Dear colleagues,

As the land-grant university in New Mexico, we are constantly reminded of our three-fold mission: teaching, research, and outreach/service. I believe these are not mutually exclusive. Learning is the common denominator of all these activities. There is at least one conversation every week that compels me to emphasize this common denominator.

Learning is what we do when we say we teach, we research, or we serve. It is learning that happens with researchers – be they faculty or students, as they compile thoughts to create a new idea/concept, or theory. Teachers learn while they teach. To use Nobel Laureate Tagore's metaphor, how can a lamp light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame? Lastly, service is learning externalized, and it is through service – be it with an administrative assistant, an administrator, or an extension officer, that one's learning is challenged and revised.

This attitude shift, from teaching vs research vs outreach/service, to the common denominator of learning, is needed to give all of these activities their rightful and non-conflicting places on campus.

The attitude that we have a unique opportunity to immerse ourselves in a learning environment where we challenge each other to higher levels of learning, as simple as that sounds, is perhaps an understated need on higher-education campuses. The measures to assess learning in these areas are not always easy, and this is perhaps the reason why some of our activities on campus, those that are easily measurable, earn better recognition than others.

It is important for those of us in administrative services to recognize and preserve the value of learning in the apparently diverse tasks of teaching, research, and outreach. It is even more important that the tools we use for faculty/staff promotion and salary increases (ex. annual evaluations, promotion and tenure policies/guidelines at all levels) are aligned with this common value.

We shall continue to challenge each other to higher levels of learning, promote all activities on campus that are conducive to faculty/staff/student learning, and continue to remain truthful to our land-grant mission. We are NMSU.

Lakshmi N. Reddi
Interim Provost
New Mexico State University