World-famous artist LeRoy Neiman, known for his colorful depictions of celebrities and sporting events, will be in residence at Tamarind Institute from March 2-12, 2008. The artist will work collaboratively with Tamarind’s Master Printer to make an original lithograph inspired by the University of New Mexico men's basketball team.
Image: Artist LeRoy Neiman
Neiman has generously donated all proceeds from the sale of the lithograph to Tamarind’s capital campaign. Neiman has been following the Lobos in preparation for his visit. For additional first-hand experience, UNM President David J. Schmidly, a devoted fan of both the Lobos and Neiman, will accompany the artist to the final Lobo home men's basketball game on Tuesday, March 4 against UNLV.
Subsequently, the artist will complete the drawings for his lithograph at Tamarind, where the limited edition will be printed by Tamarind master printers from the drawings.
President Schmidly will attend a private reception honoring the artist on March 11 at Tamarind, and will unveil the new lithograph at that time.
Tamarind Institute is a division of the University of New Mexico’s College of Fine Arts and is recognized worldwide as a leader in collaborative lithography. It will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010 with a major traveling exhibit and a new home at 2500 Central Avenue, S.E.
Media Contact: Marjorie Devon, (505) 277-3901; e-mail: mdevon@unm.edu
Through March 31, students, staff and faculty at the University of New Mexico are asked to donate new or used children’s books as part of the Albuquerque Business Education Compact Read to Me Book Drive. UNM is part of a coalition of organizations helping to collect children’s books to promote reading in local elementary schools and preschools.
“A recent study has shown that access to reading materials is extremely limited for children from low-income families. It’s estimated to be about one book for every 300 children,” said Juan Fidel Larrañaga, community board member with the program. “Please help reduce this disparity by providing a new book for a child.”
Last year more than 1,000 books were collected at the UNM Human Resources Service Center on Lomas Boulevard, and more books were donated at libraries and offices across campus. In all, more than 24,000 books were collected through the city of Albuquerque, and this year’s goal is to collect 30,000.
Collection boxes will be available at UNM libraries and on the Health Sciences Center campus in the library and Health Sciences Services Building. Information about the Albuquerque Libraries Summer Reading Program will also be provided to children and families. Collected books will be given to elementary school children in families with limited resources.
For more information, or to volunteer, please contact Juan Fidel Larrañaga at (505) 272-9532 or Larranag@unm.edu or visit the Web site at: Read to Me.
Artist reception to be held Friday, March 7
In 2006, New Mexico journalist and photographer Sharon Niederman traveled with University of New Mexico School of Medicine professor Dr. Dale Alverson and UNM medical students to Ecuador to study that country's rural health program. In Ecuador, where many communities rarely see a physician, new physicians are required to participate in a year-long rural residency program that brings them to the most remote parts of the country.
“The Path with Heart: Healing Images and Journal Accounts from Ecuador” contains Niederman's photographs and journals from the trip and will be on display at the University of New Mexico Hospital's Health Sciences Gallery from March 7 to May 9, 2008. The public artist's reception will be held Friday, March 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
The month-long trip provided Niederman and her colleagues ample opportunity to view the disparities between US and Ecuadorean medical communities. “In the rainforest areas we visited, medical care was rarely available. As important as trained medical staff are to the people we met, I witnessed that most of the illness of the jungle, of that vast 'Third World,' could easily be cured with fresh water, proper sanitation and more protein. There is nothing exotic about it,” says Niederman.
Niederman will show 40 images from the trip, shot on a SLR digital Nikon D-50, with few exceptions using natural light and printed on Kodak Royal Digital or Fuji Crystal Archive paper.
The photographs were shot in Quito, Nuevo Rocafuerte in Ecuador’s Oriente jungle region near the Peruvian border, and in the Andean region of Zimbabua. Nuevo Rocafuerte may be reached only by a 12 hour boat ride along the Rio Napo, one of the Amazon’s three major tributaries. There the UNM team was hosted by the doctors, nurses, priests and sisters who were responsible for the work of a small hospital.
“I was privileged to witness a dedication to service, and the dignity with which it is received, that opened my heart to hope for us all,” says Niederman. “It is these precious moments of joy and connection, generated within poverty, heat, rain, mud and disease, that I am driven to share through these images.”
Media Contact: Sophie Martin, (505) 710-9325; e-mail: sophie_martin@earthlink.net
UNM administrators, students, faculty and staff met today in the UNM Student Union Building, Ballroom C to discuss the university budget. The budget, which goes into effect on July 1, 2008, has been partially formed by the result of the 2008 legislative session. That session sets parameters for future student tuition increases, and for faculty and staff salary increases.
This year lawmakers approved a budget, which takes credit for a 2 percent tuition increase. That means the university’s appropriation was passed with the assumption that student tuition would go up at least 2 percent.
The legislative appropriation also assumes a 2 percent increase for faculty and staff salaries. Regents may give that increase or may give a higher increase. But higher increases would have to come from a larger tuition increase. That is the dilemma UNM administrators will discuss on Feb. 29. Anyone who cannot attend the summit can listen to it via a live web cast. The link to the web cast will be available at UNM Budget Summit.
There will also be an opportunity for student, staff and faculty groups to address the administration and regents. The actual vote on the university budget is scheduled for the regular meeting of the Board of Regents on March 12.
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1889; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu
The American Society for Engineering Education 2008 Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference is an opportunity for anyone interested in engineering education to hear the latest ideas and find out what is new and exciting in the field. The Gulf-Southwest Conference includes New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. The conference is scheduled for March 26-28, at the Albuquerque Marriott Hotel and hosted by the School of Engineering at the University of New Mexico. This year’s conference theme is “Current and Future Challenges and Opportunities in Engineering Education.”
The conference includes a keynote speech by Neal Shinn, Ph.D., the User Program Manager of the Department of Energy Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Sandia National Laboratories. Shinn will provide an overview of CINT and its capabilities, services and structure. He will also discuss the user program and explain the proposal process.
Gerhard Salinger, Ph.D., program director in the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will also speak. Salinger will discuss funding opportunities that relate to engineering education and describe features of the ASEE sponsored Global Colloquium on Engineering Education.
The conference will be attended by faculty/staff and students from around the nation and by leaders of the ASEE National Organization, as well as administrators from several universities.
There will also be a student technical paper/poster competition with awards to the top three competitors as well as awards for the three best papers in the faculty/staff category.
Anyone interested in the conference is invited to attend. More information is available at ASEE National Organization or by contacting the conference chair Tariq Khraishi at (505) 277-6803 or khraishi@unm.edu.
The Office of the Vice President for Institutional Diversity will present a panel presentation featuring best practices dialogue on Tuesday, March 4, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the UNM SUB Lobo rooms A & B. Titled, “Best Practices Dialogue: Faculty Recruitment & Retention,” the panel presentation will feature Rita Martinez-Purson, interim vice president for Institutional Diversity; Richard Holder, deputy provost for Academic Affairs; and Arthur Gonzales, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity.
Join in this preliminary review of some of the best practices in faculty recruitment and retention, in terms of diversification. Practices at UNM and other universities will be discussed, with opening remarks by the panel.
The panel will also address issues, challenges and opportunities presented by this effort, which is integral to the university-wide diversity plan. All faculty are encouraged to participate.
Best Practices Dialogue: Campus Climate
Additionally, on Thursday, March 6, a second best practices dialogue titled "Campus Climate," will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Acoma A & B in the SUB.
The panel presentation will feature Rita Martinez-Purson, interim vice president for Institutional Diversity; Randy Boeglin, dean of Students; and Melanie Baise, associate university counsel.
How members of a university community feel about the campus environment is the measure of campus climate. This panel will explore the concepts of a healthy campus climate and some of the best practices to strengthen it. Hate incidents and how they are addressed here and at other universities will also be discussed.
The entire UNM community is encouraged to participate. Refreshments and a light lunch and will be provided for both panel presentations.
For more information contact Felisha Herrera in the Office of the Vice President for Institutional Diversity at 277-1238 or via e-mail at fherrer1@unm.edu.
Every time there’s a hard rain on Albuquerque’s west side, tons of dirt and rock wash down the Calabacillas Arroyo and into the Rio Grande. The sediment deposits narrow the 600-foot river bed down to 300 feet and force water to flow harder and faster through the river – a change in flow that interests the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Photo: Research Scientist Christian LeJeune (in cap) demonstrates ground water sampling.
The Corps of Engineers is responsible for flood control on the river, and it also has the job of restoring the vegetation in wooded areas along the banks. Sometimes the two jobs collide, so the Corps of Engineers has turned to the University of New Mexico to find answers. Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Julie Coonrod oversees five contracts for research on a variety of projects.
The Corps of Engineers is currently looking for scientific guidance about how to design projects that encourage native vegetation, control erosion and direct flood waters in a beneficial way. In research terms, that means breaking up the complex question into specific projects.
Monitoring for Erosion
Civil Engineering Professors John Stormont, Coonrod and Earth and Planetary Sciences LiDAR lab director Tim Wawrzyniec along with Research Scientist and recent UNM graduate Jed Frechette are working on a project to monitor bank erosion. They use erosion pins and LiDAR scanning to collect data on the geometry of the banks. The information will be used to predict what will happen to the banks under various conditions, such as the removal of some non-native plant species.
