Press Release 2009 :: UNM Gallup | The University of New Mexico

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: December 7, 2009

GALLUP - Rick Krouth, Construction Tech instructor and chair of the Applied Technology Department at UNM-Gallup, was recently certified by the Building Professionals Institute for Building Analysis Training credentials.

In time, Krouth said the college will be able to offer Building Analysis Training at the college. This type of training pertains to one of the new, so-called “green” jobs that are being promoted nationwide. It involves analyzing a house or building from many angles as to a number of environmental and cost-saving factors: indoor air quality, performance of appliances, energy leaks through windows, doors and other areas of the structure,

Krouth was certified by Cleanedison, a company involved with education for the green industry. Now that he is certified, Krouth can in turn get the college accredited to be a training entity.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: November 10, 2009

GALLUP - Advisers at the University of New Mexico-Gallup have announced a campaign to advise and register as many current and continuing students as possible before the winter break, which begins Dec. 24.

Beginning Nov. 30, and continuing until finals week Dec. 14 through 18, the Student Services department will register students by department. Registration for new students will begin during the week of finals. Faculty have been asked to tell current students to register during the correct time period.

“We have three goals we hope to accomplish with priority registration,” Paul Kraft, director of Student Services, said. “First, we want to create an environment where students begin to identify more closely with the departments from which they will receive their degree. Second, we want to build a more collaborative relationship between the academic advising in Student Services and the advisement that is happening between faculty and students.

“Third, we must reduce the chaotic, stressful, exhausting experience that currently occurs when 2000-plus students try to get quality advisement within a ten-day period,” he said.

The schedule for advisement is as follows:

Nov. 30: Students graduating Spring 2010, TRIO students

Dec. 1-2: Applied Tech (Auto Tech, Collision Repair Tech, Construction Tech, Cosmetology, Drafting Tech, Welding Tech)

Dec. 2: Math and Science

Dec. 3-4: General Students, Psychology

Dec. 3-5: Education & Criminal Justice (ESME, Pre-Professional Elementary and Secondary Education, Criminal Justice)

Dec. 7: Business Tech (Administrative Assistant, Gen. Business, Gen. Business Accounting, Gen. Information Tech, Legal Assistant, Pre-Business Administration, Secretary Skills, Tribal Advocate)

Dec. 7-8: Other programs, including Art Studio, Communications, Design & Digital Media, Liberal Arts, Pre-Bachelor’s (Extended University)

Dec. 9-10: Health Careers and Nursing (Dental Assistant, Diabetes Prevention Specialist, EMT, Health Information Tech, Health Care Tech, Human Services, Med Lab Tech, Nursing Assistant, Pre-Nursing, Nursing)

Dec. 5 & 11: Open advising, including undecided, unclassified

Dec. 14-18: Open, new & readmitted, student advising

UNMG reopens January 4 after the winter break. Spring classes start January 19. Deadline for Spring 2010 admissions applications is Monday, January 11. Starting Tuesday, January 12, a late admission fee of $50 will be in effect.

Call UNM-Gallup Student Services for more information at 505.863.7522.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - September 15, 2009

Al Henderson, a former executive director of economic development with the Navajo Nation, has joined UNM-Gallup to help establish the New Mexico Rural Entrepreneur Institute through funding from a two-year grant award from the Johnson Foundation of Florida. The funds will pay half Henderson’s salary as a faculty member. He will spend two-thirds of his time teaching and the other third of his time promoting the program.

The Johnson Foundation typically funds Native American institutions or Native American-serving institutions.

Henderson, who has a master’s degree in economics from UNM, comes to UNMG after 12 years at Northern Arizona University as a tribal liaison with leaders and organizations. He spent 34 years in Albuquerque where he ran his own consulting business, advising organizations and tribes on economic and business development.

He has also been involved in the oil and gas business in the Four Corners region, as well as the waste management business in Arizona and New Mexico.

Born at Twin Lakes, he is a member of the Salt Clan and was born for the Many Hogans People.

Besides teaching two sections of a management course at UNM-Gallup, Henderson is currently involved in “discovery” work -- talking and listening to business and government leaders about the local history of entrepreneurship. He is also examining UNMG’s certificate and degree program in entrepreneurship, to see if it “fills the bill with the financial and banking community as to what they would be expecting of an individual who wants to be in business.”

