Other NM universities announcements

In rural corners of New Mexico, a small but powerful movement is connecting tradition with education.

The Tribal Extension Program, a part of the Cooperative Extension Service in New Mexico State University's College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, works with Native communities to improve agriculture, youth development and family well-being, while respecting and preserving cultural traditions.

The program has been serving the Navajo Nation, Jicarilla Apache Nation and various Pueblo communities for the past 17 years. Tribal Extension agents reside and work in these areas, providing hands-on education tailored to the specific needs of each community. 

Scientists pursuing a career in research or medicine often find themselves following educational and other opportunities across the country. For many students from the Southwest region of the United States, this means leaving home. A National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is building a support network for cancer researchers in the Southwest, helping early-career cancer researchers stay in the communities they most want to serve.

"We have a lot of students who want to stay here and continue contributing to this area," said Graciela Unguez, New Mexico State University biology professor and co-principal investigator on the grant. "The challenge was, how do we connect and network people within this area? That was the big push, focusing on professional development and opportunities to grow the network of young scientists."

As part of this year's Bold Idea Conference at New Mexico State University, the College of Business' Executive Speaker Series featured nationally recognized entrepreneur, author and business advisor Chuck Blakeman. Supported by New Mexico Mutual, the primary sponsor for the session, this keynote served as the final event before the Bold Idea Challenge and delivered a powerful message on leadership, effectiveness and building organizations that thrive beyond the founder. 

After spending 50 years in New Mexico, leading decades of cultural resource management projects around the state and publishing archaeological research as affiliated faculty with New Mexico State University, Bradley J. Vierra received the New Mexico Archaeological Council's Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual meeting in November.

"The Lifetime Achievement Award is a huge honor, but I told one of my colleagues, 'None of these kids is going to know who I am.' But I guess I was wrong. They are reading what I write, and these young archaeologists do know who I am. So, that was actually as much of an honor to me as winning the award."

Working through years' worth of data from an old observational campaign, a team of astronomers have directly imaged a new exoplanet, meaning a planet that exists outside our solar system. New Mexico State University Astronomy Assistant Professor Eric Nielsen and graduate students Anne Peck and William Roberson are co-authors on the paper.

The NMSU team collaborated closely with Jason Wang, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University, lead author Nathalie Jones, a member of Wang's research group, and other members of the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) team. Together, they revisited data taken between 2016 and 2019 through the GPIES campaign and combined it with data taken in 2022 from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

New Mexico State University will move forward with the demolition of Cole Village, an on-campus residential complex that has been vacant since 2017. Preliminary work is underway as the university prepares for full demolition activities to begin in January 2026. A demolition ceremony for Cole Village will take place at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, at the southeast corner of Wells Street and S. Espina. 

Cole Village was constructed in 1965 to provide affordable housing for students and their families during a period of rapid enrollment growth. Although the complex once served as a vital residential option near campus, university officials say the aging buildings can no longer be used safely. 

New Mexico State University will award 1,256 degrees this week, honoring its fall 2025 class at two commencement ceremonies at the Pan American Center. 

A commencement ceremony for recipients of master's and doctoral degrees will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12. A separate ceremony for recipients of bachelor's degrees will take place the following day, Saturday, Dec. 13, starting at 10 a.m.

Arcelia Mendoza, of Anthony, New Mexico, is among the 366 graduates from NMSU's College of Arts and Sciences. Mendoza followed her siblings' footsteps to NMSU, but she forged her own path.

With the end of each academic semester comes final exams, presentations and projects, and before the stress arrives, students at New Mexico State University have a nationally recognized resource to help them succeed academically. NMSU's Campus Tutoring Services provides a free, full service-tutoring program in more than 200 undergraduate subjects. 

Campus Tutoring Services offers College Reading and Learning Association, or CRLA, certified peer tutors, who serve the entire NMSU campus, and was awarded level 1, level 2 and level 3 program certification from the CRLA. Level 1 and level 2 are recertifications, while level 3 is a new accomplishment. The certifications are official for four years through November 2029.