Evaporation and Restoration in the Bosque
Biology Professor Cliff Dahm, is leading the project to map the amount of water released into the air from the plants along the river, a process called evapotranspiration. Biology Research Scientist Jim Thibault and Research Assistant Professors James Cleverly and Kristin Vanderbilt work with Dahm, maintaining databases containing daily evapotranspiration and water table measurements.
As part of the project they are exploring how a wildfire in June 2006 affected the evapotranspiration rates and water table in the Albuquerque area. A separate part of the project also measures evaporative losses from sand in both wet and dry conditions.
Monitoring Sediment
If you drive over the Alameda Bridge in Albuquerque, you can watch sediment build into small islands just upstream of the new diversion dam. The dam was installed to draw water from the river and treat it to be used as drinking water. If you watch over time, you can see the sediment islands build up and wash away as the operators of the collapsible dam carefully manipulate it to move the sediment build-ups down river.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Associate Professor Grant Meyer and Ph.D. student Ben Swanson are documenting the way the sediment moves down the Rio Grande with aerial photography. They are looking at photos from 1985 through 2006 and graphing ways the river responded to both natural and man-made changes as it flowed through Albuquerque.
This piece of the puzzle will provide information about how sediment affects the efforts to restore the natural flood plain. They are also doing a similar analysis on the Chama River, a simpler system with fewer of the variables that make the Rio Grande so difficult to study.
Ground Water/Surface Water Interaction
Biology Research Professor Emeritus Clifford Crawford established the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program in the Rio Grande Bosque in the 1980s. The long-term project monitors ground water near the river in the bosque through the central Rio Grande valley.
A project involving Crawford, Stormont and Coonrod along with Research Scientist Christian Le Jeune is measuring ground water levels. Graduate student Isaiah Pedro completed detailed soils analyses near each well.
The project also evaluates the health of the riparian ecology in the vicinity of the new Albuquerque/Bernalillo Water Authority Dam in Albuquerque’s North Valley. The Water Authority will soon begin diverting water from the river into a treatment system and graduate student Kelly Isaacson is working on a computerized terrain model tying river flow and ground water depths together.
“We’re working on some visualization tools that show how the flow rate in the river controls the depth of the river in that reach, and how that controls the depth of the groundwater,” says Coonrod. The project will continue after the regular diversions begin and they will be able to determine what impact the water diversion is having on ground water and the riparian forest ecology in the vicinity of the dam.
All the projects provide information that will be used to update and refine models that analyze the way the Rio Grande changes as the seasons, and human impacts alter the way the water flows through the Albuquerque reach of the river.
The models can be used by various state and federal agencies as they prepare flood and restoration projects. Currently 11 faculty members from three departments and a number of graduate students are working on the projects. Their work will continue into 2009.
Two new members have joined the STC.UNM Board of Directors. President and CEO Lisa Kuuttila welcomed Jack McIver and Pedro Suarez to the board.
Kuuttila said, “These two individuals bring a tremendous amount of experience in a broad range of areas important to STC.”
McIver is interim vice president for Research and Economic Development at UNM and has been a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the university since 1984. McIver oversees pre-award activities, including award negotiations, supervision of the proposal development center and management of several research compliance offices at the university.
He is also involved in the identification and development of multi-disciplinary research projects and thrust areas for UNM. His research has revolved around nonlinear phenomena with particular emphasis on the interaction of intense laser fields with matter and chemical kinetics of optically pumped gas-phase lasers.
Suarez is counsel in the San Diego office of Mintz Levin and practices in the intellectual property section. His practice focuses on all aspects of patent law, including preparation and prosecution of patent applications. Suarez has extensive experience preparing and prosecuting patents for emerging and high-technology companies with an eye towards enforcement.
Suarez is a member of the American Intellectual Property Association and the San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
STC.UNM is a non-profit corporation formed by and owned entirely by the University of New Mexico to protect and transfer its faculty inventions to the commercial marketplace.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
“When Nature Strikes: Weather Disasters and the Law,” by UNM Dickason Professor of Law Marsha Baum, was recently awarded an honorable mention for "a comprehensive treatment of weather and jurisprudence" by the Atmospheric Science Librarians International.
Photo: Marsha Baum
Published in 2007 by Praeger/Greenwood, “When Nature Strikes: Weather Disasters and the Law,” was the first book to discuss the interconnection between weather and the law in the United States in the context of specific cases, legislation and administrative legal action.
The Atmospheric Science Librarians International makes its award selection from all weather and atmospheric science books published in a given year. The competition recognizes excellence in three separate categories, with one choice and one honorable mention award in each category.
In 2006, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore also received an honorable mention for his book, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
UNM has expanded the space it has available for small start-up companies. The office and laboratory space is on the UNM South Campus in the Science and Technology Park, next door to STC.UNM, a corporation owned by the university to develop and commercialize intellectual property with faculty members. The space became available when a maturing company, Senior Scientific, moved out.
There are several things that make this kind of space attractive to start-up companies. A month-to-month leasing system takes some of the worry away for companies who can’t make a long-term financial commitment. Other amenities include a conference room shared among the companies using the incubator space, and a chance to work directly with STC.UNM staff members and mentoring services.
STC.UNM also offers a link between companies and Anderson Schools of Management students who can research and help develop business and marketing plans in cooperation with an entrepreneur. In addition, President and CEO of STC.UNM Lisa Kuuttila will assist companies who are looking for funding with a review and assistance in finding venture capital opportunities. Kuuttila says STC.UNM is stepping up the pace this year as they process 64 patent disclosures and work with three new start-up ventures.
Since 1996 STC.UNM has worked with 35 start-up companies and completed 132 licensing agreement for firms to market UNM technology. Currently there are 33 companies and agencies housed at the UNM Science and Technology Park, many of them working with technology developed at the university.
More information about STC.UNM is available at STC.UNM or by contacting Lisa Kuuttila at (505) 272-7900 or emailing her at info@stc.unm.edu.
Felipe Gonzales is happiest engaged in research and writing, yet administration has again pressed him into service, this time as associate dean for faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. Gonzales earned his bachelor’s in sociology from UNM in 1972, he earned both a master’s and doctorate at Berkeley. He joined the UNM faculty in 1987 and served as chair of the Sociology Department for three years and director of the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute for six.
Photo: Felipe Gonzales
The challenges in his current role are many. A&S employs 369 faculty, making it three times larger than the next largest, the College of Education, he said.
As associate dean, he addresses personnel issues, hiring, promotion and tenure, sabbaticals, research semesters, teaching awards, annual reviews, counter offers and more.
Gonzales applied for the position because he thought he could contribute to the development of A&S. “I found it appealing to help shape policies, be a part of the discussion, and take the idea of diversity and look at how it might be promoted,” he said. Gonzales is also a member of the Title V faculty steering committee.
He looks at this learning experience critically to see how a large research institution works; he’s intrigued by the contingencies and factors that make it run. “I translate – or tease out what’s uniquely UNM and what’s part and parcel of higher education in the United States,” he said.
This is not Gonzales’s first sociological or historical study involving UNM. His dissertation, “Forced sacrifice as ethnic protest: the Hispano cause in New Mexico & the racial attitude confrontation of 1933,” was a study of an incident involving a UNM social psychology professor who attempted to measure anti-Hispano attitudes among high school students.
Gonzales was raised in Albuquerque and graduated from Valley High School. He was drafted into the Marine Corps and spent 13 months in Vietnam. “I was not a combat soldier. I was assigned to a Navy field hospital,” he said.
Fresh out of the service in 1968, he enrolled at UNM. “I was drafted into the service, then drafted into the Chicano movement,” he said. He became involved with the United Mexican American Students. “We presented a proposal to President Ferrel Heady for a Chicano Studies program,” he recalled. Heady hired a student to research the idea and Gonzales was selected. Heady funded similar initiatives for African Americans and Native Americans, Gonzales said.
Gonzales and a couple buddies, Ricardo Barras and Prospero Montoya, jumped in a black VW bug to go to California to see Cal State’s Chicano Studies program. He came back and submitted the proposal, which was accepted. Gonzales changed his major from journalism to sociology.
“I was part of a large cohort – a wave of Latinos moving into academia – who worked to serve Latino student bodies,” he said. He points to Political Science Professor Christine Sierra who was at Stanford; Architecture and Planning Professor Teresa Cordova at Berkeley; and David Montejano, also at Berkeley.
Montejano was formerly on the sociology faculty at UNM. Esteban Flores was active at Austin, (area of research..where is he now? Did he work at UNM?)
While a grad student at Berkeley, Gonzales knew he wanted to research, study and write about New Mexico. His recent book, “Expressing New Mexico,” is the result of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that he got when he was SHRI director. The grant had two components. One was to address the unsatisfactory graduation/retention rates at UNM.
“The goal was to develop humanities courses that reflect the culture at UNM – for those from Northern New Mexico to see their life in the curriculum,” he said. English Professor Jesse Alemán organized a symposium that brought together accomplished Southwest and New Mexico researchers to reflect on their latest work.
“The papers presented at the symposium were converted into chapters for the book,” he said. Among the UNM contributors are Anthropology Professor Sylvia Rodriguez, Spanish Professors Enrique Lamadrid and Tey Diana Rebolledo and American Studies Professor Gabriel Melendez, he said.
