Please watch for information about our opportunity to celebrate the success of these colleagues early in the Fall semester.  A new call for DAP nominations will also be forthcoming shortly.

Lisa Bond-Maupin, Hwiman Chung, Dulcinea Lara, Michele Nishiguchi, Hilda Olivas, and Don Pepion, “NMSU College of Arts & Sciences Diversity Assessment and Plan,” which will address the means for diversifying the faculty and retaining faculty, staff, and students and redesigning curricular and co-curricular programs.

Hispanic Faculty Staff Caucus (Caucus Chair, Spencer Herrera), “Adelante! Leading through the Arts,” which will educate the community and campus about the contributions of Hispanics to the Arts.

Borderlands Center for Educational Studies (submitted for BoCES by Rudolfo Chavez Chavez), “Closing the Opportunity Gap (CoG) Project,” which will build on an existing model of bringing middle school students from Hispanic and other underrepresented minority families to NMSU for campus visits.

Debra Darmata, “Interactive Theater Training and Performance,” which will improve the training of WAVE (Wellness, Alcohol, and Violence Education Program) peer educators by helping them develop interactive skills for their campus presentations.

Wendy Hamilton and J. Michael Patrick, “Waffling’ About College: A Program for Zuni High School Seniors & 2012 Graduates to Experience Harmony and Balance Through a College Introductory Program-From Pueblo to Campus,” which builds on an existing program in the Zuni community designed to excite high school students about remaining in school by engaging them in traditional Zuni agriculture.

Terry Cook, Brenda Blackburn, Cynthia Bejarano, Patricia Wojahn, Laurie Churchill, Cathilia Flores, Judith Messal, Marieka Brown, Tara Gray, David Rutledge, and Kathryn Valentine, “Fostering Success for English Language Learners,” which will assist NMSU  in addressing the English language training needs of students.

Laura Gutierrez-Spencer, “Undeclared Major (Freshman) Program,” which is a pilot program designed to offer training workshops to 20 undeclared freshmen, on majors and career opportunities including peer mentoring.

Joe Graham, “SIPI-NMSU Reunion” which is a direct recruitment strategy to enroll American Indian students who are currently at SIPI or who are SIPI alumni to become undergraduates at NMSU.

Jeanine Cook, Phil King, Randy Larry and Elissa Poel, “NMSU National Disability Awareness Week Conference,” which will educate our campus about responsibilities in working with persons with disabilities, as well as resources available to assist students, faculty and staff.

The Dennis Darnall Faculty Achievement Award recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated remarkable, broad-based accomplishments in teaching, research and service to the profession, the university and the community. The award carries a monetary gift and honors the achievements and services of Dennis W. Darnall as a New Mexico State University teacher, researcher, administrator, entrepreneur and civic leader.

We are pleased to announce that Michelle Nishiguchi is the 2011-2012 recipient. As a distinguished and internationally esteemed research scientist and an inspired teacher and mentor to students and faculty alike, Dr. Nishiguchi has become one of the most respected scholars at New Mexico State.

Dr. Nishiguichi (or Nish) joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1999 receiving  promotions to Associate Professor in 2005 and to Professor in 2009. New Mexico State has presented her with the ideal opportunity to fulfill her lifelong ambitions to teach, mentor undergraduates and graduate students, and do original research on marine organisms as a way of understanding the evolution of disease.

Her teaching exceeds the campus’ highest standards. She has taught 17 different formal courses and seminars, one lab course, and one field course; as well as a Biochemistry course. Six of these are courses she initiated and developed. According to her students’ evaluations, her courses combine her mastery of theory and current research with dynamic classroom energy and contagious excitement. Letters by former students attest to how she inspires and guides them effectively through challenging genetic and evolutionary theory. One of the ways Nish stimulates students is by confronting them with compelling questions about life and existence. In recognition of her excellence in teaching, She was named a 2011 Education Fellow in the Life Sciences by the National Academies, the parent organization of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

