National, Local and International coverage from all-star journalists, guests and analysts on KNME
V-me, America’s fastest growing Spanish TV network, joins forces with Grupo Latino de Radio (GLR), the Spanish language radio group, for live primetime coverage and analysis broadcast to a national US TV audience and a national and international radio audience in the US, the Americas and Europe. V-me is broadcast throughout northern New Mexico on digital channel KNME-HD 5.3. V-me is also seen on Albuquerque Comcast Cable Channel 203. For more information, KNME.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4 starting at 5 p.m. (MST), V-me combines its analysis and news teams for PARTICIPA 2008: Elección Presidencial, a live broadcast from V-me’s New York studios that will report and analyze all the election results, voter trends and more.
V-me’s Jorge Gestoso will anchor the coverage, joined by Luis Sarmiento and Silvina Sterin-Pensel of V-me Noticias and an all-star team of experts including: Marcela Sanchez – The New York Times Syndicate; Nathan Thornburgh - TIME Magazine; Jorge Mursuli - Democracia U.S.A.; Vanessa Cardenas –Center for American Progress; Rolando Roebuck – community activist; Juan Carlos Benitez – Republican Party strategist; Emilio Viano – professor, American University; Federico Subervi – professor, Texas State University/San Marcos; Roberto Lovato – New American Media and The Nation.
GLR, international subsidiary of Spanish radio group Union Radio, will air presidential election coverage Tuesday, Nov. 4 starting at 5 p.m. (EST). The broadcast includes news, results, analysis and live interviews, brought by an extensive team of journalists in six US cities – New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Phoenix and Chicago - and correspondents and analysts participating from the group’s stations in the Americas and Spain.
Hosts Mirhtala Salinas and Yoli Cuello in the US, Angels Barcelo, Javier del Pino and Carles Francino in Spain, Julio Sanchez Cristo and Dario Arizmendi in Colombia and Maria O’Donell in Argentina among others, will connect 622 GLR and Union Radio stations in the US, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Panama.
From their studio inside the V-me Election Center, GLR will report the election results provided by V-me, while V-me will broadcast GLR’s interviews, local reports from across the US, and features on the youth vote from Shakira, Alejandro Sanz and others. Throughout the evening GLR’s hosts Jorge Castaneda and Carlos Puig and V-me’s Jorge Gestoso will provide commentary to each other’s audience.
V-me’s coverage will reach more than 6 million US Hispanic homes on the network presented locally by public TV stations and carried on basic digital cable and digital broadcast in many cities.
"Run for Relief" set for Sunday, Nov. 2 at UNM's Johnson Field
In 1980 teenager, Terry Fox lost a leg to cancer. With an artificial leg, Fox ran 3,339 miles and became a worldwide inspiration to victims of cancer. Although his cancer recurred, his great courage touched students at the Santa Fe Preparatory School class of Fred Maas. They telephoned Fox and asked, “What can we do?”
Fox answered, “continue my run, because it is not just my run, it is everyone’s.” Fox died of cancer on June 28, 1981. Over the last 26 years, students have run over 20,000 miles and raised pledges of over $200,000.
Now in the year 2008, the student-athletes at the University of New Mexico are joining this fight against cancer. For the ninth straight year, they will continue Fox’s run. The “Run for Relief” will be held on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 10 a.m. at UNM’s Johnson Field. T-shirts will be provided to each runner. Come and join the fun and “run for relief” of cancer victims. This is the UNM Student Lettermen’s Association signature event each fall.
Funds collected will be added to an endowment administered by the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Proceeds of the endowment are used to make grants to needy families who have a child who suffers from cancer. Last year, the Student Lettermen raised over $4,000.00 and awarded it to the Pediatric Oncology unit at the UNM Health Sciences Center.
Media Contact: Kim Feldman, (505) 277-9092; e-mail: borzoi@unm.edu
Rebecca Schreiber, UNM assistant professor of American Studies, will sign copies her new book, “Cold War Exiles in Mexico: U.S. Dissidents and the Culture of Critical Resistance,” on Thursday, Dec. 4, 4-5 p.m. at the Faculty/Staff Club, 1923 Las Lomas NE. The UNM Bookstore will make copies of the book available.
The onset of the Cold War in the 1940s and 1950s precipitated the exile of many U.S. writers, artists and filmmakers to Mexico. Schreiber illuminates the work of these cultural exiles in Mexico City and Cuernavaca and reveals how their artistic collaborations formed a vital and effective culture of resistance.
As Schreiber recounts, the first exiles to arrive in Mexico after World War II were visual artists, many of them African-American, including Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White and John Wilson. Individuals who were blacklisted from the Hollywood film industry, such as Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler, followed these artists, as did writers, including Willard Motley. Schreiber examines the artists’ work with the printmaking collective Taller de Gráfica Popular and the screenwriters’ collaborations with filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel, as well as the influence of the U.S. exiles on artistic and political movements.
Schreiber received her master’s degree and doctorate in American studies at Yale University. She taught at Yale and Columbia University prior to coming to UNM. Her work has appeared in several publications.
In the UNM Department of American Studies, she serves as director of undergraduate studies. She is also president of the Rocky Mountain American Studies Association.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1590; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Rubber ducks sailed down the channel at UNM’s new hydraulics laboratory as part of the official celebration of the opening of the lab. The channel is altered to mimic unusual storm water channel designs. Students alter the designs to improve hydraulic efficiency and sometimes the structure’s ability to remove debris.
Photo: Rubber ducks flow down a channel as part of the opening of the new hydraulics laboratory in the Civil Engineering Department.
The Civil Engineering Department has worked with the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority (AMAFCA) for 20 years building physical scaled models of local flood control structures. During that time dozens of civil engineering students have contributed to 57 different studies. Current Lab Director and Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Julie Coonrod and John Kelly, AMAFCA executive engineer, were involved with the lab’s beginnings, though not in their current capacities.
In 1989, Coonrod was a graduate student under Former Lab Director and Professor Richard Heggen. Kelly, also a UNM Civil Engineering graduate, was the field engineer at AMAFCA, overseeing how modeled structures were implemented in the field. The dedication included celebrating the continued partnership between UNM and AMAFCA, and included short speeches from Dean of the School of Engineering Joe Cecchi, Civil Engineering Department Chair Arup Maji, and AMAFCA Board of Directors Chair Danny Hernandez.
Kelly notes that the projects have a practical impact on county residents. One project convinced the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to remove 100 residents living downstream of the South Pino Arroyo on Wyoming from a federal flood plain map, resulting in homeowners no longer having to buy flood insurance.
Another project benefited bicyclists when lab models proved to AMAFCA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that bike trail underpasses could be built into the sides of the North and South Diversion Channels without causing unacceptable wave actions. The underpasses are now used by bike riders to safely cross busy arterial streets along the trail system.
The lab has saved AMAFCA more than $10 million in design, construction and maintenance costs by improving the design efficiency of the structures built by the agency. In turn, civil engineering students can show prospective employers real projects they helped test and design.
The hydraulics lab is located in the Centennial Engineering Center, where previously separated teaching and research labs are combined. According to Coonrod, “The University is about teaching, research and service – these three are embodied in the hydraulics lab.”
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
College of Nursing doctoral student Melanie Phipps-Morgan was recently one of 11 nursing students nationally selected to receive the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Minority Nurse Faculty Scholarship.
Funded by the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future, the scholarship supports full-time minority students enrolled in graduate nursing programs.
Applications were accepted from students in master’s and doctoral programs nationwide who plan to serve as nurse faculty after earning their graduate degree. Scholarship recipients were selected by a 10-member application review committee, and awards in the amount of $18,000 each will be disbursed this fall.
The AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program was created to address the shortage of nurse faculty and enhance diversity within the population of nurse educators. The program provides generous financial support and professional development to graduate students who agree to teach in a school of nursing after graduation.
The School of Architecture and Planning recently inducted 18 undergraduate and graduate students into Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society, the only honor society recognized in the fields of architecture and the allied arts and a member of the Association of College Honor Societies.
Photo: Allison Wait, MLA candidate, receives her certificate from Roger Schluntz, dean, and MARCH candidate Maria Morrissey, president, Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society - Gamma Lambda Chapter, at a recent induction ceremony for the honor society's inductees.
Bachelor of Arts in Architecture students inducted are Bricia Hermosillo, Albuquerque; Christopher Price, Farmington; Matthew Byers, Albuquerque; Michael McCourt, Bath, Maine; and Steven Bunch, Albuquerque.
Inductee Jessica Gardener, Glenmore, Penn., is a student in the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Planning and Design.
Master of Architecture inductees are Carla Gomez, Las Cruces, Francisco Uvina, Anthony, NM; Susan Spencer, Albuquerque; and Carolyn Mead, Owego, NY.
Master of Landscape Architecture inductees are Mary Ruth Currey, Oak Bay Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Basilios Papaioannou, Sydney, Australia; Allison Wait, Austin, Texas; Yekaterina Yushmanova, Yagksh, Yukutsk, Russia; and Teresa Foster Harner, Corpus Christi, Texas.
Master of Community & Regional Planning inductees are Micaela Cadena, no hometown listed; Moanna Wright, Portland, Ore.; and Leslie Kryder, Hamler, Ohio.
Each student received a certificate when formally inducted by the director of their respective academic program into UNM’s Gamma Lambda chapter.
Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society recognizes the scholastic achievement of BAA and BAEPD students who are in their fourth year of study and graduate students enrolled in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or Community and Regional Planning who have completed one year of study in their respective program at UNM. Students must be in the upper 20 percent of their class.
Tau Sigma Delta was founded in 1913 at the University of Michigan and has about 65 chapters nationwide.
“During the past seven years, the UNM School of Architecture and Planning has initiated 122 students to the Gamma Lambda chapter of the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society. We are proud of the academic success of each student,” said Roger Schluntz, dean and faculty advisor to Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society - Gamma Lambda Chapter.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Tribute to Hillerman also scheduled
Topics for “New Mexico In Focus” this week are the New Mexico Senate and First Congressional Senate RDavid Brookshire and a Tribute to Tony Hillerman. The program airs Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. and repeats Sunday, Nov. 2 at 6:30 a.m.
Hosts are David Alire Garcia, managing editor, NewMexicoIndependent.com; and Albuquerque Journal columnist Gene Grant. Panelists are Margaret Montoya, UNM Schools of Law and Medicine; and Jim Scarantino, moderator, newmexicoliberty.com.
Guest panelists are Marco Gonzales, attorney, Modrall Sperling Law Firm; and 94 Rock’s T.J. Trout.
Guests are Steve Pearce (R), U.S. Senate candidate; Tom Udall (D), U.S. Senate candidate; Martin Heinrich (D), Congressional District 1 candidate; Darren White (R), Congressional District 1 candidate; Jim Belshaw, Albuquerque Journal columnist; David Dunaway, UNM Professor of English; and Ollie Reed, Jr., former Albuquerque Tribune columnist.
The candidates for New Mexico’s Senate and for Congressional District 1 sit down for one-on-one interviews with David Alire Garcia. Gene Grant and “The Line” panelists then take on some of the other items on the ballot this election, from the transit tax to judicial retention to bonds and amendments. And fellow authors, journalists, and poker buddies remember the late Tony Hillerman.
Erin Doles has been appointed to the position of Administrator, Professional and Support Services at the University of New Mexico Hospitals. Previously, Doles served as the executive director for the UNM Children’s Hospital since 1996. She has been with UNMH for more than 26 years, serving in various positions, specifically in nursing.
Photo: Erin Doles
As the executive director for the UNM Children’s Hospital, Doles played an integral role in the successful opening of the UNM Children’s Hospital Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion. She collaborated with the hospital’s professional services staff and departments, and provided her management skills to help complete the pavilion project.
As an administrator, Doles will oversee the professional and support services at UNMH. She will work to establish a high level of service by partnering with other divisions, particularly nursing, to ensure that UNMH provides the best in clinical care.
Media Contact: Lauren Cruse, (505) 272-3690; e-mail: lcruse@salud.unm.edu
NASA satellite data can improve forecasts of dust storms in the American Southwest in ways that can benefit public health managers, according to University of New Mexico Geography Professor Stanley Morain, as scientists announced the finding as a five-year NASA-funded project nears its conclusion.
Photo: A computer model that incorporates NASA satellite data results in a more refined depiction of a dust storm.
Led by Morain and William Sprigg of the University of Arizona in Tucson, scientists evaluated the influence of space-based observations on predictions of dust storms. Using NASA satellite data, forecasters could more accurately predict the timing of two out of three dust events.
NASA's Public Health Applications in Remote Sensing project, or PHAiRS, released a report on the study this month. Such forecasting capability is the first step toward a reporting system that health officials could use to warn at-risk populations of health threats and respond quickly to dust-related epidemics.
"The program has been successful in its work to improve dust storms predictions, which has important implications for air quality and respiratory distress warnings," said John Haynes, Public Health Applications program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Dust and the pathogens it carries have been blamed for exacerbating some cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including asthma. Dust also obscures visibility on roads, which can contribute to closures and traffic accidents.
NASA launched PHAiRS in 2004 to identify how satellites could help modeling and forecasting of dust storms and to enhance a computer-based system that health managers can use to report and respond to dust-related health symptoms.
The key to better dust forecasts is to represent accurately the features that influence the behavior of dust: land topography, the proportion of land to water, and surface roughness.
"Dust modeling always has relied on surface characteristics that we knew were wrong," Sprigg said.
For instance, information in previous models about a region's features was patched together from old maps and topographic surveys, which do not accurately represent seasonal or cyclical changes in vegetation and related surface features.
Through PHAiRS, up-to-date measurements of Earth's surface features -- collected from instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites -- provided the critical details needed to enhance an existing dust model. Observations of Earth from space offer more complete information, filling in the gaps between the locations of surface measurements and providing up-to-date snapshots of changing surface features.
The team began with an existing model Slobodan Nickovic of the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva developed that describes how dust is lifted off the ground and carried in the atmosphere. Researchers coupled this model with an operational weather forecast model the U.S. National Weather Service created. The team adapted the model to accommodate dust storms in the U.S. Southwest and then introduced the new satellite-derived measurements.
“The most difficult aspect of the project was learning how to replace the land surface parameters with satellite-acquired equivalent parameters and to measure how much improvement was achieved in model performance,” Morain said.
After using the new model to make hourly dust forecasts for California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas during dust events, the team compared their results to real-world observations. They found that the NASA data improved the model estimates of wind speed, direction, near-surface temperature, and the location and amount of dust lifted off the ground. Statistics for the model's performance show that between January and April 2007, the timing of two out of three dust storms in Phoenix could be forecasted precisely.
Already, public health professionals have been enlisted to work with the PHAiRS team to assess the model's real-world utility. The team is collaborating with physicians, public health experts and community leaders in Lubbock, Texas, to integrate the NASA dust storm predictions into a computer-based decision-support system called the Syndrome Reporting Information System, which maps reported cases of respiratory distress. The satellite-enhanced system would allow health and environmental managers to "see" the next 48 hours of dust concentrations for their areas and track the number of respiratory distress situations that result.
Ultimately, the system could allow health officials to issue early warnings to populations at risk for dust-related health complications. Preliminary feedback from public health end-users about the enhanced system's performance is expected in January 2009.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
The annual SUB Pumpkin Carving Contest will be held Friday, Oct. 31 in the Plaza Level of the SUB Atrium The event is open to all students, faculty and staff. Participants may show up anytime from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to carve their individual pumpkins. Prizes will be awarded for craftsmanship, creativity and originality. Winners will be announced beginning at 2 p.m. Prizes will be awarded in both individual and group categories for first, second and third place in both categories.
In past years, more than 50 pumpkins have been carved and entered. The annual event is a sure way to kick off the holiday season. Pumpkins, carving tools and refreshments will be provided. Participants should bring their creativity, carving skills and friends.
To join in on in on all the fun by showing off your pumpkin carving skills, participants (early group/individual) may signup at the event, or pre-register at: 2008 Pumpkin Carving Contest to guarantee your spot or stop by to see who will be this year’s winners.
For more information e-mail: sub@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Future role of New Mexico’s national labs in a new national renewable energy strategy and policy to be discusse
A community open meeting and public forum will be held on the topic of what role New Mexico’s two National Laboratories (Los Alamos and Sandia) will play in any forthcoming new national energy policy and strategy. The meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Center at the UNM-Los Alamos branch campus located at 4000 University Dr.
The meeting will be hosted by Dr. Cedric Page, Executive Director of University of New Mexico Los Alamos, ecological economist Miro Kovacevich, MBA, and Santa Fe green business advocate Matthew Ellis.
A panel comprised of leaders from the national labs, industry, science research & applied technology, government & elected officials, and academia will be present to address the meeting’s topic and community concerns.
The meeting will be conducted in an open “town meeting” style format. The audience will be invited to share their comments and questions.
The meeting will focus on the central topical questions of:
As it becomes increasingly apparent that our nation must move toward greater energy independence through the serious development of renewable energy sources and systems, what part shall these two centers of excellence in research, science, engineering, and technology play in creating applied solutions to our most pressing energy needs?
How can our national labs lead in such a mission?
LANL and Sandia are major attractors of federal funding, and subsequently major economic drivers for New Mexico. What do New Mexicans want from their labs or expect with a change of administration and policy in Washington DC?
What role can the labs play in a renewable energy-based national & global economic recovery?
This event is free and open to the public.
For more information contact Dr. Cedric Page, executive director, UNM - Los Alamos at (505) 661-4689.
Gift benefits Albuquerque-based organization; honors Senator Pete Domenici
The Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) Foundation has donated $10,000 to the Mind Research Network’s (MRN) Mind Discovery Fund. The contribution will be used by early career researchers at MRN to study an array of brain disorders including schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, addiction and epilepsy.
The Mind Discovery Fund was established earlier this year to generate matching funds for junior researchers and to honor New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici and his creation of the Mind Research Network 10 years ago.
Domenici, arguably, has been Congress’ leader on issues relating to mental illness, such as mental health parity, increased funding for cutting-edge mental health research, and increasing funding for the incarcerated or homeless suffering from a mental illness. His high-profile work has brought mental illness to the forefront of national public-policy dialogue, which now is successfully addressing some of the stigma surrounding mental health.
“We are pleased that the PNM Foundation supports critical brain research taking place at MRN,” states Dr. John Rasure, MRN CEO and president. “They join a growing list of corporations, foundations and citizens that recognize the need to find answers to some of society’s most devastating illnesses. We hope others will follow the lead of the PNM Foundation by making a contribution in honor of the Senator that will help ensure his legacy and vision to advance neuroimaging as a diagnostic tool.”
About MRN
The Mind Research Network is dedicated to the discovery and advancement of clinical solutions for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and brain disorders. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Albuquerque, MRN consists of in-house scientists, as well as an interdisciplinary ass ociation of research partners located at universities, national laboratories and research centers around the country. For more information on the Mind Research Network, please call 505/272-5028 or visit www.mrn.org.
Media Contact: Dolores González, Director of External Affairs 505/925-4747;
cell 505/259-9736
"Personal Safety...at work and in the rest of your life," is the topic of a free, upcoming brown bag lunch event for students, staff and faculty on Thursday, Oct. 30, from 12 to 1 p.m. in the SUB Fiesta Rooms.
Photo: UNM Police Chief Kathy Guimond. Guimond will be a featured speaker during a brown bag lunch titled, "Personal Safety...at work and in the rest of your life."
Hear from guest speakers UNM Police Chief Kathy Guimond and Trish Hoffman of the Albuquerque Police Department's Women Against Crime Program.
The presentation is sponsored by the Staff Council's Work+Life Committee and UNM Women's Resource Center. Light refreshments will be served.
3 author events Scheduled
The first author event features UNM Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Louise Lamphere, who will discuss Weaving Women’s Lives: Three Generations in a Navajo Family Thursday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore, Central and Cornell NE.
Photo: Louise Lamphere
Lamphere met Eva Price in 1965 in Sheep Springs, New Mexico, on the eastern side of the Navajo Reservation, while conducting fieldwork for her dissertation in social anthropology at Harvard University. Over the next 40 years, Lamphere developed a strong friendship with Price that expanded to include Price’s daughter, Carole Cadman, and granddaughter, Valerie Darwin.
When Price desired to pass along teachings about Navajo life to her children and grandchildren, Lamphere saw an opportunity to pursue her own interest in writing a book on Navajo women that would encompass their transformative experiences through the 20th century. Lamphere collaborated with Price, Cadman and Darwin to create a narrative highlighting the voices of three generations of Navajo women, placing them within the context of the larger American society rather than presenting the Navajo as an isolated indigenous culture.
Emphasizing the vibrancy and strength of Navajo culture, Weaving Women's Lives illustrates the process of incorporating new practices and ideas while retaining distinctive Navajo beliefs, values and orientations. As individual threads are woven to create a pattern, so have Navajo women pulled together elements of Navajo and Anglo culture to create a new blueprint for their lives.
The second event features Janet Chapman discussing Kenneth Milton Chapman: A Life Dedicated to Indian Arts and Artists, on Thursday Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore.
The accomplishments of Kenneth Milton Chapman (1875-1968) – a leading force in the revitalization of Pueblo pottery in the 1920s – are as varied as they are significant. Chapman was instrumental in establishing the Museum of New Mexico, School of American Research, and Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe. He was widely recognized for his knowledge of Pueblo pottery design elements and was UNM’s first professor of Indian arts.
With a special focus on his professional development as artist and archaeologist, this biography is the first to track Chapman’s life from his mid-western upbringing through his nearly 70 years in New Mexico. The authors -- Chapman a grandniece, and Barrie a relation by marriage – have combined material from Chapman’s unpublished memoirs with a thoroughly researched history of his life and times to reveal his role within the burgeoning field of Southwestern archaeology and the preservation of ancient Pueblo pottery, as well as his promotion of the work of living potters.
The final event features two poets, Marianne Aweagon Broyles reading from her book of poetry The Red Window, and Erika T. Wurth reading from her book of poetry Indian Trains, on Friday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore.
In her first book of poetry, The Red Window, Aweagon Broyles explores the origins and painful consequences of the outsider experience, either oppression of Native American and other peoples or the enslavement caused by mental illness. But Broyles also finds—deep in the wounds—a resilience and fight for survival.
Aweagon Broyles spent her early childhood in Boston and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and grew up in Tennessee. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she graduated from Emory University. She lives in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and works as a psychiatric nurse in Albuquerque.
Wurth’s first book, Indian Trains is about small town Indians, community and family, thieves, prostitutes, train stealers, drug dealers, loners, jerks, dreaming alcoholics and the ones who did everything but all of that. It is about an entirely new tribe: urban mixed-bloods of multiple tribes who are respectful of where their ancestors have come from but are increasingly going to Indian powwows, Indian bars, and Urban Native organizations for cultural fulfillment rather than returning to reservations to discover their identity.
Wurth was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Colorado. She is mixed blood Apache, Chickasaw and Cherokee. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Raven Chronicles, Fiction, Cedar Hill Review, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Studies in American Indian Literature and Boulevard. She teaches creative writing at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. Currently, she lives in Albuquerque and teaches as a visiting writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Indian Trains is her first book.
For more information, contact Lisa Walden, 277-7494, or e-mail: lwalden@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
What is Terror? a 2008 Cultural Studies Panel Discussion, is set for Thursday, Oct. 30 from 4 – 5:30 p.m. in the Ortega Hall Reading Room 335. Cataclysmic events change—radically and irrevocably—the way we reside in the world. The 20th century was overshadowed by state terrorism committed under Hitler, shattering as French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard said, “not only lives, buildings, and objects, but also the instruments used to measure earthquakes.”
