Every year since 2010, UNM’s athletics budget has spent more than it has brought in, although its situation has improved as of late. According to University documents, UNM Athletics was in the red by more than $1 million in 2012. But by 2013 that number was shaved to $800,000, and was $23,000 last year.
UNM is in the beginning stages of a comprehensive rebranding process after signing with branding agency 160over90, in a new effort to change how UNM is viewed nationwide. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Cinnamon Blair presented 160over90’s model and previous work to the Board of Regents last Friday, along with Vice President for Enrollment Management Terry Babbitt.
UNM and Mississippi Valley State University have formed a partnership to facilitate cultural exchange, joining the two institutions to provide students with the opportunity to visit the other college campus and experience what they have to offer. “(The partnership) will allow our students to attend a historically black university,” said Dr. Jozie De Leon, UNM's vice president of equity and inclusion. “What we’re going to do is alternate, so the first year MVSU students will come here in the summer for four to six weeks.” MVSU and UNM differ greatly in diversity enrollment. Last fall, MVSU had a total of 1,722 African-American undergraduate students, and only 22 Hispanic students, according to the university's website. While UNM had 4,728 Hispanic and only 558 African-American undergrads, according to the division for equity and inclusion.
New Mexico is the No. 1 women’s cross country team in the nation, according to the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. UNM overtook Iowa State sits for the top spot in the poll, which was released Tuesday. The Lobo women accumulated 354 points, including eight first-place points, for the top ranking.
On Friday the UNM Board of Regents voted in favor of selling $100 million in institutional bonds beginning next year, which is the first step in funding several improvement projects on campus, including Johnson Center renovations. The bonds will be split in two portions: $55 million, which will be used to fund renovations to Johnson, Anderson School of Management and Smith Plaza, will be sold in January; the other $45 million, which will be allocated toward a new Physics and Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science building and expansions to the children’s care center, will be sold a year later.
Eden Mahina, a 23-year-old Lobo football player, has a lot to juggle this year. Between sports, charity work and a new baby on the way, it seems there’s hardly time for anything else. But despite a hectic schedule, Mahina had a few words to say of the challenges that lie ahead: “bring it on.”
Heather Dyche never coached a NCAA Division I soccer team before the 2015 season, but that doesn't diminish her qualifications. She’s been around the game for quite a while. A coach licensed with organizations like the U.S. Soccer Federation, CONCACAF, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, the Albuquerque native also served as an assistant for the U14 U.S. national team. Her playing days included a stop at Florida State University.
Hundreds of UNM students visit the Johnson Center every day, either to attend a class, practice personal fitness, participate in recreational activities or practice and play for a school sport. For the amount of students using the building daily, the limited amount of space, outdated circuitry, confusing floor plan, and not-so-Americans with Disabilities Act-friendly layout are only the most apparent things that prove Johnson Center is in a dire need of a renovation.
Until Saturday, UNM had been one of the most disciplined teams in the country. However, New Mexico committed 14 penalties that cost them a total of 154 yards in a 40-21 loss to Tulsa at University Stadium.
Many UNM students who seek on-campus counseling are not aware of all of their options. They opt for the more well-known services at Student Health and Counseling or even the Counseling, Assistance and Referral Services; but few use the Manzanita Counseling Center.
The Office of the Chief Information Officer at UNM is collaborating with CNM to sponsor a Mobile Apps Contest. The contest provides students from both schools the opportunity to apply their skills for developing apps for the community.
ASUNM held their second full Senate meeting of the fall semester on Wednesday evening, and although no major pieces of legislation were presented, several appropriations and president appointments were presented for approval, and the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center got an opening date, courtesy of Dean of Students Tomás Aguirre.
New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez came to UNM on Wednesday to outline some of her initiatives for higher education across the state, in hopes that new policies will be implemented to help college students finish their studies on time. “We are falling far short of one of the key expectations that New Mexicans have of us: to see students graduate and graduate on time,” she said.
At a time when the European Union is debating plans for dealing with a major refugee influx from the Middle East, a UNM professor is helping refugees feel at home in the United States. Jessica Goodkind, associate professor at the Department of Sociology, is pairing up refugee families with UNM students to help them resettle in the U.S. as part of the “Refugee Well-Being Project.”
Isaac Neal, a University of New Mexico alumnus, is helping develop state-of-the-art laser technology designed to protect troops overseas. Neal currently works in the Laser & Electro-Optical Systems organization within The Boeing Company as a guidance, navigation and control engineer for the Compact Laser Weapon System project in Albuquerque, according to a UNM press release. The system will help the military and other consumers track and take precautionary measures against drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, that may pose a threat, according to the statement.
Back when Bob Davie was an analyst for ESPN, there was one aspect of the job that he disliked: making predictions. Davie, entering his fourth year as head coach for New Mexico, said he wasn’t fond of acting like he knew what was going to happen five months into the college football season. Davie was paid to give his opinion much in the same way that he gives his opinion as a head coach. Well, the time for making predictions is over.
Grandma is putting down the pruning shears and taking up the shovel. “All the Growing Things” is graphic novel about an elderly woman named Maude that begins with her fighting off the tentacle monsters invading her back garden. In the space of a moment, a sweet old lady with a green thumb turns into a shovel-wielding huntress. Jen and John Myers, UNM art school alumni, used the skills they developed to create “All the Growing Things,” as well as “Terra Farmers,” “Era of Great Wonders” and other comics.
Students, law enforcement officers, military personnel and others are congregating at the Anderson School of Management this week for a seminar about cybersecurity fundamentals, in hopes that they can apply it to their education or careers. The week-long course, formally called Advanced Digital Forensics, is a mix of lecture and hands-on activities based on the concepts of reverse engineering and network analysis, said Drew Hamilton, professor of computer science and engineering at Mississippi State University.
New Mexico Lottery scratcher sales increased by 14.54 percent in fiscal year 2015, which means more students at UNM could potentially benefit from the lottery scholarship, according to University Associate Vice President Terry Babbitt. According to a press release from New Mexico Lottery, $1 million in additional money was raised for college students this year from the increased sales.
According to the Energy Information Administration, 85 percent of all electricity in the United States in 2014 was generated via coal, natural gas and nuclear. Solar barely even gets any love among the seven percent of our power that comes from renewable energy resources – only 0.4 percent of our power came from the sun. The SunPort, a product made by a local Albuquerque startup team, is looking to change all of that on a global scale, and it’s as easy as just plugging it into an outlet, and the consumer is using solar.
Solutions by The State News