Gonzales is hard at work on a book on territorial New Mexico and how New Mexican Hispanics were incorporated into the U.S. political scene.
Away from the university and away from the computer, Gonzales spends time with family. He has four brothers, one of whom is the artist Edward Gonzales. “And my other two brothers, Mark and Roy are accomplished guitarists,” he boasts. He has one sister, Pearl. He has four children, ranging in age from 37 – 26; and also seven grandchildren.
Sometimes he really gets away – traveling to Mexico, Spain and India
As Rio Rancho grows, so do its educational needs. A partnership between UNM, CNM and the Rio Rancho community, looks to provide a commute-free start-to-finish education in Rio Rancho. Making this vision a reality is in the hands of Rio Rancho voters when they go to the polls on March 4.
The Higher Education Initiative calls for a ¼ of 1 percent gross receipts tax increase, which would bring the gross receipts tax from 6.6875 percent to 6.9375 percent. The increase is the equivalent of just 25 cents of every $100.
“If approved, the Higher Education Initiative will generate at least $20 million over the next 20 years to construct state-of-the-art facilities and other land improvements to make the new campus a reality,” UNM President David J. Schmidly, said.
With 5,000 students currently commuting from Rio Rancho to UNM, the new campus can provide a comprehensive local education. And, UNM invests nearly $1 million in Rio Rancho annually for instructional programs and services. The state’s largest university has also invested in more than 200 acres of land, with a market value between $10 and $15 million, in the new Rio Rancho City Center.
“We also initiated a campus master plan and recently named Marc Nigliazzo vice president UNM West and branch campus academic affairs,” Schmidly said.
CNM set aside funds to construct the first academic building on the campus.
“These exciting new projects mark a new phase in the development of Rio Rancho – an opportunity to receive an associate’s degree, a technical education or a four-year college degree in your own backyard,” Schmidly said.
The partnership plans to expand to New Mexico Highlands University and New Mexico State University so that students can enroll in a two-year community college degree program from CNM with the option to continue toward a bachelor’s degree at Highlands, NMSU or UNM, with graduate programs in tourism and hospitality management, allied health related fields, education, aerospace and engineering.
Not only are the educational opportunities a boon to Rio Rancho, so are the economic opportunities. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, $20 million in construction funding will generate 1,870 new jobs in Rio Rancho.
“For every dollar that taxpayers invest in higher education at UNM, they see $6 in economic growth. With these projections, UNM has the potential to return at least $120 million in economic growth for Rio Rancho,” Schmidly said.
The new campus, adjacent to the planned Rio Rancho City Center, will be the hub of community activity with shops, entertainment, restaurants and offices.
“The Higher Education Initiative supports the community’s motto as a ‘City of Vision’ and will be instrumental in the ongoing transformation of Rio Rancho,” Schmidly said.
Beginning Wednesday, Feb. 27 through Friday, Feb. 29, from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m., Jackie, Tony and Donnie from 100.3 The Peak will be broadcasting live from the sixth floor of the UNM Children’s Hospital, conducting their annual Radiothon to benefit UNM Children’s Hospital, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Each year Children’s Miracle Network partners with Albuquerque’s favorite radio station, 100.3 The Peak, to raise money and awareness for UNM Children’s Hospital; where tiny and big miracles take place every day.
For 12 hours - three days in a row, Jackie, Tony and Donnie talk to parents and children who have triumphed, overcoming the odds of survival and the doctors and nurses who cared for them.
These families have benefited from the generosity of the many listeners who have opened their hearts and wallets so that the equipment and services needed to treat the tiniest patients are available right here in New Mexico.
Listeners are asked to help make miracles happen by calling in their pledge to (505) 272-1003 or 1-866-811-1003. Log on to 100.3 The Peak for more information on the Radiothon.
Also, those wanting to make a donation toward Radiothon can visit any of these seven Albuquerque restaurants (Applebees, Boston’s Gourmet Pizza, Golden Corral, Hot Dog On A Stick, Jersey Jacks, Red Robin, and Texas Land and Cattle) on Thursday, Feb. 28. Each restaurant will donate a percentage of their sales from that day toward the Radiothon.
Contact: Daniel Jaecks (505) 277-5684
The university community is invited to attend an update on the proposed university-wide diversity plan scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 27 from 12 to 1 p.m. in SUB Ballroom B. Rita Martinez-Purson, interim Vice President for Institutional Diversity, will outline the purpose and major components of the three-year diversity plan, highlighting the eight major goals in the document.
The development of the Diversity Plan is essential to set the course for a strategic vision and operating framework by which UNM can meet the challenges and opportunities diversity brings to our university environment.
It will ensure that UNM attracts, retains and develops diversity in its faculty, staff and students and advances an inclusive culture and support systems. Discussion topics will include the mission and vision of the new Division of Inclusion and Equity as well as the UNM Diversity Report Card.
All students, faculty, staff are encouraged to participate. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be provided.
For more information, please contact, Felisha Herrera in the Office of the Vice President for Institutional Diversity at 277-1238 or via e-mail, fherrer1@unm.edu.
“ROTAtion,” an evening of dance in Rodey Theatre, UNM Center for the Arts, March 7-9, showcases the choreography of UNM dance faculty and highlights the talents of the students in the dance program. The featured work is a restaging of Hanya Holm’s “Rota” led by distinguished guest artist Don Redlich and UNM’s own Mary Anne Santos Newhall.
The concert also includes works in various styles – modern, ballet, flameno and African dance – by faculty choreographers Laryea Addy, Melissa Briggs, Marisol Encinias, Suzanne Johnston, Jennifer Predock-Linnell and Donna Jewell.
The UNM dance program and Assistant Professor Santos Newhall have been awarded a grant from the American Masterpieces Program of the National Endowment for the Arts to reconstruct Holm’s “Rota,” which she choreographed for the Don Redlich Dance Company in 1975.
Well-known as a dance pioneer in the United States, Holm is also a link between the historic German Ausdruckstanz and American dance modernism. She was director of the American Wigman School established in New York in 1931 and the acclaimed Broadway choreographer of “Kiss Me Kate,” “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.” The NEA grant that enabled UNM to reconstruct “Rota” is a first for New Mexico.
“Rota” has yet to be performed by any dance group other than the Redlich Company and has yet to be restaged using the original notation documented in 1975. It is essentially a lost work and appears a vital link to Holm’s early modernist roots. The sound score is by American composer George Crumb.
Santos Newhall has served as project director and facilitator for the reconstruction of “Rota.” She is research director for the American Dance Legacy Institute at Brown University and is dedicated to the preservation and access for students of American modern dance.
Performances are Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, at 2 and 6 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 general admission, $10 faculty and seniors, $8 UNM staff and students. Tickets are available at UNM Ticket Offices, unmtickets.com or 925-5858.
After a competitive RFP process, the Board of Regents approved offering employee health insurance and drug benefits for our active employees, retirees under the age of 65, and dependents through Lovelace Health Plan and Presbyterian Health Plan for fiscal year 2008-09.
We are pleased that we are able to continue to offer access to the two major provider networks in the Albuquerque metro area, Lovelace and Presbyterian, in addition to offering access to UNM HSC providers and facilities. Furthermore, our employees have traditionally had access to these networks and many have developed long-term relationships with their physicians.
The benefits offered are the same for both vendors and provide three tiers of benefits to all employees:
· Tier I is for use of UNM providers and facilities.
· Tier II is for use of Lovelace/Presbyterian providers and facilities.
· Tier III is an indemnity type plan for out of state/out of network benefits.
While national premium increases have averaged 10 percent, we are fortunate to have received very favorable rates from both vendors. As a result, employees who choose the Lovelace Health Plan will not see a change in health insurance premiums. Employees who choose the Presbyterian plan will experience an average 7.5 percent increase in rates over the current United Health Care rates, still well below national averages.
In order to continue to rein in costs, we will continue to build our reserves to position ourselves for self-funding of our health insurance coverage. Studies have shown that organizations that self-fund can generally save around 10 percent in medical expenses.
Additionally, we will continue to advance our wellness initiatives and disease-management programs. These steps will not only allow us to control costs, but to ensure the health and well-being of our valued employees.
Information on healthcare plans and open enrollment dates will be available by the end of April. In the meantime, mark your calendar for May 6 for the third Annual Road to Wellness Fair. Further details will be published in the April edition of UNM Today.
Story by Helen Gonzales, Vice President for Human Resources
A new exhibit presented by the UNM Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center’s New Mexico Health Historical Collection explores life at Valmora Industrial Sanatorium (1905-1989). At the end of the 19th Century, sanatoria such as Valmora were heralded as a solution to the problems of tuberculosis control. The new exhibit, which opened Wednesday, Feb. 20, gives a glimpse into what life was like at the sanatorium.
Following the exhibit reception, Jake Spidle, Ph.D., will offer a presentation
titled, “Involuntary New Mexicans: Lunger Invasion of the Southwest”, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education, room 2112.
The Search For A Cure: Life At Valmora Exhibit is on display Feb. 20 – Oct. 31, 2008. The New Mexico Health Historical Collection room is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, please call (505) 272-6518.
