Dear colleagues,

In my presentation earlier this week on “Evolving Academic Landscape: A New Era of Opportunities,” I touched upon a white paper World Economic Forum released in December 2025. Several colleagues expressed interest in learning more about it during our follow-up discussions, so I would like to briefly summarize its key points for a broader audience.

The white paper, titled “New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage,” identifies five core capabilities and skills that will power inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the coming decades:

1. Human-centric skills – collaboration, critical thinking, adaptability, empathy, resilience, curiosity, life-long learning, etc., that enable effective interaction, problem solving and decision-making.
2. Artificial intelligence (AI) data and digital skills – the ability to use digital technologies, analyze and interpret data, and apply AI tools and concepts to solve problems and drive innovation.
3. Green and sustainability skills – abilities required to support sustainable practices and contribute to the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy.
4. Trade and vocational skills – specialized, hands-on abilities that are essential for performing tasks in manual or technical occupations.
5. Business skills – abilities to confidently manage tasks and challenges while applying practical business competencies such as project and financial management.

Educators are increasingly being asked to prepare students with these capabilities in addition to discipline-specific knowledge. The challenges and opportunities before us are to develop frameworks that incorporate these skills into our curricula. It is relatively easy for schools such as ours to take these up because of our student-centric culture and our focus on academic quality. This will position NMSU as a leader and an example to follow for our peers.

Across NMSU, our faculty address these skills every day through their teaching, mentorship, and research. This issue’s faculty feature highlights one such colleague whose dedication to student learning and undergraduate research reflects these values in practice.

Faculty Feature: Tracey Miller-Tomlinson, Ph.D.

Since joining the Department of English at New Mexico State University in 2002, Dr. Miller-Tomlinson has inspired students to explore literature as a way to better understand both the past and the present. A specialist in Shakespeare and early modern literature, she believes reading literature allows us to see how people in different eras understood and navigated the world.

“Reading literature is as close as we can come to time travel,” Dr. Miller-Tomlinson says. “At NMSU, I found students who are just as curious as I am about how people in the past understood the world. Our students bring their lived experiences into the poems and plays we study, which makes every class discussion new.”

She especially values teaching in the Honors College, where she works with students and collaborates with faculty across disciplines. The Honors College provides opportunities for undergraduates to pursue research, creative work, and competitive fellowships while preparing for graduate education.

Dr. Miller-Tomlinson has also played a key role in expanding undergraduate research opportunities at NMSU. As the founding director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, she worked closely with Honors leadership and faculty mentors across campus to help more students participate in faculty-mentored research and creative projects.

For Dr. Miller-Tomlinson, the most rewarding part of her work is seeing students pursue their ambitions and succeed. “I am most proud of my students who have reached for their dreams, whether that is earning prestigious fellowships, completing PhDs, becoming educators, practicing law, or launching businesses.”

For her, “We Are NMSU” reflects the university’s shared commitment to learning and discovery. “It means working together to advance knowledge, help students ask new questions and find new answers, and contribute to opportunities that strengthen our communities.”

Sincerely, 

Lakshmi N. Reddi
Interim Provost
New Mexico State University