School recognized for highest number of graduates entering state government
According to a recent survey released by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration or NASPAA and used by permission, the School of Public Administration was tied for third in the nation with the highest number of graduates entering state government with a Master’s of Public Administration. UNM is tied with SUNY-University at Albany with 75 percent of its graduates taking jobs in state government.
Tops on the list were the University of the Virgin Islands-St. Thomas, which sends 90 percent of its grads into state government, Kentucky State was second with 85 percent, while LSU, which sends 70 percent to state government, rounds out the top-five. UNM's "ranking" is based on principal representatives' estimates of what percentage of its graduates take state jobs.
Only 20 percent or one-fifth of the NASPAA member schools surveyed send 40 percent or more into state government. The average percentage of students entering state government is a significant number of those entering the workforce according to the survey with the range reaching 90 percent for a specific program.
All the schools ranked in the top 10 focus their course content on state government as well as employing adjunct professors from state government. UNM is also one of two schools not located in the same city or in close proximity to the state capitol. Interestingly, only four of the 10 listed had a state management program or a tuition reimbursement program identified in their state. UNM is not among those four institutions.
NASPAA’s mission is to ensure excellence in education and training for public service, and to promote the ideal of public service. It is the membership association of graduate programs in public administration, public policy and public affairs. The survey was conducted in response to a growing need to determine the scope of focus on state government in MPA/MPP programs and to facilitate communication between member schools and state government agencies.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Oral histories archived at Smith College, in print and online
Professor Deborah McFarlane recently completed a nationally-funded project to preserve the history of international population programs. The Population Pioneers Project is made up of oral histories and personal papers collected from reproductive health leaders throughout the world. McFarlane teaches in the political science and women studies departments.
Photo: Professor Deborah McFarlane
First-hand accounts from some of the most controversial policy makers of our time are available in print and on-line at: Controversial Policy Makers.
“Their perspectives can teach lessons that can be applied to increase effectiveness of future programs,” McFarlane said.
McFarlane, project director, and Rebecca Sharpless interviewed 38 pioneers in the field. The oral histories are housed in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Massachusetts, which has extensive holdings on the history of birth control, including the papers of Margaret Sanger. The Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard University also joined as a partner to help in collecting the pioneers' personal papers.
A $300,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funded the project, which began in 2002 and ended June 30.
Interview subjects included all United States Agency for International Development population directors from the 1960s to present, and other notables such as Pakastani physician Nafis Sadik, the first woman director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Mercedes Concepcion of the Philippines, known as the “mother of Asian demography,” Fred Sai of Ghana, formerly at the World Bank and medical director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and UNM's Everett Rogers who applied communication theories to family planning.
Contact: Laurie Mellas, (505) 277-5915; e-mail: lmellas@unm.edu
Michael Browde, professor at the School of Law, has been named outstanding lawyer of the year by the Albuquerque Bar Association. The association will present its 2006 outstanding judge and lawyer awards at its annual meeting luncheon on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at noon at the Albuquerque Petroleum Club.
Photo: Professor Michael Browde, School of Law
Browde joined UNM's law faculty in 1977 after having served as law clerk to the Honorable Luther Youngdahl of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, followed by a seven year stint with the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque. He teaches primarily in the area of Constitutional law.
The lunch costs $20 for members, $25 for non-members. Participants can register until noon on Monday, Dec. 4 by visiting Albuquerque Bar Association or contacting the Albuquerque Bar Association at abqbar@abqbar.com or 243-2615.
Media Contact: Sari Kosinsky (505) 277-1593; e-mail michal@unm.edu
One of the most enduring New Mexican folk traditions is Pastorelas, or allegorical shepherd plays performed for the Christmas season. One of the best known Pastores troupes in New Mexico will perform at UNM’s Alumni Chapel, Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Chocolate and bizcochitos will be served.
At center stage is popularly referred to as Los Pastores, the folk drama tradition which, since medieval times, has provided a dynamic vehicle for the teaching of ethics and theology, as well as social satire and protest. The basic message of Los Pastores is epiphany, the incarnation of divinity in earthly form, a lesson shared by every major religion.
To the indigenous people who saw and participated in missionary productions of the play, the animal actors in the Christmas tableaux were as powerful and significant as the humans. Within a century of conquest, the people of greater Mexico had made the Pastorela their own. The play about the pilgrim’s search for epiphany became a metaphor for the human condition.
The Pastorela has been banned by both church and state on numerous occasions in the history of New Spain and Mexico. Although the tradition survives in New Mexico, to thrive it needs to be re-introduced constantly to younger audiences with traditional productions, as well as dramatic adaptations by authors such as Rudolfo Anaya and E. A. Mares. Join us in celebrating the talent and genius of our community.
The event is sponsored by UNM Maxwell Museum & Alfonso Ortiz Center, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Everyone is invited to the the UNM Bookstore to attend a book signing with former Lobo kicker Katie Hnida, author of “Still Kicking: My Dramatic Journey as the First Woman to Play Division I College Football." The event will be held Thursday, Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore.
Photo: Katie Hnida, former UNM kicker, will be at the UNM Bookstore to sign copies of her new book.
Book Description
On August 30, 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman ever to play and score in NCAA Division I football. The struggle to get to that groundbreaking moment took eight long years, a journey filled with dogged commitment, horrifying setbacks, and finally, remarkable triumph.
Fate came knocking for the 14-year-old Hnida in the unlikely form of a torn thigh muscle -- an injury that would drive her off the soccer field in search of another outlet for her athletic talent. She found football and with it gender-defying success. The same day Hnida's high school classmates voted her homecoming queen, she donned her helmet and pads and kicked six extra points in the homecoming game.
When she is recruited to play for the University of Colorado Buffaloes, her great dream is realized, and she seems set for glory on a much larger stage. But upon arriving in Boulder, she begins a tour of hell inside the CU football program; a personal hell that culminates in Hnida being raped by a teammate. It is here that the story truly begins.
Physically and emotionally devastated, she leaves the university and begins climbing her way back to who she was and what she wanted. She learns to speak about what happened to her and to push through harrowing flashbacks of violence. The very thing that drew her into the darkest days of her life will ultimately save her: football.
She sends 80 kicking tapes to 80 Division I schools and is invited to visit several top football programs. But it is the blue-collar, no-nonsense team that wins her trust: the University of New Mexico Lobos. Under head coach Rocky Long, Hnida continues her long road to recovery through hard work and the will to never give up. She is not only accepted by her teammates, she also finds herself part of a team that's a family.
In Albuquerque, Hnida is reunited with her dream. Under a true leader, she blossoms. Her teammates are teammates, supporting and encouraging her to reach her goal. And with just 7:20 to go in the fourth quarter in a game against Southwest Texas, the history-making extra point kick is made in less than two seconds, changing everyone's ideas about what is possible.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico will celebrate its oldest tradition Friday, Dec.1, during the annual Hanging of the Greens. Student organizations will spend the day decorating main campus with thousands of luminarias.
At 6 p.m., students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to meet at Popejoy Hall to begin a caroling tour that will conclude with a reception at University House. The traditional presentation of the wreath to Acting President and Mrs. David Harris is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.
Attendees are asked to bring an unwrapped children's book to place under the University House tree. Books will be donated to UNM Children's Hospital.
Hanging of the Greens has been a University tradition since the 1930's and has been sponsored by the Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society since the 1950's.
Contact: Crystle Collier, (505) 277-5915
Underlying all good business ads, there is a business person
The Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico is offering a special topics course in advertising in the Spring 2007 semester. This is the first course of its kind at Anderson.
The advertising course will be taught by Linda Ferrell, who recently joined the Anderson School from the University of Wyoming. She has extensive experience teaching advertising classes, and prior to joining academia was an advertising account executive on McDonald’s and Pizza Hut accounts, working with Laurence Charles Free and Lawson in Philadelphia, Montgomery Zucherman and Davis in Indianapolis and Winius Brandon Advertising in Houston.
Traditionally, advertising classes have been held under the umbrella of the UNM department of Communication and Journalism. But according to Ferrell, business students also need a firm grounding in marketing communications – including advertising.
“Underlying all good business ads, there is a business person,” she says. Communication and Journalism schools tend to focus more on creative execution and media buying, she says. Business schools focus on advertising strategy, product positioning, market segmentation, and the strategic elements of managing clients and accounts.
The class will complement the Anderson promotions class taught by John Benavidez, which involves creating advertising for a specific client. The addition of the advertising class strengthens marketing students’ ability to specialize in integrated marketing communication, says Benavidez.