In different ways, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington at the beginning of the 21st century created the most recent seismic shifts in the global political landscape. While the spectacular nature of this attack ensured that the story and its pictures remained vividly in the public eye, terrorists managed not only to provoke shock and fear but also demonstrate the vulnerability of a super power. In fact, 9/11 created a level of fear blown out of proportion to the reality of the size, efficiency and resources of the terrorist organization behind it.
The panel discussion examines these phenomena from various disciplinary angles. Panelists engage with the use of terror in late ancient Christian and early Islamic communities, Thomas Sizgorich, History, UC Irvine; the Jacobin terror regime in late 18th century France notion and its transposition into colonialism Raji Vallury, French Studies, UNM; the complications of gender and violence as articulated in ambivalent perceptions of female terrorists Jane Slaughter, History, UNM; and the multitude of national and international definitions of terrorism within and without judicial codifications Elizabeth Rapaport, Law School, UNM.
The event is free and open to the public.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The UNM United Way campaign has set a bold goal of $1 million to help those in need in our community. Every penny you contribute goes to the charitable organization you designate or to the Community Fund, which takes care of a number of worthwhile organizations. As an added incentive, the first 1,000 contributors will receive two tickets to the UNM vs. Utah football game on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Utah comes into University Stadium undefeated at 8-0 and ranked No. 10 in the nation. Support UNM’s United Way campaign and cheer on the Lobos.
There are only a few days left to turn in your pledge form and receive two tickets to Saturday’s game.
All employees should have received their packets with pledge form, return envelope and campaign information this week. Students can pick up pledge forms at the information desk at the SUB.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Sherry Hoffman and Todd Erlandson of (M)ARCH Studio, Los Angeles, will deliver “Building Brand Value through Architecture,” an installment in the John Gaw Meem Lecture Series, in Pearl Hall Auditorium Monday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m. Hoffman and Erlandson are partners at (M)Arch. branded architectures, a collaboration of architects and marketers who build brand value through architecture. (M)Arch. has worked with Universal Studios, UCLA, Caltech, Fred Segal Beauty, HBOFilms and others.
The lecture will provoke a critical discussion about the relationship between architecture and branding. The pair will discuss what impact branding has on collective culture. Hoffman and Erlandson lecture and are frequently guest critics for local and international design faculty. They taught at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles, Tulane University in New Orleans, Woodbury University in Burbank and Hollywood, and SCI_ARC in Los Angeles.
Sherry Hoffman, Marketing Partner
Prior to establishing (M)Arch., Hoffman developed marketing strategies for major motion pictures and directed the brand management process for key property franchises at Universal Studios. She has extensive experience in advertising, having managed the Entertainment Division of Young & Rubicam Los Angeles and the brand identity of several blue-chip clients at Y&R New York. She has an MBA in marketing and international business from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s from Tulane University, Newcomb College.
Todd A Erlandson, AIA LEED AP, Architect Partner
Prior to establishing (M)Arch., Erlandson worked in a variety of architectural positions for Richard Meier and Associates on the Getty Center, and the Wolfgang Puck Food Company, developing concept restaurants. He has a master of architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_ARC) and a bachelor of architecture from Tulane University. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and is licensed in both California and New York.
For more information visit: SAAP or call 277-5885.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico's El Centro de la Raza hosts Albuquerque's scariest Haunted Basement Oct. 24-31 at Mesa Vista Hall. All proceeds benefit the United Way, Ida Romero Memorial Scholarship Fund.
UNM's Haunted Basement follows the labyrinth of hallways beneath Mesa Vista Hall, featuring scenes from horror movies, local legends and nightmares. The Haunted Basement is open Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7-11 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 30, 7-11 p.m., and Friday, Oct. 31, noon-3 p.m. and 6 p.m.-midnight.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and under. Discount admission is available on Friday, Oct. 31, noon-3 p.m. for $3 per person. All students, faculty, staff and Albuquerque community are welcome.
The scholarship was created in memory of Ida Romero, a mother and UNM student who died from terminal cancer. To commemorate Romero's work in the community, El Centro de la Raza hosts an annual Haunted Basement to raise money for the scholarship fund.
For more information, contact Julianne Flores at 277-5020.
Andrew Schuler, assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, has been awarded the 8th Annual Paul L. Busch Award from the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) for his research on the biological processes in wastewater treatment.
Photo: Andrew Schuler, assistant professor, Civil Engineering
The WERF Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research has awarded Schuler $100,000 to make use of recent advancements in materials sciences for the improvement of growth systems that are submerged in solutions.
The focus of Schuler’s research includes enhanced biological phosphorus removal, activated sludge sedimentation, and the matrix of living material in a liquid-solid state called biofilms.
Schuler is also a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is active in undergraduate education, including advisement of student environmental groups and Engineers Without Borders.
The presentation ceremony took place in Chicago, Ill., at the annual subscriber luncheon held each year at the WERF Technical Exhibition and Conference. For more details please look at www.werf.org.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Spanish at the University of Houston, has been selected to receive the Critica Nueva award by University Libraries. The award program and presentation is set for Friday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. in the Willard Reading Room of Zimmerman Library. As part of the event, Kanellos presents, “Re-Constructing the Literature of Hispanic Immigration.”
The Critica Nueva Award was established in 1997 by Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya to acknowledge outstanding Chicano/Chicana scholars and bring them to UNM to present their works. The selection committee chose Kanellos because, in addition to fomenting the work of Chicano/a writers over the years by establishing Arte Público Press and publishing their work, he also established the Revista Chicano-Riqueña, a journal in which he published both creative work and critical/analytical pieces.
Kanellos has supported the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Recovery Project by writing grants to preserve Spanish language newspapers, out of print books and books that have never been published. Kanellos has been a central force in the resurgence of Chicano/a literature and in the preservation of this heritage for more than thirty years. He is also a distinguished scholar, having authored and/or edited more than 27 books and written more than 75 book chapters and articles.
For more information, contact Patricia Campbell at (505) 277-1010 or pcamp@unm.edu.
Nationally acclaimed author and long-time UNM faculty member Tony Hillerman died in Albuquerque on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 83 years of age.
Photo: Tony Hillerman joined the UNM journalism faculty in 1965 after receiving his M.A. He taught until 1987, serving as department chair from 1966-74.
Early Years
Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, Okla. on May 27, 1925. His early education was at St. Mary’s Academy, a boarding school for Native American girls at Sacred Heart. He was one of several farm boys enrolled there. Sacred Heart was near a Benedictine mission to the Citizen Band Potowatomie Tribe. For high school, he was bused to Konawa High School. He graduated in 1942.
In 1943, he joined the U. S. Army, serving in combat in World War II. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Purple Heart after being wounded in 1945. His injuries included broken legs, foot, ankle, facial burns and temporary blindness. He was discharged in 1945. After the war, he attended the University of Oklahoma, receiving a B. A. in 1948.
He worked as a newspaper reporter in Texas and Oklahoma until he became UPI’s Santa Fe Bureau Manager in 1952. In 1954 he joined the staff of the New Mexican as a political reporter and later became an editor.
Hillerman the Professor
In 1963, he came to graduate school in English at the University of New Mexico. He was an assistant to University President Thomas Popejoy at the same time. He joined the UNM journalism faculty in 1965 after receiving his M.A. He taught until 1987, serving as department chair from 1966-74.
Taking a leave from teaching, he served as assistant to President William “Bud” Davis, 1975-77. During that period he worked to establish Faculty Senate and helped Davis sort out Lobogate, an athletic department scandal.
Hillerman the Author
Hillerman is widely known for his work as a novelist, particularly for his best-selling Navajo detective series of books. Four of them have been made into movies—The Dark Wind, Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits and A Thief of Time.
He is past president of the Mystery Writers of America and has received their Edgar and Grand Master writing awards. Among other honors, he received the Center for the American Indian’s Ambassador Award, the Silver Spur Award for the best novel set in the West, and the Navajo Tribe’s Special Friend Award. He received an honorary doctorate from the UNM Regents in 1990.
His memoirs, published in 2001, won the Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction.
UNM President David Schmidly said, “Tony Hillerman taught at UNM for several decades, leaving a lasting impression on generations of student authors and student journalists. He has enriched this university and this state for all time.”
Hillerman as Colleague, Author
David Dunaway, professor of English and author of the award-winning book and radio series “Writing the Southwest,” said, “Hillerman has introduced America to our region in a way that respects its ancient roots and cultures. New Mexico is going to be just a little bit dimmer for his passing. He was a friend, colleague, and my inspiration when I wrote ‘Writing the Southwest.’” The 2003 edition, published by UNM Press, includes an interview from him, Dunaway added.
“He was always open and forthcoming as he has been for so many young writers. He had a habit of caring for the underdog and those writers ready to make a sacrifice for their craft,” Dunaway said.
“Hillerman was there when I suggested a program in professional writing at UNM. He was beloved by his students who took great inspiration from his writing habits and his powerful characterization and sense of place,” Dunaway said. He added that he would like to see a graduate fellowship in writing established in Hillerman’s name in both the Department of English and Communication & Journalism.
Dunaway said that Hillerman once told him that to understand New Mexico one has to understand the Colorado Plateau and the people who have lived here for so many years. “He said that what made New Mexico distinct was how small the built environment is compared to the vast spDavid Brookshire around it. His gift to the nation was the respect that he offered and encouraged us to share for the tribal communities that make New Mexico distinct and great.”
Hillerman as Mentor
Frank D. Martinez, former UNM director of Public Affairs, now Communication and Marketing, was a student of Hillerman’s.
“When I was a student, Hillerman was chair of the journalism department. I had several classes with him. He was an inspiring professor, genuine, down to earth and related well with everyone. He knew his subject matter and was as effective as anyone in the classroom. There was no one more qualified to teach writing at any level. He was also a master editor,” Martinez recalled.
He added that Hillerman helped him get a job at the Santa Fe New Mexican when he graduated from college in 1970. “I owe him a debt of gratitude for going the extra mile for me, something he did for other people, as well,” Martinez said.
Memorial Service
A funeral mass for Tony Hillerman is set for Friday, Oct. 31, at 10:30 a.m., at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Claremont and Vermont Streets NE, with a vigil service on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., also at the church. Private interment will take place at Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, NM.
Memorial contributions may be made to Catholic Charities, 6001 Marble NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110; Saint Bonaventure Indian Mission and School, P.O. Box 610, Thoreau, NM 87323-0610; or the charity of one’s choice.
Photo: Courtesy of UNM Archives, University Libraries
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Projects ranging from designing surgical innovations to developing tomorrow’s Internet will be demonstrated at the UNM School of Engineering Open House on Saturday, Nov. 8. The open House will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the new Centennial Engineering Center on the UNM main campus. High school students interested in engineering, computer science and construction management are invited along with their families, guidance counselors and teachers.
Visitors will be able to see the latest technologically advanced labs, hear about the school’s top-ranked programs and meet internationally recognized faculty. Each of the five academic departments will show creative solutions to global challenges and UNM students will be on hand to discuss their projects and research.
There will also be presentations on financial aid, scholarships, student support programs and admissions. Refreshments will be served.
For more information, go to the UNM School of Engineering web site www.soe,unm.edu
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627;kwent2@unm.edu
Faculty, staff and students interested in nanoscience are invited to an informal open house at the Faculty Club on Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. The gathering is hosted by the Nanoscience and Microsystems (NSMS) degree program and the Integrated Graduate Education Research and Training (IGERT) program. The open house is a way to bring people together who are interested in learning more about Nanoscience and Microsystems at UNM in an informal atmosphere.
Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Heather Armstrong at 277-6824.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; kwent2@unm.edu
Faculty members at the UNM Anderson School of Management will present, "Positioning Yourself for a Strategic Competitive Advantage,” at the next New Mexico American Marketing Association breakfast roundtable Thursday, Oct. 30. The roundtable will be held from 7:30 to 9:45 a.m. at Goodwill Industries of NM located at 5000 San Mateo Blvd.
UNM Professor Catherine Roster will speak on competitive market research, Professor John Benavidez will speak on market positioning, while Professor George Sanzero will discuss competitive analysis and product development.
At each roundtable, speakers will give a 15 minute presentation, discuss concepts, give examples, and share tools. Questions and consultations will follow. Participants will receive a diploma from NMAMA at the conclusion of the roundtable sessions. Participants are invited to tour Goodwill Industries of NM following the event.
Admission is free for members and students, and $20 for non-members. For more information or to RSVP call (505) 459-9554 or e-mail: RSVP@nmama.org. Interested attendees are encouraged to RSVP by Monday, Oct. 27.
The main campus Institutional Review Board (IRB) and its support office, the Human Research Protections Office (HRPO), have issued a new web site using the new UNM format. The web site now links through the HRPO and not the OVPRED.
In an effort to facilitate the IRB application process, the HRPO has improved many of the forms and investigators are encouraged to start using them immediately.
Additional information available on the new website includes, Tip of the Month for researchers involved in Human Research, Frequently Asked Questions (including an interactive program), and FWA information at your fingertips.
To review the new web site and download the new materials and application forms, visit: Institutional Review Board.
UPDATED INFORMATION as of Oct. 24, 11:50 a.m.
Street and lot closures to begin at 3 p.m.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will come to Johnson Field on the University of New Mexico campus for a political rally this Saturday evening, Oct. 25. The venue will open at 7 p.m. A very large crowd is expected.
Because of the anticipated crowds and security for the event, movement on the eastern half of campus will be severely limited beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday. Students, faculty and staff planning to be on campus that day will need to know the following logistical information and should make appropriate plans.
Street Closures
Redondo South east of Yale and Central, Redondo East, and Campus Blvd./Las Lomas west to Yale and Las Lomas will be closed to traffic at 3 p.m. Saturday and will not reopen until following the conclusion of the event. Redondo Court which leads to A lot, the tennis courts and Seidler Natatorium will also be closed.
There will be limited access at Yale and Las Lomas for previously scheduled special events on campus. The Lomas parking structure will still be available for students and hospital staff who normally park there, though two relatively brief closures are anticipated during the evening.
Parking Lot and Building Closures
At 3 p.m. Saturday, the following parking lots will close: both A lots (along Central and next to Student Services); D lots (at La Posada, at Laguna/De Vargas, and next to ITS (CIRT)). E lot at Central and Girard will have restricted access after 3 p.m. – vehicles will be able to exit but will not be allowed back in.
Students parking in the D lots who need access to their vehicles will have to move them before 3 p.m. There will be some parking available in the R lots east of Coronado and Redondo Village. Please note that any vehicle in any of the closed lots at 3 p.m. will have to stay there until the lots reopen at midnight.
Johnson Center will close at 3 p.m. The Student Health Center will be closed as usual.
Pedestrian and Dorm Access
Johnson Field and lower Johnson Field will close at 3 p.m.
There will be normal pedestrian access in all areas of campus except in the following areas: the north, south and west sides of Coronado and Redondo Village will be closed to access and pedestrian traffic, as will the north, south and east sides of Johnson Center and the east side of Mesa Vista.
Students with west-facing dorm rooms in both Coronado and Redondo Village will be asked to keep their windows closed.
Access to the Rally and Popejoy Events
For the NMSO Pops concert Saturday, Oct. 25, all patrons are encouraged to park in the G Lot. Free shuttles will operate normally for NMSO patrons only. All shuttles are wheelchair accessible.
For any patron with disabilities, the Cornell Parking Structure will be open to those displaying an appropriate state placard.
Those entering either the G Lot or the parking structure must show tickets for the event. Those parking in the structure will be required to enter campus at Yale and Central.
The Obama campaign suggests parking for the rally in the T, M and Q lots and at University Stadium. There will be no shuttles for this event. For a map of available parking visit: Obama campaign rally parking.
Media Contact: For more information about parking questions call 277-1989. For questions on the campaign, contact the Obama campaign office at (505) 435-0723 or Obama Campaign.
University of New Mexico students Chad Harris and Jose Holguin, School of Architecture and Planning, received Merit Citation awards for their project [future]scaping, a project undertaken in Kristina Yu’s design studio. This is the first time UNM student work has garnered recognition in this international competition.
Administered by New Buildings Institute and sponsored by Southern California Edison, California Energy Commission, Pacific Gas & Electric and Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the competition challenges students to incorporate principles of energy efficiency and sustainability as a basic standard of building design.
Leading Edge allows students and instructors to explore the use of new building materials and strategies and the aesthetics and technology of high-performance architecture in a practical, real world setting.
Students entering Challenge 1 (3rd-, 4th-year and graduate level students) designed an Environment and History Center serving dual roles of research and education about the environment and history of the local area, including reuse of an existing historic barn on the property. Challenge 2 students (1st- and 2nd-year) designed a three unit townhouse-style residence for student equestrians with horses on site. Successful entries satisfied environmental concerns of the area while addressing advanced energy efficiency and sustainable building issues. Harris and Holguin competed as Challenge 2 students.
Yu said that Holguin and Harris’ project stands out for their ability to smartly and creatively construct a spatial organization that they learn in class with technical and passive means of implementing sustainable strategies.
“They were able to try multiple ideas and test them spatially against the known concepts of reducing energy use and eliminating the need for excess in general. Their scheme was a series of linkages of site planning ideas as well,” she said.
Harris said that he found it easier to work collaboratively because he and Holguin both had strong and sometimes very different ideas that they were able to merge into a whole, making the project stronger.
The experience taught him more than teamwork. “I learned how to combine and simplify all the building systems into one integrated concept as well as developing a stronger/more fluid process for efficiently solving any design problem,” he said.
“The entries displayed serious conceptual thought, considerable graphic effort and elegant synthesis of technology and design,” said Design Judge Alison Kwok, of the University of Oregon. “We were impressed by the integrated approach, particularly the ones which tested, retested and validated their ideas using simulation programs, simple guidelines and tools that are critical to conceptual development and schematic design.”
“This was a unique competition that met the needs of the course where private and public discourse in the architectural realm could be studied in the schemes of student housing while also clearly studying the relationship of sustainable design strategies not only from a technical and planning perspectives but also how these practices inform a social understanding for sustainability.
"It is always an interesting moment for a student to place his or her work in the broader context, in a national or international arena. This form of competition creates a healthy awareness for one’s place in the dialogue of architecture beyond the confines, spirit of the local,” Yu said.
Complete judges’ comments and photos of all winning entries can be viewed at: Leading Edge Competition.
The Leading Edge Student Design Competition will again offer an opportunity for architecture students to demonstrate their skills in the areas of sustainable and energy efficient design during the 2009-10 school year.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
One of the hottest rDavid Brookshire in this year’s election season is also one of the most unlikely rDavid Brookshire to generate a great deal of press. The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s rDavid Brookshire is the focus of this week’s episode of “New Mexico in Focus,” KNME-TV, channel 5’s prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people that are shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. “New Mexico in Focus” airs on Friday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. and repeats on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 a.m.
“New Mexico in Focus” looks at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and gives them context beyond the "news of the moment." The one-hour show brings viewers important topics, opinions and insight, in an integrated and cohesive package.
The Bernalillo County race for District Attorney has turned into one of the most hotly contested rDavid Brookshire in New Mexico, with charges of low conviction rates, or high conviction rates, going back and forth between the candidates. This week co-host David Alire Garcia, managing editor for the New Mexico Independent, sits down with incumbent Keri Brandenberg (Dem.) and challenger Lisa Torraco (Rep.) for a spirited discussion.
Then Alire Garcia will also talk with the three candidates running for election in Congressional District 3, a huge district that streteches from Gallup to Farmington, and from Raton to Portales. Joining Alire Garcia are democratic candidate Ben Ray Lujan, republican candidate Dan East, and independent candidate Carol Miller.
Next co-host Gene Grant, a columnist with the Albuquerque Journal will sit down with regular panelists Margaret Montoya, from the University of New Mexico School of Law and School of Medicine and Albuquerque Journal columnist , and moderator for NewMexicoLiberty.com Jim Scarantino and guest panelists Marco Gonzales, an attorney with the Modrell Sperling Law Firm, and Dave Maass with the Santa Fe Reporter, examine both rDavid Brookshire from their perspectives.
Producers of ‘New Mexico In Focus’ are Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer. Closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
KNME-TV, Albuquerque’s public television station, recently won three Rocky Mountain Regional Emmy Awards. KNME-TV won awards in the following categories including: Environment - Program/Special; Photographer - Program (Non-News); and New Media - Photographer.
Environment – Program/Special
“The Sandias”
Producer: Michael Kamins
Photographer – Program (Non-News)
“The Sandias”
Photographer: Michael Kamins
New Media – Photographer
“Antoine Predock: Earth Meets Sky”
Photographer: John Britt
Each year chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences across the country recognize excellence in their communities. The Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter has done this through the Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards. In the spring of each year, broadcasters submit their best work from the year before to be considered for the award. These entries are then sent to another chapter for judging.
The Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards is not a competition in the traditional sense. Entries do not compete against each other. Rather, each is judged individually on its own merit against a standard of excellence.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
UNM School of Engineering alumnus Joseph Romero received the first Linton F. Brooks Medal for Public Service announced the National Nuclear Security Administration recently. Romero is a general engineer at NNSA’s Service Center in Albuquerque. A formal award ceremony was held in September.
Photo: UNM Alumnus Joseph Romero
“Joe contributed greatly to developing and implementing new business system models in support of NNSA’s nuclear nonproliferation programs,” said NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino. “His drive and commitment to our important national security work is an excellent example of Ambassador Brooks’s work ethic and dedication to public service.”
Romero’s many accomplishments have included developing an improved process for approving and implementing changes to NNSA’s Second Line of Defense contracts and implementing a management and tracking tool, which ensures that critical contracting actions for NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative are addressed in a timely manner. His work has helped NNSA, and American taxpayers, save money.
He began his career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service in March 2004 before joining NNSA in January 2006. He has a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico and served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Romero lives with his wife, Teresa, and their two children, in Peralta, N.M.
The Linton F. Brooks Medal for Public Service was established to recognize those employees whose actions and deeds serve to exemplify the spirit of public service commitment and achievement manifested during the leadership tenure of NNSA’s past administrator, Ambassador Linton F. Brooks. It was his dedication, vision and grasp of NNSA’s unique national security mission that successfully guided NNSA during five years of organizational and mission transformation. Recipients of the award must have less than five years of federal and professional experience.
Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.
Visit: National Nuclear Security Administration for more information.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
UNM Health Sciences Center Pediatrician Renee Ornelas is a recipient of the 39th Annual Governor’s New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award (NMDPSA). Ornelas will be the guest of honor at the NMDPSA banquet this Nov. 6 at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque due to her dedication to public service and betterment of New Mexico.
Ornelas joined UNM’s Department of Pediatrics in 1989, and in 1994 established the Para Los Ninos Clinic to improve care for child victims of sexual abuse. Her dedication to young New Mexicans includes vital work with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, while teaching and mentoring high school students, undergraduate students, medical students and medical residents.
“I am so honored with this recognition, but I get my reward every day serving the kids and families I see in my clinic,” Ornelas offers. “I am regularly amazed at their spirit and strength, and that's where my motivation and sense of fulfillment come from.”
The primary objective of the NMDPSA Award is to recognize outstanding contributions to public service and the improvement of government at all levels by both government employees and private citizens. Individuals are nominated by their employees or by private citizens who have knowledge of their exceptional contribution.
Award nominations are reviewed for qualifications by screening committees of the NMDPSA Council and a selection committee. Since the inception of NMDPSA in 1979, 417 New Mexico citizens have been recognized.