Her fame as a graduate research mentor has spread far and wide. When prospective graduate students and postdoctoral students think of pursuing training in marine biology, Michele Nishiguchi is near the top of everyone’s lists as a prospective mentor. Since coming to NMSU she has attracted an unbroken chain of outstanding U.S. and international students who have contributed to her laboratory’s research efforts and who have received in exchange the finest possible mentoring and guidance. To date, nine M.S. students have completed their degrees under her mentorship, and most of them have gone on to pursue doctorates. Six Ph.D. students have also completed their degrees with her and are now pursuing professional careers in science. Four additional Ph.D. students are currently working with her on their degrees. She has also trained three postdoctoral fellows, two now hold positions as research scientists and one is continuing her postdoctoral training on campus. Nish takes great pride in her graduate students’ successes. They have presented their research at national and international conferences and have authored or co-authored research articles in many top-tier journals.

She has also been a prolific mentor for junior faculty in several departments, helping them navigate the shoals of research funding, journal-article preparation, as well as promotion and tenure. Particularly among women faculty members, she has become an important role model, advocate, and leader, especially in her work for the ADVANCE Program.

Nish has been one of the strongest supporters on campus of increased diversity in research. For many years she has trained and mentored undergraduates from underrepresented minority groups in her laboratory with support from her grants. In addition, she has participated in minority research-training grants from the National Institutes of Health, including the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program and the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. She has also received support from the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program to support both her undergraduates and graduate students. Nish has also trained numerous participants in the Undergraduate Research Scholars program supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and nine undergraduate Honors students have done their research and written their Honors theses in her laboratory.

Nish combines her research with her deep commitment to the students she trains in her laboratory. Together their hard work and determination have resulted in a body of unique and extremely important contributions to her discipline of microbiology and evolution. Because of these contributions, she is viewed across the world as the biologist who deciphered the mechanisms of bacterial infections in marine animal hosts. She acquired grant support for this work almost as soon as she arrived at NMSU, and she has had an unbroken series of major research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation totaling $4.7 million with $2 million in additional grants pending. She has collaborated in obtaining additional grants for major, shared instrumentation, housed in campus core facilities across campus.

She collaborates with many national and international colleagues (recently France, Spain, India, Thailand, Australia).  Her expertise is often sought whenever there is a question regarding the evolutionary and ecological links between host organisms and bacterial populations. Indeed, Nish receives many invitations every year to be the plenary speaker at conferences and symposia throughout the world and in the U.S. (e.g. the prestigious Gordon Conferences). To date she has given 64 invited lectures and seminars, presented over 200 contributed talks at scientific conferences, 33 reviewed articles in 24 of the best journals of her field, eight book chapters and review articles, and 14 major, multi-year federal grants. All of these attest to the high quality and importance of her research, and to the high esteem in which she is held by colleagues in her field.

On campus, Nish has been a tireless participant in university, college, and departmental governance:

• leader of the Biosciences Cluster
• elected twice to both the University Research Council and the Faculty Senate
• served on 18 university and college committees. Among these are the Provost Search Committee, the Faculty Affairs Committee, the University Affairs Committee, the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Committee for Diversity, and several committees for the ADVANCE Program.
• Served as Department head and Associate Department Head

She is a member of eight professional societies and participates avidly in all of them.

• a past national chairperson
• previously served as a program officer.
• has organized seven conferences, seminars, and symposia internationally.
• has reviewed manuscripts for 35 journals,
• serves on the editorial board of two of these and as associate editor of one.
• has reviewed chapters for five textbook publishers.
• As a grant proposal reviewer, she serves seven agencies, especially the National Science Foundation on which she also serves as a member of seven separate review panels.

Nish continually accepts invitations to appear before community groups and schools as well. Every year she is invited to speak before the Generaciones Mother-Daughter Program, part of the Chicano Programs Summer Science Institute for students with disabilities. She has also spoken numerous times to the Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists, the Women’s Studies Task Force, and church and civic groups.

Campus wide recognition of this award will be part of the Fall 2012 Opening Convocation.