Henderson says he also aims to reexamine “what has happened with similar projects in the past that I’ve come across on campus and off.” As to the light enrollment that the college’s entrepreneurship program has experienced in the past, he says he suspects the region’s population is not yet at a level of understanding to make the most of what the program might do for them, or else the right marketing has not been done to promote the study of entrepreneurship at UNMG.

“This will take a lot of work,” Henderson said. “We will need support from area tribes and elected leaders. Key business leaders have to be involved. “

“Al comes to us with a wealth of experience in education, entrepreneurism and economic development,” said Bill Stenberg, chair of UNM-Gallup’s Business Technology department. “The contacts he has in the region have given him a real running start in our race to establish a viable entrepreneur program for the region. It is a real pleasure to have a person of Al’s professional prowess leading this program for UNM-Gallup.”

For more information on the institute or the entrepreneurship degree or certificate program at UNM-Gallup, call (505)863.7634.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - September 22, 2009

GALLUP— Groundbreaking for UNM-Gallup’s proposed Student Services and Technology Center is due to occur at the end of October, according to Ron Petranovitch, manager of the Physical Plant. Bidding for the $13.4 million project is due to occur about mid-October. The 36,000-square-foot building will house all of Students Services, including the Registrar’s office, Financial Aid, Counseling and Advisement, as well as the cashiers, on the upper level. The Arts and Letters and Social Sciences departments will be located in the lower level.

The building will also have several so-called smart classrooms, which will feature the latest in technological advances. It will be the first LEED- (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building in Gallup and McKinley County.

“We’re comfortable with the silver status, as far as LEED criteria, but we’re hoping for gold,” said Petranovich. Projects earn points toward certification based on various “green” building criteria, including sustainable site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation and design process.

Once the groundbreaking starts, parking will be temporarily affected, as some of the current space will be used as a staging area. No new parking is planned for the building, as it is designed just to accommodate current programs rather than any expansion.

***

Construction work at Calvin Hall continues through October, according to Petranovich.. The renovations are about two weeks behind schedule, but according to Murphy Builders, the company in charge of the renovations, they will be able to make up time and finish the $1.3 million project on schedule.

The repairs include updating the mechanical/HVAC system, installing new fire sprinklers, finishing floors and painting the walls of the 30-year-old building.

***

Another project recently completed was the replacement of the exercise stations along the track at a cost of $70,000. The durable steel stations replace the wooden ones that had deteriorated.

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The rehabilitation of Vo-Tech Drive, located on the north side of the campus, and which leads to the Career Technology classrooms and on to the Nursing and Health Careers buildings, is due to start in March. The reconstruction, which will include improved gutters to handle run-off from the new building, will also include curbs and street lights. It will be bid out over the winter. Funds are from the local $8 million G.O. Bond passed in February.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release -- August 12, 2009

Daniel Pedro knew when he was a sophomore at Santa Fe Indian School that he wanted to be an anthropologist. He also knew that as a Zuni, he would not be able to touch human remains – a common task for physical anthropologists.

“It was kind of a barrier,” said Pedro, a 20-year-old freshman at the University of New Mexico-Gallup. “I had to find a way to work around it.”

Pedro began to look for that way through his participation in the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge. The Challenge aims to teach teams of middle and high schools students how to use powerful computers to analyze, model and solve real world problems and awards prizes in various categories.

Pedro hit on the idea of studying the faces of living puebloans in search of consistent similarities and then projecting that data onto the past as a way to identify and repatriate skeletal remains. As stated in the executive summary of his project, “My goal … is to make it easier for anthropologists to figure out which tribe/pueblo the remains belong to on the computer, instead of disrespecting Native customs and damaging the skull.”

An early advisor, UNM Curator of Human Osteology Heather Edgar, told Pedro that the people of the pueblos, both present and past, were too mixed to make the sort of determinations he was seeking. Nevertheless, she was impressed by his inventive approach to problem solving, and encouraged him by giving advice on how to go about his project. She also gave him a medical diagram of a human skull with which to start his studies.

“We need a Native perspective in anthropology, and especially a perspective that comes from working with living communities,” Edgar said.

Pedro’s unique project soon attracted several other advisors and mentors.

“They were impressed by the fact it was a student who wanted to do this kind of work, and a high school student and a Native American at that,” Pedro said.

