Alan's Monday Message for December 18

The Monday message will take a break during the holidays until January 8th. I wish everyone in the Aggie community a happy holiday season with your family and friends. Enjoy the down time and see you in 2024.

I started last week by having my monthly breakfast with the ASNMSU President Citlalli Benitez. Following breakfast, I attended the weekly executive and cabinet meetings. Subsequently, I attended the high wait list meting. After lunch, I met with Clayton Abbey. Following this meeting, I met with Faculty Athletic Representative Kevin Melendrez and Student Athlete President Marisa Gallegos. We discussed the upcoming Conference USA Faculty of the Year Award. Kevin, Marisa, and I will comprise the review committee to identify the faculty of the year to represent NMSU. The NMSU representative will compete against the other eight Conference USA representative to determine the overall Faculty of the Year. Each college will undertake their own process to identify the person by March 18th. Later in the afternoon, I attended the Arrowhead Entrepreneur Hall of Fame ceremony to give brief remark prior to inducting Rachael Ryan into the Hall of Fame. Rachael Ryan created Backyard Farms (see photo below).

Tuesday was devoted to a number of 1:1 and small group meetings. For lunch, Shanna Ivey and the Department of Animal and Range Sciences invited me to their potluck luncheon in 100 West Café. It was fantastic. Thank you to everyone for sharing your potluck with me.

Wednesday started with a breakfast with Mayor Ken Miyagishima, City Manager Ifo Pili, Dean Yoshi Iwasaki, and Assistant City Manager Ikani Taumeopeau at Weck's (see image below). Breakfast was followed by 1:1 and small group meetings. TPAL professor David Rutledge brought to James McAteer and I an idea for consideration about offering a winter or spring mini-semester (between fall and spring semester and spring and summer semester). We broach this topic with the Deans and they are going to explore whether there are faculty who are interested in doing this. As Dr. Rutledge shared, this is a way for our students to catch or make up for a course. This is a fairly common practice at other institutions and something worthy of consideration by the academic colleges. Right afterwards, I met with the gradation ceremony committee to debrief about the December graduation ceremonies about what went well and what could be improved for the May ceremonies. Overall, the ceremonies went smoothly. I view each ceremony as a work in progress and a process of continuous improvement to make our ceremony memorable for the graduates and their families. I want to thank again all the faculty, staff, band, readers Nick Miller, Eli Valdez, and Hugo Perez, along with the countless volunteers for helping put together our graduation ceremony. In the future, I hope to inject more unique aspects into our graduation ceremony to make it memorable and representative of our Land- and Space-Grant, HSI/MSI designation. To conclude Wednesday, I joined the Deans monthly dinner at Sunset Grill in Sonoma Ranch. Dean Iwasaki picked this month's restaurant and we enjoyed each other's fellowship. These dinners are a nice way for the Deans to support each other as colleagues.

On Thursday, I had more 1:1 meetings. In the late morning, I met with Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent, Ignacio Ruiz at O'Donnell Hall with Dean Yoshi Iwasaki, Rick Marlatt and James McAteer. We discussed a variety of issues involving strengthening collaborations between Las Cruces Public Schools and NMSU. After the new year, Dean Iwasaki will be pulling together a team to visit with Las Cruces PUblci Schools representatives to advance the dialogue to action. Later in the day, I attended the entomology, plant pathology, and weed science department meeting in Skeen Hall. Afterwards, I dropped by the College of Arts & Sciences end of meter Department Head reception at Pecan Grill.

To conclude the work week, I facilitated the Operational Learning session on Budget and Finance presented by D’Anne Stuart and Kim Rumford in Gerald Thomas Auditorium 194. It was well-attended. I want to thank everyone who has attended one of these sessions. Several attendees have shared how they enjoy learning about other aspects of campus operations beyond their domain. Afterwards, ACES invited me to their potluck luncheon and the food was so good! I waddled back up the hill to Hadley Hall. The rest of the day was devoted to working on administrative issues and meeting with individuals or small groups.  

Kudos

Congratulations to Don Connor, Associate Dean for ACES. He just completed his term as Associate Deans Academic Council (ADAC) chair, a role in which he excelled. He facilitated, solicited comment, and advocated for shared governance. Thank you Don for your leadership. Kate Terpis is replacing him and I wish Kate the best as she assumes the ADAC chair’s role.  

In addition, Wave the Wonder Dog received a big recognition from the American Kennel Club for the Exemplary Companion dog. Wave will be featured on ESPN on December 17th. Congratulations to Wave and his companion, Dr. Steve Stochaj.

Senior Associate Provost James McAteer recognized Dr. Christopher Brown for kudos. Dr. Brown had concerns over the use of AI in classes, and decided to come and speak to Dr. McAteer one-on-one to voice his concerns in a positive manner. That discussion was one of the catalysts that led to formation of the AI Taskforce. Chris always has a sense of positive shared governance to make NMSU better every day. 

ACES Internship through Cooperative Extension Services for Spring 2024 

Please direct any students who may be looking for an internship for Spring 2024. The deadline has been extended.  

Quote of the Week 

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill 

From the Provost’s office (Cindy Garrett, James McAteer, Nadia Munoz, and myself). Happy holidays!