The course syllabus includes both advertising strategy and implementation. Ferrell will include information in the course about the profession of advertising and its history, while teaching students to appreciate the economic, social, and regulatory aspects of advertising. Through this, students are expected to learn how consumer behavior, market segmentation, and marketing research influence and shape advertising strategy and implementation.
For more information regarding this course, the public can contact Dr. Ferrell at (505) 277-7056 or LFerrell@mgt.unm.edu.
Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Amy Wohlert has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The ASHA Fellow award recognizes professional or scientific achievement and is given to members who have made outstanding contributions to the professions.
Photo: Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Amy Wohlert
Wohlert was recognized for her contributions to research in the neuromuscular control of speech production and for her service as an administrator and as chair of the Council on Academic Accreditation in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
“I’m grateful to be recognized by colleagues who know me well, and to join so many others whose work I admire,” said Wohlert. “Speech-language pathology has been an exciting and rewarding profession for me, and I’m especially proud of UNM’s outstanding role in preparing students to share in that profession.”
The status of Fellow is retained for life and is one of the highest honors ASHA can bestow. It recognizes professional or scientific achievement and is given to a member who has shown outstanding contribution to the professions—contributions that are significant and would be so regarded within and beyond one's community or state.
The full list of 2006 ASHA Fellows can be viewed at:
2006 ASHA Fellows.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The 4th annual UNM Giving Tree, open to all students, staff, faculty and community members, is set to begin Tuesday, Nov. 28 when participants can pick up a gift tag from the Giving Tree located in the SUB Atrium (Plaza level).
Co-sponsored by the ASUNM Community Experience and the UNM Student Union Building, the Giving Tree benefits underprivileged families and children of New Mexico.
For the event, a ‘Giving Tree’ is setup and decorated in the SUB Atrium. On each ornament is a gift tag providing information about the selected child or family such as age, gender and what they would like or need for Christmas. Gifts must be returned unwrapped to the ASUNM office (SUB Plaza level, rm. 1016) or the Student Resident Center Desk with the gift tag attached by Friday, Dec. 15.
Over the past three years, many different gifts have been donated to New Mexico children and/or families in need during the holiday season. Stop by and pick a gift tag off the Giving Tree and make the holidays brighter for someone in need.
For more information about the Giving Tree call Jacque Garcia, SUB marketing and communication specialist, at 277-2818 or Margi Miranda at 277-0106.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
You can read about a master’s student who is archiving and organizing the papers of former Governor Bruce King, even while he pursues his own research into a 20th century controversy that brought an end to Catholic nuns and brothers teaching in the public schools of New Mexico.
Photo: UNM master's student Ryan Weiss
Or you can learn how a doctoral student is working on a new way to illustrate the architectural style of Mayan rulers as they built monuments, and the way their buildings changed as the threats to their community’s stability increased.
Or you can find out how one master’s student is turning his interest in streams and water into a passion for policy that may shape the way we in New Mexico share water in the future.
Student research takes place throughout the university, in areas that go far beyond the hard sciences, but it’s difficult to find one place to read about what UNM students are actually doing. The student research page is a new offering to be found on the Web site for the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.
The student research site is targeted to high school students and their parents who may be interested in the kinds of opportunities students have to get involved in research, but it’s also an easy way to read about the ways students are creating opportunities to delve into areas that interest them.
Check out some of the great things UNM students are doing at:
Student Research.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Branch leader to step down Aug. 1, 2007
Carlos Ramirez, executive director of the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos branch campus, has announced his retirement effective Aug. 1, 2007. Ramirez, who started at UNM-LA in January 1989, has been the executive director for 17 of the branch’s 25 years. A search for his successor will begin immediately.
Photo: Carlos Ramirez, executive director, UNM-Los Alamos
“Dr. Ramirez has had a tremendous impact on the development of UNM-Los Alamos,” said UNM Deputy Provost Richard Holder. “His departure leaves behind a vibrant campus well-prepared and ready for its next steps in providing higher education to the community.”
"I believe that my long tenure has brought about many positive changes to this institution for the benefit of the students and communities that we serve,” said Ramirez in announcing his retirement. “I have enjoyed working with the advisory board, the leaders in Los Alamos and surrounding communities, and the faculty, staff and students.
“I am especially proud of our students' success and hope that the many initiatives that have been instituted under my administration will continue and positively affect future students at UNM-LA.”
From 1972-1989, Ramirez held several academic positions in California including Moorpark College, Ventura College, Oxnard College and City College of San Francisco where he served as president for five years. In 1989, Ramirez, who is originally from Santa Fe, returned to New Mexico to serve as executive director of UNM-Los Alamos.
Ramirez has helped to expand the facilities, programs and services of the institution to meet the needs of a diverse student body. UNM-Los Alamos is now designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution and draws students from throughout north central New Mexico.
Some of Ramirez’ many accomplishments during his tenure at UNM-LA include successfully securing the donation of 64 apartments valued in excess of $1 million from the Department of Energy. The apartments were renovated and now serve as UNM-LA student housing. Major new and/or renovated facilities were also added to the campus under Ramirez including a Student Service Center building that was constructed after the successful passage of local and statewide General Obligation Bonds, and the Learning Resource Center constructed with state and local funds.
Ramirez has also been instrumental in extending instructional programs and services to the following communities in Sandoval County: Bernalillo, Cuba, Jemez Springs, Jemez Pueblo, Sandia, San Felipe Pueblo and Santa Ana Pueblo. With the support of his faculty and staff, enrollment has reached an all time high following a decline in enrollment as a result of the devastating Cerro Grande fire in 2000.
Under Ramirez, UNM-LA has a reputation for small class sizes, an excellent faculty, and great support staff. Through efficient use of resources, he has been successful in adding new instructional programs and services to the campus including: the Electro-Mechanical Student Training Program, Southwest Studies, Material Science Technology, Digital Media Arts, the New Beginnings Program, a one-stop Career Resource Center and two small business development centers in Los Alamos and Sandoval counties.
Through the assistance of the UNM-LA Foundation Development Committee, he has also established several endowment scholarship funds and two successful annual fundraising events. Ramirez is currently active in a number of local and regional organizations and has been a strong advocate for economic development in north central New Mexico.
Ramirez received his doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 1979, and his Master of Arts in Political Science from UNM in 1969.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Show airs Friday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
“In Focus,” KNME-TV’s public affairs series that explores issues important to New Mexicans, will explore what is happening to medicine in our communities and in the southwest. Remaking New Mexico Medicine: An In Focus Town Hall Special airs on KNME on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. A local panel of experts will discuss ways in which professionals are finding innovative ways to tackle today’s health-related challenges.
The local town hall will include discussion about the transformation taking place by a panel of health care experts and will feature video clips about local programs that address the same issues presented in the national series, including using technology to improve access to quality care, improving patient/physician communication, and diabetes self-management:
• Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) involves using telemedicine to expand education in rural areas around Hepatitis C, with plans to later address diabetes, hypertension, and obesity issues.
• The Senior Mentor Program of the University of New Mexico Center on Aging and School of Medicine’s Geriatric Program pairs senior citizens with medical students to improve communication skills and inform future doctors about the health-related issues that seniors frequently face.
• A St. Joseph Community Health and Diabetes Education Project addresses diabetes education among Hispanics through gardening and cooking programs in Albuquerque.
As many as 98,000 Americans die each year in hospitals due to preventable medical errors. One million more are injured. In fact, medical errors kill as many people per year as breast cancer, HIV-AIDS and car accidents.
In addition, 18,000 Americans die each year from heart attacks because they didn’t receive medications, although they were eligible for them. More than 50 percent of patients with diabetes, heart disease, asthma and depression are currently managed inadequately.
These and other statistics underscore conditions within the American health care system that should be addressed.
The national series, Remaking American Medicine: Healthcare for the 21st Century, explored the quality crisis and the innovative solutions being undertaken by health care providers, patients and their families to transform the care provided by today’s institutions.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@unm.edu
Jay Parkes, associate professor in Education Psychology in the College of Education, will be honored at a Faculty Acknowledgement Event on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 2 p.m. in the Willard Room of Zimmerman Library. Parkes' lecture is titled “Authenticity in Assessment: Is ‘Real World' a Real Concern?" Parkes is program coordinator and graduate advisor for the Education Psychology Program.
Photo: Jay Parkes, associate professor, Education Psychology
He does research in a number of areas involving the way students are assessed and how those assessments are used by a school district or other interested parties.