Pedro began to work in a computer program called StarLogo, which allowed him to rotate two objects side by side and compare the objects in different profiles. He had decided to concentrate on the human skull, comparing shapes that represented skulls. His goal was to create a method for anthropologists to determine which tribe or pueblo a skull might belong to with only minimal handling. The result was an entry for the Supercomputing Challenge called “Scan of the Past.”

“He learned a lot about the mathematics of 3D computer graphics and the rotation and scaling of 3D objects on the computer,” said Irene Lee, who oversees a grant program at Santa Fe Institute, and was previously lead facilitator for the SFI-MIT Adventures in Modeling program in Santa Fe when she worked with Pedro.

For this phase of his project, he received the Judges’ Choice Award for “Integrating Computation into Anthropology” from the Supercomputing Challenge.

The second phase of his work was on a new version of the “Scan of the Past,” with the help of Steve Guerin of Redfish Group, a Santa Fe-based business that specializes in data mining and visualizing. Guerin helped Pedro during his senior year construct a proxy data set, which would allow him to practice clustering techniques and classification algorithms, or in other words, construct real world data. Pedro learned how to integrate actual facial data collected after he photographed and studied 15 landmarks on the faces of 45 individuals – fellow students whom he persuaded to participate in his project. Generally, says Edgar, studies are made with as many as 50 landmarks on a human skull, but because Pedro was concentrated on faces, his study was limited to far fewer.

Although this phase of the project did not earn an award, he did receive an award from the Supercomputing Challenge in 2008-2009 for creating a graphic poster and creating a logo.

“Daniel took on a computational challenge that was meaningful to him and his community,” Lee said. “He is a great role model of a self-directed student researcher. He found an interesting, unsolved problem he could address. He overcame many obstacles and persevered with the project over several years.”

“It was great to have help from so many mentors,” Pedro said. “I had wondered if my project would be taken seriously because this was something really new.”

After graduating from high school in 2008, Daniel went on to enroll in UNM-Gallup, where he is studying, among other subjects, anthropology with Teresa Wilkins, professor of anthropology. Last year, he got a taste of the museum work he hopes to make a career by working at A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center in Zuni, where he learned how to care for exhibits and worked with the photo collection. He also got some good career experience this past summer by participating in the Conference on Archaeoastronomy of the American Southwest, Camp Verde, Ariz., where, with researcher Anna Sofaer, writer, artist and founder of the Solstice Project, he presented a poster on a new interactive computer model of the Chaco Canyon Sun Dagger site.

His work with Sofaer helped him see that Native Americans “did marvelous things,” and reinforced his idea that, when studying historic sites, “It’s best to listen to Native American oral traditions about what happened at these sites. If we can integrate these traditions with what we can learn from modern technology, we can create another level of thinking.”

As Pedro continues his journey toward a bachelor’s degree in Southwest Studies at UNMG, and beyond, to a Ph.D., the intention that inspired his high school project will be very much with him. He wants to continue to explore ways to use technology to repatriate human remains and relics to the tribes they belong to. At the same time, he wants to build on what he learned from his high school project and his work with the Solstice Project to bring computers into anthropological work in a way that will help Native Americans understand who they are.

“As an example, time may overtake the original Sun Dagger site and it will become part of nature, but a replica of the model will be there to teach how Native Americans used the solstice at Chaco, and how they measured time,” Pedro said.

Wilkins applauds Native students like Pedro who are looking to apply “sophisticated technology to [solve] real problems,” and echoes his hope that today’s Natives will become empowered to make their own identifications of remains in order to repatriate them. She also believes that such an applied approach to anthropology as Daniel Pedro’s project undertook may be “highly significant in empowering Native people to conduct their own research.”

Pedro also hopes his vocation as anthropologist will help show Native Americans that eventually, they should not have to take classes to “be native.” After all, he points out, most of the non-natives who have taught American Indians about their history and culture cannot have complete information because, “There is a limit as to how much we can share. Keeping the culture or religion with the community keeps our identity within the community, rather than having it spill out.” Ideally, he says, those studying and interpreting the research some day will be Natives who will not only share this knowledge with their communities, but also mediate what is shared with non-Natives.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - August 24, 2009

The University of New Mexico-Gallup’s welding program, on hiatus for the last year, is getting back on track with a new instructor and plans for a more rigorous course of study.