“I want to offer my congratulations to Dr. Ornelas on her distinguished recognition for her contribution to public service,” says University of New Mexico Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Paul Roth, M.D. “Every day, Dr. Ornelas goes above and beyond the call of duty with her patients and their families, and with her colleagues. This award is truly a reflection of her dedication and hard work.”
For more information visit: UNM Health Sciences Center.
Communications Network Services has announced the availability of Blackberry Enterprise Servers to Groupwise users whose e-mail addresses end in @unm.edu or @salud.unm.edu. Blackberry Enterprise Service offers real-time synchronization of e-mail, calendar and contacts, enabling users to continue correspondence and scheduling while away from their desks.
Additionally, the BES makes it possible to lock, and if necessary wipe, lost devices, ensuring that confidential information remains confidential.
To inquire about BES service, whether the device was obtained through ITS-CNS or not, please contact CNS Customer Care at 277-1111 or via FastInfo.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
ITS Communication Network Services (CNS) will replace the existing voicemail system that serves UNM Main Campus, the University hospitals, the Health Science Center, the Research Park and Valencia Campus. The new voicemail system will go “live” Nov. 29, during the Thanksgiving holiday break. Voicemail access will continue normally until that day.
Voicemail users will need to set up voicemail boxes on the new system prior to Nov. 29. For the initial new set up, a different access number will be required; however, once the new system is “live”, users will still be able to access their messages using 7-9997, or 277-9997 when calling from an outside telephone system. The access code and instructions for setting up a new voicemail box will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.
Voicemail prompts and other features will change with the new system implementation, which will bring overall improvement for voicemail users on and off campus. Training sessions for users, who can then train other users in their department, will be offered through Learning Central between November 10 - 21. User guides and a link to an online Voicemail Coach will also be available before the training sessions start.
Contact the ITS Communication Network Services Support Center at 277-1111 for more information.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
The UNM Bookstore features the grand opening of their new technology store on Monday, Oct. 27 at 1:30 p.m. at the Bookstore, located at 2301 Central NE, at the corner of Cornell and Central.
UNM President David Schmidly, David Harris, executive vice president for administration, and Steve Beffort, vice president of institutional support, will be on hand for the ribbon cutting.
Register to win a MacBook on Monday morning; the winner will be announced after the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The UNM Bookstore hosts a week-long grand opening celebration for the technology store, Oct. 27 – 31. The public is invited to come in and talk with Apple and Dell representatives, and check out the latest in iPods, iPod accessories and all things computer-related. Come in and test-drive an Apple or Dell computer at the in-store computer demo area. The store will offer the latest in Apple computers, iPods and iPod accessories, along with a large selection of electronics, computer accessories and software.
Technology Store Promotion – Receive a FREE printer with the purchase of a Mac computer. Enter to win iPods, electronics, and great computer accessories all week long.
Name Your Store Contest – UNM Students can submit ideas for a name for the Technology Store, with entries accepted between Oct 27 and Nov 7. Those submitting ideas will be entered to win a MacBook computer.
UNM Bookstore store hours are Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit: UNM Bookstore.
For more information, contact Anicia Esposito, marketing manager, 277-9752 or e-mail aespo@unm.edu.
A proposal to improve student success and on-time degree completion was discussed at the meeting of the Academic, Student Affairs and Research Committee of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents. Terry Babbitt, associate vice president of enrollment management, presented a proposed new admissions process which would at once maximize access, raise standards and give every student a personal path to succeed.
UNM regents stressed this is a work in progress and one that has been and will continue to be discussed among many constituencies before a decision to implement or not is made.
Under this plan, no first time freshman student would be denied admission to UNM. Students would be admitted one of two ways. Those that meet a minimum 2.5 weighted grade point average with required units would be admitted to UNM’s main campus. Those that do not meet those requirements would be admitted to UNM through branch campuses, Central New Mexico Community College or other state community colleges for their first 24 credit hours. After completion of those hours, students would transition to main campus.
“We want our students to be successful, so we want to place them in a classroom where they have the maximum chance to succeed,” UNM President David Schmidly said.
Academic intensity in high school has been shown to improve degree completion rates more than any other factor, Babbitt said. Therefore, the proposed plan includes components that encourage prospective students to take on a more rigorous curriculum at the high school level. Additional weight would be given to advanced coursework, including dual enrollment, advanced placement and honors. Also, the required number of college preparatory units would be increased over several years from 13 to 16 units. Studies show a six percent increase in retention between students with 13 and 16 preparatory units.
In crafting these plans, feedback was sought from current and prospective students, parents, families, faculty, school districts, tribal leadership, community organizations and state government. Regents want these discussions to continue and be expanded.
A separate presentation explored options for modifying UNM’s tuition pricing structure. One potential option is to offer guaranteed tuition, with students paying a higher tuition on entering college in order to lock in a set tuition rate for five years. In addition to making costs more predictable, the plan would give students an added incentive to complete degrees on time.
Feedback regarding this proposal is encouraged and can be sent via email to tellus@unm.edu.
UNM’s first Family Weekend Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1-2, is free and open to current students and their families. Early this year, UNM students chose the theme: “Go Lobos! Go Green!” A UNM committee of volunteer parents, staff and students organized events designed to connect families in enjoyable, informative ways.
On Saturday, the weekend kicks off with an "E-Waste and Roadrunner Foodbank Collection" in the E parking lot. "Green" Study Abroad and National Student Exchange opportunities and investing and spending wisely are among the morning's information sessions. Saturday's luncheon speaker is University College Interim Dean Finnie Coleman who will speak about the value of mentors. Youth ages 5-12 will engage in physical activities at Johnson Center and a Dia de los Muertos celebration at Maxwell Museum.
Tours of the new engineering complex will be offered, the Parent Association will hold its first general membership meeting, and residence hall and international students will engage families in a traditional game of Loteria, a Mexican fair tradition, at student housing.
In the early evening, author John Nichols presents a talk "To Sustain or Not to Sustain: That is the Question," at Zimmerman Library followed by a booksigning and reception. Nichols, a longtime resident of Northern New Mexico, is the author of a number of books, including the “Milagro Beanfield War.” The film adaptation of the book will be screened at the SUB at noon and 2 p.m.
Families are also invited to the UNM President's annual tailgate prior to the UNM v. Utah game at University Stadium. Kick-off is at 7:30 p.m. Football tickets are available to parents and family members at a special rate of $10.
On Sunday, Bruce Milne, Sustainability Studies Director, will speak about the green collar economy at a family breakfast prior to the Lobo Grower's Market on the SUB Cornell Mall.
Sponsors for UNM's Family Weekend include: Parent Relations, Parent Association, ENLACE, Sustainability Studies, President’s Office, Extended University, University Secretary, University Libraries, Dean of Students, Women’s Resource Center and the College Enrichment Program.
Events are free, but registration is required. Visit Family Weekend or call 277-5915.
Researchers help solve the energy challenge with smart buildings and a smarter grid
The numbers at the gas pump keep rising, demand for oil is skyrocketing, and political unrest around the world is destabilizing oil supplies. While America relies on fossil fuels to satisfy 85 percent of its primary energy demand, there is mounting concern about global warming. Looking through that lens and considering the impact of fossil fuels on the economy, the environment, and national security, our nation’s energy situation looks dire.
Even with solar power fields and wind farms sprouting around the country, there is no single resource —– no “silver bullet”—– that can replace the volume of energy produced by fossil fuels. And when you consider that demand for electricity is expected to increase by 40 percent in the next 20 years, the picture becomes even more challenging.
So what’s the solution? One UNM researcher says a big part of the answer is simple: Get smart. Through his research, Andrea Mammoli, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is discovering smart new conservation techniques, more efficient ways to utilize renewable energy sources, and wise approaches for using every energy source.
Old System, New Potential
Mammoli’s original focus was optimizing the energy production and conservation potential of one of UNM’s most unique buildings. When the Mechanical Engineering building opened in 1980, it was a model for energy conservation and solar power technology. Its unique internal heating and cooling system and
rooftop solar panels reduced the building’s energy use to just one-third of that used by other buildings. But, as energy prices dropped in the ’80s and ’90s, the system fell into disrepair.
With prices skyrocketing again and concern about global warming on the rise, Mammoli and Peter Vorobieff, associate professor of mechanical engineering, decided to refurbish the system, with the help of Physical Plant Department engineers Hans Barsun and Robert Notary and students Mario Ortiz, Will
Brenneman, Anthony Menicucci, and Dan Fisher. “We’re trying to study performance as well as economics,” explains Mammoli. “We want to save energy and see how economical it is to produce these energy savings.”
The new solar array is a hybrid of 124 square meters of unused 30-year old solar panels and 108 square meters of state-of-the-art vacuum tube collectors. The team also renovated and simplified the building’s internal system to include an absorption chiller, thermal storage tanks, and supplementary heat exchangers that help the solar system to heat and cool the building. The team added a digital controller that automatically adjusts system parameters such as flow rates, fan operation, and building temperature as demand for power changes throughout the day. That flexibility conserves energy and makes the
building an excellent teaching tool. Eventually students will use the system for real life demonstrations of computer-generated energy consumption models and programs.
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department provided a grant of approximately $200,000 to fund the building’s solar system renovation. Mary Vosevich, director of UNM’s Physical Plant Department, helped coordinate an additional $490,000 in funding from the UNM Building Renewal
and Replacement funds to renovate the building’s air handling system and to assist with extensive reconfiguration of the original thermal storage system. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity provided a further $42,000 to install instrumentation and control equipment. Dave Menicucci and his group at Sandia National Laboratories provided design input based on their 30 years experience in solar thermal systems.
The new system is expected to reduce the peak electric power demand by approximately 50 percent by shifting the cooling load to the solar chiller and to night-time charging of the thermal storage tanks. It will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 100 tons annually. Mammoli says that while the system shows what can be achieved with existing technology, a single building won’t impact the grid substantially.
Multiplying the Power
What will make a big difference is linking large groups of buildings like the ME building and enabling them to communicate with the power grid. Such a “smart grid” is a system that combines technology and intelligent distribution sources to enhance the entire system’s ability to use renewable resources like wind and solar power. “I believe a smart grid is a key enabling component in the solution to the energy problem,” says Mammoli.
Here’s just one example of how the system would work: With a smart grid in place and more electric cars on the road, owners could recharge their cars at special parking lot charging stations. The power company would signal the cars to charge only when inexpensive, clean renewable resources like wind power were available. “The cars would create this huge storage capacity for intermittent renewables that we didn’t have before,” explains Mammoli. That’s just the start. Homes, buildings, and entire city blocks would also be part of the smart grid.
UNM’s campus will lead the way. In 2006 while Mammoli was concentrating on refurbishing the ME building, Jack McGowan was searching for a smart grid demonstration site. McGowan is president of Energy Control, Inc., an Albuquerque-based energy service company and system integrator that applies intelligent building systems for comfort and security. He is also chair of the U.S. Department of Energy GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC), a team of industry leaders shaping the development of an intelligent, interactive electric system.
Story by Megan Fleming
Photo: Eric Swanson
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The very popular HSC drive-through flu shot clinic will be open on Saturday, Oct. 25, and Saturday, Nov. 1. It will be located in the Family Practice Clinic parking lot at 2400 Tucker N.E., across the street from UNM School of Law. The drive-through clinic will administer flu shots free to everyone and will be open on both days from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. These clinics will immunize persons nine years of age and older.
The HSC walk-in flu shot clinic is currently open and is located on the east end of the first floor connector between the Pavilion and the old hospital, near the Eye Clinic and the Information Desk at the top of the ramp. The walk-in flu shot clinic will operate through Nov. 21. There will be directional signs to guide you. The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This clinic will immunize persons age six months and older.
Flu vaccine will be available for patients, students, employees, and volunteers throughout the inpatient hospital and clinic systems for the entire influenza season through March 2009.
If you are an established clinic patient, please get your flu shot vaccine from your regular clinic. If this message does not answer your questions, please call your regular primary care clinic for further information.
The UNM Anderson School of Management is reaching out to potential MBA students living on the Westside. Anderson is now offering an affordable, flexible, and convenient MBA Core Program for Westside residents. The program will offer the 10 required core MBA classes over five semesters at UNM West in Rio Rancho. Students then can complete one of Anderson's 10 specialized concentrations on main campus in Albuquerque. The Westside courses will be taught by Anderson's talented main campus faculty.
The first two core classes will be offered in spring 2009 and applications for the MBA Core Program are now being accepted. The classes will meet one evening per week from 5:30 - 8 p.m. for 16 weeks. The first two classes beginning the week of January 19, 2009 will be: MGMT 501 Statistical Analysis for Management on Tuesday evenings and MGMT 506 Organizational Behavior and Diversity on Thursday evenings.
Two classes will be offered at UNM West each semester for five semesters, two classes per semester is the typical MBA class load for working professionals. Students may accelerate their program by taking additional Core or Concentration classes on the UNM main campus.
There are two ways for new students to register. They can apply for Spring 2009 admission to the Anderson MBA Program at http://mba.mgt.unm.edu/admissions/application.asp or they can apply for non-degree status and register for the two classes in the spring and apply for Fall 2009 admission to the Anderson MBA Program. For more information visit: Anderson MBA Program.
The Anderson Westside classes will be held at 2600 American Road SE, Suite 250-A in Rio Rancho.
The deadline to nominate individuals for a University of New Mexico honorary degree has been extended to Friday, Oct. 31. Nominations should be submitted to the Office of the university Secretary.
Honorary degrees are awarded to persons who have contributed significantly to the cultural or scientific development of the Southwest, or to the spiritual or material welfare of its people. Eminent individuals and scholars who have made significant contributions transcending geographic limitations are also eligible. A successful nominee must have an exemplary record of academic or public accomplishment in keeping with the university’s standards of rigor, quality and significance.
Nominators must submit a cover letter detailing the reasons for the nomination. Submissions should also include the nominee’s biographical information, record of accomplishment and supporting letters. Send all materials to the Office of the University Secretary, Scholes Hall, room 103.
The Honorary Degree Committee is a subcommittee of the Faculty Senate Graduate Committee. Degrees are awarded at spring commencement. For more information, including a list of past recipients, visit Honorary Degrees.
John Petronis, a two-time alum from the University of New Mexico, was recently named the School of Architecture and Planning’s 2008 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, an award presented annually to a graduate of the school who has distinguished him or herself through professional work and community service.
Photo: John Petronis, left, receives the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Roger Schluntz, dean, UNM School of Architecture and Planning.
Petronis earned a master’s of architecture degree in 1976 and an MBA in 1986.
Immediately upon graduating with his master’s in architecture degree, Petronis opened the first architectural programming office in New Mexico. The small firm, Architectural Research Consultants, was devoted to helping clients make better informed decisions about what to build.
The firm has grown and succeeded through its commitment to provide clients with tools they can use to understand their needs and communicate effectively with their communities. ARC has successfully completed and implemented hundreds of projects. ARC now has 28 employees and practices throughout the United States, but mostly in New Mexico.
Edie Cherry, who nominated Petronis for the award, wrote, “ARC, under John’s leadership for over 30 years, has provided planning and programming expertise to communities and school districts that have made these plDavid Brookshire and institutions better plDavid Brookshire to live and learn. The services have provided expertise that helps make equity achievable in a society where equity is often elusive.”
Edie Cherry was a professor when Petronis started graduated school, teaching the programming course that set him on his career path. “She has served on the ARC board of directors since the firm was established,” he said.
Petronis was a VISTA volunteer and worked in the school’s Design and Planning Assistance Center. Programming work he did for a cultural food preparation center for Cochiti Pueblo was not only important in directing him professionally, but also appeared in a book by one of his professors, Wolf Preiser. Another DPAC project he worked on, for a family health center in the South Valley, appeared in a book published by the American Institute of Architects. Another faculty member, Mort Hoppenfeld, who later served as dean, gave Petronis an introduction to the state and “real projects,” he said.
Roger Schluntz, dean, School of Architecture and Planning, said that Petronis’ clients include school districts statewide as well as some in California and Nevada. His higher education clients include UNM, UNM-Valencia, NMSU, NMSU-Grants, St. John’s College, Crownpoint Institute of Technology and Tohono O’odham Community College. “ARC engaged in critical initial programming work for UNM for the school’s new facility, circa 1997-99,” Schluntz said.
ARC has worked with many clients for 10 years or more. Petronis has been under contract to provide professional programming and planning services to Sandia National Labs for more than 20 years, the Albuquerque Public School district for the past 20 years, UNM for the past 30 years, New Mexico State University for the past 16 years, and to the State of New Mexico Capitol Buildings Planning Commission for the last 10 years.
Petronis said receiving the award was an “unexpected pleasure,” and noted that his wife Beth, who died several years ago from cancer, would have been proud.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
UNM scientists play lead role
A team of scientists, led by astronomers from the University of New Mexico and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), have detected long wavelength radio emission from a colliding, massive galaxy cluster which, surprisingly, is not detected at the shorter wavelengths typically seen in these objects.
Photo: Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound systems in the Universe. Their collisions are the most energetic events since the Big Bang.
The discovery implies that existing radio telescopes have missed a large population of these colliding objects. It also provides an important confirmation of the theoretical prediction that colliding galaxy clusters accelerate electrons and other particles to very high energies through the process of turbulent waves. The team revealed their findings in the latest edition of Nature.
This new population of objects is most easily detected at long wavelengths says UNM Professor and Scientific Director of the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) Greg Taylor.
"This result is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Taylor. “When an emerging suite of much more powerful low frequency telescopes, including the LWA in New Mexico, turn their views to the cosmos, the sky will 'light up' with hundreds or even thousands of colliding galaxy clusters."
NRL has played a key role in promoting the development of this generation of new instruments and is currently involved with the development of the LWA with a host of other entities.
"Our discovery of a previously hidden class of low frequency cluster-radio sources is particularly important since the study of galaxy clusters was a primary motivation for development of the LWA," said NRL radio astronomer and LWA Project Scientist Namir Kassim.
The discovery of the emission in the galaxy cluster Abell 521 (or A521 for short) was made using the Giant Metrewave Radiotelescope (GMRT) in India, and its long wavelength nature was confirmed by the National Science Foundation's (NRAO) Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico. The featured image shows the radio emission at a wavelength of 125cm in red superimposed on a blue image made from data taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The X-ray emission comes from hot thermal gas, a well-known signpost of massive galaxy clusters. Furthermore, its elongated shape indicates that the cluster has undergone a recent violent collision or "merger event" in which another group or cluster of galaxies was swallowed up by the gravitational potential of the main cluster.
Interferometrics Inc. and NRL Scientist Tracy Clarke, who is also the LWA System Scientist, notes "In addition to teaching us about the nature of Dark Matter, merging clusters are also important in studies of the mysterious nature of Dark Energy. Understanding these two strange components of the Universe will help us understand its ultimate destiny."
In the radio image there is a strong, oblong source of emission located on the lower left periphery of the X-ray gas detected by Chandra; this is a separate source. In the center of the cluster, within the region indicated by a dashed circle, there is radio emission, which changes significantly with wavelength.
At the longest wavelength (125 cm, shown) it is clearly detected, but at a wavelength of 49 cm it is much fainter, and it is almost entirely gone at 21 cm wavelength. This multi-wavelength picture of the diffuse emission is in good agreement with theoretical predictions for particle acceleration by turbulent waves generated by a violent collision.
In a broader astrophysical context, galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound systems in the Universe and their collisions are the most energetic events since the Big Bang.
Says team leader Gianfranco Brunetti (Instituto di Radioastronomia, Bologna, Italy), "The A521 system provides evidence that turbulence acts as a source of particle acceleration in an environment that is unique in the Universe due to its large spatial and temporal scales, and due to the low density and high temperature of the gas."
For more information visit: Long Wavelength Array.
Research Team
The research team includes scientists from Instituto di Radioastronomia, the University of Bologna, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and the Naval Research Laboratory. Basic research in radio astronomy at the Naval Research Laboratory is supported by 6.1 base funding. The NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
The Giant Metrewave Radiotelescope
The GMRT is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The LWA, funding for which is provided by the Office of Naval Research, is led by the University of New Mexico, and includes NRL, The Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, Virginia Tech, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of Iowa, with contributions and cooperation from NRAO.
Media Contacts: UNM, Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu or NRL, Donna McKinney, (202) 767-2541; e-mail: donna.mckinney@nrl.navy.mil
Why are some women unable to stick to weight loss goals? That’s the question Julia Austin, graduate assistant and doctoral candidate in the University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, is trying to answer.
“I am trying to find out what is interfering with the ability of women to actually complete a weight loss program,” Austin said.
Austin is studying the socio-cultural and environmental barriers to participation in a weight loss program among a sample of Mexican American women ages 18 to 65. Participants must be healthy enough to make lifestyle changes and be able to complete the program in English.
“I think I am doing research that there definitely is a need for,” she said. “We have health disparities [in the United States] and we know that there is not equal health among different groups of people in this country.”
“I am focusing on this group because there are higher rates of women struggling with their weight within the Mexican American community,” Austin said. They have “twice the rates of diabetes compared to non-Hispanic white women and a lot of other health problems.”
“I think it is such a pressing issue,” she said. “If you look at the rates of diabetes, it is just so high…. A Mexican American woman who has Type 2 diabetes will lose about 10 years of her lifespan and that is very frightening.”
With the help of the New Heart Center, Austin tests several factors for why treatment adherence is not equal among different ethnic groups in the country. “We are looking at both the cultural factors and possibly environmental factors that might get in people’s way when they are trying to make changes,” she said.
Austin said that factors such as food security, access to transportation and child care, being able to walk in one’s neighborhood, family size, body image and depression play a big role in whether a woman will stick with a weight loss program.
“We know that there are effective programs out there, in terms of having a healthier lifestyle, but for whatever reason there are ethnic differences in how much people adhere to these programs,” she said.
Focusing on women with a body mass index, or BMI, of 25-40, Austin has evaluated 100 participants thus far, each participating in a 16 week group-based weight loss program, in which adherence is measured by completion of treatment goals. At the end of each program, participants give Austin feedback about the program’s benefits and drawbacks.
“I hope to find out what are the factors that interfere with treatment and potential ways that we could tailor future programs, so we can make the programs either more culturally appropriate or overcome some of these barriers,” she said.
Interested participants should contact Austin at, (866) 202-9897. The call is toll free.
Story by Jazmen Bradford
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
An opening reception for Friends of Jonathan Abrams art exhibit will be held Oct. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the UNM Hospital Fifth Floor Art Gallery to celebrate the retirement of Dr. Jonathan Abrams. The exhibit, which features more than 25 artists, will run through Nov. 21, 2008 and is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A well known Albuquerque art collector and founder of the art collection at the UNM Health Sciences Center, Abrams is retiring from the University of New Mexico after 38 years.
For more information contact Chris Fenton, 272-9700 or via e-mail at, cfenton@salud.unm.edu
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at UNM Fall 2008 Lecture Series features Daniel Stokols, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, presenting, “Assessing the Value of Transdisciplinary Research: The Science of Team Science,” Thursday, Oct. 23 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Student Union Building Santa Ana rooms A & B.
Photo: Daniel Stokols
Stokols is chancellor’s professor of Planning, Policy, and Design, Psychology and Social Behavior, and dean emeritus of the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also professor of public health and epidemiology in the College of Health Sciences at UCI. His recent research examines contextual factors that influence the success of transdisciplinary research and training programs.
The program objectives are to provide a broad overview of the science of team science.
