Dear colleagues, 

We recently held the inaugural meeting of the Data Stewards group as part of our ongoing efforts to align initiatives and engage key stakeholders across campus. The group elected Ms. Melissa Magnusson as Chair and Mr. Ross Justus as Vice Chair.

The Data Stewards represent key areas across the NMSU system, including Enrollment Management, Human Resources, Research, Budget and Finance, and Community Colleges. Together, they will lead the development of data policies, enhance operational efficiency, and improve data quality and accessibility. They will also work closely with the Data Trustees to ensure all data needs of the NMSU System are met. A complete list of the Data Stewards and Data Trustees can be found on the Provost’s Office website.

On another front, I am excited to see that fifty researchers from New Mexico State University (NMSU) have been named among the worldwide top 2% scientists, an increase from forty-one researchers last year, according to Stanford Professor John P.A. Ioannidis’ publicly available database. This database ranks the most cited authors across all scientific disciplines and classifies publications in 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields.

Current NMSU-employed faculty on the career list include:

• Paul W. Bosland, Paul De Ley and Frank A. Ward, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
• Matthias Burkardt, Andrew Conway, Michael Engelhardt, Gary A. Eiceman, Kathryn A. Hanley, David Trafimow, and Stefan Zollner, College of Arts and Sciences
• Abdessattar Abdelkefi, Finley Charney, Jay I. Frankel, Nirmala Khandan, Thomas A. Manz, and Pei Xu, College of Engineering
• Jagdish Khubchandani and Kimberly Oliver, College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation

In another milestone, based on data reported by Google Scholar, NMSU now has more than 50 scholars who have received over 5,000 citations for their research publications, and more than 200 scholars who have been cited at least 1,000 times for their published research.

These are just a few of the exciting developments that make us proud to be part of NMSU. In this spirit, we sought to hear directly from faculty members who have dedicated their long careers at NMSU to teaching, research, and service. In this issue, we are pleased to feature Dr. Chris Erickson, Professor of Economics in the College of Business, who shares his reflections on what has inspired him at NMSU.

Faculty Feature: Dr. Chris Erickson

Dr. Chris Erickson came to NMSU to teach in his field of monetary policy and quickly discovered a passion for his Money & Banking course, which he has now taught to more than 3,000 students. He credits NMSU’s students and Las Cruces’ wonderful climate for inspiring him to stay. Over the years, he has witnessed teaching evolve from ditto machines, typewriters, and chalkboards to digital tools and remote printing. His greatest reward comes from seeing students succeed and hearing how NMSU helped shape their lives. Among his proudest moments is being named the Garrey E. and Katherine T. Carruthers Chair for Economic Development, an honor that reflects both his mentor’s influence and a career devoted to advancing New Mexico’s growth. To him, “We Are NMSU” represents the students, colleagues, and community that have made NMSU his home.

Sincerly, 

Laskhmi N. Reddi
Interim Provost
New Mexico State University