Joe Sanchez, a Gallup native with 35 years of experience in welding, has been hired as visiting lecturer for the coming year and is looking forward to beefing up the program, with a focus on certification.

“I want to turn out certified welders,” Sanchez said. “If you’re going to school to be a lawyer or a doctor, you should be able to perform when you complete your coursework. It’s the same for welding. You should be ready to get any job when you get your certificate.”

The curriculum and certification will be according to the standards of the American Welding Society. Students will learn all the basic functions such as setting up a machine, layout and fabrication and reading blueprints. They will also study metallurgy, and learn four types of welding: oxyacetylene, M.I.G., T.I.G. and stick welding. At the end of the one-year course of instruction, students will be tested by the American Welding Society. The college currently has an agreement with Clovis Community College whereby they will proctor UNMG’s certification test, and UNMG will reciprocate.

Rick Krouth, chair of the Applied Technology Department and Sanchez’s supervisor, emphasized that a syllabus outlining the course of study will be followed.

“There are liability issues,” he said. “We need to be sure that whoever graduates from our program is knowledgeable and capable of being certified.”

Sanchez says his goal is to have the best welding program in the Four Corners Region, and the premier program in the state. His intention is that students obtaining their certificates from UNMG will be qualified for many of the well-paid jobs in welding.

“Welding used to be looked at as a dirty job, but today, things are changing,” he said. “There are opportunities in the green industry, including wind generators, with an emphasis on using, lighter stronger metals.”

Other opportunities for employment exist in aerospace, nuclear power plants, submarines, food processing plants, shipyards, the oil industry and aviation.

Salaries for starting welders, depending on the type of industry, can run from $40k to as high as mid $50k.

UNMG’s welding shop is well equipped with some state-of-the-art machines. Many of the welders are digitized and multi-task machines. There is also a brake machine, a notcher, and portable welders.

The program will accommodate about 20 students. Sanchez invites students of any age, male or female, to apply. Students must be able to see well or else must wear glasses to correct poor vision. Contact wearers are advised to wear glasses, as contacts may become fused to the eye through one of the heating processes involved in welding.

“We’re looking for students who are enthusiastic about learning the trade, whether it’s to build a career or to do their own projects, such as art work,” Sanchez said.

For more questions about the UNM-Gallup welding certificate program, contact Joe Sanchez at 505.863.7510.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - May 26, 2009

Sylvia Rodriguez Andrew has been named director of the University of New Mexico-Gallup campus, announced UNM Vice President Marc Nigliazzo. She assumes the role effective August 1.

Kate O’Neill, director, UNM-Taos, served as search committee chair. She said, “Dr. Andrew’s background and her particular skill set make her an especially good fit for the Gallup campus, as evident through her meetings with people there. She has a fine appreciation for diversity issues, an awareness of social and cultural issues as well as excellent interpersonal skills. I am happy we were able to find someone with her talents and abilities to take the Gallup campus to the next stage in its development.”

Andrew has served as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Antioch University Los Angeles since last year. In that capacity, she provides leadership and management of all educational programs and activities. She serves as the campus academic liaison officer, is administrative liaison to the Faculty Assembly and is responsible for institution-wide academic initiatives.

Prior, from 1994-2006, she served as dean and professor in the College of Social Work at San Jose State university. The College of Social work included graduate and undergraduate social work programs, African American Studies, Mexican American Studies and Regional and Urban Planning. She was responsible for a $3 million budget and an additional $1.3 million in external funding. She established working relationships with surrounding human service organizations, developed innovative programs such as the off-campus Sonoma project to bring graduate social work education in response to regional needs. In collaboration with San Jose State University undergraduate former foster youth social work students, she initiated a campus-wide discussion on the educational needs of youth aging out of the child welfare system. Plans included developing a program to offer junior and senior social work courses at the local community college.

Andrew has held interim leadership positions including serving as interim chancellor at San Jose/Evergreen Community College District; and acting president at Evergreen Community College.

Andrew’s social work experience includes serving as executive director of St. Peter St. Joseph’s Children’s home in the San Antonio area; serving as project director at Los Ninos, also in Texas; and as social services director at Crestview Retirement Center in College Station, Texas.