Two recent collaborative projects include a study of medical students' reactions to medical simulations and a survey of parents who have children in the Albuquerque Public Schools dual language programs. Parkes summarizes his research this way: “Assessment is such an influential and pervasive part of our culture that it needs to be better understood and to be done well.”
The University Libraries Faculty Acknowledgement Program honors UNM faculty members who have made significant contributions to scholarly research. There will be a reception following the lecture and award presentation. This event is free and the public is welcome.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Students in Jose Martinez's Law Practice Clinic at the University of New Mexico School of Law successfully completed a long-term drive to amend the New Mexico Constitution to repeal the Alien Land Act, a discriminatory provision of New Mexico's constitution since 1921.
Jose Martinez, associate professor, School of Law
The Alien Land Act prohibited land ownership by all immigrants ineligible for citizenship. This law formalized anti-Japanese immigration sentiment prevalent in the U.S. in the early 20th century.
Nikko Harada, Christopher Frey, John Sugg, Nicholas Marshall and Adrian Vega, students in Jose Martinez's Law Practice Clinic, advocated for and wrote op-ed pieces about the legislation.
The constitutional repeal provision was placed on the Nov. 7 ballot through the advocacy of students in Carol Suzuki's spring 2005 Community Lawyering Clinic, the Asian American Law Students Association, Chris Fritz and professors Rob Schwartz and Norman Bay. State Senator Cisco McSorley (Dem., Bernalillo County) sponsored the joint resolution in the legislature. Evan Blackstone, a 2004 graduate of the school, helped develop resolution language as a member of the Legislative Council Service during the 2005 legislative session.
Prior efforts to repeal the provision include an attempt to get the resolution through the state legislature by the Community Lawyering Clinic and AALSA in spring 2004. This matter came to the law school's clinical program as a project of the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, taught by Christine Zuni Cruz. Many students enrolled in the clinic have worked on it over the years. Although the clinic successfully advocated for placing the repeal provision on the 2002 ballot, it failed to pass at that time.
Sari Kosinsky (505) 277-1593; email michal@unm.edu
Alex Gonzalez, associate director of the Scholarship Office at UNM, won the “Golden Shoe Award” for his outstanding work with vendors at the Region IV-West conference of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) held earlier this months in Breckenridge, Colo.
Photo: Alex Gonzalez, associate director, Scholarship Office
Gonzalez raised more money for this year’s conference, working as a liaison for NASPA to corporate sponsors, than has been raised in any previous year, bringing in $12,000 from vendors who were represented at the conference.
Trey Smith won the Rising Star New Professionals Award for his innovative student programs. Smith is a Student Activities Coordinator in the Student Activities Center. Both the Scholarship Office and the Student Activities Center are departments within the Division of Student Affairs.
The Breckenridge NASPA conference encompassed ten western U.S. states and two western Canadian provinces comprising Region IV-West of NASPA, the professional organization for college and university student services professionals. The U.S. states in the region are Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. The Canadian provinces are Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
"Our University is producing some excellent young student services professionals," said Dr. Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, vice president for Student Affairs. "I can think of many people in our Division in addition to Alex and Trey who could also represent the University of New Mexico extremely well in their professional accomplishments. Alex and Trey are among our best and brightest, and we are pleased to have them represent us so well at this conference.”
For further information about Alex Gonzalez and Trey Smith, please contact the Division of Student Affairs at 277-0952. For more information about NASPA and its regional and national conferences, please visit their Web site: NASPA.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation is sponsoring a competition for graduate students of the UNM School of Architecture and Planning. Each of the eight students from Graduate Studio 5 will submit a design plan to transform the eastern edge of the National Hispanic Cultural Center campus into a more welcoming public space. Competition submissions represent the culmination of a semester’s work.
The students’ entries will be on display in the lobby of the Roy E. Disney Center for Performing Arts from Monday-Wednesday, Dec. 4-6.
“Graduate Studio 5 has been an exciting collaboration between the foundation and the UNM landscape architecture program,” said Clara Apodaca, executive director of the NHCC Foundation. “This competition and reception will showcase students’ inspiring designs, and allow us to thank them for their wonderful efforts.”
“This partnership provided an invaluable opportunity for the students of this graduate class to design a real project for a real client, with important feedback every step of the way,” said Judith Wong, Graduate Studio 5 visiting professor.
A diverse jury panel of community leaders from architecture, art, history, education and economic development will select the winning entries. The jury panel includes Sarah Brown, entrepreneur and former owner of Gold St. Caffé; Patrick Gay, project manager, Sites Southwest; Dianne Glenn, NHCC member, designer and teacher; Alex Griego, senior architect, ASCG Incorporated; Owen López, director, McCune Foundation; Shelle Luaces, Ph.D., director of education, NHCC; Heather Norfleet, deputy executive director, NHCC Foundation; Carlos Vásquez, Ph.D., director of history and literary arts, NHCC; and Frederico Vigil, master artist of NHCC’s Torreón Fresco.
The winners will be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The Center for Regional Studies is funding 10 fellows this year to work on organizing and preserving the special collections in the Center for Southwest Research. The fellows provide much-needed assistance in making those collections more accessible to researchers.
Annette Rodriguez, who is the George I. Sanchez Fellow, is at work on finding aids for the Online Archive of New Mexico. She selects and digitizes images for the title pages of the finding aids. Rodriguez is a graduate student in American Studies whose research interest is the racial component of labor migration along the U.S. – Mexico border at the turn of the 20th century.
Aaron Blecha is the first fellow specializing in preservation. He examines, treats and does preventative conservation for manuscripts, books and other cultural property in the Center for Southwest Research. Blecha is working toward a master’s degree in Comparative Language and Literature with an additional focus on Museum studies. His research interest is the history of textual scholarship and the development of print culture.
Kari Schleher, the fellow in pictorial archives, is processing the photographic collections and is assisting in reference requests from scholars. As part of her work, she is digitizing approximately a thousand images for placement on the University Libraries digital collections website. Research for her doctoral dissertation in Anthropology with a focus in Archaeology involves prehistoric puebloan ceramics from the San Marcos Pueblo in the Galisteo Basin.
Jacobo D. Baca, the Gov. Bruce King Fellow, is organizing and processing the papers of Governor Bruce King for the UNM Law Library. Baca’s research interests are 20th century New Mexican and American history. His thesis is an examination of the 1951 New Mexico Supreme Court decision in Zellers v. Huff, a case which banned Catholic nuns and brothers from teaching in New Mexico public schools. His work is directly funded by the New Mexico Legislature.
Jane Sinclair, the Clinton P. Anderson Fellow, assists with reference and public service activities in the Center for Southwest Research’s Anderson Reading Room. She is a doctoral candidate doing research into the ways Indian casinos offer a new venue and museum setting for contemporary Native art.
Ramona Caplan is the Beatrice Chauvenet Fellow and is processing the papers of New Mexico architect Louis G. Hesseldon. Hesseldon designed numerous high-profile local buildings including the Albuquerque Country Club, and the original Albuquerque High School. Caplan’s research interests include the 19th century American West; George Armstrong Custer; Indian Wars; Native American history; Sevilleta Land Grant; Cathay Williams, Lady Buffalo Soldier; Ed Morrell, penologist; uncelebrated men and women who are markers in American Western History, Albert Bacon Fall; and oral history as a pivotal component in assessing history.
Jason Strykowski is the Juan and Virginia Chacón Fellow, and is processing the John Ussery papers, which contain materials relating to renewable energy technology, mostly in the 1970s. His master’s thesis is an investigation of the career of territorial governor and author Lew Wallace in New Mexico. His area of study is history of the Western United States.
The John Gaw Meem Fellow is Julie McGilvray. She is processing the papers of two important New Mexico architects, Frank M. Standhart and George Pearl. McGilvray is pursuing a masters in Landscape Architecture, and says her research goals focus on the way time is defined in a cultural landscape by exploring definitions of ‘new’ and ‘old’ and how these notions create perceived juxtapositions that define cultural values in the built environment.
David F. Garcia is the Fray Angélico Chavez Fellow. He is working to describe documents in the Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) pertaining to the Spanish colonial history of New Mexico and Yucatan. Garcia is a graduate student in the Spanish and Portuguese Department and is working on a master’s degree with an emphasis on the Chicano literature and cultural studies and social linguistics of the Southwest. His thesis is on ritual folk drama of the Mexico/U.S. border region.