A team of Huron consultants will work with academic leaders, students, faculty and staff of the NMSU Community College and Las Cruces campuses during two visits (May 15 – 17 and May 22 – 24). The purpose of the visits is to extend the prior work of the President’s System-Wide Online Committee. The Online Committee Report will be available at the President’s website in the near future.

During the visits, the Huron Team will begin to analyze our program and course offerings by campus to identify key programmatic strengths and requirements. The Huron Team will also review Distance Learning infrastructure to evaluate NMSU’s technology capacity in supporting multi-campus delivery. After the visits, the Huron Team will provide observations and recommendations about change readiness related to a more strategic and integrated approach to distance education delivery among our campuses.

We invite faculty, staff, and students to join us in the open discussions. View the public schedule.

Tim Fournier and Rose Martinelli will lead the Huron team.  More information about Huron Consulting is available at: http://www.huronconsultinggroup.com/

Dear NMSU Student:

Have you received excellent academic advising from NMSU faculty or professional advising staff? If so, please acknowledge your outstanding advisor through a nomination for the “Award of Excellence in Academic Advising.” Selected candidates will be recognized at the Fall 2012 Convocation.  This award holds special meaning for advisor honorees, as they are nominated by you and your fellow students.

As you choose your nominee, please consider the goals academic advisors aspire to:

• Develop educational plans according to a student’s career interests
• Help clarify career and life goals
• Recommend appropriate courses and other educational experiences
• Interpret institutional requirements
• Enhance student awareness of educational resources
• Evaluate student progress towards goals
• Help develop decision-making skills and self-direction

Recognize your academic advisors for contributions to your success at NMSU by filling out the 2012 nomination form and emailing it to the address below by Friday, April 27, 2012:

exceladv@nmsu.edu

Or mail to:

Thank you for your time and participation!  If you have any questions please contact Kelley Hestir,
Co-Chair of the Academic Advising Council, at 646-3142 or by email: khestir@nmsu.edu.

Wendy K. Wilkins

Executive Vice President and Provost

President’s open forums for faculty/staff and students set for April 23-24

NMSU President Barbara Couture has scheduled an open forum for faculty and staff at 3 p.m. Monday, April 23, in the Corbett Center Auditorium. All faculty and staff are invited to attend.

The president’s open forum with students will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, also in the Corbett Center Auditorium. All students are invited to attend.

The foundation for the new Costa Rica initiative is being built on cooperative activities defined in the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education (CATIE) at its headquarters in Turrialba, Costa Rica.  An exploratory mission to CATIE was undertaken by Provost Wendy Wilkins and Study Abroad Director, Kristian Chervenock as a precursor to the MOU agreement.  The high level discussions identified a diverse set of activities of interest to both institutions.

The members of the large NMSU delegation attending the MOU signing ceremony were selected based on their experience and interests fitting closely to the priorities identified by CATIE during the exploratory mission.  The visitation program organized by Hansen emphasized one-on-one working meetings with CATIE counterparts who had been contacted by NMSU team members prior to travel – thus assuring rapid agreement on topics and the principles of cooperation.  NMSU administration officials also participated in the visit to assess possibilities and to strengthen the vitally important relationship building between institutions in support of the broad initiative.

The background of the delegation members highlights the broad array of interests presented in support of collaborative program development.  Accompanying Provost Wilkins and Hansen were:  Vice President for Research Vimal Chaitanya; Sam Fernald, Interim Director of the New Mexico Water Resource Research Institute; Jay Rodman, Senior Communications Specialist; Priscilla Bloomquist, Professor of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM) and Faculty Senate representative; Matt Byrnes, Department Chair of Digital Imaging and Design Technology (DACC); Nirmala Khandan, Forman Endowed Chair, Department of Civil Engineering; Daren Bloomquist, HRTM and Campus Director of the Tri-National Indigenous Tourism  program; Miley Gonzalez, Interim Dean of the CATIE Graduate School and former Director of the NM Department of Agriculture; and Tom Dormody, Agriculture and Extension Education and incoming Dean of CATIE’s Graduate School.