Andrew earned her law degree from Lincoln Law School in San Jose, Calif., in 2001; and her Ph.D. in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association, is a licensed Child Care Administrator, licensed Master Social Worker, Clinical Social Worker, among other certifications.

Andrew is extensively published, including numerous articles, books and reports on substance abuse issues among Mexican Americans.

Andrew said, “The more I learned about UNM Gallup and the range of possible opportunities, the more excited I became about being a part of that vision. Everyone recognizes we face challenges, but I believe that when we work together we can create an environment where all students can achieve their educational dreams. I was impressed with the potential of the Zuni campus and look forward to working with tribal leaders in assuming we provide quality and relevant educational programs. Both the campus and community were gracious and welcoming – I know they have high expectations, but I also know that they are ready to work with me to make UNM Gallup the place where dreams begin.”

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - April 10, 2009

On a chilly morning in February at the Gallup McKinley Humane Society, students in Rick Krouth’s Interior Finishing class from UNM-Gallup were on a mission. Wearing hardhats, but minus customary hammers and drills, they listened as Cosy Balok, director of the Humane Society, ticked off a list of the organization’s considerable needs. Krouth and fellow Construction Tech instructor Chris Chavez made notes, and the students, prompted by a photographer, took up some of the numerous kittens and puppies waiting for adoption at the facility and posed for pictures they hope will promote their mission in the local community.

That mission is one that is now well under way, with the construction of a prep room in the Humane Society building, and plans for more projects that will help provide better care for the 5000 homeless cats and dogs that come through its doors every year.

“We take in a lot more animals than other facilities, because we’re surrounded by the reservation,” said Balok. It’s a familiar story: too many abandoned dogs and cats, and too little spaying and neutering, despite the availability of low-cost and no-cost veterinary services in the area.

The Humane Society in Gallup, founded about 20 years ago, is housed in the Animal Control Building on Hwy. 491. Volunteer veterinarians such as Clinton Balok, retired from Cedar Animal Medical Center, and others spay and neuter, give shots, and treat a variety of health problems that trouble neglected animals, such as mange, ringworm and viruses. Volunteers also care for the animals – walking the dogs, cleaning the cages, and feeding and watering.

The Humane Society holds the animals for two weeks in an attempt to find homes for them, rather than allow them to be euthanized. Operating expenses come through various grants and the annual Bow-Wow/Meow fund-raiser. There isn’t a lot left over for the improvements that Balok envisions to make the animals more comfortable during their stay.

The new partnership between the Humane Society and UNM-Gallup’s Construction Tech program may well be a way to make those extras possible. It is the brainchild of Interim Executive Director Barry Cooney, an animal lover who, upon learning about the overpopulation problem on the reservation, looked for a way to get the campus involved by creating a student project. Cooney hopes to donate the students’ labor so that not only will the animals be helped, but the students will get valuable hands-on experience. In turn, he’s hoping the local community will support the college’s efforts by donating materials.

“This project, which allows our Construction Technology students to lend a hand in helping much-needed specialized areas within the Humane Society building, is a real win-win for both the Gallup community and UNM-G’s students,” Cooney said.

“We’re looking at how we can do anything and everything they want,” Krouth said. “Besides the surgery prep area, we’re looking at building cabinetry, creating a cat containment area, extending some dog runs, even tightening up the windows and doors for better energy efficiency.”

Krouth described the students in his class as “very excited” about the current project, and hopeful that a source for the materials for this and future projects will be found.

To that end, the college will be making appeals to merchants, individuals and organizations for help underwriting the project. Cooney hopes the effort will be an ongoing one – as is the Construction Tech Department’s association with Habitat for Humanity.

Already, the community has been responding. Linda and Charlie Byrd of Clifton Electric donated the electrical work for the new prep room. Cooney and all involved hope other members of the community will respond in kind.

“I was struck by the overwhelmingly positive response our students had to this project when they visited the Humane Society and had the opportunity to spend time with the animals,” Cooney said. “I urge all animal lovers to support this incredibly worthwhile project.”

Captions:

Alliaha Barney, Construction Tech student, and friend.

Nate Davis, Construction Tech student, with one of the puppies from the Humane Society.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - April 14, 2009

No one would argue that when the University of New Mexico-Gallup opened its campus in Zuni in 2002, things got off to a slow start. During those first years, college officials worried about how to put the $3.8 million, 36,000-square-foot facility to better use. But over the last year, the picture has changed for the better. The parking lot is full of cars, the classes are brimming with students, and as Fred Wey, the interim program manager says, “We’re running out of room here.”