University of New Mexico History Professor Paul Hutton’s article, “Dreamscape Desperado: Billy the Kid and the Movies,” received the 2007 Western Heritage Award for best article. It was published in the New Mexico Historical Review, vol. 82. no. 2, Spring 2007, pages 149-196. The NMHR staff learned of the award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
“The NMHR staff and I are thrilled for Paul and the Journal. Paul’s piece, the first in-depth study of Billy the Kid’s portrayal in film, is a work of substantial scholarship and is a delight to read. Paul is a superb writer, better than any writer whose work I have edited.
"He communicates to the reader an infectious enthusiasm for his historical subject, particularly popular culture. He is like a kid in short pants gazing expectantly into a glass display cabinet stuffed with precious artifacts, in this case photographs, books, lobby cards, posters, and other materials dealing with Billy the Kid and movies about him,” Durwood Ball, NMHR editor, said.
The Western Heritage Award is the second honor won by Hutton’s “Dreamscape Desperado.” Last fall, he received the 2007 Ray Allen Billington Prize for best article from the Western History Association.
“It is a profound honor for us at the NMHR to work with a historian of Paul’s stature and to publish his work in the review,” Ball added.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Physical Plant Department's iService Desk will be unavailable Saturday, Feb. 23, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Douglas Kelbaugh, dean of architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan, and author of “Repairing the American Metropolis,” will look at urban sprawl and its alternatives, during his lecture, today, Friday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. in the George Pearl Hall auditorium. Kelbaugh’s talk is featured as the Pearl Fellow Lecture.
Photo: Douglas Kelbaugh
“Modernism gave us single use zoning and suburban sprawl, which have become unsustainable environmentally, economically and socially. Two promising alternatives are TOD – Transit-Oriented-Development – which clusters mixed-use development around a transit stop, and TND – Traditional Neighborhood Development – which promotes pedestrian-scaled, mixed-use neighborhoods. Both seek to be compact, walkable, bikable, and less automobile dependent, with a diverse population and robust, street-oriented public realm,” Kelbaugh said.
Chris Wilson, the UNM School of Architecture and Planning’s JB Jackson Professor of Cultural Landscape Studies, said, “With the new Rail Runner and Rapid Ride bus lines linked to mixed-use infill up and down Central, Albuquerque has entered the era of Transit Oriented Neighborhoods. Since the publication of his ‘Pedestrian Pocket Handbook’ in 1989, Douglas Kelbaugh has been a leader of this movement toward sustainable development.
“In his talks and recent book, ‘Repairing the American Metropolis,’ Kelbaugh is one of the most accessible interpreters of suburbia and of New Urbanist alternatives.
“Kelbaugh has made the University of Michigan, where he is dean of the architecture school, the leading center for the debate between the Modernist and New Urbanist approaches. He is evenhanded in helping to define strategies for metropolitan development that builds on both stances.”
The University of New Mexico Department of Spanish and Portuguese presents the 15th Annual UNM Conference on Ibero/American Culture and Society, Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 27 – 29, in Ortega Hall on the UNM campus. The theme of this year’s conference is “Heroes and Anti-Heroes: A Celebration of the Cid.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, a public reading of Cid in Spanish and English will take place in Ortega Hall, 3rd floor, from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. This public reading is open to interested faculty, students and members of the Albuquerque community.
Also on Wednesday, from 4 – 6:30 p.m., Anthony Mann’s film version of Cid will be screened in Ortega Hall room 153.
On Thursday, Feb. 28, The Cid symposium and conference includes morning and afternoon panel discussions as well as a 1 p.m. plenary session featuring Matthew Bailey, U.T.-Austin, presenting, “Oral Composition as Context for the Narrative Tradition of the Cid.”
On Friday, Feb. 29, additional panel discussions are scheduled featuring national and international Cid experts. The 1 p.m. plenary is Sam Armistead, U.C. – Davis, presenting, “The Cid and the Epic: Critical Theory and Poetic Reality.”
“Because centennial moments occur only once in one’s life time, and because 2007 provided us with opportunity to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Cantar de mio Cid, it is incumbent upon us, as a former province of Spain, to commemorate one of the earliest pieces of Spanish literature.
Without the Castilian prowess of the poem’s protagonist, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, it is possible that Castilian might not have become the most consequential language on the Iberian peninsula and throughout the world, and surely it might very well not be one of the official languages of our own State of New Mexico,” said Anthony J. Cárdenas-Rotunno, professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese and organizer of the conference.
The goals of the commemoration are to bring New Mexico to honor the 800th anniversary of its inheritance; to allow our students and community the opportunity to come into contact with some of the best Spanish scholars in the country; to promote research in the field of Spanish, Medieval Spanish studies in particular as well as in Golden Age Spanish, Cárdenas-Rotunno said.
He added that the commemoration is also “simply to celebrate the Spanish language and to create a unique and resplendent opportunity for UNM and the Albuquerque community to come together to celebrate a monument to history, culture, language and literature – one uniquely ours.”
For more information visit: 15th Annual Conference or e-mail spanconf@unm.edu.
The University of New Mexico Art Museum presents “For the Greater Good: New Deal Art in New Mexico, 1933-1943,” an exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of the New Deal and the work created by New Mexicans under its auspices. The exhibit will run Feb. 26-May 25, with an opening reception on Friday, Feb. 29, 5-7 p.m.
The New Deal was notable for being the first time that the federal government focused on the needs of the average citizen by establishing programs to relieve the crippling poverty of the Great Depression. It was the first and only time that the government supported the arts on a massive scale. A large part of this assistance took the form of work programs that allowed Americans to earn a living wage while performing a service “for the greater good.”
New Mexico, with its established art culture, was one of the most productive regions administered by the New Deal. The exhibition includes work by Kenneth Adams, Patrocinio Barela, John Collier, Raymond Jonson, Gene Kloss, Russell Lee, Dorothy Morang, Willard Nash, Pablita Velarde, and many others. The exhibit is curated by Robert Ware of the Jonson Gallery.
Special programs related to the exhibition include:
· Kathryn Flynn, director, National New Deal Association, guest speaker on the New Deal, Tuesday, March 4, 5:30 p.m.
· Tey Marianna Nunn, Visual Arts Director, National Hispanic Cultural Center, guest speaker on Hispanic Arts and the New Deal, Tuesday, March 11, 5:30 p.m.
· Joe McKinney, former UNM Architect, will conduct a tour of WPA Murals and Artworks on the UNM Albuquerque campus, beginning at UNM Art Museum, Tuesday, April 8, 5:30 p.m.
· Richard Marold as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Chatauqua: A Visit With FDR, Wednesday, April 9, 5:30 p.m. Sponsored in part by the New Mexico Humanities Council.
The UNM Art Museum is open Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday evening 5-8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 1-4 p.m., and during most events at Popejoy Hall. Admission is free. For more information visit: UNM Art Museum or call 277-4001.
Contact: Esther Golden, (505) 277-6773; e-mail: etgolden@unm.edu
Gov. Bill Richardson might not be finished with the New Mexico Legislature for 2008. His health care reform package was not passed before the 30-day session ended and the governor could still call back the legislators to debate this issue. “New Mexico In Focus” will discuss this and other topics in this week’s episode of KNME’s weekly prime-time TV news magazine. The show airs on KNME, Channel 5 Fridays at 7 p.m. and repeats on Sundays at 6:30 a.m.
Co-hosted by Santa Fe Reporter staff writer David Alire Garcia and Albuquerque Journal columnist Gene Grant, “New Mexico In Focus” takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and explores them in-depth, with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."
This week, Alire Garcia will sit down with Lt. Gov. Diane Denish to discuss the recently ended legislative session, how her priorities fared in the session, and what the future holds for her.
Grant and Alire Garcia will be joined by regular panelists Margaret Montoya, UNM School of Law and UNM School of Medicine, and Jim Scarantino, columnist for the Weekly Alibi.
Guest panelists this week include:
* Scott Darnell, NM Republican Party Communications Director
* Jim Barry, Consumer Electronics Association
The topics for this week’s show include:
* Governor Richardson's health care reform package is in need of resuscitation, after this year's short legislative session. While the governor considers his options for a special session, many people are left to wonder what happens now to the 400,000 New Mexicans that still don't have health insurance. “New Mexico In Focus” is partnering with the PBS Newshour's “By the People” project to further the discussion on universal health care.
* The panelists offer their opinions on some of the lesser-known issues that did see some movement in the legislative session, as well as those that came up a bit short.
* Lastly, in less than one year, viewers will face the biggest revolution in television-watching since the introduction of color TV. What you need to know about the upcoming Digital TV conversion.
The producer of “New Mexico In Focus” is Kevin McDonald. This episode is co-produced by Karl Swanson, UNM Intern. Support for “New Mexico In Focus” has been provided by McCune Charitable Foundation. Closed Captioning of “New Mexico In Focus” has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
The University of New Mexico would like to thank everyone who participated in the campus emergency drill on Thursday, Feb. 21. The university was able to notify more than 8,000 people via-text message that the drill was in progress.
The UNM emergency test message system is an opt-in system, and more than 70 people chose to opt in to the system between the first message announcing the drill, and the second message announcing the end of the drill. The initial indications are the text messages from the university took between one and seven minutes to reach individual subscribers, depending on the cell system involved. Ninety-six percent of the messages were delivered to individual subscribers. Anyone with a UNM NetID can opt into the system by visiting myUNM.