As the Dennis Chavez Fellow, Lavinia M. Nocolae is processing the records of New Mexico U.S. Marshals 1897-1950. Those records document the duties of the NM marshals, which ranged from apprehending cattle smugglers and deporting Chinese laborers to riding trains during strikes to protect the mail, investigating illegal liquor sales to Indians and registering enemy aliens in wartime. Her doctoral research focuses on how family and kinship narratives are formulated by gay and lesbian couples in New Mexico and how those narratives are debated and interpreted politically and legally.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The public is invited to a brown bag lunch featuring traditional Native Americans stories at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 15, in the Herzstein Reading Room on the second floor of Zimmerman Library. Chris Chavez from Santa Domingo Pueblo and Vee Browne, Diné, are the featured speakers.
They will also conduct a lecture and discussion at 3 p.m. the same day in the Willard Reading Room on the first floor in the west wing of Zimmerman Library.
The events are hosted by the Indigenous Nations Library Program and University Libraries as part of the Medicine Wheel lecture series. They are free and open to the public.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico-Gallup has been awarded one of four $40,000 New Mexico Higher Education Department grants to run a film boot camp for high school juniors and seniors. Pamela Stovall, associate professor of communication and journalism at UNM-Gallup, applied for the Film and Media Grant Film Boot Camp.
The grant will be used to buy equipment including cameras and computers. Students from McKinley County Schools and Zuni Public Schools will apply for admission by April 15, and after classes are out, will attend a two-week summer program in acting, directing, video work, editing on the computer and filming around the local area.
“It’s actually learn as you work, and they’ll be doing several film projects,” Stovall said.
Stovall had considerable input from locals in the community as well as UNM-Gallup’s Department of Community Affairs’ Grants division before submitting the grant. She said part of her strategy was to recall Gallup’s and McKinley County’s fabled history as a film location.
Stovall, who has taught at the College of Santa Fe’s Girls’ Film School and is involved in the Santa Fe Screenwriters Conference, says she has a number of local contacts as well as some from the Santa Fe film scene who she plans to tap as instructors.
A premiere of the film the students produce will be shown toward the end of boot camp.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico is one of nine research universities in four states that are joining together to form the Southwest Border Security Consortium as a way to promote scientific and policy solutions for issues affecting the U.S.-Mexico border region. The announcement was made recently at ComDef Tucson 2006, an international conference in Tucson on technologies for border security, defense and commerce.
Participating institutions include Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, Texas A & M Engineering, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
UNM brings expertise in the area of transborder legal issues, modeling the spread of infectious diseases, biotechnology, environmental modeling and cognitive and decision sciences to the consortium.
The Utton Transboundary Resources Center in particular has had experience with different legal regimes including the U.S., Mexico, and the individual border states.
Utton Transboundary Resources Center Director Marilyn O'Leary says, “Legal and policy issues frame what can be done in other areas at the border and this is the area in which UNM has extensive expertise.”
UNM coordinator for the consortium project is Associate Vice-President for Strategic Projects Frank Gilfeather. His role will be to help match UNM expertise and faculty with their counterparts at other institutions in joint projects. UNM faculty are keenly interested in understanding the environment, legal and water issues in the border area.
“One very important of aspect of border security is the monitoring and modeling of the flow of infectious disease,” says Gilfeather, “as the Rio Grande Valley is a natural pathway for natural or induced pathogens.”
UNM Vice President for Research and Economic Development Terry Yates has done seminal work in the spread of infectious disease such as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and is considered an international expert in the field.
Gilfeather says UNM leads a related consortium which includes New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech focusing on threat reduction. The NM Threat Reduction Consortium is one of two national consortia, the other led by Penn State University doing research and development directly with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency on activities that include chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosive threat reduction.
These multiple consortia activities along with joint efforts with New Mexico Department of Energy and Department of Defense laboratories make UNM very active in supporting research and development in areas related to protection, security and threat reduction of the nation.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Feminist Research Institute presents, “Homes for a World of Strangers: Gender, Labor, Hospitality, and the Birth of a New Urban Household,” a lecture by Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, UNM assistant professor of history, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at noon in the Student Union Building Cherry-Silver Room. Light refreshments will be served.
Multiple dwellings like tenements and apartment buildings are among the most characteristic features of the American urban landscape, but our historical understanding of their origins and development -- especially the role of gender -- remains incomplete.
The standard account of purpose-built congregate housing emphasizes primarily economic factors such as urban crowding, increasing building costs, and rising rents. Sandoval-Strausz argues that there was a second, equally important line of development for multiple dwellings in America -- one that followed the spatial logic of hospitality rather than domesticity.
A crucial part of this story involved incentives based on gender and labor.
Multiple dwellings offered women the possibility of liberation from the household work that was expected of them in the domestic ideology of the day.
Sandoval-Strausz joined the UNM Department of History faculty in 2001 to teach courses on U.S. urban and legal history. He is revising his book, “or the Accommodation of Strangers: A History of the Hotel in America,” to be published by Yale University Press. His research interests include American urban, legal, business and labor history; historical and critical geography; Latino history; and Gilded Age and Progressive Era history.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
On Saturday, Nov. 18, the 31st annual Turkey Trot, sponsored by UNM’s Recreational Services will be held near University Arena, The Pit. A children’s half-mile event is scheduled for 10 a.m., while a three-mile adult run is set to begin at 10:45 a.m. Pre-registration continues through Friday, Nov. 17 for $13. On race day, late-registration will be held, but the registration fee will be $14.
Exclusively designed T-shirts will be awarded to the first 200 participants who register. Children’s age divisions are 6-7, 8-9 and 10-12, while adult divisions are 13-16, 17-23, 24-30, 31-37, 38-45 and 46-54. Prizes include turkeys, chickens and Cornish hens in each age division.
The Pit is located on UNM’s South Campus at University Blvd. and Avenida de Cesar Chavez near The Pit.
Additionally, a food drive will be conducted as part of the event. Participants and spectators are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item on race day for donation to a local food bank.
Registration may either be completed in person or by mail. Recreational Services is located on the UNM campus in Johnson Center, rm. 1102. Office hours are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Completed registration forms and checks, payable to Recreational Services, may be sent to: UNM Recreational Services, Johnson Center, Rm. 1102, MSC04 2600, Albuquerque, N.M., 87131.
For more information or for a registration form visit: Registration Form or call 277-0178.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Parents of high school students are invited to attend a free workshop on “How to Apply to College And Prepare for the Financial Aid Application,” sponsored by the College Enrichment Outreach Programs at the University of New Mexico. The workshop will be offered Saturday, Nov. 18, from 9 to 10 a.m. in Mitchell Hall, rm. 101, and on Thursday, Nov. 30, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the special programs house, 1921 Las Lomas. The workshop will be presented in Spanish at the house on Thursday, Nov. 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
"Parents are often faced with the daunting task of figuring out how their children are going to attend college," said Mandie Pritchard, UNM student program specialist. "Our monthly workshops are designed to provide the necessary tools and information they need to assist their children through a step-by-step process. I welcome parents to bring their student with them so they both receive the information,”
Space is limited. Reserve your spot by calling 277-0401.
Vida Art Exhibitions, an art show featuring original artwork by students, alumni, staff, and faculty at the University of New Mexico, will host a special holiday exhibit. Titled ‘Celebrating Life,’ the exhibit will be held by the UNM Student Health Center. The exhibition opens Nov. 14 and continues through Dec. 18. An opening reception, open to the public, will also be held in conjunction with the exhibit on Friday, Nov. 17, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
All of the artwork displayed will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Healthcare for the Homeless.
Vida Art Exhibitions is a community-based project whose mission is to place high-quality fine art in non-traditional and unexpected venues for the mutual benefit of viewers, hosting organizations, and artists.
Vida creates exposure and opportunities for UNM-affiliated artists to reach out and connect with the community in a gesture of sharing their treasure of artwork. Through the artwork of the participants, Vida Art Exhibitions hopes to promote stress reducing, life-enriching and other beneficial effects ranging from temporary amusement and entertainment to lasting hope and inspiration for the viewers.
The Student Health Center is located on UNM’s main campus just north of Johnson Gym near Central Ave. and Stanford. For more information on the exhibit or the opening reception, contact curator Janie Gonzales at (505) 899-2830 or via e-mail, jfpg@unm.edu.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
In September, five UNM students set out for Washington D.C. to become congressional interns for a semester. UNM instituted the program in association with the President’s Club at the UNM Foundation, which is giving the interns a stipend to cover living expenses. While in Washington they work in the congressional offices 32 hours a week and carry a full class load at UNM via special arrangements with professors.