Wey, who became a faculty member with the Gallup campus in 2006 and transferred to the Zuni campus in 2007, credits this turn of events to a new, improved relationship between the campus and the Pueblo of Zuni. A licensed social worker with a Master’s of Social Work Degree with a clinical specialty, he arrived at UNM-Gallup after teaching social work, counseling and psychology at Western New Mexico University. Once at the Zuni campus, Wey began to concentrate on a new, improved relationship with the Pueblo by keeping conversation open with the Zuni Tribal Council, as well as the schools, businesses, and organizations that serve Zuni and the surrounding communities.

“We have needed to stabilize not only our image in the community, but stabilize the students and get them to stay here. The way we operate stimulates students to come back. With that in mind, I’ve become a strong advocate with the chairs [of the various academic departments at UNM-Gallup] for the courses we needed,” Wey said.

Slowly, the image seems to be changing. One by one, obstacles have been overcome, from getting reimbursement for UNMG instructors who drive from Gallup to teach classes through a Zuni dedicated travel budget, to finding local instructors with the proper credentials to teach, to transforming Zuni—through the services of administrative assistant Laura Leekela—into a one-stop shop for financial aid and advisement that is sensitive to the unique cultural needs of the community.

Along the way, the recruiting and retention of students have advanced through the work of a revitalized student senate on campus and the outreach of the Construction Club.

“Most of the credit, though, goes to our students who are rapidly spreading the word that ‘The time for the Zuni campus has come!’” Wey said.

These developments have helped mitigate the feeling among some in Zuni that the campus was “an afterthought,” as Wey put it. Although such terminology as the “twig”—meaning that Zuni campus was a “twig” off the UNM-Gallup branch -- was probably meant humorously rather than as a put-down, it began to rankle some locals, who also heard the campus referred to as the “stepchild” or “white elephant.”

“They felt that UNMG was never fully supportive,” Wey said.

Wey, who has applied for the permanent manager’s job at the Zuni campus, said another problem was the job has been vacant more than filled. The first two managers prior to Wey moved on after a short time at the post. Filling the position with someone who intends to stay on board should help improve the campus’s image in the community, Wey said.

As mentioned above, one of the most important ways of getting students onto the campus has been for Wey to advocate with the chairs for the courses that Zuni needs.

“If our motto is ‘Stay close, go far,’ shouldn’t that apply down here as well?” he said. “ZEE Transportation [the company that carries members of the Pueblo from Zuni to Gallup] doesn’t have a budget to make a run after 5 p.m. Additionally, many of our students do not have the resources to make the Gallup-Zuni commute.”

To remedy the challenge of providing more varied courses, an effort to recruit instructors from Gallup has been intensified. Currently, instructors from Gallup are teaching psychology, sociology, English 101 and 102, College Success and drawing. And now, the students are energized to seek more courses.

“Our students now feel empowered enough to petition for courses they need. If we receive enough signatures for a particular course, we will strongly advocate with the chairs in Gallup for the addition of this course,” Wey said.

For instance, students wanted Human Services Interviewing this semester but the paperwork wasn’t processed in time, and so they will try again next semester. The campus did petition for and was able to offer a course in First Aid. Physical Education classes are now in the works.

Popular courses that are currently taught by local instructors include Transitional Studies courses in math and English, Construction Tech (with plumbing, electrical and blueprint reading courses), Business Tech, Astronomy, Math 100, 120 and 121 and more.

“I’m petitioning the chairs to offer courses that are germane to what degrees people here are seeking,” Wey said.

The campus also has a renewed relation with Zuni High School, and offers many courses for either dual enrollment or for the Center for Career and Technical Education (vocational) track. Most of these courses are offered in the daytime, however, and as Wey points out, the Zuni campus, unlike Gallup, is mostly populated by those seeking weekend and evening classes.

“And that is one of the main things the Pueblo would like to see – more weekend, late afternoon and evening courses,” Wey said.

In the immediate future, Wey says he has plans to expand on dual enrollment with Ramah High School, which currently offers the College Success course. Ramah already offers many CCTE offerings coordinated by Linda Burson, a long-time Zuni campus faculty member. Wey also is increasing outreach with the Ramah and Pine Hill communities.