To give examples of logic models that has been used to guide prior evaluations of team science initiatives and to discuss in terms of their distinctive emphases and concerns; to provide a summary of multiple metrics and methodologies that have been used in prior studies of cross-disciplinary research and training programs; and to provide information on the challenges inherent in efforts to translate and disseminate team science knowledge into practical applications.
The University of New Mexico School of Medicine Office of Continuing Medical Education offers physician and nursing credit for this program.
For more information contact the RWJF Center at 277-0130 or e-mail, rwjf@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Democracy and expressions of patriotism take many forms in “We the People…,” an exhibition co-curated by Michele Penhall and Sara Otto-Diniz. Drawn from the UNM Art Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition celebrates Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the election of a president and vice president every four years. In recognition of the current political season, these works are offered as inspiration of citizens’ rights and responsibilities.
Iconic works in the exhibition include 19th century images of a young Abraham Lincoln, the statesman Frederick Douglass, civil war soldiers and freed slaves. Photographs by Diane Arbus and Lee Friedlander highlight the 1960s, and a digital portrait of an anonymous female soldier by UNM alumnus Joseph Moguel brings viewers into the 21st century.
In the exhibition guide, the curators explain that, “Photography opens a window into history and invites us to reflect on our past. This most democratic of art forms expressed and continues to frame the hopes and dreams of the common man much as the authors of our constitution penned their own hopes and dreams for democracy.”
The exhibition continues through Sunday, Dec. 21. The UNM Art Museum, located in the Center for the Arts, is open Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday, 5-8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. and during most Popejoy Hall events. Admission is free.
For more information visit: UNM Art Museum or call (505) 277-4001.
Photos
(Top) Unknown artist, (after Mathew Brady) Untitled, 1860 (bust of Abraham Lincoln; a copy of the second Cooper Union portrait made at the New York studio of Mathew Brady), February 27, 1860. Ambrotype. Purchased with funds from University of New Mexico Foundation, Inc. XO.297.2.137
(Bottom) Unknown artist, Frederick Douglass, Negro Abolitionist, Author and Orator, c.1856. Ambrotype. Purchased with funds from University of New Mexico Foundation, Inc. XO.297.2.138
As an environmental historian, University of New Mexico Associate Professor of History Sam Truett traveled to the borderlands recently to look at nature. He discovered people – and the unintended consequences of their interactions with the land and its other inhabitants.
Photo: Sam Truett, associate professor, history; Sarah Grossman, Ph.D. candidate in history, and Erik Loomis, then-Ph.D. candidate in history at UNM, now visiting assistant professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, conduct field work.
“When we looked at the migratory patterns of animals we discovered that humans followed the same courses,” Truett said. Human and non-human spDavid Brookshire intersect, but often tell different stories, he said. “We looked at the grass and saw animal paths leading in multiple directions. But human paths tend to point north,” he said.
Truett’s work began in May 2007 with a group of 16 graduate students and professors from UNM, NMSU, University of Arizona and ASU. With seed money from these institutions, they spent eight days on the border. Their success encouraged them to share what they learned, so they sought and recently received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to host a summer institute where teachers from four-year and community colleges can get into the field and bring lessons back to the classroom.
“One goal is to take humanists to the border to learn about environmental history in dialogue with land managers and scientists,” Truett said. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the work, their 2007 group included historians, geographers, anthropologists, resource managers and a photographer.
Wildlife at the Turner Ranches
The group visited Ted Turner’s ranches in southern New Mexico. Coincidentally, the ranches’ wildlife biologist is Truett’s father, Joe Truett, who has worked for the Turner Endangered Species Fund since the late 1990s. He travels regularly between the Armendaris and the Ladder Ranches, both located near Truth or Consequences.
Turner uses his ranches not only to raise bison, including one of the last groups of pure-bred bison, but also to restore plant and animal species.
“’Restoration’ has different meanings for different people, but many imagine a ‘pre-human’ time, before people changed things,” Sam Truett said. At the Armendaris they learned about how grasslands respond to removal of livestock, and they saw efforts to reintroduce the Aplomado Falcon. “We learned that falcon populations declined when livestock declined and prairie dogs were eradicated,” Truett said. “We don’t know what caused what, but it raises intriguing questions. Should we restore these animals, too? What’s natural, what’s desirable, and why?”
Another species introduced at the Armendaris Ranch is the Bolson Tortoise. From the Bolsón de Mapimí, in northern Mexico. “Experts feared that the tortoises would be killed off in Mexico, so they brought a few north to Arizona in the 1970s. These and their offspring were relocated to the Armendaris a few years ago. Although their current home lies hundreds of miles to the south, they ranged north into this region during the late Pleistocene,” Truett said.
Truett said that in addition to watching the falcons and tortoises adapt to human efforts to set the clock back, they saw elk coming down from their historic range in higher elevations to graze in alfalfa fields on the Ladder Ranch. “It made us ask, ‘What kind of environment do we want, and how do we restore it in a world that has become profoundly humanized? Why do we favor certain landscapes and species over others and what does this say about us?” he said.
Prairie Dogs Vilified
Truett said that in the early twentieth century, after the wolf and grizzly declined as threats to livestock in the Southwest, the U.S. Government stepped up efforts to eradicate the black-tailed prairie dog because it invaded crop fields and competed with cattle for grass. Prairie dogs were eradicated on the Armendaris and Ladder ranches by mid-century, but in the 1990s, they were reintroduced.
“This raises new dilemmas,” Truett said. “Some see the prairie dog as an animal weed that has no place in a healthy landscape.” Look at a prairie dog colony, and you will see a heavily grazed space.
Prairie dogs trim vegetation to see predators, but biologists have found that they can’t keep up with the quickly-growing grass by themselves. They need large herbivores or people to help by grazing, burning, or mowing the grass. “They had a symbiotic relationship with grazers like cattle, so their range was tied to the same ranching landscapes that people felt they threatened,” Truett said.
There were other surprises as well. “Prairie dogs maintain lips at the entries to their burrows that keep the rainwater from flooding them. When they were eradicated, these animal engineering systems fell apart, and tunnels filled with water and collapsed. This led to gullying, which lowers the water table and degrades the range for livestock. “People killed prairie dogs in favor of cattle, but this had unintended consequences,” Truett said.
“Rewilding” with the Human Equation
So, the group returned to the question about restoration of land. They wondered how long it would take for the landscape to return to its “natural” state. “Some told us it would take thousands of years, and in other plDavid Brookshire, we saw people trying to achieve results in their lifetime. Either way, you can’t pull people out of the equation,” Truett said. Especially in the borderlands.
They visited ranches on both sides of the border. On the Mexican side, at Rancho los Fresnos, Naturalia and the Nature Conservancy are trying to “rewild” the land while acknowledging the human factor. The Mexicans see repairing fences that migrants have cut as an unavoidable fact of life. Ranchers on both sides have to pick up trash left by border crossers.
“On the Mexican side, we saw a backpack on one of the migrant trails stuffed with trash and left at the side of the path. It was as if the migrant didn’t want to be disrespectful to the rancher, but also could not carry the load across the desert,” Truett said. “You see on the Mexican side ‘a live and let live’ attitude, even though these landowners face the same traffic problems that U.S. ranchers do.”
Ranchers on the U.S. side of the border can create conservation easements, a non-taxed land area if they don’t run cattle on it. But such areas also are impacted by the human factor. The U.S. ranchers they met often turned the conversation from nature to people, describing a climate of fear that cuts multiple ways. “One showed us the border fence, lying flat on the ground.
Then he showed us his new fence, built by the Minutemen. He said that Mexicans believe that if they cut a Minuteman’s fence, vigilantes kill them,” Truett said. Below the ranch, the border patrol drags the road running along the border so they can see the tracks of migrants. On this road the group saw the sun-baked carcass of a bobcat, struck by a vehicle as it was crossing the border.
The animosity the U.S. ranchers feel toward the undocumented border crossers is not extended to their Mexican ranching counterparts. “Both groups disdain the federal governments on both sides of the border. Both see government as meddlesome and yet ignorant of life and livelihood on the border,” Truett said.
On the last day, Truett and his group encountered a group of immigrants lost in the desert. They asked for food, water, and a phone call to the Migra. After days of hard travel, miles from the nearest paved road, they chose to return to Mexico.
“Our own journey ended unexpectedly as well,” Truett said. “We came to the borderlands looking for nature, and we found ourselves thinking about people instead.”
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The UNM Staff Environs Committee is collecting change to plant trees on the UNM main campus. The committee works with the campus landscape architect, Sue Mortier. Landscaping is frequently the part of capital outlay contracts most vulnerable to being trimmed when construction projects run over budget. That means landscaping projects can be much smaller than originally planned and must be done on an extremely tight budget.”
Students, staff and faculty can contribute to landscape projects by putting spare change into any of the change jars located at food vending stations in the Student Union Building. There are also change jars in Athletics and at the Welcome Center. It costs about $350 to pay for purchasing and planting a tree and putting in the irrigation system to support it properly.
The committee now has money to plant its first tree and is working with the landscape architect to find a suitable place.
The Environs Committee also plans to sponsor an electronic waste recycling event during Parent’s Weekend on Nov. 1. Anyone who would like to get rid of old computers or electronic items (except for televisions) can bring them to the “A” lot on Saturday morning, Nov. 1.
If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Linda McCormick at lindamcc@unm.edu or Karen Wentworth at kwent2@unm.edu
The UNM Parking and Transportation Services recently added four buses to its transportation fleet. Two are already in operation, with two more expected to arrive any day. The two newest buses are funded by the state legislature, which allocated money after the Associated Students of UNM Lobby Committee lobbied for them at the State Legislature through the UNM Office of Government and Community Relations.
“We heard the need from students,” said ASUNM President Ashley Fate. “It made sense that it would be an initiative we would take on.”
The new buses are critical to providing needed access to UNM – the core mission of the PATS department.
“It is exciting to be able to partner with the students on campus to help meet their parking and transportation needs,” Cynthia Martin, PATS program planning manager, said. “We want to give a big shout out to Ashley Fate and all the ASUNM student lobbyists who helped convince the State to fund new buses. I’m not sure we could have done it without their valuable efforts. The new buses enable us to provide the best service we can for our 2.7 million rides a year transportation operation.”
Using biodiesel fuel, the new vehicles average 6 to 12 miles-per-gallon, an unimpressive figure, until the single-shift and stop-start nature of shuttle operations is considered.
“Biodiesel was an obvious choice,” Alexander Aller, PATS transportation manager, said. “Right now, 100 percent of our large shuttles are alternatively fueled with either biodiesel or CNG. Although we have a small fleet, we are pleased to contribute to efforts that reduce carbon emissions, dependence on foreign oil, and the pace of global warming.”
The reception to the new vehicles has been favorable. All four buses are 49-passenger Thomas Built ‘Safe-T-Liners’ painted with the distinctive UNM design.
“The new buses have pretty much blended in seamlessly with the rest of the fleet,” Aller said.
PATS’ ongoing drive for sustainability drove the selection of the new buses because biodiesel engines are cleaner than their predecessors.
“We could have continued maintaining our existing fleet, but older vehicles are far less reliable and more expensive to operate and maintain. Plus, the publicized overall environmental footprint associated with biodiesel is notably smaller than fossil fuel,” Aller said.
As part of PATS’ long-term strategy, which includes acquisition, use, preventative care and maintenance of cleaner transportation technologies, the new buses are expected to serve the UNM community for the next 10 to 15 years.
“Operating safely, efficiently, and effectively with minimal energy usage is at the top of our agenda,” Aller said.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Department of Parking and Transportation Services announced an art competition to design the latest transport innovation, the Veggie Bus - a PATS shuttle, mechanically modified to run on refuse vegetable oil, solely recovered from campus kitchens.
PATS Program Planning Manager Cynthia Martin is enthusiastic about this project. “We love it. We definitely want to shout about it and that’s why we’re holding an open, across-campus competition to design the outside of it,” she said.
The working guidelines for the competition are relatively unrestrictive, although designs on the themes of sustainability; environmental-friendliness and the prestige of UNM are considered appropriate. The PATS logo should also be incorporated.
The logo and bus outline templates (for guidance) can be downloaded from the PATS web site: Veggie Bus competition.
The winning design will be transformed into a ‘wrap’ that will go around the bus, and will last for the life of the vehicle.
“In effect, the winner will create a unique, mobile, 3D art exhibit that will be used daily by hundreds and seen by thousands. It will make a very impressive addition to someone's portfolio,” Martin said.
The Veggie Bus initiative, in conjunction with the Sustainability Studies Program, demonstrates the feasibility of a completely self-sufficient, on-campus transportation resource. With a relatively cost-free fuel supply it will be independent of rising conventional fuel costs, while at the same time providing an optimum collection and disposal service of material that until now was considered waste.
“This will be a flagship project to highlight the use of a campus resource in a completely proactive way. The use of waste vegetable oil in this application demonstrates UNM’s commitment to long-term sustainability,” Martin said. “We think that the appearance of the Veggie Bus on and around campus will be a very positive image sending out the message that by thinking differently about our common resources, we can come up with solid, effective, sustainable solutions.”
The closing date for entries is Nov. 15.
For more information visit: Parking & Transportation Services or contact Brian Kilburn at bkilburn@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
The Right Honorable Dame Sian Elias, the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, presents the Ramo Lecture on International Law and Justice at the University of New Mexico School of Law Forum on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. One general continuing legal education credit is available to members of the State Bar of New Mexico.
Elias' address, “First Peoples and Human Rights, a South Seas Perspective,” will explore, through the framework of human rights, why addressing indigenous claims and interests continues to challenge legal systems in which first peoples are a minority. The Chief Justice will compare contemporary issues faced by New Zealand's native Maori people with those faced by the first peoples of the U.S., Canada, Australia and the Pacific.
A native of England, Dame Elias earned her LLB with honors at Auckland University, as well as a master's in law at Stanford Law School. Elias practiced in both the private and public sector, until her appointment to the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1995. Elias was `named Chief Justice in 1999 with a goal to support a judiciary that was both rigorous and open, holding to what was best in its tradition.
Elias remains true to her platform of responding to her community, its values, history and its diverse cultures. She is renowned for her representation and defense of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people in treaty claims and litigation concerning fisheries, land transfers, elections and other matters. Elias was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988, a prestigious honor in Commonwealth countries.
The Ramo Lecture on International Law and Justice was established by Dr. Barry Ramo and Roberta Cooper Ramo in 2004. Taking place every other year, the purpose of the lecture is to bring distinguished speakers to UNM to enrich the intellectual life of the entire campus and community, with a special emphasis on students.
Free parking is available in the "L" Lot. For more information visit: Ramo Lecture or call Claire Conrad, UNM School of Law, 505-277-0080, conrad@law.unm.edu>/a>.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1812; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
Three things are required to create an explosion: fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. The next edition of KNME-TV’s “Science Café” takes a look at explosions and what makes them work. “Science Café” will be held at the New Mexico Tech in Socorro on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m.
Guests will watch a segment from the NOVA episode “Kaboom!” and after the show, New Mexico Tech’s Vice President for Research and Economic Development Dr. Van D. Romero will hold a discussion about the show. After the discussion, a fireworks display will be shown.
Six or more times per year, KNME-TV hosts “Science Café” at various locations in New Mexico. Guests are shown clips from an episode of NOVA’s scienceNow, or another science program, and an expert on that topic answers questions and hold a discussion with the audience in a café style atmosphere.
Admission is free, and dinner is provided, but a reservation is required. People interested in attending “Science Café” are encouraged to RSVP with Rose Poston at 277-2396 or rposton@knme.org. Seats are limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
For updates on KNME-TV’s “Science Café,” and local and national science, nature and technology programs, please visit KNME-TV’s online community web portal at Science Café. For more information on “Science Café” please call Ed Ulman at 277-8296.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
On Friday, Oct. 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the University of New Mexico School of Law is holding a teach-in to address the ongoing United States financial. The event will be held at the UNM School of Law Forum.
“What Caused the Financial Crisis” features several panels of scholars from the university and the Albuquerque community who will discuss the fallout of the economic crisis, the recent Wall Street bailout by U.S. Congress, the politics behind the crisis, the sub-prime housing market, new regulations, the future of the financial markets and New Mexico’s role in the current economic crisis.
Professors from the UNM School of Law, the UNM departments of Economics, Sociology, and Communication & Journalism will join a representative from the Attorney General’s office to discuss these problems.
The teach-in is open to the public. For more information call 277-2146.
Las Cantantes, the University of New Mexico’s only all-female choir, is releasing a new holiday music CD on an international label in late October. “My Dancing Day: Music for Christmas” highlights the music of Las Cantantes with harp, oboe, marimba, hammered dulcimer and a cappella. The choir is directed by Dr. Maxine Thévenot.
The title piece, “My Dancing Day,” was written by English composer John Rutter for harp and treble choir. The CD features several premiere recordings for the Christmas season and includes pieces by New Mexican composers, UNM Professor Bradley Ellingboe and Frederick Frahm.
Ellingboe founded Las Cantantes in 1994. During his tenure as director, the choir toured Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Their holiday special, “Enchantment at Chimayo,” recorded with Ellingboe and the UNM Chamber Orchestra, has been played on NPR stations across the country.
Due to the success of “My Dancing Day: Music for Christmas,” the 21-member choir has been invited to tour prestigious venues in New York City in May, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Church on lower Broadway, the historic Cathedral of the Incarnation and Church of the Heavenly Rest. The group needs to raise approximately $8,500 for the trip. To make a tax-deductible donation to Las Cantantes, e-mail Thévenot at thevenot@unm.edu.
“My Dancing Day: Music for Christmas” will be available locally at concerts, the UNM Bookstore and the Department of Music. Funds from local sales will contribute to the choir’s NYC tour. The CD will also be available online at Raven.
The CDs will be sold at Las Cantantes’ next concert at UNM on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Keller Hall, Center for the Arts. The CDs will also be available at Las Cantantes’ Christmas performances on Monday, Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m. at Keller Hall and Friday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church, 10,000 Spain Blvd. NE. Admission to the concerts at Keller Hall is $7 general, $5 faculty and seniors or $3 students and staff. Admission to the concert at Faith Lutheran Church is $10.
For additional upcoming concert dates visit" Student Ensembles.
Las Cantantes will host a fun fair to raise funds for their NYC tour on Saturday, Dec. 13. The fair will feature live music, chair massages, demonstrations by cache candle and Mary Kay representatives, baked goodies and other pampering activities. CDs will be available. The event is by invitation only. Invitations can be requested by e-mail to thevenot@unm.edu.
Nothing makes more sense than preventing illness before it happens. Yet, lack of time, knowledge and convenience can keep us from getting recommended screenings and other preventive care. To break down some of these barriers, UNM’s Division of Human Resources has partnered with Lovelace and Presbyterian health plans to offer the Preventive Health Week to faculty, staff and their adult dependents.
Prevention is the key to reducing the risk of prevalent diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Once developed, these diseases cannot be cured – at best, they can only be managed.
Nov. 10-14 specialized screenings, programs and presentations will be offered. Regular exams and screenings can save lives by helping to find problems early, when the chances for treatment and cure are better.
During Preventive Health Week, participants will learn about their health with a few simple numbers. “When you know what the numbers indicate, you can set better goals toward a healthy lifestyle,” said Mary Jo Quintana, program manager for the Employee Health Promotion Program.
Activities during the week will include flu shots, mammograms, fasting cholesterol (full lipid panel) and glucose screenings, body fat composition measurements, Body Mass Index measurements, waist circumference measurements, blood pressure checks, osteoporosis (heel scans) screenings, “Getting the Most Out of Your UNM Healthcare” presentation, and “Maintain, Don’t Gain” holiday weight management program registration.
Educational follow-up group sessions will be scheduled at the Lobo Business Center to help participants understand their results. Individual consultations with Shelley Rael, EHPP senior clinical nutritionist, will also be available. These screenings should not be a replacement for regular doctor visits, but they may indicate a concern to discuss in greater detail with a health care professional.
For more information and a complete schedule, visit hr.unm.edu and click EHPP or call 272-4460.
As national chief of the Order of the Arrow – the Boy Scouts national honor society – Jake Wellman spent the summer leading thousands of scouts in a national forest cleanup. Now in his first semester at UNM, he’s spending part of his time attending White House events on volunteerism and briefing CEOs of companies like AT&T and Exxon-Mobil.
The scout’s largest since World War II, the service project was conducted at five U.S. national forest sites across the country. Joining with the Forest Service, 5,000 scouts dedicated 250,000 hours of service, a value of $5 million.
“I have seen the lessons volunteering teaches young men like me and the community it builds,” said Wellman, a scout of 12 years. “That’s why it is still such a large part of my life and a driving factor in what I put my time and talents toward accomplishing.”
Academics and service are passions that Wellman said his parents instilled in him.
“I approach every class and subject as a new potential for personal growth and a chance for me to pick up something new and improve myself,” Wellman said. “My parents were a big influence on my love for learning. Since before preschool, they worked with me to develop a love for reading and learning.”
Wellman, a regents’ scholar, majors in political science. Following in his father’s footsteps, Wellman said he has been interested in politics since the 2000 election. Working for a law firm gave him an appreciation for the framework of the constitution.
“I grew up with a yearning for politics. I’m now building on a passion of mine,” he said.
He chose UNM for the opportunities offered, like study abroad or the study on capital hill program.
Once he graduates, Wellman wants to try law school or go into the Peace Corps.
Wellman graduated from Cibola High School in May 2008. He was the class president, editor-in-chief of the newspaper and an officer in the YMCA mock legislature state program.
Story by Christopher Elliott
Inundated by news of a national bailout plan and the threat of economic instability, students and faculty gathered recently to hear “The Financial Meltdown: A Roundtable Discussion,” organized by the International Studies Institute.
The panel, including Donald Coes, professor of economics; Scott Findley, assistant professor of economics; Matias Fontenla, assistant professor of economics; Allen Parkman, regents professor emeritus, Anderson School of Management; Jason Smith, assistant professor of history; and Christine Sauer, ISI director, explored the relevance of the bailout for the average American.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, generally known as the bailout, allows the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase devalued mortgage-backed securities from financial institutions that own and are unable to sell such assets. As highly leveraged homeowners began to default on their unaffordable mortgages, banks and other financial institutions around the world lost billions from holding securities backed by mortgages.
The panelists contended that the overextension of the American financial system and the encouragement of banks to make risky, unregulated loans in the form of subprime mortgages may have initiated the financial crisis.
Fontenla said the banking crisis is the consequence of excessive credit growth and lack of regulation of the financial system.
“These things are not new; people start getting greedy, not using assets for what they are supposed to. The prices get overinflated and the bubble bursts,” Fontenla said.
“People didn’t understand the risk and foreign investors didn’t know they were buying mortgage packages,” Parkman said.
Smith compared governmental economic intervention now to that during the Great Depression. He said it took an entire presidential term, hundreds of bank closures and countless jobs lost before American ideologies shifted away from a collective self-help approach toward partial government intervention in the economy.
“If the Great Depression has anything to teach us, it is that doing nothing is not an option,” he said.
Although the panelists agreed on the devastating consequences of doing nothing, some said the bailout may not prove to be the rescue that investors and homeowners are waiting for.
“It is likely the bailout won’t avert recession; [it may] just prevent the credit market from seizing up,” Findley said.
Story by Jazmen Bradford
Ruth Trinidad Galván will receive a Faculty Acknowledgement Award on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. in the Willard Reading Room in Zimmerman Library at UNM. Galván is an assistant professor for the Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education.