2006 UNM Congressional interns (l. to r.): Dee Baker, Christopher Miller, Angela Gonzalez-Aller, Marcus Romero and Moanna Wright.
Moanna Wright
When Moanna Wright applied for the internship program, she thought she would build a bridge between her major in Anthropology/Ethnology and her minor in Community and Regional Planning. Now she thinks she is having the experience of a lifetime. She says it’s a combination of things -- seeing the legislative process up close and living in a city that holds so much of our national history.
As an intern for Congressman Tom Udall, she logs constituent comments, sorts mail, forwards faxes and clips local news articles. But one of the duties she enjoys most is giving visiting New Mexicans tours of the Capitol. “Each tour is like a mini-history lesson in which I learn something new about our rich national history,” she says, “and I’m able to share it with others.”
Christopher Hartmut Miller
Christopher Miller, a political sciences and Spanish major, attends policy briefings as part of his duties for Senator Pete Domenici. The briefings include a variety of policy positions and interests on a specific topic and provide balanced information to the staff and members of Congress. He says senators also form decisions by talking with constituents and various interest groups.
But for him the best part of his internship has been writing the first draft of a speech Domenici delivered on the Senate floor. ”It certainly is pretty cool to be able to look up a speech made by the Senator in the Congressional Record and be reading my own words,” he says. He’s been amazed by the amount of information he absorbs just by being on Capitol Hill. “You don’t realize how much you know about a variety of issues, the legislative process, different members of the House and Senate, and how the three branches of government interact until you start talking to someone not on the hill,” he says.
Angelina Gonzalez-Aller
Angelina Gonzalez-Aller is learning about methamphetamine, New Mexico’s biggest drug problem, as part of the research she is doing as an intern for Congressman Steve Pearce. He is working on “The CLEAN TOWN Act” or “Communities Leading Everyone Away from Narcotics through Online Warning Notification”. It’s a bill to require convicted narcotics dealers to register with the authorities, and have their addresses posted online, just as sex offenders have to do now. Gonzales-Aller says she got to deliver the bill to the Cloak Room to be introduced in Congress.
Gonzalez-Aller also got to research a provision in the Homeland Security Act and on the effects of the SAFETY Act on companies manufacturing and developing anti-terrorism technologies. She says the experience isn’t just the time she spends in the office. She believes “living in the capital has given me a great deal of insight as to how the city functions and has also given me a greater understanding as to how our nation is governed.” She thinks the experience will help her as she pursues her double major in political science and Spanish.
Deborah Baker
Deborah “Dee” Baker is studying for a double major in political science and psychology. Her favorite part of the intern experience is attending committee hearings and doing legislative research for staff members in Senator Jeff Bingaman’s office. Right now she is researching agricultural tariff phase-out periods in a number of different free trade agreements. She is focused on a finding a reasonably effective phase-out period on essential grains like wheat, rice, and potatoes for the free trade agreement with Peru. She’s also researching defense studies on inertial guidance testing in navigation systems of certain squadrons.
Baker too is taken with the actual experience of living in Washington D.C. “I love being able to walk down the street and see a historical building or museum on almost every corner,” she says. “I am constantly in awe at the richness of our nation’s history and the progress that our country has made throughout the years.”
Marcus Romero
Marcus Romero says he’s enjoying Washington D.C., but he’s still thinking of home. His work for Congresswoman Heather Wilson is a combination of answering telephones, going through email, doing constituent services and giving tours of the capitol building.
He is majoring in economics and political science with a minor in math and has done some research work on legislation, including the horse slaughter bill and the “Federal Prison Competitive Act.” His research led him to write a memo outlining the various amendments and what they would do so Wilson could use the information to help make decisions on the bill.
Romero thinks one of the most interesting things has been living in an area with a number of other congressional interns. He says someone is always ready to go out and do something, and there’s a lot to do in Washington. He says one of the big perks for Wilson staff members is attending dinners and receptions as a representative of the office while Wilson has been in New Mexico campaigning.
The interns come back to UNM for the spring semester, while a new group of interns will go to Washington D.C. in January for the opening of the new congressional session.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Geography Adjunct Assistant Professor K. Maria D. Lane was recently named the recipient of the Derek Price/Rod Webster Award for her article titled, “Geographers of Mars: Cartographic Inscription and Exploration Narrative in Late Victorian Representations of the Red Planet.” The award, given annually by the History of Science Society since 1979, recognizes the best work published in the Society’s journal Isis.
“Geographers of Mars” appeared in the December 2005 issue of Isis. In the article, Lane explains the power of Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1877 map of Mars in terms of 19th-century geography – when “prestige inhered in putting things on the map, not taking them off.”
“By alerting us to the seductiveness of maps as representations of reality, to the role of visual intuition and deceptive analogy in reading maps and terrain, and to the rhetoric of place names in an imperial age,” said Committee Chair Karen Reeds. “It shows us how much historians of science have to learn from geographers.”
The award, which carries a prize of $1,000, was formally presented recently at the History of Science Society annual meeting in Vancouver, BC.
The History of Science Society is the world's largest society dedicated to understanding science, technology, medicine, and their interactions with society in historical context. Over 3,000 individual and institutional members across the world support the Society's mission to foster interest in the history of science and its social and cultural relations.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Staff as Students is an initiative for UNM staff designed to increase career development through education and training. A fair hosted by SAS will be held Tuesday, Nov. 14, from noon to 2 p.m. in the SUB, ballroom A. Open to all UNM benefits-eligible staff, the event is intended to be a one-stop shop for helping staff become UNM students.
Representatives from the Admissions office will be able to process admissions applications on-site for those who do not have a hold on their account. Plus, the application fee will be waived for UNM staff.
Academic advisors will be on hand to answer questions about specific programs and the registrar’s office will register staff for classes in their booth.
An information booth will provide tuition remission forms and the Bursar’s office will be present to accept them. In addition, representatives from Continuing Education, Office of Graduate Studies, UNM Extended University and CNM will provide information on their respective programs.
For more information, call Helen Trujillo, 277-1780.
Contact: Laurie Mellas, (505) 277-5915; e-mail: lmellas@unm.edu
The family of F.M. Denton, the professor who established the Electrical Engineering Department at UNM in 1927, has donated a first edition copy of “Relativity and Common Sense,” a book written by Denton just before he came to UNM. The book is especially valuable because it was signed by Albert Einstein.
Photo: F.M. Denton
The Einstein family was traveling through the American West to see the Grand Canyon in 1931, and Einstein signed the book when his train made a short stop in Albuquerque. The Denton family also donated copies of Einstein’s correspondence with Denton, including a letter from Elsa Einstein saying that they would be traveling through Albuquerque.
F.M. Denton attended the University of London and graduated in 1903 with an Associate of the City and Guilds Institute in the field of electrical engineering. He moved to New Mexico for his health in 1925, and taught briefly at New Mexico Normal University in Las Vegas before moving to Albuquerque to establish a department in Electrical Engineering at UNM. Denton raised a family in Albuquerque and taught at UNM for ten years before dying at the age of 57.
There is currently an exhibit at Centennial Science and Engineering Library featuring the book and information about Einstein’s trip through Albuquerque and correspondence with Denton. Bruce Neville, director of Centennial Library says the book will be kept in the library’s special collections area.
Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The UNM Development Office and the Division of Continuing Education is sponsoring three grant-writing workshops in January and February 2007 conducted by the The Grantsmanship Center (TGCI). The first workshop, Grantsmanship Training with Research Emphasis will be held Jan. 22-26, 2007. Two Grantsmanship Training workshops will also be held Jan. 29 – Feb. 2, 2007 and Feb. 5 – 9, 2007. The workshops will all be held at UNM’s Continuing Education Conference Center, Room G.
The workshop is designed for both novice and experienced grant seekers. The workshop will cover all aspects of searching for grants, writing grant proposals, strategies for securing government and foundation grants, corporate contributions and negotiating with funding sources.
The Grantsmanship Center (TGCI) is the world’s oldest, largest and most respected fund development training organization. Since 1972, TGCI has trained more than 100,000 staff members of nonprofit, government, and academic institutions around the world.
Registration is limited to a total of 30 participants per session, and a limited number of seats have been reserved for UNM employees. The program fee is $825 if you register before Dec. 19 and $875 if you register after Jan. 4, 2007. Early enrollment is encouraged as TGCI workshops often fill to capacity. UNM faculty and staff are eligible to use UNM’s tuition remission benefit to attend.
