Welcome to the Spring 2026 semester! As we begin a new term, I am pleased to welcome our students, faculty, staff, and partners across the NMSU system to a semester filled with opportunity, purpose, and impact. 

Congratulations to our University Research Council (URC) Awardees

Each year, the URC recognizes faculty and staff whose research and creative scholarship advance NMSU’s mission and deliver meaningful impact by strengthening student learning, expanding knowledge, and addressing challenges facing New Mexico and the broader global community. Please join me in congratulating the Spring 2026 URC award recipients:

• Research Recognition: Muhammad Ayoub, Chemical and Materials Engineering
• Excellence in Team Research: Njoki Kahiu, Julius Anchang, and Niall Hanan, Plant and Environmental Sciences; Vanetta Busch, Student Life; Efren Delgado, Family and Consumer Sciences; Leonard Lauriault, Agricultural Science Center in Tucumcari; Mark Marsalis, Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas; and Eric Scholljegerdes, Animal and Range Sciences
• Early Career Award, STEM: Bethuel O. Khamala, Physics, Doña Ana Community College
• Early Career Award, Social Sciences and Humanities: Jacob Dalager, Music
• Mid-Career Award, STEM: Alina Corcoran, Biology
• Mid-Career Award, Social Sciences and Humanities: Megan Finno-Velasquez, Social Work
• Distinguished Career Award, STEM: Alexander G. "Sam" Fernald, Water Resources Research Institute
• Distinguished Career Award, Social Sciences and Humanities: Michael T. Kalkbrenner, Counseling and Educational Psychology

Provost's Awards for Excellence

The Provost’s Awards for Excellence recognize faculty whose work exemplifies outstanding teaching, community engagement, and outreach, core to NMSU’s land-grant mission and to student success.

• Provost’s Award for Community Engagement, Extension, and Outreach: Michael Patrick, Extension Economics
• Westhafer Award for Excellence in Teaching: Dan Dugas, Geography and Environmental Studies

These awards recognize the important role our faculty play in advancing student success, strengthening communities, and delivering on NMSU’s land-grant promise.

National Recognition for Community Engagement – Carnegie Classification

NMSU has earned the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, one of the most respected national indicators of an institution’s commitment to community-engaged teaching, research, and service. This distinction is not honorary; it reflects documented, institution-wide evidence that community engagement is embedded in NMSU’s mission, governance, scholarship, and partnerships.

The Carnegie Classification reflects NMSU’s commitment to students, funders, policymakers, and peer institutions that our work extends beyond campus boundaries to create measurable public value.  It affirms that our research addresses real-world challenges, our teaching is enriched through community-based learning, and our outreach and Extension efforts are grounded in reciprocal, sustained partnerships.

As we begin the Spring 2026 semester, thank you for all that you do to advance NMSU’s mission.  Together, we make things happen.  We are NMSU. 

Lakshmi N. Reddi
Interim Provost
New Mexico State University