Photo: Ruth Trinidad Galvan
As part of the award ceremony, Galván will present, “Insights in the Migration Stream of Ecuadoran Women and the Husbands Who Stay Behind.” Galván teaches courses on feminist epistemologies, Latino identity, anthropology and education, and qualitative research in education. She earned a doctorate in Education, Culture and Society from the University of Utah in 2003.
A former bilingual elementary school teacher in California, she came to education through participation in non-profit organizations and as an adult ESL teacher in East Los Angeles. Her dissertation focused on the knowledge, experience and education of rural Mexican women affected by their husbands’ migration to the United States.
Galván is a Fulbright scholar and associate editor of the” Journal of Latinos and Education.” She is currently co-editing the “Handbook of Latinos and Education.”
The event is free and the public is welcome. This is the 15th year University Libraries has sponsored the Faculty Acknowledgement Award Program to recognize the contributions of faculty to the academic community.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The Native Pathways Lecture Series features presentations on Indian Health Care Wednesday, Oct. 22, at noon in the Herzstein Room in Zimmerman Library at UNM. A panel discussion begins at 3 p.m. in the Willard Room. Health systems consultant Ken Reid presents, “Current Problems and Solutions in Accessing Indian Health Care.”
Dr. Ronald Reid, director of the Department of Health, Office of American Indian Health presents, “Indian Health: The Past, Present, and the Future." Ronald Reid’s presentation looks at where Indian Health has been, where it is now, and what culture and spirituality suggest for the future.
Both the brown bag discussion and the panel presentation are free and the public is welcome.
The Native Pathways Lecture Series is sponsored by the Indigenous Nations Library Program at University Libraries.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
After a national search, Nancy Ridenour has been appointed to serve as dean at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing announced Dr. Paul Roth, UNM executive vice president for Health Sciences. Ridenour joins UNM after serving as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C. She replDavid Brookshire Dr. Karen Carlson who has served as interim dean since March 2007.
Photo: Nancy Ridenour, dean, College of Nursing
As a congressional staff member with the House Ways and Means Committee, Ridenour focused on health policy issues and applied expert support on healthcare policy to help impact federal policy.
From 1999-2007, Ridenour was dean at the Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University. She has also served as an assistant professor at the University of Colorado and held positions of assistant professor, professor and associate dean at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Ridenour received her bachelor of science in nursing at University of Colorado in 1974. After achieving a bachelor degree, Ridenour continued her academic career at Colorado and earned a master of science in nursing, an Adult Nurse Practitioner certificate, and became a certified Family Nurse Clinician by 1978. In 1987, she received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at Texas Tech University.
Ridenour’s nursing career has focused on health policy and improving primary healthcare for underserved populations. She has an extensive background in international health issues and has consulted on primary care and public health issues in South America, Asia, India and the Middle East.
“I have no doubt Dr. Ridenour will take the UNM College of Nursing to new heights as dean,” said Roth. “Her focus on nursing research, health policy and healthcare for underserved populations is a perfect match for our College of Nursing. The Health Sciences Center will also benefit greatly from this new addition to leadership. We look forward to working with her to continue to provide quality nursing education at UNM.”
Media Contact: Lauren Cruse, (505) 272-3690; e-mail: lcruse@salud.unm.edu
The UNM School of Architecture and Planning presents a porphyry seminar and hands-on workshop Wednesday, Oct. 22 from 9:30 a.m. to noon on the north side of Pearl Hall under the overhang. Italian stone setters Ettorie Fagoni and Carlos Gamba, brought in by Miles Chaffee, president and owner of Milestone, Inc., craftsmen at the art of laying the stone will demonstrate traditional patterns and the art of stone setting.
Photo: Master stone setters Luis Dominguez and Ettorie Fagoni demonstrate the art of porphyry stone work at the School of Architecture and Planning.
Alf Simon, director, landscape architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, said, “The demonstration gives students and faculty the opportunity to see the potential of the material, how it differs from standard paving materials and how it can be used as a design element.”
The Italian stone setters’ visit coincides with the American Institute of Architect’s Western Mountain Regional Conference, Simon said. In addition to UNM students and faculty, members of the local chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects have been invited.
Chaffee serves on the fundraising committee for the School of Architecture and Planning’s landscape architecture program and saw the demonstration as a way to bring attention to the school in part because “Ettorie Fagoni is a natural instructor,” he said.
Both functional and decorative, porphyry suits a variety of different environments.
“Romans discovered a quarry in Egypt in the early years of the first century. It is such an important stone they sent it back to Rome for use in art, sculpture and paving,” Chaffee said, adding that roads in Paris have 600 year old porphyry.
It is specified by architects and town-planners for cottages and country houses, modern and refined homes, or for public and hospitality projects. Porphyry’s technical advantages remain unequalled, and it has become one of the world’s most sought-after materials.
Chaffee said that porphyry can be mined easier than other granites because of its fissured nature.
“It can be mined by separating the thicknesses and can be scored and broken like glass,” he said.Chaffee notes that porphyry is one of the original sustainable materials. “Porphyry roads have been dug up and replaced because of the stone’s durability,” he said, making it a good product to use in New Mexico.
In addition to Chaffee, other participants include Rob Kean, Milestone, Inc. general manager, and Louis Dominguez, Santa Fe master installer.“Hosting this event showcases use of a historic material installed by a European master using classic, timeless designs with participation from landscape architecture and architecture students. The discussion also links historic sustainable materials and designs with today’s LEEDS requirements and green building initiatives using permeable pavers in modern architecture,” Simon said.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Paul Andrew Hutton, Distinguished Professor in the history department has received the Award of Merit from the Western History Association. The award is given to an individual in recognition of outstanding service to the field of western history and to the Western History Association.
Hutton served as the Executive Director for the Western History Association for sixteen years before becoming Executive Director of the Western Writers of America in 2007.
The Award of Merit will be presented at the WHA meeting in Salt Lake City, Oct. 24.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Saturday, Nov. 15, University of New Mexico Press holds its second annual public auction of nearly 200 Navajo rugs as a fundraiser to support publication of books by or about Native Americans. The auction will be held in the Prairie Star Restaurant at the Santa Ana Golf Club at 288 Prairie Star Road, just north of U.S. 550 in Bernalillo. The auction will be conducted by R. B. Burnham Native Auctions. A preview of rugs available for bidding will occur from 1 – 3 p.m. with the auction starting at 3:30 p.m.
This year, the press aims to raise $100,000 from the rug sale.
“If you enjoyed last year’s rug auction, or if you missed it, you are really going to love this year’s event,” said Luther Wilson, UNM Press director. “The venue is comfortable and spacious, and there will be a large collection of contemporary rugs from some of the best Navajo weavers.”
Ninety percent of the sale price for auctioned rugs will go to the weavers. “You are sure to find a rug you will want to buy – several, we hope – and you will support both the weaver and UNM Press’s books on Native America," Wilson said.
The rug auction is part of a series of outreach events by the Friends of the Press to raise funds for its $5 million Endowment Campaign launched in May 2007. Monies collected at other fundraising events go toward an endowment to allow UNM Press to publish high quality children’s books and fine art and photography books, to defray increasing production costs, to perpetuate the press’s commitment to high editorial standards, and to help maintain its independence in a world of publisher consolidation.
To learn more and how to contribute to the UNM Press Endowment Campaign visit: UNM Press Endowment Campaign or call Christina Frain at (505) 272-7183.
For more information about R. B. Burnham Native Auctions visit R. B. Burnham Trading.
UNM Press was established in 1929 by the UNM Board of Regents. The Press is a highly respected publisher in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, Latin American studies, the histories and cultures of the American West, art and photography. The press publishes an average of 85 new titles annually, has nearly 1,000 titles in print, and distributes more than 300 titles for more than 30 other local and regional publishers.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council, New Mexico Children’s Cabinet, New Mexico Health Policy Commission and University of New Mexico’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Center will host a policy briefing on maternity benefits in health plans at the Albuquerque Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 1:30 p.m.
A forum to eliminate barriers for women and their families, the briefing will present the latest information about maternity benefits and women’s health laws at the federal and state levels.
Guest speakers include Lisa Codispoti, National Women’s Law Center, Liz Stefanics, New Mexico Health Policy Commission and Mari Spaulding-Bynon, Premium Assistance for Maternity program of the New Mexico Health and Human Services Department.
Codispoti will talk about the National Women’s Law Center’s newest report on maternity benefits in individual health plans, “Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women.”
To attend complete the online registration form by Friday, Oct 17 at: Policy Briefing.
For more information, call the Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council at (505) 222-6608.
The Albuquerque Hilton is located at 1901 University Blvd. NE, between Menaul Boulevard and Indian School Road.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Sithe Global Power, LLC and the Diné Power Authority, a Navajo Nation enterprise, are proposing to construct the Desert Rock Energy Project, a coal-fired electrical power plant at the present cost estimate of $3.7 billion dollars. This week’s “New Mexico in Focus” looks at the proposed power plant and the impact it may have on the Navajo Nation. “New Mexico in Focus” airs on KNME-TV, channel 5 on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 19 at 6:30 a.m.
“New Mexico in Focus” looks at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and gives them context beyond the "news of the moment." The one-hour show brings viewers important topics, opinions and insight, in an integrated and cohesive package.
This week independent filmmaker Tony Estrada examines the issue in a segment filmed in the four-corners area of New Mexico, which already is home to two coal plants. Then, co-host David Alire Garcia, managing editor of the New Mexico Independent, sits down with both proponents and opponents of Desert Rock to discuss the pros and cons of the project, while co-host Gene Grant discusses renewable energy choices with experts in the field.
Guests this week include:
Segment One:
• Mike Eisenfeld, New Mexico Energy Coordinator, San Juan Citizens Alliance
• Lori Goodman, Treasurer, Diné CARE
• Ben Hoisington, Diné Power Authority
• Nathan Plagens, Desert Rock Energy Company/Sithe Global
Segment Two:
• Sandra Begay-Campbell, Tribal Energy Program, U.S. Department of Energy
• Ned Farquar, Energy and Climate Advocate, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Craig O’Hare, Special Asst. for Renewable Energy, NM Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Dept.
This week’s episode of “New Mexico in Focus” ties in with the national broadcast of Frontline’s episode “Heat,” which examines how businesses are responding to the impact of climate change. “Heat” can be seen on Tuesday, Oct. 21 from 9-11 p.m. on KNME-TV, channel 5.
Partial funding for the production of this program was provided by a grant from the Frontline episode “Heat.” Producers of ‘New Mexico In Focus’ are Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer. Closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
UNM's International Studies Institute presents “Global Instability: Causes, Consequences, and Cures” Monday, Oct. 20-Thursday, Oct. 23. Distinguished speakers with diverse areas of expertise will analyze global instability against the backdrop of the current financial crisis and other recent events that are contributing to a growing sense of insecurity around the world.
Economist Loretta Napoleoni will give the keynote address on “The Global Financial Crisis” on Monday, Oct. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in Student Union Building Ballroom B. Napoleoni is a senior partner of G Risk, a London-based risk agency. She is the author of “Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s New Reality,” “Terror Incorporated” and “Insurgent Iraq.” She is an expert on the financing of terrorism and advises several governments on counter-terrorism.
Additional lectures will be held at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 21-Thursday, Oct. 23 in Mitchell Hall room 122. The schedule is:
ISI is an umbrella organization for the three area studies undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, European Studies, Asian Studies (including the Middle East) and Russian Studies. ISI’s primary goal is to provide opportunities for the dissemination of knowledge about all parts of the world on the UNM campus and throughout the state.
All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information call (505) 277-3833, email isi@unm.edu or visit International Studies Institute.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Ric Richardson, professor at the School of Architecture and Planning will receive a Faculty Acknowledgement Award from University Libraries on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at noon in the Willard Reading Room of Zimmerman Library. As part of the award, Richardson will give a talk on “Mediating Land Use and Community Development Disputes: Three Myths.”
Photo: Ric Richardson
The Faculty Acknowledgement Award is given to members of the UNM Faculty in recognition of their contributions to the body of scholarly knowledge.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico School of Medicine has been named 2008 recipient of the prestigious Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The award honors member institutions that have a longstanding, major institutional commitment to addressing community needs and which have developed exceptional programs that go well beyond the traditional role of academic medicine to reach communities.
The award was renamed in 2007 to honor Spencer "Spike" Foreman, M.D., who established the award in 1993 while serving as chair of the AAMC. It will be presented Nov. 1 at the AAMC’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
“With a commitment to serving the entire state, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM) is truly on the frontier of community service, pioneering the ‘bottom-up’ approach to community outreach,” wrote AAMC officials in announcing the award. They also noted that almost all of the state's 33 counties are classified as federally designated "health professional shortage areas," which leave many New Mexicans with little access to quality health care.
The award cited several innovative programs that support UNM’s mission of serving the state's communities through direct patient care, training and exploring the relevant causes of both health and disease including the UNM HEROs program, the Health Commons initiative, and Project ECHO.
“We are honored to receive this award. Our goal has always been to be responsive to the stated needs of the community,” said Paul D. Roth, M.D., UNM executive vice president for Health Sciences, and dean of the UNM School of Medicine. “Healthy communities are a key priority for UNM and we believe the strength of our programs lies in a two-way dialogue with community members. In this way, we have been able to develop services that will be relevant to them.”
As one example, community service by students is not only encouraged, but embedded in the medical school's curriculum. First-year medical students have afternoons free for service engagement and, in the summer before their second year, students complete practical immersions, exposing them to New Mexico's neediest populations (Native Americans and undocumented immigrants).
The school hopes that students will return to practice in these communities-and statistics show that more than 50 percent of its graduates stay in New Mexico. In providing these services, UNM takes a bottom-up (instead of a "top-down") approach, allowing communities to voice their health care needs and programs to be tailored accordingly.
"We have a proven track record of successful and sustained community programs that have been achieved through the collective efforts of our faculty, staff, residents, medical students, and community partners,” said Roth.
For example, the Health Extension Rural Offices (HEROs) program seeks to improve the overall health status of medically underserved areas by reducing health disparities and addressing the underlying social determinants of disease.
Jointly run by the UNM and New Mexico State University in collaboration with the UNM Health Sciences Center, this unique approach enables HEROs' workers to focus on the health and social needs of each community and help develop a local capacity to address them. In true pioneer spirit, one volunteer explains the HEROs philosophy as the program that asks, "Why not?" rather than, "Why?"
Community input also has been critical to the success of UNM's Health Commons initiative, which models the medical home approach to patient care. Serving inner-city neighborhoods and rural counties, this safety-net program seeks to break the poverty cycle for the uninsured and underinsured. By pooling resources from its partnerships with public and private sector businesses, health care providers, local and state government agencies, elected officials, associations, and advisory boards, Health Commons has become a seamless provider of social, medical, and behavioral services.
The initiative takes an integrated, even holistic, approach to care by looking at economic and social factors of health problems (like unemployment), thus surpassing the traditional notion of primary care services. Additionally, the provision of comprehensive care services in one location reduces visit and referral wait times and also prevents duplicative procedures.
Guided by community input, the UNM now utilizes technology to reach out to patients with chronic, complex diseases in even the most remote sections of the state. Through Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), UNM enables patients in these areas to be "seen" by specialists in other parts of the state.
For example, having identified populations with high hepatitis C rates, Project ECHO now links specialists with rural health care providers in weekly teleconferences to improve access to state-of-the-art care. Specialists also provide distance learning by training rural providers in cutting-edge procedures through the weekly sessions.
The Comadre a Comadre Program, an initiative in the UNM College of Education, is a co-sponsor of the 11th Annual Breast Care Symposium and Health Fair Saturday, Oct. 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lovelace Women’s Hospital. This year’s symposium will feature educational classes focusing on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, benefits of digital mammography, significance of breast health and a physician round table discussion.
Additionally, there will also be opportunities to participate in Yoga and Salsaerobics classes. The health fair will feature vendors on nutrition, health screenings, breast cancer and health resources and much more. This event is at no cost and is open to the public.
The schedule…
8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. - Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Health Fair
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Keynote Speaker (TBA) & Educational Classes
12:30 to 2 p.m. - Survivorship Picnic
The Lovelace Women’s Hospital is located at 4701 Montgomery Blvd. NE (Montgomery and Jefferson).
The event is also sponsored by Lovelace Women’s Hospital; Baila Baila Dance Academy; Breast Cancer Resource Center, an initiative of St. Joseph Community Health; Comadre a Comadre Program, an initiative of the University of New Mexico College of Education; and Susan G. Komen for the Cure Central New Mexico Affiliate.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
A memorial and symposium to honor the life and work of Robert Walters, University of New Mexico emeritus professor of architecture, is set for Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 4 -7 p.m. in Pearl Hall Auditorium on the UNM campus.
The symposium features a panel that includes Cindy Terry, architect; Bart Prince, architect; Don Schlegel, professor and dean emeritus; Christopher Mead, dean, College of Fine Arts; and Wesley Pulkka, artist and journalist. The panel will be moderated by Associate Professor Kramer Woodard.
Following the symposium, from 5:30 – 7 p.m., a memorial reception will take place in the Pearl Hall Gallery. The reception gives friends and colleagues the opportunity to have refreshments and share memories.
For more information, contact Makita Hill.
Walters’ contributions, including the instruction of hundreds of architecture students at UNM, are extensive and profound.
Born in Indiana he was drafted into the Navy during WWII and became a frogman as an underwater demolition expert serving in the Pacific. While in a Navy V12 program he studied engineering.
Walters studied art at UNM College of Fine Art with Enrique Montenegro, Raymond Jonson and later in Mexico City with Jose Clemente Orozco. Although never formally educated as an architect, he worked for more than eight years with architects in Indiana and New Mexico and passed the licensing exam to become a registered architect in New Mexico. The day after he passed the exam he opened his office in the early 1960’s and practiced for more than 30 years. Some of his most important architectural work includes the Highlands University library, its College of Education and several dormitories.
Walters started teaching design courses at UNM in the late 60’s and was responsible for the education of several generations of architects. In 1992 he retired from the School of Architecture and Planning and enjoyed a successful career as a painter. His paintings have been exhibited at the Albuquerque Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as museums and galleries in the Southwest. In 2007 his drawings and sketches were on display at the AIA-NM Gallery.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920. E-Mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The Student Veterans of UNM are assisting the New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers and the New Mexico Project Hand up for "2nd Annual Stand-down and Project Hand-up" event on Oct. 17-18 at the New Mexico Veterans Integration Center located at 6101 Central NE. The Student Veterans of UNM are helping to coordinate and gather the names of people interested in volunteering with the event, and are conducting a clothing and food drive.
The goal of the project is to bring together programs and service providers to provide no-cost services, information and assistance to those in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The “Stand Down Project” was created to help veterans, while “Project Hand Up” is aimed at helping non-veterans.
Services will be available in the areas of substance abuse, mental health, medical health, employment, benefits, and housing. People will also be able to get a shower, a hot meal, get a hair cup and pick up much needed warm clothing before the winter sets in.
The Student Veterans of UNM are also coordinating and gathering the names of people interested in volunteering with the event, and are conducting a clothing and food drive. Donations of winter clothing, gloves, hats, toiletries, and sleeping bags are very welcome during the drive.
People interested in helping with the event or drive can contact Eric Ross at eross@unm.edu or contact the New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers at (505) 265-0512. For more information about the event, people are encouraged to visit Stand Down.
The University of New Mexico Student Union Building is one of the locations selected to host an early voting site for the 2008 General Election. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 18 and will continue through Nov. 1. Early voting will be held in the Cochiti Room on the second floor of the SUB.
The dates and times for early voting at the SUB are:
· Saturday, October 18: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
· Sunday and Monday, October 19 - 20: CLOSED
· Tuesday - Friday, October 21 - 24: Noon - 8 p.m.
· Saturday, October 25: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
· Sunday and Monday, October 26 - 27: CLOSED
· Tuesday - Friday, October 28 - 31: Noon - 8 p.m.
· Saturday, November 1: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
UNM was selected in part because of the success of the location for people interested in voting early during the recent primary election.
“When we held the primary election here the response from people inside and outside of campus made this an easy decision (to hold early voting at UNM),” said Walt Miller, associate vice president for Student Life at UNM.
Assessment form replDavid Brookshire ICES
Instructional Course and Evaluation System, or ICES has been used for the past 30 years to provide faculty student feedback. The old mainframe computer that runs ICES has been retired and along with it, the ICES software. The university has chosen IDEA, or Instructor Development and Educational Assessment, to replace ICES.
The IDEA system is one of the most popular student feedback systems in the country, and is used currently by more than 200 universities.
On the surface, IDEA seems just like ICES: students give feedback by completing a paper survey near the end of the semester in each of their courses.
Deputy Provost Richard Holder said, “Like ICES, the IDEA results will be used as part of faculty performance evaluation in most UNM departments. However, unlike ICES, which merely gave professors averages on each survey question, IDEA gives professors two additional kinds of feedback: (1) information on students' perceived learning; and (2) suggestions on teaching techniques that can increase student learning.
Wynn Goering, vice provost, Academic Affairs, said, “The delivery of useable feedback for improving teaching is a real plus of the IDEA system.”
For students, the forms allow reporting on their own learning gains and the types of instruction that they experienced. The forms are generalized, asking the same questions for all classes, meaning that some questions may not apply to all courses. That does not affect the instructor ratings because each course section has its own learning objectives determined by the instructor. Students should be able to complete the forms quickly during class time.
The Office of Support for Effective Teaching, OSET, is assisting faculty and departmental administrators make the transition from ICES to IDEA. Nick Flor, OSET Teaching and Technology Faculty Coordinator, and associate professor in the Anderson School of Management, has been holding lunchtime meetings with faculty and staff for nearly a year.
“Questions and concerns always arise when you do something new, but overall faculty members and department chairs who have attended our brown bags are looking forward to making use of the IDEA system and its emphasis on assisting faculty to adjust instruction based on student input,” Flor said.
For more information visit the IDEA website at idea.unm.edu, or send an e-mail to idea@unm.edu.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at UNM announces the 2009 competition for post doctoral fellowships. These 12-month awards carry a stipend of $51,750 plus health insurance.
Applicants should have a research agenda that demonstrates a focus on the mission visit: RWJF Center.
Minimum qualification is a doctoral degree in a relevant social science discipline, awarded by the date of application, from an institution other than UNM. Preferences will be given to applicants with degrees from the departments of economics, political science or sociology and demonstrated interest or experience in health disparity research.
For best consideration, all application materials should be received by Dec. 1. Positions will remain open until filled. For more information please contact:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy
1909 Las Lomas Rd. NE
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Tel: (505) 277-0130 Fax: (505)277-0118
E-mail: rwjf@unm.edu; web site: http://rwjf.unm.edu
The UNM Anderson School of Management is hosting a golf tournament, 'Golf 4 Grads,' on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the UNM Championship Golf Course. The Sun Country Amateur Golf Association golf tournament is designed to support the Dwight Tweed Scholarship Fund. Participants can register online at the tournament web site, www.golf4grads.com or by telephone, (505) 803-7213.
Early-bird registration (Oct. 12) is $75. Regular rates apply after for $85. If any spots are still available, on-site registration will also be held for $100. Space is limited for the tournament.
The tournament format includes an 18-hole shotgun start with two-person teams in a red, white and blue scramble. Included as part of the registration fee are is a round of golf at the UNM Championship Golf Course, one golf cart per team, bucket of practice range balls and a sleeve of tournament balls.
Since its inception in 1984 by Mr. and Mrs. Max Webb, the Dwight Teed Scholarship Fund honor's the memory of Dwight Teed. Teed served as an original Sun Country Board of Director. The fund has been distributing needed funds to worthy recipients for more than 20 years.