CATIE is clearly distinguished from the other prestigious international research centers by virtue of its Graduate School.  Currently 8 masters and 1 doctoral program are offered by CATIE.  With the addition of NMSU, there are thirteen universities from the U.S. and Europe that presently have active collaborative programs with CATIE.  The IBP vision is to move beyond the more typical single lines of collaboration of these institutions.  NMSU is developing diverse array of cooperative activities supporting a deep, long term, institution-to-institution relationship.  As Provost Wilkins stated to the NMSU delegation attending the signing ceremony:  “Let’s make NMSU the ‘go to’ university for CATIE”—a desire echoed by CATIE Director General Jose Joaquin Campos in his message to the departing NMSU team.  That “go-to” possibility is greatly enhanced by the installation of Dr. Dormody as the new Dean of the Graduate School through special arrangements between NMSU and CATIE.  Dormody will also serve as the counterpart to Hansen in providing on-the-ground support to NMSU collaborative programs.

CATIE has strong historic ties to the U.S., and especially to USDA.  Its origins date to the 1940’s as a vision of then Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace.  Wallace, with support of the Rockefeller Foundation, first proposed the creation of a research institute for tropical agriculture.  Soon after, the precursor of the Organization of American States founded the Inter-American Institute for Agriculture Cooperation (IICA) in Turrialba.  IICA later changed headquarters and, in 1973, its Turrialba field station became CATIE.  CATIE quickly became one of a select group of international agriculture research institutes with internationally recognized scientists supported by a broad array of global donor countries, foundations and development agencies.  Today it is responsible for two of the world’s largest germplasm collections protecting the genetic diversity found in coffee and chocolate.

The Governing Council of CATIE includes the Ministers of Agriculture of the 14 Latin American member countries of CATIE.  Through the CATIE stations and contacts in these countries, NMSU has entrée to an important network of institutions and opportunities throughout Latin America.  The tropical setting and scientific excellence offer expanded research, cooperative proposal development, and curricula opportunities to NMSU.  The accommodations at Turrialba and familiarity in hosting student groups offer exciting educational enrichment opportunities for both NMSU undergraduate and graduate students.

Steps already taken to address the findings include:

Understanding user needs: The Library participated in the 2011 LibQUAL+ Triads Pilot Survey, a nationally administered electronic survey of its constituency to assess library service quality and identification of best practices.  An analysis of feedback from this survey is in progress.

Service: With user input, the Library is redesigning its online catalog to make it more “user friendly.” Feedback from focus groups is being assessed.  Library staff members continually strive to provide the best services possible and to assist individuals in that effort, the library administration is creating an internal staff development program to provide ongoing in-house training opportunities for all library staff.  A staff workgroup is being established to contribute to the planning and design of the program called Library U.

Collection management: The Library is assessing the role of legacy print collections in today’s environment of electronic/digital information.  The Library will be initiating a data-driven monographs de-selection project in FY 13.  We are also initiating meetings with UNM Library on cooperative collection management partnerships.

Collection space: The Library continues a major shift of collections to address structural issues in Branson Library and overloaded floors in both libraries.  It is working with other NMSU offices to identify short and long-term options for critical collection space needs.

Public spaces: NMSU Library is working with Auxiliary Services and Sodexo on providing a café in Zuhl Library. Discussions are in progress.

Vision for the future:   The Library has developed strategic targets for 2011-2012, available at http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/admin/strategic.shtml which include activities in response to the external review report.  The Library will also address additional points raised in the external review as part of its next three-year planning retreat scheduled on March 30, 2012 that will include input from all stakeholder groups and all library staff.  The external review team stated that the Library is well positioned to consider its vision for the future. The Library continues to pursue strategies to meet the changing needs of students and faculty in these times of reduced resources and continuous change.

For more information, contact the NMSU Library Dean’s office at (575) 646-1508.

“Emily’s death was a reminder to a lot of people that our opportunities to be kind come in many forms,” said Michelle Bernstein, Assistant Director of Residential Education and Assessment. “We wanted to give students the opportunity to spread kindness throughout NMSU and the community.”

The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost teamed up with VP Research Office to hand out fruit on the International Mall.

Click Here to see more on Aggie Kindness Day.