To register for the workshop contact Sherry TenClay in the Continuing Education office at (505) 277-0723 or via e-mail at, sherrytc@unm.edu.
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology presents, “Celebrate El Río,” Saturday, Nov. 18, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Life ways of communities living along the Río Grande will be presented in an interactive afternoon of demonstrations, performances and food. The event is free and open to the public with activities for all ages and interests. Free goody bags will be distributed to the first 50 children ages 3-12.
Photo: Chuy Martinez
Chuy Martinez will perform New Mexico songs, the Rodriguez family will demonstrate piñata making. The Rolling River exhibit will teach children about how rivers work. Basket weaving, piñata breaking and lot more activities for the whole family are scheduled.
El Río is a Smithsonian traveling exhibit of life along the Rio Grande. Extending from the mountains of Colorado through the rugged landscapes of New Mexico and Texas into Northern Mexico, the Río Grande/Río Bravo basin forms the lifeblood of cultural and ecological life for the region and its people. The primary goal of the exhibit is to contribute to the preservation and renewal of New Mexico’s local cultural heritage and local knowledge.
El Río is centered on three main themes addressing the relationship of culture and environment in the region: traditional knowledge, cultural identity and sustainable development. Folkways, festivals and occupations are featured in this lively look at human ingenuity and survival.
The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is open Tues. through Fri., 9-4 and Sat., 10-4. Admission is free and donations are welcome. The museum is located on the campus of the University of New Mexico, east of University Blvd. between Lomas and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. off of Redondo Drive.
El Río was produced by the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The exhibition is based on programs at the 1998 and 2000 Smithsonian Folklife Festivals and has been made possible through the generous support of the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Fund, the
Smithsonian Special Exhibition Fund, the Houston Endowment, Inc., and the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional sponsors are the University of New Mexico’s Center for Regional Studies, Office of Vice President for Student Affairs, the town of Bernalillo, Chicano/Hispano/Mexicano Studies Program, Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies, Maxwell Museum Association, as well as many generous individuals.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The UNM School of Architecture and Planning presents a symposium, “Architecture, Film + Digital Media,” Friday, Nov. 10, in Student Union Building Ballroom A. The event kicks off with a 5 p.m. reception. The symposium starts at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The ARTS Lab, an interdisciplinary center for developing creative relationships connecting art, science, business and technology in New Mexico, is co-sponsor of the symposium.
The idea for the symposium grew out of an observation Geraldine Isais Forbes, director of UNM’s architecture program, had while working at Woodbury University in California. She saw many architecture students either working full time or part time in the film industry as art directors, set designers, animators or screenwriters.
Forbes said that efforts in New Mexico and Albuquerque to develop film industries are the impetus behind the symposium, which will expose architects and architecture students to these career possibilities. The symposium brings in five national experts - individuals trained as architects - who work in the film industry.
Forbes said that architects are trained to design both internal and external environments. “Architects develop visualization skills and are trained to understand the digital environment. They know the software and can visualize digitally for animation. Studios identify the best and brightest students to work for them and they make perfect transplants into the film industry,” she said.
Architects also use narrative to understand and design a project, the same storyboard technique used in film, she said.
An interdisciplinary degree in film and digital media is being developed at UNM in the College of Fine Arts with many other UNM schools and colleges included. In the spring, a course in architecture and film will be taught.
“Additionally, we will start a film series to look at how film as a medium uses architecture to create an environment,” Forbes said.
The symposium is part of the school’s John Gaw Meem Lecture Series and was subsidized by the Ron Hutchinson Memorial Lecture Fund. For more information on the symposium, call Tim Castillo, 277-1063 or email timc@unm.edu.
The symposium features the following individuals:
Michael Selditch
Producer, writer, director, creator and/or showrunner on numerous documentary, talk and reality television shows for MTV, FX, Bravo, Logo, Lifetime, MSNBC, Discovery and TLC. As producer, he was nominated for a primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Reality Programming in 2001 for Trauma: Life in the ER. Selditch recently directed and produced the documentary, Project Jay, on fashion designer Jay McCarroll, winner of Project Runway, for Bravo. He is also a recurring director on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. His award-winning feature film directorial debut, Fixing Frank, has enjoyed a successful theatrical run in selected cities, and has aired internationally on television in 2005.
Carlos Barbosa
Barbosa is a graduate of the Tulane School of Architecture. His career as a production designer for film and television was preceded by his practice as an architect for the firms of August Perez and Associates in New Orleans, Moore Ruble Yudell in Los Angeles as well as his own projects in New York, Connecticut and Los Angeles. His career in film includes his work in the television series 24, for which he won an Emmy nomination, CSI Miami, Lost, Coach Carter and many others. He is currently designing Studio 60, a new television series by the producers of West Wing.
Stan Bertheaud
Bertheaud is a working architect who teaches at Mississippi State, Tulane, Woodbury University and Auburn University. He also writes for screen. He designed buildings in and around New Orleans, earning commendations for contemporary work within historic settings. His current architectural work is residential and reflects his upbringing in rural America. He is credited with writing theatrically released screenplays, including Tilt-a-World. He also co-wrote with Dwight Yoakam the surrealistic western, South of Heaven, West of Hell, which became Yoakam’s directorial debut. South of Heaven, West of Hell premiered at and closed the 2000 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Berthoud has amassed numerous awards and honors throughout his career as an architect, educator and screenwriter.
Liz Martin
An assistant professor at Southern Polytechnic State University in Atlanta, Martin has taught at Auburn University in Alabama, and Art Center and SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. She is trained as an architect and violinist/composer. Martin has always seen the creative process through the eyes of a musician. Her multidisciplinary firm ALLOY PROJECTS opened its doors in 2002 with offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Her portfolio of work is attempting to integrate building, new technology, and craftsmanship with time, sound and texture. In addition to practice, Martin is the founding curatorial-director of the A+D Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles and the overseas editor for Monument, an Australian design magazine.
David Rogers
Rogers manages the Data Analysis and Visualization Group at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. The group does R&D into visualization applications and techniques for massive datasets generated by a variety of groups at Sandia. Currently focusing on advanced Information Visualization techniques, the group is building an open source toolkit that leverages their expertise in parallel processing of massive data. Rogers earned his bachelor’s in architecture with honors from Princeton University. After moving to New Mexico, Rogers worked at Greg Hicks and Associates on a variety of projects and earned a master’s in computer science from UNM. While a UNM student, Rogers researched in Virtual Reality at Sandia. DreamWorks Feature Animation called him, so he packed up his family and moved to Los Angeles. At DreamWorks, he wrote production software tools used on several features, eventually becoming production software supervisor for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Life on the border focus of film series offering
UNM's Center for the Southwest presents “Alambrista,” a 1977 film directed by Robert M. Young, Monday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. in the SUB Theatre on the UNM campus. This is the third installment in the 2006-2007 Southwestern Film Series. All viewings are free and open to the public.
“Alambrista” depicts the harsh realities of Mexican life on both sides of the border. Following the birth of his first child, a young Mexican father slips across the border into the United States in pursuit of American opportunities for himself and his family. On this journey, he discovers heartbreak, exploitation and disappointment, but also friendship, affection and assistance.
“Alambrista” won awards from the Cannes Film Festival, the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival.
The film will begin with a short introduction by Linda B. Hall, UNM professor of History. Formerly the director of Latin American Studies, Hall has been a professor at UNM since 1986. Her research and published works have focused primarily on the Mexican Revolution and the U.S.-Mexican border, as well as U.S.-Latin American relations and regional studies. Hall currently teaches Studies in Latin American Film History and a graduate seminar in Latin American History.
Throughout the fall and spring of 2006-2007, UNM’s Center for the Southwest in the Department of History will showcase a series of films produced in the southwestern United States. The movies provide both public and university audiences with a greater awareness of the historical, cross-cultural and social values found within the region’s rich film production and dynamic past.
For more information, call 277-7688 or contact Elaine Nelson at cntrsw@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Intrigued by technology? You can visit a lab where students design, test and build a formula-style racecar, and you can see the students race the car. Or go on a tour of a hydraulics lab, watch a vector drawing program construct scenes of interwoven surfaces, learn about a motion capture system and its multi-projector dome; watch a laser light show and much more at the UNM School of Engineering Open House on Nov. 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Mechanical Engineering Building.