Currently the Scholarship Fund allocates four $1,500 scholarships to students that achieved excellence in the classroom, present themselves as excellent citizens, have a connection with the game of golf, need financial assistance and are come highly recommended by credible sources. The fund is not dependant upon golfing ability, but rather an award of excellence encouraging the student to continue his or her involvement in school and golf.
One hundred percent of the proceeds go to benefit the scholarship and any donation made to this charity event is tax-deductible.
The University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute presents a conference, "Fostering a Mentoring Culture in the 21st Century,” on Wednesday, Oct. 22 through Friday, Oct. 24, beginning at 11 a.m. in the UNM Student Union Building. The conference focuses on bringing better practices and research to higher education, while presenting professional development opportunities to researchers and professionals involved in mentoring in higher education.
Photo: Nora Dominguez, director, Mentoring Institute
The aim of the conference will be to create a collaborative environment, said Nora Domínguez, director of the Mentoring Institute. “There are 136 mentoring programs at UNM. We provide a more collaborative environment where we can share experiences and practices,” she said.
W. Brad Johnson, associate professor of psychology at the United States Naval Academy, is the keynote speaker. He has written more than 80 articles and book chapters and authored nine books in the areas of ethical behavior, mentor relationships and counseling including: “Write to the Top: How to be a Prolific Academic,” “On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty” and “The Elements of Mentoring.”
Registration fees, which include three lunches, are set at $200 for faculty, staff and professionals and $150 for full-time college and graduate students. To register, visit http://mentor.unm.edu/conference.html. For a complete schedule of events visit http://mentor.unm.edu/general_agenda.html.
Story by Jazmen Bradford
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Jeffrey Piper, UNM Professor of Trumpet and International Trumpet Guild President, will present The International Trumpet Guild Honorary Award to The Louis Armstrong House and Archives in Corona, New York Thursday, Oct. 16, at 1 p.m. Founded in 1974, The International Trumpet Guild promotes communications among trumpet players around the world, and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching and literature associated with the trumpet.
Photo: Jeffrey Piper, professor of Music
ITG’s more than 6,000 members represent 64 countries and include professional and amateur performers, teachers, students, manufacturers, publishers, and others interested in belonging to an organization dedicated to the trumpet profession.
In the early to middle 1980s, the ITG adopted a policy of awarding an official “ITG Honorary Award.” The ITG Honorary Award is given to those individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the art of trumpet playing. These contributions are through performance, teaching, publishing, research, and/or composition. The tradition has been to award persons only toward the end of their careers, rather than at the beginning or height of their careers. The ITG Honorary Award is not given every year in an effort to maintain the highest prestige of the award; the board of directors has been extremely selective regarding nominees and recipients.
Piper began a search for a recipient after learning of the existence of the award from past presidents Stephen Chenette and Stephen Jones. After three years of research and fact-finding, Piper found the Louis Armstrong House and Archives.
The first award recipients were Roger Voisin, Maurice Andre, and Louis Armstrong (later awards have included Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillispie, Clark Terry, Philip Smith, Mel Broiles, and Adolf Herseth). Then-President Stephen Jones was unable to find heirs or a suitable home for the award.
Students taking part in this year’s UNM Technology Business Plan Competition will learn more about constructing solid financial projections for high-technology startup firms than in previous years. This time around, at least one member from each team competing in the competition needs to attend three seminars presenting guidelines and helpful tips for business plan financials.
The first of three required seminars on Financial Projections for Startups will take place on Friday, Oct. 24 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. in GSM 117 (Anderson Graduate School of Management Building). Lunch will be provided and participants are required to RSVP to bayley@mgt.unm.edu or 277-6172.
This seminar will also be offered on Friday, Feb. 13, 2009, though attendance this month will allow teams additional time to integrate what they have learned into their financial statements. Team members are welcome to attend both sessions for extra support. Soundness of financial projections and reasoning will be a major judging criterion in the competition.
The other required sessions will be offered on Friday, Nov. 14, 2008 (or Friday, Feb. 27, 2009) and Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 (or Friday, March 6, 2009).
The UNM Technology Business Plan Competition is designed to encourage UNM students from any UNM school or college to collaborate on teams that commercialize technology products developed at UNM, Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Lab, or elsewhere in the state.
These student-owned startup firms bring inventions from lab to market and boost economic development in New Mexico. Top prize for the competition is the $25,000 Michael Gallegos Prize for Entrepreneurship. TVC Lockheed Martin sponsors the $10,000 second place prize, and vSpring Capital offers the third place $5,000 prize.
In additional to prize money, competing teams are eligible for venture capital seed funding and will be given the opportunity to compete in other business plan competitions.
The University of New Mexico College of Nursing has selected Dr. Alyce Schultz to receive the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award. Schultz earned her bachelor of science in nursing degree from UNM in 1980 and her master of science in nursing in 1983. In 1990, she completed her doctorate in nursing at Oregon Health & Science University.
Photo: Dr. Alyce Schultz
Schultz’s nursing career has focused on nursing research and evidence-based nursing practice. She began her career as a nurse researcher at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine and for 12 years, served as their director of the Center for Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes.
Schultz has recently retired as the associate director of the Center for Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice and clinical professor at Arizona State University. She has since formed her own consulting company for evidence-based practice and clinical research at the bedside, Alyce A. Schultz & Associates, LLC.
As a nationally recognized nurse researcher, Schultz has shared her knowledge with nursing students as a nurse mentor and educator. She has promoted evidence-based practice and has guided fellow clinicians to conduct research geared for daily practice.
The UNM CON is a fully accredited component of the UNM Health Sciences Center. With over 50 years of service, the UNM CON has been a vital resource to the state of New Mexico. The College offers a full range of superior programs in traditional areas while addressing the special needs of highly diverse populations with thoughtfully designed programs to make nursing education available to everyone in the state. For more information, visit http://hsc.unm.edu/consg/.
Town hall part of Albuquerque Spotlight by “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer”
On Sunday, Oct. 12, KNME-TV will present a live Town Hall Meeting moderated by “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez at the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium. The event will be broadcast live on KUNM-FM, 89.9, and streamed live on KNME’s Web site at: New Mexico In Focus.
The topic of the Town Hall will be “What Role will New Mexico and the Media Play in the Upcoming Presidential Election?” The panelists for the event include:
• Lonna Atkeson - Political Science Professor, UNM
• Gabriel Sanchez - UNM Political Science Professor, Racial & Ethnic Politics
• Gene Grant - Co-Host of KNME’s “New Mexico in Focus” and Albuquerque Journal columnist
• Delbert E. Carrillo - Teacher, Valley High School
• Jeff Jones - Albuquerque Journal Political Reporter
• Joe Monahan - Blogger, joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com
• Steve Seth - Teacher, Highland High School
Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. and the event will be from 3-4 p.m. For more information, please call 277-2121.
This event is part of a focus on Albuquerque by “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Thanks in part to the importance that New Mexico will play in the upcoming presidential election, Albuquerque, the state of New Mexico, and the University of New Mexico will be featured on the acclaimed PBS news show, “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” from Monday, Oct. 13 through Friday, Oct. 17 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Senior Correspondents Ray Suarez and Judy Woodruff will bring “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” to the KNME-TV studios during this week to examine New Mexico’s role in the election.
Albuquerque is only the second “Spotlight City” the NewsHour has chosen to cover during the 2008 election. The NewsHour will examine the crucial role Albuquerque and New Mexico will play in the 2008 presidential election, as well as profiling the contributions Albuquerque is making in business, science, healthcare, education, and the arts. Additional stories will cover the topics of economic disparity, voting machines, get out the vote efforts for Native Americans, New Mexico politics, and the economy.
The University of New Mexico will be kicking off this semester’s Great Campus Cleanup on Friday, Oct. 10. Physical Plant, Surplus Property, Recycling and other UNM departments will be visiting locations throughout campus to help UNM faculty and staff get rid of excess paper, supplies and equipment that is no longer needed.
A “Campus Clean Up” staff will be available to assist departments with the removal of items, departments need to tag items for removal and place them in an area the staff can reach.
If departments are getting rid of surplus items, or items with UNM property tags, then the UNM Surplus Property Department must approve them for disposal. If the department contains items of historical interest to the university, please contact the University Archivist, Terry Gugliotta at tgug@unm.edu or 277-5707. Keep in mind that by law certain files and records need to be kept for a certain length of time. The Records Management department can advise departments about these rules.
The buildings to be visited this Friday include:
· Scholes Hall
· Anthropology
· Internal Audit
· Research and Economic Development
· Dispute Resolution
· Arts of the Americas Institute and Arts Tech
· Real Estate
· Equal Opportunity Program
· Psychology Clinic
· Dane Smith Hall
For more information, please contact the Physical Plant Department at 277-2421.
On Nov. 4, New Mexicans will go to the polls to vote for a new President, Vice-President, and members of Congress. Another important race they will vote for, one that is not receiving as much coverage as these other rDavid Brookshire, the race for the Public Regulations Commission (PRC). This week, “New Mexico in Focus” looks at the PRC rDavid Brookshire and the function of the commission. “New Mexico in Focus” airs on KNME-TV, channel 5 on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 a.m.
“New Mexico in Focus” looks at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and gives them context beyond the "news of the moment." The one-hour show brings viewers important topics, opinions and insight, in an integrated and cohesive package.
This week, co-hosts David Alire Garcia, managing editor of the New Mexico Independent, and Gene Grant, Albuquerque Journal columnist talk with Rick Lass, District 3 PRC candidate, and Jason Marks, a candidate in District 1 and discuss the function of the commission and whether the voting booth is really the best place to decide who is qualified to serve on the Public Regulation Commission.
Then Grant is joined by regular panelists Margaret Montoya, from the University of New Mexico School of Law and School of Medicine and Weekly Alibi Columnist Jim Scarantino and guest panelists Marco Gonzales, an attorney with the Modrell Sperling Law Firm, and Steve Terrell, a reporter with the Santa Fe New Mexican to discuss the Public Regulations Commission. Plus the panel will look at how the presidential and vice-presidential debates have evolved, the importance of the District 2 Congressional race in southern New Mexico, and whether dress codes should be enforced at the polls.
Producers of ‘New Mexico In Focus’ are Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer. Closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, formerly a visiting faculty member at UNM, is the 2008 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Le Clézio has written more than 30 books since 1963. Le Clézio was visiting faculty of modern and classical languages at UNM, 1977-78 and 1984-85, and visiting faculty in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, 1992-93, when he also held the PNM Endowed Chair.
Photo: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, 2008 Nobel Prize recipient in Literature
“He’s received a number of prestigious awards; this is just the culmination,” said UNM French Professor Walter Putnam, who has known Le Clézio for more than 15 years.
“He’s very attached to New Mexico and Amerindian cultures and Hispanic cultures,” Putnam said. He said Le Clézio still lives and writes in Albuquerque periodically.
Le Clézio has travelled widely, and now divides his time between New Mexico, Nice and Mauritius. He was born in 1940 in Nice, and has family connections with the former French colony, Mauritius. He has also lived in Nigeria, England, Thailand, Mexico and Central America.
From early on, Le Clézio has been an ecologically engaged author. His novels hinge upon thresholds – the transformation from childhood into adulthood, confrontations between cultures, and points where past, present and future collide. His recent work has moved toward an exploration of his own family history. In a telephone interview with Nobelprize.org, Le Clézio said, “Writing for me is like travelling.”
Though he grew up bilingual, Le Clézio writes in French, with some works translated into English. “He has said his real homeland is the French language, which he takes where he is,” Putnam said.
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1807; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu
University of New Mexico President David J. Schmidly has announced that UNM is working with the Sandia Foundation to finance and build two important projects. Details are still being worked out but the first building on the Rio Rancho campus will be somewhere between 50,000-60,000 sq. feet and will house a combination of administrative and classroom space. The building will also host activities for the UNM Health Sciences Center, Central New Mexico Community College and New Mexico State University.
UNM Vice President of Institutional Support Services Steve Beffort says he hopes to complete a lease purchase agreement with the Sandia Foundation quickly so that construction on the Rio Rancho building can begin before the end of the year. Even moving at this accelerated pace, Beffort says it will be spring 2010 before the building will be ready for occupancy.
In a second project, supported by the Graduate and Professional Student organization on campus, UNM is preparing to begin a major expansion of the Children’s Campus for Early Care and Education. The campus currently accommodates 250 children from age 6 weeks to 12, but has a waiting list of 600. This expansion would double the capacity to 500 children. The expansion will be done at the north end of the current Children’s Campus on University Blvd.
Both buildings will be done on a lease-purchase arrangement with the Sandia Foundation. The foundation will supply the upfront construction costs and UNM will lease the buildings with the understanding that the university will buy the buildings as soon as it can put together funding, through bonds or state appropriations.
There is an additional financial element for the Children’s Campus expansion. Schmidly says the university will put together a business plan that will factor the cost of the expanded operation into the costs charged parents with children at the Children’s Campus. Schmidly says the projected costs must be put before the parents at this stage of the process so that UNM can judge whether parents will be able to afford the costs. Schmidly says if parents don’t believe they can afford the expense, it will not make sense to do the expansion.
If everything goes smoothly, Schmidly says he would like to see ground broken early next year. It would take at least a year to complete the expansion.
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1807; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico College of Nursing has received the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Innovations in Professional Nursing Education Award for its online educational program, The Neighborhood.
The Neighborhood is a virtual, web-based community that serves as a platform for the undergraduate concept-based curriculum at the UNM CON. The idea was conceived out of a recognized need for nursing education reform.
The AACN awards program recognizes the outstanding work of AACN member schools that re-envision traditional models for nursing education and lead programmatic change.
Innovation awards are given annually in four institutional categories: Small Schools; Academic Health Center (AHC): Private Schools without an AHC; and Public Schools without an AHC. The UNM CON was selected to receive the 2008 award in the Academic Health Center category.
For more information visit: The Neighborhood and the UNM CON or American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Media Contact: Lauren Cruse (505) 272-3690; e-mail: lcruse@salud.unm.edu
Effective October 1, the Title V grant moved into the third of a five-year, $2.8 million grant to enhance support services for Hispanic and low-income students. The Title V faculty committee met recently to review last year’s goals and to plan for the coming year.
Title V sponsored four workshops last year with a goal to reach 200 faculty participants. “We exceeded the goal by serving more than 200 faculty,” said M. Nicolás Cabrera, Title V program specialist. The workshops were held in conjunction with the Office of Support for Effective Teaching. The goal for this year is to hold four to six workshops and reach 300 UNM faculty.
The group reviewed the task force report on Hispanic issues. Among the issues of concern, as stated in the report, is that “Hispanic faculty under-representation is seen as the source of 1) the lack of mentoring opportunities for the large Hispanic student population at UNM, 2) a factor in ‘the graying of the current Hispanic faculty’ and 3) the source of Hispanic faculty ‘burn out’ that results from being overburdened with demands from department and campus-wide service.”
Gary Smith, director, Office of Support for Effective Teaching, said, “We’ve seen a slight increase in Hispanic faculty: .2 percent over the last four years. The net effect is minimal. We recruit, but we are not good at retention.”
Jozi De León, vice president for Equity and Inclusion and Title V co-chair, noted that the expected the expected increase of all minority faculty in the Diversity Report Card is 1 percent per year while Title V has set an increase of 10 percent.
“To meet that goal requires working through Academic Affairs, the Provost, deans and department chairs,” said Associate Professor Rebecca Blum-Martínez, Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies, College of Education, and Title V co-chair.
With Hispanics as a “merging majority,” as the task force report stated, UNM needs to develop a strategy to identify and recruit potential Hispanic faculty to campus and bring them on board as targeted hires, said Miguel Gandert, associate chair, Communication & Journalism.
The report states that between 1990 and 2004, Hispanic tenure-track faculty increased 45 percent, from 58 to 84, with the greatest growth between 1990 and 1995, with 24 new hires. And, according to a Southwest Hispanic Research Institute report, only 2 Hispanic tenure lines have been added since 1995. Most of the net growth was in Arts and Sciences, 13; and the College of Education, 8.
“We need to reward schools, colleges and departments that identify and hire minority faculty,” Blum-Martínez said.
De León said, “While we have some funding for the recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty, the amount we have is not enough to make a significant difference, however, I will be seeking more funding opportunities to increase the amount we presently have.,”
De León noted that the best practices of schools and colleges that successfully recruit and hire minority faculty need to be shared with others. Gabriel Meléndez, chair, American Studies, Gandert and Blum-Martínez recalled early support each received from SHRI and from other Hispanic faculty mentors early in their careers. “SHRI paid half my faculty line when I was hired. It funded my research,” Meléndez said.
The committee plans to bring together panels to present information about the Nuevomexicano Experience; Class, Race, Ethnic Groups and the Educational Struggle in New Mexico; Academic Educational Literacy; and Gender. They are currently identifying panelists.
“The goal of the Title V project is to continue to improve retention and graduation rates for Hispanic students,” said Jennifer Gómez-Chávez, Title V director.
UNM receives approximately $550,000 per year during the funding cycle. The grant can continue beyond 2011 if the university meets certain requirements and it is so deemed by the U.S. Department of Education.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The National Science Foundation is establishing a new Engineering Research Center whose goal will be to supplant the common light bulb with next-generation lighting devices that are smarter, greener and ripe for innovation. The core institutions in this prestigious award are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the lead university, the University of New Mexico and Boston University.
Photo: Stephen Hersee, associate director, Engineering Research Center
The program also includes interactions with middle schools and high schools, industry and with government labs including Sandia National Laboratories.
UNM President David J. Schmidly says, “Our participation in this center offers a chance for our engineering students and faculty to create energy-saving technologies that will improve our society and create new business opportunities. We are particularly excited that this program will also have a strong focus on outreach, and we anticipate that the new field of Smart Lighting will increase the number and diversity of students entering science, math and engineering education.”
UNM will provide the nanotechnology for this program and the team will be led by the ERC Associate Director Stephen Hersee, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UNM. Hersee also has an appointment with the Center for High Technology Materials, and his core team will include Stephen Brueck, CHTM director, distinguished professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of Physics & Astronomy, and Marek Osinski, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Hersee says UNM will receive between $4 and $5 million for this research activity during the next five years.
One project at UNM will be to develop a dime-sized, solid-state microscope that will have no lenses or moving parts, but will image just as sharply as a regular microscope that is a thousand times larger.
The wonderful thing about this program is the huge breadth says Hersee. The research will span so many disciplines including communications, healthcare, computer displays and the autonomous control of vehicles. Light is so much a part of our lives, the possibility of adding extra functions to this light – to make it “smart”- means that this program can benefit many aspects of the way we live.
Imagine:
* Your room lights send and receive data and communicate with your PDA or computer.
* Your automobile lights talk to the traffic lights, and to other cars around you, to warn you of traffic problems, eliminate red-light violations, and eventually help do the driving for you.
* Your laptop battery really does last all day.
* Room lighting that so accurately replicates sunlight, sunflowers follow it.
* Your TV gives you a 3D, full-color image.
* Analysis of bio-samples becomes automated and rapid, cutting health care costs.
Much of the transformational science in this program is so new that you can’t find it in standard textbooks. So this ERC will work closely with local middle and high schools, as well as with national and international strategic educational partners, to develop educational materials. These interactions will prepare budding engineers for this exciting new career path and will work especially hard to attract women and other minorities into this new branch of science. It will be science you can see.
The program will work closely with industry so that once the Smart Lighting technology is developed it can be efficiently transferred into the marketplace. Students will get to see how this technology transfer process works and they will have opportunities to become entrepreneurs, creating new businesses and new jobs for the U.S. economy.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The Office of the State Historian Scholars Program Lecture, co-sponsored by the Center for Southwest Research, presents "At Home on the Front End: Intimate Cartographies and Military Industry on the Navajo Nation,” a lecture by Traci Voyles in the Willard Reading Room, Zimmerman Library on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m.
Photo: Traci Voyles
Voyles, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California-San Diego, will lecture on the history of uranium mining and its affect on the Navajo Nation. She argues that the Defense Minerals Exploration Administration and the Atomic Energy Commission used knowledge of Navajo land and its minerals, politics, culture, economic systems and ecological traditions to launch an era of military industrialization during the uranium booms of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The lecture chronicles the history of U.S.-Navajo relations as well as the militarization of the U.S. Southwest that took place during World War II and the Cold War.
The Office of the State Historian works to foster and facilitate an appreciation and understanding of New Mexico history and culture through education, research, preservation and community outreach. The Center for Southwest Research, part of University Libraries, supports teaching and research on New Mexico, the Southwest, Mexico and Latin America.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dennis P. Trujillo, Office of the State Historian, (505) 476-7998 or dennis.trujillo@state.nm.us.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Native American Studies Indigenous Research Group celebrates Indigenous Day on Monday, Oct. 13, to reclaim Columbus Day for native peoples. The events feature a keynote speech by National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garcia.
The day begins with a sunrise ceremony on Johnson Field, starting at 6 a.m. The Department of Native American Studies hosts a potluck breakfast at 9 a.m. in Mesa Vista Hall 3080.
The keynote by Joe Garcia will be held at noon in the Student Union Building atrium, along with speeches by NASIRG chairs Lani Tsinnajinnie, Dina Gilio and Mario Atencio, a poster presentation, and indigenous street theatre.
Garcia graduated from UNM with a Bachelor of Science in 1985. In addition to serving as NCAI’s president, he is chairman of the All Indian Pueblo Council and a former governor of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.
The schedule...
6:45 a.m. – Sunrise Ceremony on Johnson Field
9-11 a.m. - Breakfast Potluck at the NAS office (Mesa
Vista Hall Room 3080).
12-1 p.m. – presentation at the SUB atrium
- Opening prayer
- Indigenous street theatre,
- Speeches by NASIRG and Kiva Club Officers,
- Keynote address by Joe Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians.
1 p.m. – Indigenous Poetry Slam sponsored by Kiva Club at the Higher Grounds stage in the SUB.
2:30-6 p.m. - Mini Film Festival at the basement of Zimmerman Library
Brought to you by Native American Studies Indigenous Research Group (NASIRG), in collaboration with UNM Native American Studies Program, UNM Kiva Club, and the Native Health Initiative.
NASIRG’s purpose is to encourage research participation, raise consciousness regarding indigenous issues, increase student community involvement and foster the exchange of ideas through academic and peer support.
George Pearl Hall, home of the University of New Mexico School of Architecture & Planning and Fine Arts & Design Library, received a Best of 2008 Award from Southwest Contractor, a construction industry publication serving the Southwest since 1938. The annual competition, now in its 11th year, recognizes construction and design excellence in separate award ceremonies for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
More than 650 entries were received in the tri-state region, with 175 representing New Mexico projects.
An independent jury comprised of nine design and construction professionals selected 20 winning projects in a variety of categories including best sustainable project, best transportation and best renovation.
“We’ve received many wonderful comments from visitors and users alike. We appreciate this additional recognition for the quality of the design and construction of Pearl Hall,” said Roger Schluntz, dean, School of Architecture & Planning.
The winners will be profiled in detail in the December 2008 issue of Southwest Contractor and on www.southwest.construction.com. In addition, each project’s design and construction team will be honored during an awards ceremony held at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
New this year, local winners will move on to McGraw-Hill Construction’s first annual National Best of 2008. The national winners will be profiled in a special section published in Engineering News-Record and all 11 Regional Construction Publications.
Best of 2008 New Mexico Awards
UNM School of Architecture & Planning (George Pearl Hall)
Higher Education & Concrete
Submitted by Jaynes Corp. and Antoine Predock Architect PC
Los Alamos County Fire Station #3
Government/Public over $5 million
Submitted by HB Construction and Studio Southwest Architects Inc.