With classrooms now steadily full to capacity, planning for more space is in discussion. The high school is currently lending classroom space, but that is seen as a temporary solution. Zuni students would also like to see upgraded computers, an expansion of the current building and even the building of a multi-use auditorium with projection equipment and a stage. The auditorium, Wey says, might be rented out to the local community – an idea that appeals to the Pueblo.

Wey said some discussion of housing for full-time faculty has been held, and that this might be achieved by partnerships with other entities in the area – perhaps with the school district, which already provides housing for its teachers.

As Wey acknowledged, many of the past concerns about the Zuni campus have had to do with whether or not it is cost effective.

“The fact is that a clear profit and loss statement for Zuni is extremely hard to determine under our current budgetary structure because Zuni doesn’t have its own dedicated budget. Current budgetary meetings in Gallup may resolve this problem beginning next fiscal year,” he said.

For now, though, Wey believes the Zuni campus is already helping to pay its way, claiming that by analyzing the current 2 percent UNM-Gallup increase in semester hour enrollment, 1.1 per cent of that increase—over half—may be due to the semester hour increases in Zuni. “If you add the Ramah semester hour increases, that total rises to nearly 1.3 percent of the 2 percent reported total,” Wey said.

Regardless of the source of the increase, the administration at UNM-Gallup is pleased with the increase in traffic at the Zuni Campus, as are the citizens of Zuni. All are hopeful that perhaps now, the campus is at last on its way to enabling locals to “stay close and go far.”

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Please credit John Van’t Land with photography

Captions:

Steve Peretti instructs the Sociology 101 class.

Barbara Babcock, left, instructs the Drawing class at the Pueblo of Zuni. Students are Erickson Johnson, middle, and Sarah Gashytewa, right.

From left, Andrew Martinez and Derrick Zunie with Drawing instructor Babcock.

Monica Wyaco, administrative assistant, with Fred Wey, interim program director.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - April 28, 2009

GALLUP – Four candidates have been selected to interview for the position of executive director of the University of New Mexico-Gallup, and all four will be coming to Gallup over the next two weeks to determine which of them best fits the campus and the community.

“I think we have some strong candidates, and I’m excited about that,” said Kate O’Neill, executive director of UNM-Taos and the chair of the search committee.

UNM-Gallup employees, the Gallup community and the search committee will meet each candidate at the Gallup branch during a series of meetings. The candidates will tour the campus as well as Gallup, and will also travel to Zuni for a tour of the South Campus. After that, they’ll be off to Albuquerque for a meeting with O’Neill and UNM administrators, branch directors, deans and Extended University administrators.

“The candidates that emerged are strong professionals and I think they bring a range of backgrounds and experiences from two- and four-year schools. They also have experience in the Southwest and in a range of programs, and have focused on student success,” O’Neill said.

The candidates are Robert A. Anderson Jr., Sylvia Rodriguez Andrew, Anselm G. Davis Jr. and Homer Garcia.

Anderson, of Heber, Ariz., has been in private business since 2005. He was vice president for student services at the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas from 2002-04, and prior to that, president of Colorado Northwestern Community College in Rangely from 1995-2002. Other administrative positions include executive vice chancellor from 1991-95 of the Houston Community College System in Texas; superintendent from 1987 to 1991 of Sevier Valley Applied Technology Center in Richfield, Utah; and president from 1978-87 of New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. He received a Ph.D. in educational administration and an M.S. in educational psychology from the University of Utah, and a B.S. in elementary education from the College of Southern Utah.

Andrew, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Antioch University Los Angeles since August of 2008, has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, and a J.D. from Lincoln Law School of San Jose, Calif. She was dean and professor of the College of Social Work at San Jose State University (Calif.) from 1994-2006. She was also interim chancellor of San Jose/Evergreen Community College District from 2004 to 2005, and acting president of Evergreen Community College from August to September of 2004. Andrew held teaching positions at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin and our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

Davis, of Gaithersburg, Md., holds an Ed. D. from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and an M.A. from Northern Arizona University. Of Navajo-Choctaw descent, he was the executive director of the White House Initiative in Tribal Colleges and Universities for the Department of Education (Washington, D.C.) from May of 2008 to January of this year, and prior to that, was special assistant for the same organization from 2004 to 2008. Other positions he has held include program director for the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., for the Rural Systemic Initiative; principal investigator for an RSI grant for the Navajo Nation; associate director for the North Central Association-Navajo State Office; and dean of instruction and assistant to the executive director of Navajo Preparatory School, Farmington, from 1991 to 1997.