More than 66,000 people received the UNM Emergency Alert e-mail messages. This includes everyone who has an active UNM e-mail address. People who were on more than one emergency message list may have received more than one emergency alert message.
If you have a comment on the notification system, please enter it in the comments section below. Emergency operations planners will use the feedback to improve the system.
Dinner brings strangers brings students, faculty and alumni together to celebrate UNM Lobo Day
The UNM Alumni Association will be hosting its 3rd Annual "Dinner for 12 Strangers" on Feb. 28. The "Dinner for 12 Strangers" program provides an opportunity for alumni to connect with UNM students and faculty. Local alumni are asked to host a dinner in their homes in an effort to make UNM a smaller, friendlier place. UNM students, alumni and faculty come together as strangers and leave as friends.
“This year we are trying to get as many dinners in one night as possible. The dinner is a wonderful opportunity for students to network with professors and alumni and for UNM Lobos to get to know one another,” said Executive Director of the UNM Alumni Association Karen Abraham.
"Dinner for 12 Strangers" is a casual dinner with no agenda. It's designed simply to bring the UNM community together. Each dinner consists of four students, four faculty and four alumni. The association matches up attendees by their degree or field of interest. It is a night full of networking and fun.
To be apart of the 3rd Annual "Dinner for 12 Strangers" event and to celebrate Lobo Day, contact Natalie Armijo at (505) 277-1968 or by e-mail njarmijo@unm.edu. Please RSVP by Feb. 25.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Communication and Journalism Career Fair is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4 from 1-4 p.m. in the Student Union Building ballrooms A&B.
Information about internships and job opportunities in the fields of print and broadcast journalism, public relations, advertising and communication will be available. Also on hand will be representatives of various companies and offices open to employing individuals or accepting interns.
For more information about the career fair or to participate as a potential employer or internship mentor, please contact Jerra Gonzales at (505) 860-0918 or e-mail to jerrag@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Dr. Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will present a lecture at the University of New Mexico titled, “Symbiogenesis and Origin of Eukaryotes. Sulfur Syntrophy in the Proterozic.” The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held Friday, Feb. 22 from 12 to 1 p.m. in rm. 100 of biology’s Castetter Hall.
Photo: Lynn Margulis
Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and is probably best known for development of the theory of symbiogenesis. She has challenged a central tenet of neo-Darwinism: that little significant inherited variation comes from random mutations in DNA. New organelles, tissues, organs, and even new species, evolve primarily through the fusion of genomes in symbioses followed by natural selection.
Symbiogenesis leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality. Beyond contributions to evolution, Margulis is acknowledged for her microbiological work with James E. Lovelock on his Gaia concept. Gaia theory posits that the Earth’s surface interactions among living beings in sediment, air, and water have created a vast self-regulating system.
Margulis is currently working with a few close colleagues on the origin of cilia from spirochetes.
Light snacks will be available prior to the lecture from 11 a.m. to noon in Castetter Hall, rm. 55. Additionally, the UNM Bookstore will have her books available for sale at the reception.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
A new covered structure and separate open-air parking lot are now available for patients at UNM Hospital. These new parking areas, which have taken the place of the Lomas Parking Structure, are located on the north and south sides of Camino de Salud, east of the recently completed Yale Roundabout. The parking structure is located next to hospital, while the parking lot is located nearby across Camino de Salud. This short-term inconvenience will soon become a long-term benefit to patients.
For those patients parking at the open-air parking lot and who are in need of assistance to reach the hospital, six shuttle carts are in constant use, carrying patients from the parking lot to the new entrance of UNM Hospital and o
the front door of the UNM Cancer Center. Elevators are available for patients parking in the new structure to take them to the floor their appointment is located on.
The Lomas Parking Structure, located across Lomas, and connected to the hospital via pedestrian bridge, is now reserved for University Hospital employee permit parking only.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
The Center for Information Assurance Research and Education (CIARE) at the Anderson School of Management is sponsoring a lecture by George B. Tselentis on Wednesday, March 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Paul R. Jackson Student Center. The title of the talk is “CONTROLS Risk Security Audit…Oh by the way I am going to take everything you own.” Tselentis has more than 20 years of epxerienece in information technology and telecommunications services.
Tselentis is currently a senior security auditor. He has deployed new technologies that achieve strategic business and financial goals through reporting information effectively, facilitating group discussion, perceiving nonverbal messages and interviewing. Tselentis has a consistent track record of supporting corporations in meeting compliance and security benchmarks, both governmental and private sector. Overall, he has saved firms more than $1 billion.
Tselentis has a long roster of clients from Fortune 500 companies for whom he has had to perform audits and security consulting. Some highlights of his professional career include being engaged or employed by World-Com, MFS Network Technologies, Mutual Protective Insurance Company, FBI, First Data Resources, Pinkerton’s Inc., AFLAC, Microsoft Corporation, Cutter & Buck, NASD, Con Agra, U.S. Department of Justice, The American Stock Exchange, State of Iowa, City of Omaha, Northrop Grumman, American Republic Insurance Company and Tele2 of Luxembourg.
Tselentis has a BS degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska and is currently earning an MBA. He holds an ASTD certificate and is a Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance expert. And was recently presented with an award from the mayor of Omaha, Omaha Nebraska for Outstanding Performance.
Space is limited. To RSVP visit: Seminar RSVP. For more information contact Aline Gonzales-Saiz at (505) 277-0717 or
gonzales@mgt.unm.edu.
The University of New Mexico Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (FLL) presents, “World Language Expo 2008: What part of this world don’t you understand?” on Saturday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Ortega Hall on UNM’s main campus. Admission is $2.
A preliminary Expo schedule is online at Expo Schedule (click on Language Expo). It will be updated until Feb. 27.
Teachers are invited to bring students to experience a dynamic environment that brings hundreds of New Mexicans together to share their experiences of the world.
“The idea is that Expo participants will leave the event with a better understanding of the world. Past Expos have featured presentations in more than 40 languages – from Afghan culture to French truffle making, from Tahitian dance to Japanese tea ceremonies,” said Marina Peters Newell, lower division language coordinator, FLL.
An Expo crowd pleaser is the poster competition, which is open to anyone. It must depict the theme “What part of this world don’t you understand?” Maximum size: 24” x 30”, to be submitted by 10 a.m., Saturday, March 1 (3rd floor hallway). Students should put their name, teacher’s name, school, email and teacher’s telephone number on the back of the poster. All media and languages are accepted and will be judged on-site. First and second place will receive prizes, as well as the one receiving the popular votes.
A chalk art competition is scheduled at 11 a.m., southeast of the Duck Pond, weather permitting. This is open to individuals and groups. Each participant/ group will receive sidewalk chalk, and will be given 20 minutes to create a picture/graphic depicting the theme “What part of this world don’t you understand?” The winner/winning group will receive a prize.
The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is hosting the following events to end the month of February. Both of these events are free and open to the public.
Co-curators Catherine Baudoin and Joyce Szabo will discuss art of the Bering Sea people in "North by Southwest: Two Views of Two Diverse Collections," on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.
This exhibit draws on two diverse collections of Bering Sea region art that has not been previously exhibited. Both collections are united through the multiple voices of early anthropologists, contemporary Native people, and Maxwell Museum curators to establish context and offer different viewpoints underscoring varied meanings embedded in the exhibition.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, from 1-3:30 p.m. Celebra la Ciencia and the Ortiz Center present the "Passport to People Family Program: Survival in the Arctic!" The bilingual family day will feature hands-on activities, Alaskan native speakers and the great whale parade. Hear stories of Native Alaskan life by Herbert Anungazuk and dress in Native Alaskan attire with Lina Anungazuk, members of the Inupiat tribe from the Bering Sea.
Call 277-1400 for more information or visit: UNM Maxwell Museum.
Lecture series to Highlight Distinguished Professors
Dr. William R. Miller, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, will open the Distinguished Professors Lecture Series at UNM on Thursday, Feb. 28. Miller’s lecture titled, “Motivational Interviewing in Addiction and Healthcare,” will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Ballroom C in the UNM Student Union Building. The Distinguished Professors Lecture Series at UNM is presented by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Motivational interviewing is a method for helping people change by evoking their own intrinsic motivations. When Professor Miller reluctantly published an article describing the method in 1983, he expected it to be the last he would hear of it. Instead, it disseminated rapidly through a variety of nations, primarily by word of mouth, substantially changing the field of addiction treatment.
From there it spread into health care more generally, including health promotion, probation and corrections, and the treatment of psychological problems. The fundamental problem that this method addresses is a common one: a person needs to make a change in behavior or lifestyle, but has not done so because of ambivalence or procrastination. What is it about this simple (but not easy) counseling method that prompted such widespread diffusion with virtually no marketing?
Miller will tell the story of how motivational interviewing arose, quite by accident and happenstance, and what lies behind its surprisingly powerful effects on human behavior.
Miller joined the joined the faculty at UNM in 1976 after receiving his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. He served as director of Clinical Training for UNM's APA-approved doctoral program in clinical psychology and as co-director of UNM's Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions (CASAA).
Miller's publications include 40 books and over 400 articles and chapters. Fundamentally interested in the psychology of change, he has focused in particular on the development, testing, and dissemination of behavioral treatments for addictions. He served as principal investigator for numerous research grants and contracts, founded a private practice group, and served as a consultant to many organizations including the United States Senate, the World Health Organization, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Institutes of Health.