Ruidoso Main Fire Station
Government/Public under $5 million
Submitted by Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture P.C.
Paseo del Norte Extension
Transportation
Submitted by Wilson & Co.
Paseo Nuevo Office Complex
Office and Sustainable “Green” Project
Submitted by Studio Southwest Architects Inc.
Southwest Gastroenterology Associates
Healthcare
Submitted by The Hartman + Majewski Design Group
The Shops at Paseo Crossing
Retail/Hospitality
Submitted by Studio Southwest Architects Inc.
Zocalo Santa Fe
Residential
Submitted by Gerald Martin General Contractor
Santa Fe Community Convention Center
Best Project Management/Team
Submitted by Parsons Corp.
Tingley Park Flood Control Facility and Park Reconstruction
Civil/Infrastructure
Submitted by Wilson & Co.
Los Lunas Silvery Minnow Refugium
Engineering Design
Submitted by HDR Engineering Inc.
Sculptural Elliptical Grand Staircase
Steel
Submitted by Kason Group Inc.
Career Prep High School
K-12 Education
Submitted by FBT Architects
St. James Episcopal Church
Renovation/Restoration
Submitted by Wayne Rutherford General Contractor Inc.
Rancho Encantado Resort Hotel
Interior
Submitted by Jaynes Corp.
Arsenic Removal Demonstration Facility
Mechanical/Electrical
Submitted by RMCI
Sigler Wholesale Distributing
Industrial
Submitted by Studio Southwest Architects Inc.
Red Rock Diversion Channel
Private Project, Other
Submitted by Kiewit New Mexico Co.
Mariposa East Commons Park
Landscape/Urban Design
Submitted by High Desert Investment Corp.
Rio Rancho City Hall
Editor’s Choice
Submitted by Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers and The Hartman + Majewski Design Group
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
The Science & Society Distinguished Public Talks series continues Thursday, Oct. 9 with a talk presented by George Luger, professor of computer science, psychology and linguistics at the University of New Mexico. Luger’s talk, titled Modern Artificial Intelligence and the Stochastic Tradition, will be held at 5 p.m. in the Conference Center, rm. G at the UNM Continuing Education building located at 1634 University Blvd., N.E. The talk is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 4:30 p.m.
Photo: George Luger
Probabilistic forms of representation and reasoning have become important components of modern artificial intelligence (AI) technology. What is this change and how have earlier successes and failures of AI research brought it about? Luger’s will consider several concrete examples of diagnostic and prognostic reasoning and discuss probabilistic solutions for these problems.
After the talk, a discussion of why the stochastic approach has brought about both practical computational results as well as supported a modern (epistemological) analysis of the nature of intelligence itself will take place.
The Science & Society Distinguished Public Talks 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.
“Simply Spectacular” Promises Night Of Comedy Relief
Learn what’s hope and what’s hype, and how Integrative Medicine plays a role in disease prevention and general wellness with a team of professionals led by Arti Prasad, M.D., executive director for UNM’s Center for Life Integrative Medical Specialty Clinic at the Simply Spectacular Public Forum Sunday, Oct. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Santa Fe Covention Center.
Guest speakers, including Brian Daily, M.D., Patricia Repar, DMA, Russ Mason, MS, Brian Shelley, M.D., and others will reveal how emotions affect health through experiential learning. Evening highlights will include:
* a comedy show validating that “laughter is good medicine”
* the power of “sound energy” through music
* intercultural medicine presented by East Indian and Native American dancers demonstrating that “movement is healing”
Paul Roth, M.D., executive vice president for Health Sciences and dean for UNM’s School of Medicine will share how the UNM Health Sciences Center plays a role in health care in New Mexico. New Mexico Senator Steven Komadina will share his views on “self care.”
For more information on Simply Spectacular, call (505) 272-3942 or e-mail centerforlife@salud.unm.edu.
UNM Africana Studies Director and entertainment lawyer Sherri Burr and UNM communications and journalism doctoral candidate Christopher Brown will participate in a public forum during the 2008 New Mexico Black Expo on Friday, Oct. 10 at 5:30 p.m. The theme of the expo is “The Black Image.”
Photo: Sherri Burr
Burr and Brown are part of a panel discussion on media created self-image issues in men and women of color following a screening of the documentary “Souls of Black Girls” at the African American Performing Arts Center at Expo New Mexico. Filmmaker Daphne Valerius will answer questions following the film. Journalist and filmmaker Gene Grant will also participate in the panel.
On Saturday, Oct. 11, the expo features outdoor music, entertainment and informational booths and vendors at Civic Plaza in downtown Albuquerque.
For more information on the New Mexico Black Expo, call Hakim Bellamy at (505) 222-9442 or visit http://www.oaaa.state.nm.us/.
Performance based on the most famous horror story of all time
UNM’s Department of Theatre and Dance continues its 2008-09 Main Stage Season with “Frankenstein,” by R.N. Sandberg, directed by Assistant Professor Kristen Loree. “Frankenstein” continues with shows Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 9-11 at 7:30 p.m., in Rodey Theatre.
Based on the most famous horror story of all time, “Frankenstein” is a gothic tale set in the icy polar regions where scientist Victor Frankenstein has chased the creature he brought to life. In an intensely dramatic examination of the relationship between creation and creator, an ensemble of UNM’s finest actors reveal Frankenstein’s memories of his unnatural offspring and a surreal path towards death and destruction.
Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” was written during the summer of 1816 when Mary, Percy Blythe Shelley, and Lord Byron, after spending rainy afternoons reading German ghost stories, challenged each other to write their own. Fair weather returned and Mary Shelly’s story was the only one completed. Her novel is considered by many to be the first science fiction story and has had many famous versions on film. Those familiar with this novel will find the drama by Sandberg is truer to its literary counterpart than the many film adaptations of the story.
Loree was drawn to “Frankenstein” because she loved the story. “I was fascinated with what it means to be a creature forgotten, with what it is to be the father who abandons a child,” she said. UNM’s production uses a surrealistic interpretation in both direction and design concept – according to Loree, “imagine Mary Shelley meets Salvador Dali.”
With costume design by Dorothy Baca, scenic design by David Horowitz, lighting design by Brian McNamarra, and sound design and original music by Tom Monahan, Loree and the cast are exploring Frankenstein’s landscape of memory and the consequences of his monstrous attempt to play god. The cast includes Theodore Jackson as Victor Frankenstein, Starnes Reveley as the Creature, and Amanda Machon as Elizabeth.
Ticket prices are $15 general admission, $10 faculty and seniors, $8 staff and students. Tickets are available at the UNM Ticket Offices located at the UNM Bookstore or University Arena (The Pit). Tickets may also be purchased online at UNM Tickets, or by calling (505) 925-5858.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Miguel Caro y Fiesta Mexicana present “Los Colores de Mexico: An Evening with Miguel Caro” on Saturday, Oct. 18, 6-8 p.m. in Rodey Theater, UNM Center for the Arts. Caro, a member of UNM’s theatre and dance faculty, has been part of the New Mexican dance community since 1978. His Ballet Folklórico dance company was the very first in New Mexico.
Photo: Miguel Caro
He has traveled all over the world with Amelia Hernandez’ Ballet Folklórico de México and Sylvia Lozano’s Ballet Nacional de México before moving to Albuquerque, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1983. Through his training Caro has mastered every aspect of folklorico, from costume design to dance, and the cosmetology aspects as well.
Tickets are available at the UNM Bookstore. Prices are $40 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, and $15 for children.
The 31st annual Zia Marching Band Fiesta will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at University Stadium. Sponsored by the University of New Mexico Bands, the event features a competition between 29 high school marching bands from New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.
The judging panel is comprised of experts in the field of marching band and pageantry from across the United States. Approximately 3,000 high school students will participate in the fiesta before a crowd of parents, band boosters and other spectators.
The preliminary competition begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends with a performance by the UNM Spirit Marching Band at 4:45 p.m. Trophies for the preliminary round are then presented. The top ten bands from the preliminary round advance to the final round of competition, which begins at 7:30 p.m. At the conclusion of the finals, the Zia Grand Champion for 2008 will be crowned.
Tickets are available only at the gate on the day of the fiesta. Prices range from $4-$7 for students and $8-$14 for adults.
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain is scheduled to speak at a ticketed event in the University of New Mexico Student Union on Monday, Oct. 6 at approximately 1:20 p.m. Certain routes leading to the SUB will be closed off to vehicle and pedestrian traffic for several hours prior to the event.
A number of media trucks are also expected, so normal pedestrian flow around the SUB will be altered.
For any information about the McCain event, please contact local campaign headquarters at 344-9615.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy is on its way in developing leaders from the social sciences who will conduct research to impact health policy, said Robert Valdez, executive director. “Social scientists can play a role in contributing to healthy communities because health policy has little to do with medical care or disease. The cross-disciplinary approach helps create decision-makers capable of addressing issues, establishing policies,” he said.
Photo: Sean Bruna
Developing a cadre of Latino and Native American experts who can work in the health policy arena is a goal of the RWJF Center. “We need to bring in a new voice for health care, restructure the systems affecting communities,” Valdez said.
The first group of RWJF fellows is now in its second year. Sean Bruna received his master’s in anthropology and considered law before coming to UNM’s anthropology doctoral program. Born to a Mexican mother and Cuban father, Bruna was born in Mexico and spent formative years in Colombia and Venezuela before his family moved to El Paso, Texas, where he finds himself again, now conducting field work for his dissertation. Following a meeting with Ysleta del Sur tribal elders, he knew that addressing a health issue – in this case the high incidence of diabetes – was more than just developing an exercise program, educating about eating habits or creating a walking trail.
“Because of the training I got from the RWJ partnership, I knew more about policy. I knew I had to determine who owns the research, be respectful of sacred knowledge, receive publish approvals before I could officially begin the research,” Bruna said.
Bruna said he became aware of the RWJ program through work in a Research Service Learning program. “Charlene Porsild [RWJC program manager] was involved in the community garden project and told me about the program. It has provided me with both critical funding and training, as well as a cohort of students to work with,” he said.
Andrea Lopez is also in her second year as a RWJF fellow. As a Ph.D. student emphasizing ethnology, cultural and medical anthropology in the urban United States, she is interested in a controversial program. She wants to establish a medically supervised safe injection program for drug users in San Francisco.
“I want to address a need for community based intervention for injection drug users, recognizing there is strong public opinion about it,” she said, adding that she knows she will need to work with public health officials and planners, the “user” community and multiple community stakeholders. Lopez comes to the issue out of previous work with women substance abusers who had trouble accessing services.
“We are helping to educate leaders who will conduct research that affects the real world,” Valdez said.
Former football player joins Peace Corps
Growing up in Artesia, H Barker decided he had to get good at football if he ever expected to get out of the oilfields. Two years in the oilfields kept him in shape for football, however, and by his senior year in high school, the 6-foot, 185-pounder was All State quarterback for the Bulldogs in 1953.
Photo: H Barker
The Artesia High School art teacher noted his freehand and line drawing skills, as well as his math and science abilities, and suggested he consider architecture.
“I had a good GPA and was offered scholarships to Utah, Texas Tech and Colorado, but I didn’t like their coaches,” he recalled.
UNM coach Dudley DeGroot recruited him. “He had the best defensive team in the nation,” Barker said.
Barker experienced scheduling problems almost instantly. “Architecture studio was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 – 5 p.m. and football practice was at 3. Either Coach Titchenal or Don Schlegel, my professor, were always mad at me,” he said.
“Tired as hell” from playing football and attending study sessions two times a week, he found he couldn’t study in the athletic dorm. “There’s a chair in Zimmerman Library that still has an imprint of my butt in it,” Barker said.
Barker was also asked to help recruit football players who were interested in architecture, but, “It was a hard thing to do because of the scheduling conflict,” he said. He recalled years later when basketball star Luc Longley came to UNM. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an architect.
“As far as I know, I am the only athlete who came intending to study architecture who actually finished,” he said.
Barker opened an architectural office with Andrew Bol and they located in several plDavid Brookshire in Albuquerque before Barker set up his shop downtown on Gold Ave. in 1999.
The project he’s proudest of is the UNM Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. “We visited five psych facilities. We saw good ones and bad ones. We modeled UNM’s after one in Vancouver, British Columbia that had nine kids to a cottage with separate plDavid Brookshire to eat and sleep,” he said. He designed UNM’s with a gymnasium “to get the children physically tired so they were ready for therapy,” but the state legislature thought they were creating a “country club” and deleted the pool and gym when funding the project.
Other projects include UNM Valencia’s first buildings, Faith Lutheran Church, La Luz del Sol and Comanche Elementary School’s cafetorium.
At 74, Barker isn’t resting on his laurels. He’s had a physical and his background investigated—especially regarding the security clearance he had in the Army when he went to Crypto School—all to go into the Peace Corps.
“The average age of those who go in is 27 or 28, but one aspect of Peace Corps is community and regional planning, an area of interest of mine,” he said. Given a regional preference, he has asked to be sent to Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union or Malaysia. “I’ve been told I will probably end up in a decent sized city working with city officials,” he said. He will go for intensive language training before being sent abroad. “I learned German while stationed in Frankfurt and was surprised to learn I hadn’t lost it when I visited Germany with my granddaughter,” he said.
Barker will rent out his office while he’s gone. He’s still taking the ball and running with it.
UNM-Gallup celebrates its 40th anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 9:30 a.m. in the Commons of Gurley Hall. Among expected guests are UNM President David Schmidly, UNM Provost Suzanne Trager Ortega and Marc Nigliazzo, UNM vice president in charge of Rio Rancho operations and branch academic affairs, as well as several of the founders and original “friends” of the college, previous college directors, community leaders, educators, government officials and many more.
A musical program, including Native Americans dancers and singers,
as well as tours, demonstrations, refreshments and displays pertaining to UNM-Gallup's history are part of the festivities. The event is free and open to the public.
Among the founders to be recognized are the following:
· Ernest Becenti Sr. – Becenti was responsible for a motion in 1967 by the Gallup-McKinley County Board of Education to hold a district-wide tax levy to support a branch college.
· The late Clair Gurley, represented by grandson Steve Gurley. – The Gurley family donated four parcels of land, totaling approximately 70 acres, to the UNM-Gallup campus, which allowed the school to expand to its current dimensions. The main college building, Gurley Hall, built in 1974, was named after the family.
· Louis “Eddie” DePauli – DePauli was a district judge who also served on the Advisory Board that advocated starting a community college in Gallup.
· Ferrel Heady -- The president of the University of New Mexico, Heady met with legislators to request support of the UNM-Gallup Branch as the college was being formed.
· Van Dorn Hooker – Director of the Architecture and Planning Department of UNM from 1963 to 1987, Hooker was responsible for having the design perspective of the UNM-Gallup campus in place prior to final approval.
· Robert Lalicker – UNM employee from 1956 to 1984 who served as administrative assistant to President-Elect Ferrel Heady and was assigned to assist Gallup in starting a branch campus.
· Bill Lewis – Bill Lewis will represent the Gallup Lions Club, donor of the building where the first classes on the current site of UNM-Gallup were held. The Lions Club building most recently housed offices and offices for Community Affairs.
· Paul McCollum – An ambassador of UNM-Gallup in its formative years, McCollum set up a Chamber of Commerce committee to establish a branch college in Gallup. He was a member of the campus’s Building Advisory Committee when it was formed in 1971, and was key in promoting a 1967 feasibility study for a branch college in Gallup.
· Eric McCrossen – Editor of the Gallup Independent in the late 1960’s, McCrossen loaned his editorial support to a publicity campaign in favor of the college.
· Walter Wolf – A UNM regent from March 1968 to December 1972, Wolf set up procedures so branch students could gain access to duplicate volumes and research materials from UNM’s library through the Gallup High School Library during the first years of the college’s existence.
· The late Harvey Whitehill – Executive manager of the Gallup Chamber of Commerce, Whitehill was instrumental in promoting the first mill levy election to benefit the college. He traveled throughout the state to promote the school, and rallied citizen support for the college. He also assisted in the 1967 feasibility study.
· The late John Zollinger – Owner of the Gallup Independent, Zollinger used the newspaper to drum up support for the college. He also met with legislators in Santa Fe and officials at UNM to lobby for support.
Others to be recognized include several “friends” of UNM-Gallup, including Octavia Fellin, Martin Link, Sally Noe, Martha Zollinger, as well as former Advisory Board members Barbara Stanley, J.R. Thompson, Ruby Wolf and Carmelita Sanchez.
Additionally, several individuals who have played a significant role in UNM-Gallup’s history will be recognized, including the late Bob Adamson of the Gallup Lions Club; the late Bob Allen, former Mayor of Gallup and an Advisory Committee member; the late Jack Chapman, former Advisory Board Chair; the late Wayne Lewis of the Gallup Lions Club; the late Jimmy Miller, Gallup Schools administrator and Advisory Committee member; Gilbert Rangel, first graduate of UNM-Gallup; Boyce Russell, first instructor at UNM-Gallup; the late Chester Travelstead, former UNM vice president; the late L.O. Yandel, Gallup High instructor and director of the first college classes at Gallup High.
Also to be recognized will be the past executive directors of UNM-Gallup, including the late Calvin Hall, Donald A. Gatzke, John Phillips, Robert Carlson and Elizabeth Miller.
Students, staff and faculty are all invited to the second of three Lobo Grower's Market and Sustainability Fairs Tuesday, Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the UNM main campus, Cornell Plaza. The Lobo Grower's Market and Sustainability Fair gives participants the opportunity to sell local produce and New Mexico-made products and educate the campus community about green initiatives.
Photo: Bruce Milne, director, UNM Sustainability Studies Program
The goals for the Lobo Grower’s Market are to increase awareness about supporting local, green business initiatives, as well as eating and growing local food for students, staff, faculty and the community at large.
Local farms, businesses and organizations are invited to participate in the next Lobo Grower’s Market and Sustainability Fairs on Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
To participate, contact event coordinator Rose Chavez at (505) 277-3325 or 440-3732.
The Lobo Grower’s Market and Sustainability Fair is a project of the UNM Sustainability Studies Program.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
University of New Mexico’s El Centro de la Raza hosts a two-day conference, “Immigration Symposium: Dispelling Myths and Raising Awareness,” Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 14-15 starting at 7:30 a.m. in the UNM Student Union Building.
The Immigration Symposium, highlighting the continual influence of immigration and culture, will present the controversy of immigration through several social, economic and political viewpoints.
The symposium opens “dialogue amongst people affected and impacted by immigration,” said Joaquín Arguellö, student program specialist at El Centro de la Raza.
Each of the 10 panels the conference will introduce addresses particular issues in the relationship immigration has in today’s society. Panel topics include: economics and how conservative economic ideologies influence immigration, education and access to education that immigrants have in New Mexico, health and healthcare inequalities in immigrant communities, historical issues in U.S. immigration policy, identity and maintaining one’s heritage in another culture and comparing immigration on a global scale.
Additional panels will allow UNM students to discuss their experiences with immigration issues as well as a unique panel describing women and immigration, called “Before, During and After.”
“Before, During and After” will journal the conditions that prompt female immigration, experiences of the immigration process, roles that women fill once they are in the United States and challenges of preserving customs and traditions while adjusting to a new culture.
El Centro de la Raza invites all faculty, staff and students who are interested in immigration issues or would like to share their experiences to attend.
Call 277-5020, e-mail at elcentro@unm.edu or visit their web site at El Centro de la Raza for more details.
On behalf of the Honorary Degree Committee, the University of New Mexico Office of the University Secretary seeks nominations for honorary degree recipients. Nominations are due Friday, Oct. 24.
Honorary degrees are awarded to persons who have contributed significantly to the cultural or scientific development of the Southwest, or to the spiritual or material welfare of its people. Eminent individuals and scholars who have made significant contributions transcending geographic limitations are also eligible. A successful nominee must have an exemplary record of academic or public accomplishment in keeping with the university’s standards of rigor, quality and significance.
Nominators must submit a cover letter detailing the reasons for the nomination. Submissions should also include the nominee’s biographical information, record of accomplishment and supporting letters. Send all materials to the Office of the University Secretary, Scholes Hall, room 103.
The Honorary Degree Committee is a subcommittee of the Faculty Senate Graduate Committee. Degrees are awarded at spring commencement. For more information, including a list of past recipients, visit Honorary Degrees.
Roger Schluntz, dean, UNM School of Architecture and Planning, notified the school’s students, staff and faculty of the death of George Anselevicius, who served as the school’s dean from 1981-93. He continued to teach and be a vital member of the school’s family until his death.
Photo: George Anselevicius
The School will be hosting a memorial celebration honoring of the life and work of Professor and Dean Emeritus George Anselevicius, FAIA, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008.
Commencing promptly at 10:30 AM, the event will be held in the auditorium of Pearl Hall, 2401 Central Avenue NE, in Albuquerque.
For his contributions, he was honored this February with “George Anselevicius Day at UNM,” which included a proclamation signed by President David J. Schmidly.
Of Anselevicius’s death, Schluntz wrote, “For over 28 years Professor and Dean Emeritus George Anselevicius, FAIA, has graced the UNM School of Architecture with his energy, intelligence, creativity, and considerable wit in making the School of Architecture and Planning one of America’s premier plDavid Brookshire for us study, teach and work. We have all benefited, directly and indirectly, from his unique combination of skills, idealism and penetrating insight.
George has left a wonderful legacy throughout his long and distinguished career. We will continue to be inspired by his passion for design and we shall indeed miss him in our daily discourse and study.”
Early in his career, Anselevicius, a Lithuanian immigrant, was an architect in London, Chicago, New York and Detroit. His first teaching job was at the Institute of Design in Chicago in 1949. After three years, he returned to practice and while in St. Louis was offered a position at Washington University. He established a private practice with Roger Montgomery, who later became dean at Berkeley, and they received several design awards for projects in the St. Louis area.
He then became chair of architecture at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. Then he was off to SUNY Buffalo to help them get their program accredited.
“In 1981 I was offered the deanship at the School of Architecture and Planning at UNM. I accepted, as I was always interested in the Southwest and my wife, Evelyn, had a studio in Mexico,” he said in a February interview.
After becoming dean emeritus in 1993, he continued to teach a housing studio as a seminar on typology. “As dean or chair I always taught studios because they link me to students,” he said.
An important aspect of his career has always been his connection with foreign schools. “Those connections, their faculties and students helped me grow,” he said. He was a visiting professor in India, Switzerland, Mexico and Jerusalem, to name just a few.
Anselevicius was honored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture for his work to advance the quality of architectural education.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Evelyn.
UNM freshman psychology major Shonnetta Henry will be interviewed live on CNN.com at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, as part of the Young People Who Rock feature. View the interview at http://www.cnn.com/live.
Henry was recently selected as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2008-09 National Youth of the Year. She received this honor last month at a Congressional Breakfast in Washington, D.C., where she also met with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office and had dinner with BGCA national spokesperson Denzel Washington. The title comes with a $26,000 college scholarship from the Reader’s Digest Foundation.
The Youth of the Year program recognizes outstanding contributions to a member’s family, school, community and Boys & Girls Club; academic excellence; and personal challenges and obstacles overcome.
Henry recently graduated from Denver’s East High School, where she was active in the Black Student Alliance, the varsity speech team and the East Theatre Company. She maintained an academic schedule that included five advanced placement courses and two accelerated courses. Additionally, she is a poet, dancer and caretaker for her younger sister and two brothers.
