.
In addition to his new duties as Interim Associate Dean, he will continue to fulfill his responsibilities as Director of the BA/MD program. Please stop by the Dean’s office and welcome Phil to the group.
Dean Brenda Claiborne |
| Philip Ganderton |
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Professor Sherman Wilcox appointed as Interim Associate Dean for Instruction and Curriculum
Dean Brenda Claiborne has appointed Professor Sherman Wilcox as Interim Associate Dean for Instruction and Curriculum for 2008-09. Dr. Wilcox is formerly chair of the Department of Linguistics. The author of several books and articles, Wilcox has lectured and taught extensively on signed languages, gesture, and the evolution of language in Brazil, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
His scholarly research focuses on the gesture-language interface. Professor Wilcox serves on the editorial board of several international journals, including Gesture, Signed Language Studies, and Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics. |
| Sherman Wilcox |
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