“This is an opportunity for high school students to see why engineering and computer science are the driving forces behind the world’s technological revolutions,” said School of Engineering Dean Joseph Cecchi. “They can also experience the innovative, hands-on research environment at the UNM School of Engineering.”
High school students, their parents and high school faculty and staff are invited to attend from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. when advisors will be available to talk with students, and there will be information about advisement, tutoring and mentoring. There will also be a chance to meet current students, and talk with them about UNM and the engineering program. Students will give demonstrations and presentations of their work. Lab tours and interactive demonstrations will be conducted from 1 to 2 p.m.
Students and their parents can get discount tickets to the Lobos vs. TCU game when they RSVP at: http://soemep.unm.edu or call Pauline at: (505) 277-1104 or (505) 450-1537 or e-mail at: pjhh@unm.edu. Please RSVP by Nov. 7.
Directions to campus
From I-25, take the Central/Martin Luther King exit. Turn east on to Martin Luther King; go straight until you cross University Avenue and turn left onto Redondo Drive. Parking is on the right. The Mechanical Engineering building is on the southwest corner of campus.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
ASUNM's the Community Experience is sponsoring a food drive to help keep New Mexicans from going hungry this holiday season. The Community Experience, which sponsors a number of programs benefiting the community throughout the year, will be collecting canned, non-perishable food items Nov. 6 - 17 to benefit the New Mexico Roadrunner Food Bank. Collection bins are located in the SUB, Johnson Gym, the Student Residence Center commons area and at University College Advisement Center. Students, faculty and staff are all invited to participate.
Donors can also receive free admission to the Nov. 14 and 15 showings of "Miami Vice" at the SUB's Mid-Week movies by bringing a canned food item. Additionally, on Friday, Nov. 17, if you drop off a canned food item, you’ll have the opportunity to make your own free sundae, courtesy of Coldstone Ice Cream.
For more information or questions call, 277-0106 or visit: Community Experience.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
UNM’s El Centro de la Raza, Service Corps and other organizations come together to host “Break Down the Wall: Reconstructing a foundation for our people,” Monday, Nov. 6, in Woodward Hall from 7 – 9 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“The purpose of the event is to provide a forum for discussion, gather and empower people with knowledge on issues regarding political agendas surrounding the United States/ Mexico border, current legislation, as well as rallying people to vote,” said Travis McKenzie, one of the event organizers.
Speakers include Thomas Garduño, Southwest Organizing Project; Joseph Garcia, GPSA president; Kiran Katina, Service Corps; Jeanne Phals, Stop the War Machine; and presentations from students on their experiences at the recent Border Forum held in Juarez, Mexico.
“These issues are important because they effect everyone in one way or another,” McKenzie said.
A portion of the program will be dedicated to questions and comments from the audience.
For more information, contact Travis McKenzie by e-mail: tmckenzi@unm.edu or by phone at (505) 331-6390.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
“A Feast of Poetry,” scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Ortega Reading Room on the third floor of Ortega Hall, is an opportunity to read original work, a translation or a favorite poem. Spots can be scheduled for 10 minutes or less.
This event, organized by the Ortega Poetry Brigade in Foreign Languages and Literatures, is designed to encourage students and faculty to participate in this unofficial and informal poetry reading where participants set limits, choices and style.
“Help us to celebrate the magic of language for its own sake, but also as therapy for the stress of the season. We would like to have contributions from each language in our departments. Translations are especially sought, but originals and favorites are welcome,” said Byron Lindsey, foreign languages professor and member of the brigade.
For more information or to schedule a slot, e-mail Lindsey at: bliny@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The Office for Policy, Security, and Technology, a collaborative venture of the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories, will award up to five $5,000 grants to support the development of new jointly taught interdisciplinary undergraduate and/or graduate courses that highlight the relationship between public policy and science and technology (S&T).
Proposals that team faculty from the sciences or engineering with faculty from the social sciences or humanities are especially encouraged. Proposed courses may cover any issue area—environmental stewardship, natural resource management, energy alternatives, science education, public health, national defense, international security—that features a public policy-S&T nexus. The courses that emerge from this new curriculum development grant program may be offered in either the 2007-08 or 2008-09 academic years.
Grant proposals should include:
• Description and analytical/topic outline of the proposed course;
• Rationale for the course;
• Discussion of the pedagogical approach to be employed;
• Anticipated enrollment figures;
• Expected semester during which the course will be offered; and
• Faculty CVs.
Grants will be awarded by the OPST director based upon the recommendation of an interdisciplinary faculty committee. Successful applicants will receive half of the grant upon selection; the second half will be provided at the start of the semester during which the course is offered.
For additional information please contact OPST Director Andrew L. Ross, 277-7391 or aross@unm.edu; or Stephanie Grant, program administrator, OPST, at 277-1397 or slgrant@unm.edu. Proposal deadline is Feb. 1, 2007.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Led by Professors Alessandro Seazzu, Stephen Burd, and Christopher Conway at the Anderson Schools of Management, UNM has applied to the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE) Program to be recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence. At this point, UNM has overcome the first major hurdle in this process.
The Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation Review Committee has recently validated that UNM courseware meets all of the elements of the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) National Training Standards for Information Systems Security Professionals and System Administrators), Entry Level.
UNM will receive an official certificate during the June 2007 CNSS Awards Ceremony which will be held at the 11th Colloquium for Information Systems. The certificate will be signed by the CNSS chair and will be valid through June 2012.
This is the prerequisite step prior to submitting an application for the CAEIAE Program. The following steps of the application process include meeting rigorous criteria having to do with UNM’s incorporation of information assurance (IA) in curriculum, research, practice, incorporation into various disciplines, partnerships with minority colleges and universities, or two-year community colleges, or technical schools, libraries and IA faculty members. These criteria are all measured on a specific scale based on points.
If UNM becomes a National Center of Academic Excellence, students in attendance are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program.
The goal of the CAEIAE Program is to reduce vulnerability in the national information infrastructure by promoting higher education in IA, and producing a growing number of professionals with IA knowledge and experience in various academic disciplines.
The designations and re-designations for 2006 resulted in a total of 75 Centers across 32 states and the District of Columbia.
For more information about the CAEIAE Program please visit: CAEIAE Program.
Media Contacts: Sophie Martin, (505) 277-7117; e-mail: martin@mgt.unm.edu>/a> or Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
VIDA Art Exhibition’s show “A Step Beyond” has gone a step beyond! Due to popular demand, the art exhibit is being held over for an additional three months and will now continue through Jan. 5, 2007. The 70-piece exhibition features original fine art by 25 UNM-affiliated artists. The public is welcome and works are available for purchase. A portion of all sales will go to Albuquerque Rescue Mission. The exhibit is located at the UNM Development/Foundation Office at 700 Lomas Boulevard, N.E., Building #2.
Artwork: "Tightrope in the City" by Sydney Johnson, UNM alumnus and current graduate student.
VIDA Art Exhibitions is a community-based project whose mission is to place high-quality fine art in non-traditional and unexpected venues for the mutual benefit of viewers, hosting organizations, and artists. VIDA creates exposure and opportunities for UNM-affiliated artists to reach out and connect with the community in a gesture of sharing their treasure of artwork.
"With art, we hope to promote stress reducing, life-enriching, and other beneficial effects ranging from temporary amusement and entertainment to lasting hope and inspiration for the viewers," said Janie Gonzales, curator of the VIDA Art Exhibitions.
For more information contact Gonzales at (505) 899-2830. Or via e-mail, jfpg@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
LodeStar Astronomy Center will debut an entirely new line-up of digital dome theater (aka – planetarium) shows Nov. 4. At the center of this schedule, like in the Milky Way Galaxy’s core, lurks a super black hole – a show, that is. Surrounding the new feature show, 'Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity,' will be a new live Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe show using new state-of-the-art 3D immersive reality tools and astronomical data that’ll fly audiences through our solar system and beyond.
Completing the new cosmic line-up is the return of Wonders of the Universe, the popular feature show co-produced by LodeStar in 2001. All the shows are presented in large-format, immersive, ultra-high digital video on the 55-foot diameter dome screen.
“This new line-up offers the best cinematic and live performance experiences that digital dome theaters/planetariums can offer and we’re excited to present it to New Mexico,” said LodeStar director David Beining.
Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity, provides a groundbreaking, scientifically accurate perspective on black holes and the latest compelling evidence that these cosmic curiosities are real. To do so, the show brings audiences on a thrilling ride to the inside of a supermassive black hole and uses real astronomical data to create the stunning visuals.