At her Boys & Girls Club, Henry was a junior staff member, president of the Keystone Club, a teacher for the Words Can Heal program, and a participant in the Ink About It poetry writing and performance group. She also enjoyed helping younger members with their homework.
The interview will be archived at: http://ypwr.blogs.cnn.com.
Instrument to provide real-time images of biological processes
Researchers at the University of New Mexico were recently awarded a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to support a research program within the Department of Physics. The program, titled “A Facility to Perform Bio-molecular Imaging; Real Time Phase Mapping of Biological Dynamics,” is designed to provide real-time images of biological processes at nano and pico scale resolutions, a feat never achieved before.
Research Ramifications
It is anticipated that this new phase mapping method will have an impact on medical imaging similar to that of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
“We’re building from scratch an instrument for the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center that will make an optical image with a resolution of better than one nanometer,” said Physics Professor Jean Claude-Diels, the lead investigator in the program. “This is considerably less than the wavelength of light, which is generally considered to be the resolution limit for imaging.”
Hundreds of potential research questions could be answered with the Scanning Phase Intracavity Nanoscope or SPIN, which will be capable of visualizing the components of living cells. The instrument itself is a breakthrough utilizing properties never exploited before. The novel compact instrument will sample any host material, water or tissue, with no sample preparation required, and with no harmful radiation such as x-rays or high-energy radiation particle beams.
“Seeing is understanding,” says Diels. “Therefore, we want to be able to see with our eyes what happens in the nanoscale in living organisms. For instance, we could see the details in the cell membrane. In the membrane you can see a very important path of the cell activity. We could see how a virus penetrates the membrane.”
Meet the Researchers
In addition to Diels, who has developed the concept of intra-cavity sensors with pulsed lasers critical in the applications of the instrument, Physics Professor Sudhakar Prasad will perform efficient image and data compression for the imaging. His assistance will be invaluable in achieving image reconstruction with the extreme data compression needed for the application. Keith Lidke, an assistant professor in Physics and Astronomy, will provide expertise in high-resolution optical imaging and will manage hardware integration
The interdisciplinary collaboration also includes researchers in UNM’s Cancer Research and Treatment Center (CRTC), and the Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM). At CRTC, Dr. Janet Oliver has enthusiastically supported the project, and CRTC Director Dr. Cheryl Willman has secured future housing and technician support for the instrument.
Professor and CHTM Director Steve Brueck is supporting the construction, housing of the research with the formidable facilities at the CHTM, as well as participating in the scientific development. Ladan Arissian, a research scientist also at the CHTM, has been instrumental in the development of the various inventions with Diels, and will supervise the students who will be involved in the construction of the nanoscope.
Assistant Professor Diane Lidke, an expert in cell biology and membranes, who will provide the biological samples for testing and validating the instrument, fortifies the bridge between the worlds of biology and physics.
The Keck Foundation
Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation’s grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering.
The Foundation also maintains a program to support undergraduate science and humanities education and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of health care, civic and community services, education and the arts, with a special emphasis on children and youth.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
This week’s “New Mexico in Focus” examines the health of the San Juan River, the recent announcement by the BLM to approve drilling in Otero Mesa, the new controversy surrounding Mary Herrera’s selection for an election chief and more topics of interest to New Mexicans. “New Mexico in Focus” airs on KNME-TV, channel 5, on Friday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. and repeats on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 6:30 a.m.
“New Mexico in Focus” looks at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and gives them context beyond the "news of the moment." The one-hour show brings viewers important topics, opinions and insight, in an integrated and cohesive package.
In the first segment, co-host David Alire Garcia, managing editor of the New Mexico Independent, visits the San Juan River with fishermen who are concerned about the health of the river. Then Garcia is joined in the KNME-TV studio by Jim Brooks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ryan Christianson of the Bureau of Reclamation, Steve Heinke from the Bureau of Land Management, and Marc Wethington from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, to discuss the future of the New Mexico river.
Then Gene Grant, columnist for the Albuquerque Journal, and regular panelists Jim Scarantino, Weekly Alibi columnist, and Margaret Montoya, with the University of New Mexico School of Law and School of Medicine are joined by guest panelists Marco Gonzales from the Modrell Sperling Law Firm and Matthew Reichbach, a blogger with NM FBIHOP to debate the topic on everyone’s mind this week, the state of the economy and the planned financial bailout.
Also up for debate this week is the recent decision by the Bureau of Land Management to approve drilling in Otero Mesa, the newest scandal surrounding the selection of an election chief, and the panel wonders “what would you do if you were the New Mexican Powerball winner.”
Producers of ‘New Mexico In Focus’ are Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer. Closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
UNM Parking & Transportation Services (PATS) is hosting an alternative transportation fair this Tuesday, Oct. 7 on Cornell Mall, just East of the Student Union Building. Among the many displays, ABQRide will be at the event distributing route maps and offering trip planning advice and Parking & Transportation Services will distribute bus pass stickers. Fair goers will also be able to register their bicycles with the UNM Police Department.
In addition, several of the most popular commuting options will be highlighted in this event, which is a mini version of PATS’ annual Earth Day transportation fair.
“We wanted to host another event so that new and existing students, staff, and faculty could learn about the multimodal options available to them and take advantage of opportunities like the free ABQRide bus pass or free bicycle registration,” said Cynthia Martin, PATS Program Planning Manager.
For more information visit: Parking & Transportation Services or contact Danielle Gilliam at dgilliam@parking.unm.edu.
The International Studies Institute at the University of New Mexico has pooled together a number of University-wide resources for a timely discussion titled, “The Financial Meltdown: A Roundtable Discussion.” The roundtable will be held Friday, Oct. 3 from 12 to 1 p.m. in rm. 123 at Dane Smith Hall on the UNM campus.
Scheduled participants from UNM include: Donald Coes, professor, Economics; Scott Findley and Matias Fontenla, assistant professors, Economics; Allen Parkman, Regents’ Professor Emeritus, Anderson Schools of Management; and Jason Scott Smith, associate professor, History.
After brief introductions by the Director of International Studies Institute Christine Sauer, who will also moderate the roundtable, the format calls for each panelist to provide an opening statement on a relative area of the economy.
Some of the topical matter includes parallels and differences with the Great Depression, how federal deficits are financed, market turmoil, bubbles and speculative runs, the Federal bailout and if time permits, the classical-Keynesian tension in macroeconomics to highlight the importance of short-run vs. long-run distinctions.
For more information on the International Studies Institute visit: http://www.unm.edu/~isi/ or call Sauer at, (505) 277-1963 or via e-mail, sauer@unm.edu.
Proceeds to benefit the Anderson School of Management Foundation
The New Mexico Angels and New Mexico Venture Capital Association are hosting the Las Campanas Golf Tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. The proceeds of this event will benefit the Anderson School of Management Foundation.
Las Campanas is a popular Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf course located in the spectacular mountain and high-desert foothills just outside of Santa Fe. Las Campanas is a private "members only" course not open to the public so this is the perfect way to experience this PGA course first-hand with friends and colleagues.
And since the tournament falls during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, this is also an excellent opportunity to entertain clients at fiesta in the morning followed by an afternoon of golf. Singles are welcome and will be teamed up with other players.
For more information including fees, sponsorship opportunities and an application form visit: New Mexico Angels. Or contact John Chavez at (505) 660-1046 or via e-mail, JChavez@nmangels.com or Ernest Rodriguez-Naaz, Development Officer at the Anderson School of Management, at 505-277-7114 or via e-mail, ernaaz@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Leslie Venzuela, (505) 277-7117; e-mail: venzuela@mgt.unm.edu
The statewide area code 505/575 split plan enters its final phase Oct. 5, when mandatory dialing goes into effect. The Taos Campus is the only UNM branch location whose phone numbers will be affected. However, everyone should remember that when dialing numbers in the southern and eastern regions of the state, including Socorro, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis, Deming, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Roswell, Raton, Silver City, Peñasco, and Taos, you must now use the 575 area code.
Northwestern regions and cities, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Española, Farmington, Gallup, Belen, Las Vegas, Shiprock, and most of the Navajo Nation keep the 505 area code.
Until now, callers were able to call numbers in the new 575 area using the former 505 code. Now, callers will hear a recorded announcement, directing them to hang up and redial, using the correct area code. Local calling services such as 911, 411, 311 and similar information numbers will remain the same.
Taking the following steps before Oct. 5 will ensure you have no problems dialing out or being reached in areas affected by the code change.
Update numbers in calling features such as speed dial, call forwarding, and numbers saved on SIM cards in cellular phones.
Reprogram equipment like automatic-dialers, life safety systems, security systems and gates, fax machines, computer modems or voicemail.
If you live in the new 575 area code, notify family, friends and business contacts so they can update their information.
If you have your phone number printed on websites, business cards, checks or stationery, change that information as soon as you can.
Ensure everyone in your household knows about the area code change, particularly children, the elderly or the disabled.
Visit ITS Area Code for additional information.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
Native American and Hispanic festival celebrates shared food history
The University of New Mexico Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy partners with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and the National Hispanic Cultural Center to present the first annual “From Field to Feast Celebration,” Oct. 4 – 18. The two-week community festival celebrates traditional histories of planting, harvesting, cooking and eating of food while considering issues of health and well-being.
Building on success of the IPCC’s Community Connections Native Food and Wellness Program in the fall of 2007, both cultural centers will host a series of collaborative, interactive programs and events at their respective sites.
From Field to Feast opening ceremonies are scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 10 a.m. at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Immediately following at 11 a.m., both centers will host a series of activities at their sites. A complete listing of activities and programs at both institutions can be found at www.nhccnm.org and www.indianpueblo.org.
Events include a Growers Market, a Native Chef Cook-Off, a film festival, a nature hike, a community health fair and children’s activities. Events give the public the opportunity to learn more about shared customs and traditions of Native American and Hispanic communities.
Also, a new book, “Good Food, Good Health: From Field to Feast Handbook,” by Yolanda Nava and Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D. will also be available. The book was written to provide information about preventing diseases such as heart disease, Diabetes-2 and obesity and help readers make healthier lifestyle choices.
Ron Solimon, president/CEO for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center said, “Among many Native communities the word for food is actually life, so rather than someone being asked to partake in food, he/she is invited to have some life. Food is considered to be a gift of life from our Creator provided through Mother Earth.
As a result of the convergence of Native and Hispanic cultures over four centuries ago, today’s meals among Native and Hispanic peoples are a combination of indigenous crops and wildlife, as well as non-native crops, and protein from domesticated animals and fowl.”
He said that the convergence of cultures is also reflected in the management of land and water resources. Acequias (ditches) that bring water to crops are carefully maintained by Native and Hispanic communities – often on contiguous land areas.
“From planting time in the spring to harvesting time in the fall, everyone’s prayers to our Creator and the spiritual realm are for life-giving rain. The integration of Roman Catholic feast days celebrating the lives of patron saints into Pueblo culture provides venues for the articulation of prayers for life sustaining moisture through the songs and ceremonial dances of Pueblo people.
While many people see these feast days as only celebrations, the Native people have embraced them as opportunities for prayers and supplication. The Native and Hispanic cultures of the Southwest have been sustained as a result of their collective prayers being answered by the Creator and the spiritual realm,” Solimon said.
A purpose of this celebration is to engage the community in a fun and festive way while exploring and celebrating shared food histories and cultural legacies, farming practices, healing powers of food and the artistic expressions in New Mexico in both the Native American and Hispanic communities.
NHCC Executive Director Eduardo Díaz said, “Spaniards, Mexicans and New Mexicans have been living among Pueblo communities for hundreds of years. Over that period of time many unique and diverse cultural traditions have emerged, many of them closely held and shared. From ‘Field to Feast’ is a singular opportunity to explore a range of these shared Indo-Hispano traditions in a way that will also promote native food and wellness and healthier lifestyles for our communities."
From Field to Feast is an initiative of the New Mexico Community Foundation, and funded in part by grants from the Center of Southwest Culture, the Con Alma Health Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico, Dr. Augustina H. Reyes and Dr. Michael A. Olivas. Program support provided by the City of Albuquerque’s BioPark, South Valley Economic Development Center, Southwest Organizing Project, New Mexico Farmers’ Market Association, the Mexican Consulate and Petroglyph National Monument.
For more information, contact the center’s marketing directors, Tazbah McCullah, IPCC, 843-7270, tmcullah@indianpueblo.org; or Danny López, NHCC, 246-2261, danny.lopez@state.nm.us.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
While many initiatives aim to make UNM’s campus greener, a program created last fall brings sustainability into academics. The Sustainability Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary minor where students learn to innovate and implement practical solutions for a sustainable future. Sustainability Studies Director Bruce Milne explained that it’s a minor that dovetails with any major. For example, a student might learn to be a greener architect or greener chemist.
Modeling Sustainability
The program’s lounge and office are a sustainability showcase, housing furniture made from recycled materials and energy conserving light bulbs.
Nate Campbell, who graduated last summer with a Bachelor of University Studies, headed up development of the Sustainability Studies Program’s biodiesel van and solar trailer. The biodiesel van is used for environmentally-friendly field trips, while the solar trailer powers events and music and is also used for education.
Campbell is currently in Veracruz, Mexico working on rural biodiesel development and sustainable feedstock for biodiesel production.
Students in the program were also involved in writing UNM’s new sustainability policy, to improve practices campus-wide.
Building Community
Community partnerships are an essential part of the program’s practical approach. The Alliance for a Carbon-Neutral Foodshed, of which UNM is a founding member, promotes the use of local, organic food and using clean energy for production, processing, distribution and storage of food. Students in the Sustainability Studies Program work on a number of projects that promote the alliance’s goals while providing practical experience in a variety of fields.
Rose Chavez, who graduated last spring with a Bachelor of Science in nutrition, led a group of students to create the Lobo Growers’ Market, where vendors sell local produce and New Mexico-made products, as part of a sustainability studies course. A premedical student, Chavez started the market as a public health initiative. The program recently hired her to continue coordinating the Growers’ Market and develop a curriculum for a related course. The next two markets are on Tuesday, Oct. 21 and during Family Weekend on Sunday, Nov. 2, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Cornell Plaza.
Moanna Wright, a master’s student in community and regional planning, is doing research for the Alliance for a Carbon-Neutral Foodshed on Los Poblanos Field open space. The space, owned by the City of Albuquerque, is leased to local farmers. The focus of her study is the environmental benefits of urban farming. The alliance will use the research to educate the community and shape policy.
The Sustainability Studies Program is also working on creating a mobile harvesting system, which will go from farm to farm to help small, local farmers by providing equipment and labor to help bring in the harvest so food doesn’t go to waste. The system will run on waste vegetable oil.
For more information visit: Sustainability Studies.
A recent Albuquerque Journal article, “Health Program’s Solvency Extended,” emphasized the rising cost of health care for retirees – specifically those in the New Mexico Retiree Health Care Authority. The government retiree program covers all retirees in state, county, municipal, public schools and higher education. However, UNM does not participate in the Retiree Health Care Authority.
Here at UNM, retirees under the age of 65 are kept in the active risk pool, while those over 65 are in a separate plan. This basically means that while we are employees in the active risk pool, we pay slightly more in order to maintain more affordable health care as we enter into retirement. Like the government program, UNM has concerns about the unfunded liability for retiree benefits. As of July 2007, this figure totaled approximately $92 million.
As the cost of health care continues to rise, the Division of Human Resources is taking action to minimize the impact on UNM employees. We are currently in the process of implementing metrics to understand our health care expenses.
Through a better understanding of chronic illness, we can provide more targeted wellness programs to reinforce healthier lifestyles. One of the most frequently cited means to fight health care costs is supporting and encouraging a healthy work force.
Some programs already in place include initiatives on diabetes, asthma and smoking cessation. In our recent benefits-eligible survey, respondents were asked about the Division of Human Resources’ Employee Health Promotion Program. Respondents indicated that more information on exercise, stress management, and weight management techniques would be beneficial in promoting healthier lifestyles.
If everyone commits to living a healthier lifestyle, we can all work together to fight the rising cost of health care. This will help us all enjoy more affordable health care now and after we have retired.
By Helen Gonzales, vice president, Human Resources
Joseph L. Cecchi, dean of the School of Engineering and Julia Fulghum, interim vice president for research, have been named Fellows of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) a professional organization devoted to the science and technology of materials, interfDavid Brookshire and processing.
Fellows of AVS are chosen for their “sustained and outstanding scientific and technical contributions in areas of interest to AVS.” AVS is a not-for-profit professional society that promotes communication between academia, government laboratories, and industry for the purpose of sharing research and development findings over a broad range of technologically relevant topics.
Fellows candidates are required to have at least 10 years of sustained and outstanding technical contributions to materials science and related fields. Cecchi is recognized for “seminal contributions in vacuum and plasma technology and for sustained contributions to science and engineering through collaborative and innovative academic research.”
Fulghum is recognized for “pioneering development and application of quantitative methods for near-surface characterization of complex heterogeneous materials and for professional leadership within the AVS and larger scientific community.”
Awards will be presented at the AVS Awards Assembly during the annual symposium in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008.
Your Input Is Needed!
Students, faculty and staff are being asked to rate their IT experiences at UNM. The Office of the CIO invites you to provide input on how IT services – central, branch, and departmental – can be shaped and improved.
Respondents who complete the survey will be entered in a drawing for one of four $25 gift cards to Amazon.com, and all responses are anonymous. Please take a few minutes to complete and urge others to complete the survey before Oct. 17, 2008. Make your voice heard!
The e-mail invitation comes from Holly Buchanan, deputy CIO at address ITSurvey@unm.edu, and contains an embedded link to the survey. It is safe to click on this link.
UNM is one of many higher education institutions piloting the TechQual survey instrument that is under development by the CIO of Pepperdine University, Timothy Chester.
The purpose of the survey is to measure user satisfaction with technology services and identify best practices. Your responses will also serve as baseline data for future surveys. The administration of this survey was approved by the UNM Human research and review Committee. To find out more visit: Higher Education Techqual Survey.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
Wells Fargo announced recently a $250,000 gift to the University of New Mexico Cancer Center to fund a reception area, a waiting room, and part of the multifaceted Cancer Patient and Community Education Center at the new UNM Cancer Center building. Wells Fargo’s gift is the first major corporate donation to the new UNM Cancer Center facility.
“This leading gift will support the continued growth of the premier cancer center in the state of New Mexico,” said Dr. Cheryl Willman, Director and CEO of the UNM Cancer Center. “It is important for our patients to know that our community supports their care in their time of greatest need. Every partnership brings us one step closer to eradicating cancer in New Mexico.”
“Wells Fargo is pleased to be able to provide this gift to the UNM Cancer Center,” added Greg Winegardner, Regional President for Wells Fargo in New Mexico. “In addition to providing improved patient care in New Mexico, the UNM Cancer Center continues to attract millions in research funding, spur technology transfer and commercialization activity and bring world-class cancer physicians and researchers to New Mexico - all of which are critical components of our state’s economic growth.”
For many years, New Mexicans facing cancer had to leave the state to get the latest cancer treatments. With the development of the UNM Cancer Center, the talent, expertise and technical ability are now in place to provide New Mexicans with the finest cancer care available. However, since the construction of the existing facility in 1973, the Center has completely outgrown the space. Last year, the Center treated more than 7,600 cancer patients in more than 84,000 clinic visits, which is three times the current capacity.
The Cancer Patient and Community Education Center at the new facility will offer a variety of programs, including professional education for researchers and physicians, public education through seminars and presentations, and student education for medical students and researchers.
The Wells Fargo donation will fund a large board room and separate conference room, which will provide space for community events, meetings, and other types of activities. In addition, the donation will fund the waiting room located on the main floor and the reception area of the multidisciplinary clinics on the third floor.
The Cancer Patient and Community Education Center will also house a variety of patient service programs including the Patient Navigator program, the Arts in Medicine program, outreach to Indian/Native American Communities, and complementary and alternative medicine programs such as yoga and acupuncture. Patient services programs such as financial counseling, social work, spiritual counseling/hospice and nutrition will also be housed in the Center.
The new, $90 million, five-story, 206,000 square foot UNM Cancer Center is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in May 2009. The expanded facility will allow the Center to introduce many new state-of-the-art cancer diagnosis and treatment capabilities not currently available in the state.
The UNM Cancer Center is the official cancer center of the state of New Mexico and is one of 63 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers. The Center’s 73 board-certified oncology physicians, the state’s largest team of cancer experts, provide care to nearly 50 percent of the adults and virtually all of the children affected by cancer in New Mexico. The Center is also home to more than 120 research scientists, who are supported by $51 million annually in federal and private research funding.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
In October, the ITS Hardware Maintenance group will bring increased skills and value to their services by earning certification to become an Apple-authorized service provider. The certification authorizes the group perform warranty repairs and upgrades to Department-owned and personal MACs, iPods and iPhones.
Photo: Tony Waldron, Mary Hanson, Nick Keyes, Saheon Lee and Mike Prine.
The group has always performed post-warranty repairs and maintenance on UNM-owned hardware such as personal computers, laptops, printers, keyboards and monitors. With their new Apple certifications, staff and faculty with Apple equipment under warranty can call Hardware Maintenance and schedule repairs here on campus.
“In addition to being a Dell Warranty service provider, my staff and I are now certified to offer warranty service for other Apple products, so we’re very excited to provide this new benefit,” said Tony Waldron, Manager of ITS’ Hardware Maintenance Group. Waldron’s staff of three full-time certified repair technicians and one student typically handle between 15-20 calls and service requests per day, and that number is likely to increase with the staff’s Apple certifications.
Hardware Maintenance performs repairs and upgrades for UNM departments onsite, as well as at their offices at the ITS Building on Campus Boulevard across from La Posada Hall. Students who have Apple equipment still under warranty can also bring their MACs, iPods, and iPhones for repairs or upgrades covered by warranty.
To make an appointment for repairs, contact the Hardware Maintenance group at 277-8098 or send an e-mail to hwmaint@unm.edu. For a full list of services offered visit: Hardware Maintenance.
The cost of post-warranty services is $60 per hour, plus any extra parts that may need to be ordered. UNM departments can use a Purchase Requisition or Index Code from their office or unit.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
Clinical psychologist Steven K. Baum uses eyewitness accounts in his book “The Psychology of Genocide,” which he will discuss and sign Friday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore, 2301 Central Ave. NE, at the intersection of Cornell and Central. Parking will be validated in the parking structure for up to one hour with purchase.
Photo: Steven K. Baum
In the last century, 262 million people have been victims of genocide, with Jews, Armenians, Cambodians, Darfurians, Kosovons and Rwandans among them. The horrors of genocide are more poignant as patterns emerge. There are those who commit brutal acts, there are those who resist genocide and help victims, and there are those who position themselves in the middle, taking neither side. Baum reveals what patterns of personality and psychology emerge during wartime that give rise to these conditions.
He also examines the complex relationship between social and personal knowledge, and how people conflate stereotype with personal experience.
In “The Psychology of Genocide: Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Rescuers” (Cambridge University Press, August 7), Baum builds on trait theory and social psychology, re-examining our understanding of conformity. Baum presents a new understanding of identity and emotional development during genocide, showing that behavior during genocide mirrors behavior in everyday life.
Despite heightened awareness of the tragic circumstances from which genocide arises, and unprecedented instant news coverage from around the world, this greatest of tragedies persists. Baum’s analysis of genocide and the human psyche help address the persistence of genocide.
Baum is a University of New Mexico lecturer in psychology and a clinical psychologist. He is a recognized expert in the psychological aspects of anti-Semitism.
For more information contact Lisa Walden 277-7494, or email lwalden@unm.edu.