In recognition of his research contributions, Miller is a recipient of the international Jellinek Memorial Award, two career achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, and a Innovators in Combating Substance Abuse award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He maintains an active interest in pastoral counseling and the integration of spirituality and psychology. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him as one of the world's most cited scientists.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Marc A. Nigliazzo has been named University of New Mexico vice president in charge of Rio Rancho operations and branch academic affairs, announced President David Schmidly. He assumes the role June 1. Nigliazzo is a UNM alumnus, earning his doctorate in English language and literature while also holding a teaching assistantship.
Photo: Marc A. Nigliazzo
“We want Marc to get our Rio Rancho campus up and running. That’s a huge task,” Schmidly said. “He’ll also be responsible for ensuring that the academic programs and services at all of our branch campuses lead to student success.”
Nigliazzo will coordinate UNM’s branch campuses in Los Alamos, Valencia County, Taos and Gallup, ensuring all academic programs and services are compliant with UNM’s mission, goals and objectives and strategic plans. He will also direct and manage the planning, development and implementation of all aspects of UNM’s Rio Rancho campus. He will serve on UNM’s executive cabinet.
“I’ve watched the concept of the Rio Rancho campus develop and interest build. I see incredible potential for a model program, one that brings together public schools, a community college and the University of New Mexico. It will be something very special for Rio Rancho and for New Mexico,” Nigliazzo said.
He has visited UNM’s branch campuses virtually and in person in anticipation of assuming responsibility for their academic affairs.
“I was attracted to the opportunity because the position is not just about developing the Rio Rancho campus. I am fascinated by the constituencies each branch serves. I’ve been in community colleges in Texas for a long time and I am hopeful that some of the creative things we’ve done here will help us strengthen the branches and enhance overall university-wide initiatives. As Rio Rancho develops, we will look at broad-based concepts that work with all the branches,” he said. He said he will also work to strengthen relationships with all the state’s community colleges.
Nigliazzo has been president and chief executive officer of the Temple College District since 1995. He held faculty positions at Adams State College, Odessa College, Boise State University, Del Mar College and Corpus Christi State University.
At Odessa he was director of freshman composition; coordinator of developmental English at Boise State; director of the English Language center, then chair of the Department of English, Philosophy and Reading at Del Mar; and vice president and dean of instruction at Galveston. In 1991, he was named president of Galveston College and served in that capacity until his appointment at Temple College.
Nigliazzo has served in leadership roles within his profession and within his communities. He is past-president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, and the Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrations.
He is also past-chairman of the board of the Temple Chamber of Commerce, served on the boards of the Temple Education Foundation and the Temple College Foundation. He is a member of the Temple Economic Development Corporation, the Temple Business League and the advisory committee to the Central Texas Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization.
Nigliazzo’s wife Lynn is founder, artistic director, and principal costumer for Galveston Ballet. His family also includes daughter Caryn, an emergency clinician in Durango, Colo.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The 2006 Scribendi magazine has been awarded the National Magazine Pacemaker for general excellence and outstanding achievement by a college magazine in a national competition given by the Associated Collegiate Press. Scribendi is a high quality publication of art and literature, sponsored by the University Honors Program at UNM and the Western Regional Honors Council.
Produced completely by students in the Honors Program, Scribendi publishes creative works by undergraduate honors students in more than 220 western colleges and universities in 13 states in the western U.S.
Since 1987, Scribendi has provided an opportunity for undergraduate students both to showcase their creativity and to explore the publishing world. Scribendi publishes poetry, essays, short fiction, foreign language, visual art, photography, and digital art. In past years, Scribendi staffs have worked hard to elevate the magazine to a professional level, as well as to bring it to the public's attention, nationally and locally. Distribution has grown to 1,000 copies annually. Scribendi is funded by the UNM University Honors Program, the Associated Students of UNM, the Western Regional Honors Council, and donations.
For more about Scribendi or to view the award-winning 2006 issue, please visit their web site: Scribendi.
The Pacemaker award was presented at the National College Media Convention in Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2007. Issued annually since 1927, the Pacemaker Award is considered the highest level of honor in student journalism. The staff of the 2006 issue included: Madeleine Dent Coleman (Editor), Danielle Gilliam (Asst. Editor), Anna Butman, Dawn Catanach, Alyssa Christy, Dohnia Dorman, Sheena Kinsel, David Pendell, Jay Reidy, Jennifer Sawayda, and Amaris Ketcham (Office Manager).
Conference to be held March 11-13
Over the past two decades, qualitative research in management and organization studies has explored new forms of fieldwork, method, theorizing, and writing. Yet the long and distinguished history of qualitative research dates at least from the Hawthorne Studies of the 1920s and the early urban ethnographies and anthropological contributions. John Van Maanen's seminal Tales of the Field (1988) is a key contribution linking this history to exciting new developments in fieldwork.
Photo: John Van Maanen, Erwin H. Schell Professor of Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management
His text had and continues to have a profound effect on qualitative organizational scholarship because it highlights the possibilities for ethnography, engaging more directly with organizational life and thinking more reflexively about such work.
Participants at the Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference beginning March 11 at the University of New Mexico will have the opportunity to hear first hand about the Van Maanen's groundbreaking contributions.
The Erwin H. Schell Professor of Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management, John Van Maanen, will be joined by H.L. (Bud) Goodall, director of the ASU Hugh Downs School of Communication, as the keynote speakers at this year's conference.
Not only will the conference recognize and celebrate Van Maanen's impact on the field, it will also create a space in which qualitative scholars who use multiple methods, voices, and ways of writing qualitative work can exchange ideas and engage in critical discussion.
Papers, panels, and innovative sessions will explore philosophical, theoretical, and practical aspects of qualitative approaches to researching organizational life. Contributions from a range of disciplines will be presented, including management and organization studies, accounting, marketing, communication, cultural studies, information and decision sciences, sociology, psychology, education, health and public administration.
Registration is currently underway for $480. All registrations include two lunches and two keynote speaker banquets. To receive a registration form or for more information visit The Anderson School of Management Web site at: Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference
Media Contact: Leslie Venzuela, (505) 277-7117; e-mail: venzuela@mgt.unm.edu
The UNM School of Architecture and Planning Spring Lecture Series continues on Monday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. in the Pearl Hall Auditorium with Kenneth Helphand presenting, “Defiant Gardens.” In times of war gardens are a way to cope with the horror. Helphand, presenting this year’s JB Jackson lecture, will talk about wartime gardens with examples from World War I to the war in Iraq.
Helphand will speak about his award winning book, “Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in War Time.” He will be available for a book signing prior to the lecture.
Helphand is a Fellow of ASLA, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Oregon and author of “Yard Street Park,” “Colorado,” and “Dreaming Gardens.”
“Defiant Gardens” has won awards from the ASLA and other national book awards. Listen to Helphand’s NPR interview on “Defiant Gardens” at npr.org.
For more information about any of the lectures, visit http://saap.unm.edu/ or call 277-2903.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico-Gallup’s Adult Basic Education Center reports a significant increase in GED graduates during a recent six-month period. Fifty-six people earned GEDs from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007. From July 1 to December 2007, 48 individuals earned GEDs.
Christine Gleason Abassary, GED program director, said, “If the trend continues, a 50 percent increase for the year may occur.”
GED, or General Educational Development, includes a battery of tests that must be taken and passed. A certificate is awarded that shows the test-taker has earned the equivalent of a high school education. The GED may be taken by anyone who has not graduated from high school, including dropouts and home-schooled.
GED students comprise 11 percent of UNM-Gallup’s enrollment, and regularly participate in the branch’s annual graduation ceremony in May. The Student Services Department of the college hosted a fall graduation ceremony in December 2007 and invited recent GED graduates as a way of encouraging students to make the transition to college.
“Individuals of all ages and backgrounds have attained a GED and are typically better prepared for college with the rigorous studies needed to pass the test,” Abassary said. “Graduates are also eligible for scholarships and grants to fund their education.”
Abassary encourages people who don’t have that piece of paper to inquire at the ABE Center about the program.
“Never let anyone or any idea about who you are supposed to be hold you back, even if your circumstances dictate otherwise,” she said. An ABE student art show will reflect students’ experiences and successes in keeping anyone or anything from defining their identities or abilities. The display will be in the Gurley Hall Commons area from Feb. 18 through mid-March.
Call (505) 863-7525 for more information.
Media Contact: Linda Thornton, (505) 863-7565; e-mail: lthornton@gallup.unm.edu
University of New Mexico weather prediction project shows new detail
New Mexico’s new supercomputer, the third fastest in the world, completed its first scientific application test run by an outside user early Wednesday. A weather forecast project by Professor Joseph Galewsky, UNM Earth and Planetary Sciences department, tracked how a hypothetical winter storm would play out over nearly three weeks in an area that would cover much of the Western Hemisphere.
The test run was accomplished in three hours and nine minutes, and about one month after the supercomputer, named Encanto, arrived in New Mexico. Galewsky’s project is part of the ongoing acceptance testing overseen by the New Mexico Department of Information Technology.
“Encanto is off to an impressive start,” Secretary Roy Soto of the New Mexico Department of Information Technology said. “New Mexico’s supercomputer simulated a week of weather in roughly an hour. This project has delivered from the very beginning.”