Liam Neeson narrates the 25-minute show, Donna Cox of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications produced the science visualizations, and longtime documentary filmmaker Thomas Lucas directed the collaborative production. “This show takes something as fascinating and mysterious as black holes, and makes them even more fascinating but entirely understandable, all the while audiences are having a good time,” Beining added.
“Wonders is a stunning show that’s powered by beautiful depictions of the cosmos and a grand and inspiring musical score. We kept the words and concepts clear to allow visitors of all levels to learn something while enjoying truly beautiful pictures and sounds. For us, it’s a masterpiece production and we’re thrilled to bring it back for our visitors,” Beining said.
The LodeStar Astronomy Center is a University of New Mexico project in partnership with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science. LodeStar is located at 1801 Mountain Road NW, in Old Town Albuquerque. The facility is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information or group reservations call, (505) 841-5955 or visit www.lodestar.unm.edu.
New show schedule effective Nov. 4: Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity & Wonders of the Universe – showings at 12, 1, 2 and 3 p.m.; Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe – 10 and 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Admission to each show is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $3 for children ages 3-12. On opening weekend Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-5, buy one planetarium show, get your second show free. One discount per person.
Beginning Nov. 18, 2006, admission will be $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for children ages 3 to 12. For more information call, 841-5955 or visit: www.lodestar.unm.edu
Notes…
Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity was produced through a collaboration of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Spitz, Inc. and the Swift and GLAST Education and Public Outreach Programs at Sonoma State University. The National Science Foundation and NASA provided funding.
Evans & Sutherland produced Wonders of the Universe. LodeStar and Michael Stearns produced the LodeStar soundtrack.
Enchanted Skies shows are produced by LodeStar with support from Sky-Skan, Inc and The Boeing Foundation.
The introduction of DigitalSky2 software marks a radical new way of presenting live planetarium shows and LodeStar visitors can experience tours of night sky like never before in a new version of Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe starting Nov. 4.
DigitalSky2 is a real-time immersive virtual reality simulator that allows photorealistic flights within our solar system and all the way to the edges of the visible universe. Think of it as a giant flight simulator that includes about two million parts of the known universe, all based on scientific data.
Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe will show visitors which celestial objects are in tonight’s sky above New Mexico, but then take audiences to visit these worlds close-up by flying through incredibly 3D detailed models of the solar system, star clusters, galaxies beyond our own, and more.
“Planetariums have changed dramatically and LodeStar’s at the cutting-edge of what’s possible. Instead of being limited to what the cosmos look like from here on Earth, now we can take audiences to visit planets, moons, galaxies, and more to see them close up. In the case of the solar system, we can see it in action as moons orbit planets, planets orbit our Sun, etc. I guarantee that 99 percent of our visitors have never been to a planetarium show like these before,” Beining stated.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning recently inducted 10 members into Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society. Acting Dean Ric Richardson announced induction of five undergraduate and five graduate students into UNM’s Gamma Lambda chapter of the national organization. Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society is the only honor society recognized in the fields of architecture and the allied arts, which includes landscape architecture and community and regional planning.
Undergraduate inductees working toward a bachelor of arts in architecture are Judith Abeita, Sandra Clough, Alberto Rodriguez and Kristen Schulte. Gepetta Billie is pursuing a bachelor of arts in environmental planning and design.
Graduate inductees working toward a master of architecture are Jode Nyboer, Nancy Lomax, Michele Delacey and Ana Petkovic. Fornessa Randal is pursuing a master of community and regional planning.
Tau Sigma Delta, founded in 1913 at the University of Michigan, is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, giving Tau Sigma Delta the high rating of most distinguished honor societies in other educational fields.
Students inducted are in the top 20 percent of their class.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
University College at the University of New Mexico is hosting a symposium to spur research and creativity among undergraduates across disciplines. “Research Quest: Creating a Forum to Grow in an Atmosphere of Diversity,” will feature academic oral and poster presentations and theatrical, poetic and musical performances on Monday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Student Union building.
Undergraduates enrolled in University College’s Freshman Academic Choices and its new Research Service Learning Program will showcase their work. The deadline to submit project proposals is Monday, Nov. 6.
Sessions are free and open to the public. University College will award cash prizes to the best projects.
For more information, call symposium coordinator Marla Wyche-Hall, mwycheh1@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Laurie Mellas, (505) 277-5915; e-mail: lmellas@unm.edu
Local high school students lauded for Web design entry on influence of gangs
Albuquerque high school students participating in the University of New Mexico’s Upward Bound Program earned prizes at national 2006 TRIO Quest activities, sponsored by the University of Washington.
TRIO programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Education and serve primarily low-income, underrepresented and/or first-generation students in an effort to prepare them for higher education success.
UNM Upward Bound students earned “best of contest from a new program” and “best site from a new program” medals for their Web design entry “The Influence of Gangs in Our Society.”
Honored were: Gregory Soliz, Johelmy and Suleimy Figueroa and Valerie Madrid of Highland High School; Mario Espinoza of La Cueva High School; Ehron Franklin of Del Norte High School and Tamara Mangram of West Mesa High School
To view TRIO Quest award winning projects, visit http://www.triothinkquest.org.
Media Contact: Laurie Mellas, (505) 277-5915; e-mail: lmellas@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico KIVA Club will present “Native Creations: Silent Art Auction and Indigenous Social Dances” on Monday, Nov. 13, 4-10 p.m. in Student Union Building Ballroom C. The auction benefits Navajo orphanage Hogan Hozhoni in Window Rock, Ariz. The event is free and open to the public.
Entertainments include a panel discussion with Navajo artists Oreland Joe, Sr., Irving Toddy and Ed Singer at 6:30 p.m. and performances by Apache, Hopi and Navajo dance groups at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to the UNM KIVA Club, the event received support from Native American Studies and American Indian Student Services. For more information, contact JayCee Beyale at 610-9062 or jcbl505@hotmail.unm.edu or the KIVA Club at 277-7236 or kiva@unm.edu.
The KIVA Club encourages student and community involvement in Native American issues and events at UNM and the surrounding communities, promotes higher education, preserves and encourages the growth of cultural values and identities of Native American students, and provides a positive social environment for UNM students.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
William C. McGrew, one of the world’s top experts in chimpanzee culture, presents the 23rd Journal of Anthropological Research Distinguished Lecture, “New Wine in New Bottles: Prospects & Pitfalls of Cultural Primatology,” on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in UNM Anthropology Lecture Hall (rm. 163). The lecture will be followed by a specialized seminar, “Thirty-five Years of Chasing Chimpanzees: Lessons Learned & New Findings,” on Friday, Nov. 10, at noon in Anthropology rm. 178.
Photo: William C. McGrew
Both the lecture and seminar are free and open to the public. The Anthropology Building is on the UNM campus east of Redondo Road between Martin Luther King and Roma.
McGrew has studied chimpanzee behavior in the wild since 1974, conducting fieldwork in both East and especially West Africa.
He has degrees in zoology, child psychology and anthropology. He earned his doctorate from the University of Stirling in Scotland, where he also taught. He taught at UNM in 1986.
McGrew is currently a lecturer in biological anthropology at the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge. He was a distinguished professor at Miami University of Ohio, and recently has been a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and at the University of California in Berkeley.
Among his awards is the Prix Delwart of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences. McGrew has followed in the footsteps of Jane Goodall in his emphasis on long-term field observations of chimpanzees and their learned cultural behaviors in natural habitats in Africa. His work on chimp tool-use is central to the debate about the nature of the fine line between humans and their closest living relatives. His interdisciplinary approach to the study of chimps is unusual and provides a broad perspective on our ‘sister’ species.
McGrew has published six books since 1972. Most recently Cambridge University Press released his book, “The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology.” Since 1969, McGrew has published more than 160 articles in many of the world’s most prestigious journals of zoology, ethology and anthropology, and in numerous edited volumes. He has also published about 170 reviews, notes and comments. His work has been supported by numerous grants from such institutions and foundations as the U.S. National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Max-Planck Gesellschaft, UK Science Research Council, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Royal Society and American Philosophical Society.
A dynamic speaker, McGrew has given many guest lectures and symposia presentations around the world. He has been a mentor to many graduate students over the years, making a major contribution to the training of a new generation of primatologists –especially chimpanzee specialists.
The “Journal of Anthropological Research” has been published quarterly by UNM since 1945. To subscribe, call 277-4544. Individual subscriptions are $30 for 600 pages of peer-reviewed articles in all areas of anthropology, plus book reviews.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu