Monday Message for November 20
It is Thanksgiving week and I hope you enjoy a great time with your family and friends on Thursday or whenever you celebrate Thanksgiving. Last week, I was in Seattle for the APLU conference. NMSU had a strong presence there with a number of NMSU leaders attending including James McAteer, Clayton Abbey, Renay Scott, Luis Cifuentes, Alisha Giron, Linda Scholz, Allen Malone, and Don Conner among others. Seattle is a great place to have a conference, because there is so much to see in the downtown area. In addition to the excellent seafood, I highly recommend Seattle if you have not been there before. The APLU meeting was full of interesting sessions on AI and its implications for higher education. US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (new below) gave an informative keynote on the importance of agriculture to America and why it is important to support small and mid-size farms. I attended a number of sessions including ones on Leadership Transitions; Fresh Ideas to Demonstrate Public University Value and Impact; Talking Transformation: Does Your Campus Have What It Takes?, and a session on Hispanic Serving Institutions - Striving to Thrive. There is a new organization of Hispanic Serving Institutions that are R1 and focused on producing more Hispanic graduates and professors. In 2025, NMSU will become eligible to join this group if we desire. Tuesday was a travel day devoted to returning to Las Cruces.
On Wednesday morning, I attended the Outreach Conference at the Convention Center and gave a welcome introduction at the beginning. I attended an informative session on NMSU economic impact given by Dr. Chris Erickson, Director of the Center for Border Economic Development and Kramer Winingham, Director of Economic Research at Arrowhead Center. They provided a picture of how NMSU impacts New Mexico economically. It made me think about how we can better message our story internally as well as externally to our various communities. In the afternoon, I met with the Deans for our bi-weekly meeting. Following this, I convened a meeting with all the LEADS 2025 Goal Team leaders to get an update on their progress and re-energize them for the final year of the strategic plan. To end my day, I had two 1:1 meetings with direct reports.
On Thursday and Friday, I had a number of 1:1 and small group meetings. Most of the day, I worked on administrative issues. The next Monday Message will occur on December 4th.
On Common Ground – Mental Health in Rural New Mexico
Chancellor Sherry Kollmann and CES Associate Dean Jon Boren brought to my attention this video highlighting mental health challenges facing farmers and ranchers. New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau in partnership with New Mexico State University and New Mexico Department of Agriculture are here to support agricultural communities to build resilience in the face of these challenges. They produced this video on how mental health impacts everyone including those who live in rural New Mexico. This video is based on research-based advice on managing stress and building resilience from an NMSU Cooperative Extension family life and child development specialist. It's time to remove the stigma around discussing mental health by seeking support and supporting others. This is excellent example of how NMSU is serving the state and the communities in which NMSU is embedded.
International Graduate Students Health Insurance
After listening and consulting a variety of sources and learning about what the University of New Mexico does with its international graduate students when it comes to health insurance, I have decided NMSU will no longer be responsible for international graduate students getting health insurance. Instead, NMSU will provide an educative role whereby NMSU will inform international graduate students of their options for obtaining health insurance along with the advantages and disadvantages of each option and allow the students to make an informed decision on their own. This decision is effective immediately.
Student Experience Project
Dean Enrico Pontelli and Amanda Barrier brought this to my attention. As the project notes, colleges and universities are enrolling more diverse student populations than ever before. Yet, one-third of new college students will not graduate within six years. There remains a need for additional support and action to provide every student with an equal opportunity to graduate from college. The Student Experience Project (SEP) was created to tackle inequities in college success by transforming the student experience. By focusing on building community and a sense of belonging on campus, the SEP is committed to a future of higher education where all students—particularly students who face barriers entering college—feel supported to persist through academic challenges until graduation day.
Kudos
Khagendra Katuwal, who presented a poster on the "unipolar magnetic field configuration of the equatorial coronal holes" won the inaugural Regents Award at this year's Graduate Research and Arts Symposium on November 10th. Congratulations to all the presenters and organizers. This year's event surpassed previous year's events and set a new record for student presentations at 160.
Interim Co-Director of the School of Social Work, Stacy Gherardi sent me a message to recognize an NMSU staff member who is simply outstanding and deeply appreciated. Kristen Torres is a university scheduling specialist. She deals with ALL the complexities of creating and updating the course schedule. It can't be an easy job, and my School has experienced many situations that have posed an especially heavy burden on her. Through it all, she could not be more kind, professional, knowledgaeble, or skilled. She deserves all the accolades and is a huge asset to NMSU. Thank you Kristen!
As everyone has read or seen, our football team recorded arguably the biggest win in program history when they defeated the Auburn Tigers at Auburn, 31-10. I want to congratulate Coach Jerry Kill and his team for a historic win. By winning, they recorded their ninth win of the season to be 9-3. This is the most wins an Aggie football team has had since 1960. I hope everyone will turn out for the last home game of the season this coming Saturday, November 25th, when the team plays Jacksonville State University at 2:00pm.
Quote of the Week
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Confucius