The machine is scheduled for final installation and acceptance by the state in June 2008. The state purchased Encanto in 2007 to boost economic development and education efforts in New Mexico. The $11 million machine, approved by the 2007 Legislature, is projected to operate at 172 trillion calculations per second.
That massive computing power can allow companies to develop new products, governments to model better traffic flows, and allows researchers like Galewsky to better predict the weather.
“The sheer size of the record setting snowstorm of Dec. 29, 2006 that brought much of New Mexico to a standstill was not predicted far in advance by computer weather models,” said Galewsky. “Existing weather forecast models can only resolve weather features that are 20 to 30 kilometers in scale, but wintertime storms, such as the 2006 record, involve weather features as small as a few kilometers. These simulations on Encanto provide new insight into the processes that control New Mexico winter storms and will hopefully help to improve their forecast.”
Galewsky stressed that Encanto allowed his project to pinpoint what happens on a much smaller scale.
“Encanto enables breakthrough science because of the fine-grained resolution it enables in these studies,” said Tim Thomas of UNM’s High Performance Computing Center. “This is just a demonstration of how easily one can get potentially groundbreaking science running on this machine.”
Galewsky’s project used 4,050 of the 14,336 Intel Xeon processor cores on Encanto. That’s about 28 percent of the total computing power on the world’s third fastest machine.
The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech have signed on as partners in the New Mexico Computing Applications Center project, as well as Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.
“This is just the kind of research from New Mexico universities we would like to promote and help to flourish,” said Tom Bowles, chief science advisor to Governor Bill Richardson. “The computing center is designed to match the expertise of our partners with real needs for the state in areas like water conservation and renewable energy.”
Encanto is currently housed at Intel Corp. in Rio Rancho under a separate agreement between Intel and SGI.
It’s spacious, with more than 20,000 square feet, and natural light pours in through the southern windows. Students are discovering it as the most beautiful contemporary space to work on campus. Since the library got its new gate counters on Feb. 1, more than 5,000 people have visited to look for music or books or to sit down at the new computers to do research.
At the grand opening today, the deans of University Libraries, Fine Arts and Architecture & Planning spoke about how they worked together to find space in the new George Pearl Hall for the library.
Over the years, university space planners explored every possible option for new library space, including a discussion of locating it under the visitor parking garage. Fortunately for students, the deans were able to convince planners that the top floor of the new architecture building offered the best possible solution.
The library is open to the community.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Former UNM Board of Regents member Sandra Begay-Campbell is one of three Native American engineers at Sandia National Laboratory who will talk about their work with renewable energy at Zimmerman Library on Wednesday, Feb. 20. At noon the Indigenous Nations Library Program will host a brown bag discussion in the Herzstein Room, and at 3 p.m., Begay-Campbell, Stanley Atcitty and David Wilson will speak in the Willard Room in the west wing of Zimmerman.
Begay-Campbell, Atcitty and Wilson are all members of the technical staff at SNL. Wilson is a mechanical engineer who obtained his Ph.D. from UNM. He has more than 20 years of research and development engineering experience in energy systems, robotics, automation, and space and defense projects. His areas of research focus on control systems. He is currently developing a power flow control for critical energy infrastructures and aerodynamic blade control to alleviate the loads for large wind turbines.
Atcitty is an electrical engineer with a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech University. He works in the Energy Infrastructure and Distributed Energy Resources Department at SNL. His research interests include power conversion systems and electrochemical capacitors and their application. His current work includes power electronics and energy storage.
Begay-Campbell has a Master’s degree in structural engineering from Stanford University. She has worked extensively in the area of solar engineering and has been involved in efforts to provide solar and wind energy solutions to tribal members in remote areas of the Navajo Reservation.
The Native Pathways Lecture Series is sponsored by the Indigenous Nations Library Program. Both the brown bag discussion and the lecture are free and the public is welcome.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The 2008 New Mexico Legislative session has come to an end, and the “New Mexico In Focus” team looks back at the session, and forward to a possible special session in this week’s episode of KNME’s weekly prime-time TV news magazine, airing on Fridays at 7 p.m. and repeating on Sundays at 6:30 a.m. on KNME, Channel 5.
Co-hosted by Santa Fe Reporter staff writer David Alire Garcia and Albuquerque Journal columnist Gene Grant, “New Mexico In Focus” takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and explores them in-depth, with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment." Joining Alire Garcia this week will be:
* Walter Bradley, Former Lt. Governor
* Senator Carlos Cisneros, (D) Questa
* Senator Linda Lopez, (D) Albuquerque
* Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino, (D) Albuquerque
* Representative Danice Picraux, (D) Albuquerque
* Representative Lucky Varela, (D) Santa Fe
Gene Grant is the moderator for “New Mexico In Focus’s” weekly panel discussion. He'll be joined by regular panelists Margaret Montoya, UNM School of Law and UNM School of Medicine, and Jim Scarantino, columnist for the Weekly Alibi.
Guest panelists this week are:
* Joe Powdrell, former president, NAACP New Mexico
* Jennifer Duke, communications manager, CNM
The topics for this week’s show include:
* The 2008 legislative session wraps up this week in Santa Fe. And, in many ways, this year has been one to remember. Even though it was a short session, lawmakers dealt with several lofty issues, from universal health care to domestic partnership and ethics reform. This week, “New Mexico In Focus” checks in with several lawmakers during the last hours of the session. Find out how many of them consider this year's session a success.
* The panelists look at the growing tension between lawmakers and Governor Bill Richardson.
* Congressional candidates make their campaigns official.
* The ballot counting continues in the Democratic Presidential caucus.
* The battle over oil and gas drilling in the Galisteo basin rages on.
The one-hour show New Mexico In Focus concentrates on bringing viewers the important topics of our time, and all the opinions and insight they are used to, in an integrated and cohesive package.
The producer of “New Mexico In Focus” is Kevin McDonald. This episode is co-produced by Karl Swanson, UNM Intern. Support for “New Mexico In Focus” has been provided by McCune Charitable Foundation. Closed Captioning of “New Mexico In Focus” has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
For the second year in a row, a student from UNM-Valencia Campus was named the New Century Scholar and will represent the state of New Mexico on the All-USA Academic Team. Kathy Metzger, a nursing major at UNM-Valencia, was selected to the All-State Academic Team in New Mexico a few weeks ago.
That made her eligible for consideration of the All-Academic Team. Metzger will be honored at a reception held Sunday evening, April 6 at the American Association of Community Colleges national convention in Philadelphia, PA.
She will also receive a $2,000.00 scholarship funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Metzger has a GPA of 4.27, is active in student government at UNM-Valencia, as well as the Phi Theta Kappa chapter at UNM-Valencia.
Today, ITS increased e-mail quotas from 150 megabytes to 1 gigabyte for all @unm.edu addresses, this includes all faculty, staff and students and retirees. The quota increase applies to Webmail, my.unm.edu e-mail and faculty/staff GroupWise e-mail.
ITS determined that because e-mail is in a constant, steadily increasing state of use, and because space was available, Valentine’s Day would be a good a day to implement the quota increase.
The quota increase is also part of an effort to make GroupWise more consistent for @unm.edu and @salud.unm.edu GroupWise users.
Future enhancements include a change in Purge Policy that effects GroupWise accounts only, items in the Trash Folder will be automatically purged after 180 days (this is a reduction from the previous purge after 365 days). An announcement will be made when this change is implemented.
Please note that the email quota increase is for email only and does not affect the UNIX space quota for Web pages.
Looking for a degree that will get you a well paying job? The Anderson School of Management is teaming up with the New Mexico Society of CPA's and the Becker CPA Review to highlight why accounting could be an ideal career choice. The public is invited to learn more about becoming an accountant at two presentations on Monday, Feb. 18 and Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. The sessions will be held at the UNM Student Union Building. Admission is free.
The presentations will look at the benefits of becoming an accountant, the requirements to become a CPA, what types of jobs are available and the salary and future earning potential of accountants. One of the greatest benefits of entering the accounting field is the range of jobs available. Joni Young, chair of the Anderson Accounting Department, says the career tracks within accounting are as varied as accountants.
"Careers include audit services, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, governmental entities and corporations," says Young. "Accountants can also be involved in forensic work, litigation support -- the possibilities are almost endless."
Another plus is the demand for accounts. Currently the need for accountants in Albuquerque is far greater than the number of qualified people available for hire. For more information about the presentations contact Suzette Dawson at (505) 828-3667 or sdawson@beckerreview.com. Everyone is welcome regardless of their educational background. To reserve a space go to: Accounting Students.
“KNME TV 5 has launched its new online community web portal at Science Central. Science Central provides access to select KNME programs, provides links to PBS programs such as Nova, Nature, and Scientific American Frontiers; highlights, and clips of featured science, nature and technology programs, links to kids’ science-related programs, and information about the KNME Science Café free monthly events, and the KNME Science Crawl for school children.
Additionally, the Science Central web portal provides educators and parents with direct links to reference materials that can be accessed, downloaded, and used in the classroom, or at home.
Science Central also presents new, one-minute spots, to excite children and adults about the wonders of science, in “Why Did You Become a Scientist?” Scientists share what excites them, what’s cool about their job, and what got them interested in their field in the first place.
New spots will be added monthly, with the original spots kept in rotation. February highlights Dr. Bernadette A Hernandez-Sanchez, inorganic chemist, Sandia National Laboratories; and coming in March, Dr. Eileen V. Ryan, research scientist in astronomy from NM Tech will be featured.
KNME Science Central and KNME Science Cafes are sponsored in part by support from New Mexico Tech and Lockheed Martin/Sandia National Labs.
SCIENCE CENTRAL – Web Pages of Interest
KNME Science Café
In February, KNME’s Science Café features “Asteroid Research – The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Connection.” Will a doomsday rock the size of the Rose Bowl hit Earth in 2036? Come separate fact from fiction, where the astronomical action is observed each and every night, on Saturday, Feb. 23, from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., meeting at NM Tech. This month’s KNME Science Café kicks off the 2008 season with an exclusive visit to New Mexico Tech’s Magdalena Ridge Observatory.
Admission is free, but a reservation is required. Please call: Ed Ulman at (505) 277-8296 to RSVP. Deadline is Feb. 15. Seats are limited to the first 80 people. Transportation from New Mexico Tech in Socorro, to the Observatory, breakfast and lunch will be provided, free of charge.
KNME Science Crawl
KNME Science Crawl, a collaborative venture with Albuquerque Public Schools and Albuquerque Museums, builds interest and enthusiasm in the field of science. Through Science Crawl, students explore the depth and richness of New Mexico science and technology resources. In addition, Science Crawl gives students the opportunity to visit Albuquerque’s rich science museums—some for the first time. The goal is to stimulate interest in science and math careers.
Last November, more than 1,000 6th grade students from five APS middle schools took part in educational activities aligned with state science standards at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, National Atomic Museum, Lodestar Astronomy Center, The Rio Grande Zoo, the Albuquerque Aquarium, Botanic Gardens, and Explora.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting today named veteran public television executive Ted A. Garcia, senior vice president, television content. In this capacity, he will oversee and manage CPB’s national public television programming initiatives. Garcia’s new position will begin July 1.
Photo: Ted A. Garcia
Garcia is currently the general manager and CEO of KNME, licensed to the University of New Mexico and Albuquerque Public Schools, serving northern and central New Mexico. His career spans more that 37 years in non-commercial and commercial broadcasting.
“Ted is a proven leader, manager, and an innovative executive who is very highly regarded in the public broadcasting system,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “He is well versed in the evolving media technologies and how public television can take advantage of new platforms to connect with audiences of all backgrounds. Ted’s comprehensive knowledge of public broadcasting will be an asset at a time of transformational change.”
Garcia has served as chair of the National Educational Telecommunications Association and the Pacific Mountain Network, as a representative to the Affinity Group Coalition and is currently a member of the Board of National Datacasting, Inc., where he serves on the compensation committee, customer relations business committee and is chair of the nominating and governance committee.
Elected to the PBS board of directors in 2004 and to a second term in 2007, Garcia served on the PBS president/ CEO search committee and currently serves on the station services committee, the nominating and corporate governance committee and is chair of the interconnection committee and the PBS Enterprises board of directors.
Prior to joining KNME in 2001, Garcia was executive vice president and chief operating officer of KETC in St. Louis, Mo. He came to KETC in 1981 as director of operations. He was promoted to vice president of operations in 1983 and senior vice president in 1992.
Earlier in his career, Garcia held creative and management positions with the television stations division of CBS at KMOX-TV. In addition, he maintained a sports production career working in NFL, NHL, MLB and Big 8, Big 10 & PAC 10 sports television. He has received numerous regional EMMY and other industry awards for his work in both commercial and non-commercial broadcasting.
Garcia holds a bachelor of science degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He has served as an adjunct faculty member or guest lecturer at Southern Illinois University, University of Missouri, University of New Mexico and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Garcia has also has served as a consultant for Ana G. Mendez University, Puerto Rico, assisting that institution in the implementation of digital broadcasting and distance learning.
Garcia’s community engagements include the Albuquerque Museum Foundation Board, the Heart Hospital of New Mexico Foundation Board, New Mexico Commission for Public Broadcasting, New Mexico Tourism Commission, New Mexico Broadcasters Association Board and numerous local, regional and national governance assignments with the American Red Cross.
The UNM Department of Linguistics and Department of Psychology will host a joint presentation on “Learning to Speak or to Sign: Issues of Modality and Linguistic Typology” by University of California, Berkeley psychology and linguistics professor Dan Slobin and Nina Hoiting, from the Royal Effatha-Guyot Group in Haren, Netherlands, on Feb. 22, from 3-4 p.m. in Hodgin Hall’s Bobo Room.
Slobin and Hoiting will examine the difficulties that children have with learning sign languages. Early sign language learning can be seen as a gradual movement from gestural indices and icons to more linguistic forms. What this means to the average person is that deaf children learning a natural sign language are learning a language that is typologically different from the spoken language of the community at large.
Slobin and Hoiting’s research shows that both the modality and typology of signed languages make it necessary to modify current theoretical accounts of how these languages are learned.
A reception will follow the presentation’s end at 4 p.m. The presentation is free and open to the public.
The Jonson Gallery will present Christine Chin’s M.F.A. thesis show, “Alternative Alternative Energy,” March 4-April 4. The opening reception will be held on Friday, March 7, 5-7 p.m. Chin will giving an artist’s talk the same day at 4 p.m. Recipient of a prestigious Fulbright fellowship, Chin explores the space where human creations meet nature’s creations.
On the frontiers of science, understanding the nature of the world we live in is a constant battle. Fear of and fascination with this ongoing struggle is what propels Chin’s art, where she can introduce the unexpected and let it rest for a moment side by side with reality. “Alternative Alternative Energy” strives to explore the creative boundaries of energy production, creating clean energy using local resources in innovative ways.
The Jonson Gallery is located on the main campus of UNM at 1909 Las Lomas NE. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. It is free and open to the public. Contact the gallery at 277-4967 or jonsong@unm.edu, or visit Jonson Gallery for more details.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Proposals due Feb. 18
The 11th Annual College of Education Graduate Student Colloquium will be held on Tuesday, March 11, in the Student Union Building. Students will present their work 1-6 p.m., followed by a banquet dinner and keynote speech by Manulani Aluli Meyer, associate professor of education at the University of Hawaii-Hilo.
Associate Dean Betsy Noll founded the colloquium 11 years ago as an opportunity for COE graduate students to share their research, ideas and projects, and to receive feedback from peers and faculty. Last year, the event included more than 65 presentations and 90 student presenters. The event is sponsored by the COE Dean’s Office, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Office of the Provost, along with several COE graduate student associations.
For the keynote, Manulani Aluli Meyer will present “The Integrity of Joy: Indigenous Epistemology, Research and the Changing Face of Academia.” Meyer earned her doctorate from Harvard University researching Hawaiian epistemology, or an indigenous philosophy of knowledge.
She is a founding member of Halau Wanana, a Hawaiian Center of Higher Learning preparing teachers for licensure in the Hawaiian charter school movement. Her book, “Ho`oulu: Our Time of Becoming,” is in its second printing. She is a stone carver and enjoys all aspects of water.
Students may present research, professional practice and creative projects in four formats: individual presentation, group presentation, roundtable discussion, and poster session. Proposals are due by Monday, Feb. 18.
For more information, contact Bonnie Leigh Reifsteck at 277-2254 or bonniec@unm.edu.
This Valentine’s Day, tell literature you love it. UNM professors of literature, creative writing and professional writing will read and perform selections from their favorite pieces at the Student Union Building Atrium, 11 a.m.-2p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14.
The event is sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and is free and open to the public. For more information, email sigmatau@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
“Sun Light in Atmospheric Chemistry,” a talk by Veronica Vaida, professor of chemistry, University of Colorado, will be held Thursday, Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. in rm. G at the UNM Conference Center located at 1634 University Blvd. Science & Society Distinguished Public Talks will host the talk, which is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served beginning at 4:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public.
Vaida’s research focuses on light-initiated reactions of molecules and radicals of atmospheric interest. She developed methods for the study of water by investigating water clusters (hydrated), water-air interfaces and aerosols to provide the database needed to establish the role of chemistry in aqueous environments in atmospheric chemistry and climate.
Her talk will focus on how sunlight drives atmospheric chemistry and controls Earth’s temperature and climate. The factors determining the characteristics of sunlight at a given altitude will be discussed to explain its effectiveness in driving processes relevant to climate.
Sunlight-initiated reactions of organic species in aqueous environments will be used to illustrate the basic chemistry driving the reactivity of the atmosphere in determining the temperature of the planet. The discussion will point to well-understood facts as well as to fundamental processes not yet completely understood.
Science & Society Distinguished Public Talks are co-sponsored by the Albuquerque Section of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Sigma Xi (the Scientific Research Society), the Department of Physics & Astronomy, the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering, the University Honors Program, and the Division of Continuing Education.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Space Technology & Applications International Forum meets this week
They’ve dreamed about space exploration since they were kids. Now many of them sport grey hair. Still dreaming about space, the men and women who do serious space research for private companies and the federal government come every winter to Albuquerque to talk about what’s new, what’s hot, who’s got research money, and how they can get involved in the most interesting projects.
They’ve made the pilgri