Garcia currently resides in Pearland, Texas, where he has been a consultant since 2006 to tribes, churches, and the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was president/professor of general studies at Henry Cogswell College from 2004-2006, and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and professor of sociology, University of Texas-Pan American, from 2001-04. Other positions he has held include vice president for academic affairs, University of Saint Francis from 2000 to 2001 and professor of sociology at Baylor University from 1990 to 2000. He has a Ph.D. in sociology, a master of philosophy and a master of sociology from Yale University.

Schedules for the four candidates are as follows:

Anselm G. Davis Jr.: Arrive in Gallup April 29, 9 a.m., for a series of meetings, with a community forum in Calvin Hall 248A at 5:15 p.m. Davis will travel to Zuni on April 30 for a tour and a meeting with faculty, staff and students. He will participate in a community forum in the commons area from 1 to 2 p.m. and will return to Albuquerque that afternoon, and meet with UNM administrators, branch directors, deans and search chair Kate O’Neill on May 1.

Robert A. Anderson Jr.: Arrive in Gallup May 4, for a series of meetings with faculty, staff, administrators, students and the search committee, starting at 9 a.m. A community forum will be held at 5:15 p.m. in Calvin Hall 248A. Anderson will travel to Zuni on May 5 to meet with faculty, staff and students and will participate in a community forum from 1 to 2 p.m. in the commons. He will depart for Albuquerque at 3 p.m., and on may 6, will meet with UNM administrators, branch directors, deans and search chair Kate O’Neill.

Homer Garcia: Arrive in Gallup May 5 at 9 a.m. for a day of meetings with faculty, staff, administrators, students and the search committee. A community forum will be held from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. in Calvin Hall 248A. Garcia will travel to Zuni on May 6 for a meeting with faculty, staff and students and will participate in a community forum from 1 to 2 p.m. in the commons. He will depart for Albuquerque that afternoon and meet on May 7 with UNM administrators, branch directors, deans and search chair Kate O’Neill.

Sylvia Rodriguez Andrew: Arrive in Gallup May 6 at 9 a.m. for a series of meetings with faculty, staff, administrators, students and the search committee. A community forum will be held at 5:15 p.m. in Calvin Hall 248A. Andrew will travel to Zuni on May 7 to meet with faculty, staff and students and will participate in a community forum from 1 to 2 p.m. in the commons. She will depart for Albuquerque that afternoon and on May 8, meet with UNM administrators, branch directors, deans and search chair Kate O’Neill.

“I hope the campus will turn out for this,” O’Neill said. “Everyone is encouraged to fill out evaluation forms, which they can turn in and which will be tabulated carefully. The more specific people can be about why they think a particular candidate would be a good director, the more helpful their opinions will be to the hiring officer.”

Marc Nigliazzo, vice president of Rio Rancho operations and branch academic affairs, will be the hiring officer. He will make his selection in consultation with the UNM Gallup Local Board.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - February 6, 2009

Trucking, like other segments of the economy, has seen some downturn. But earning a Commercial Driver’s License can still be a passport from a low income to a relatively high-earning job, says Jimmy Gonzales, instructor for UNM-Gallup’s CDL Training program.

Some students, Gonzales said, start out making as much as $700 a week, right out of the program. The instructor, who began offering CDL training through UNM-Gallup four years ago, has the numbers to prove his claim. Of the 75 students who have graduated from the program, 64 have found good-paying jobs.

UNM-Gallup’s entry-level CDL program runs from seven to eight weeks. Applicants typically have a high school education or GED, and must be able to read and write. They must also have a New Mexico or Arizona Driver License. Also required is a clean driving record—no DUI’s—and they must be alcohol and drug free for the 60 days prior to enrolling in the class. They must also pass a medical examination in order to obtain a CDL.

For the first two weeks of the program, Gonzales conducts classroom sessions at the UNM-Gallup campus. Students see videos and hear discussions of such topics as air-brake systems, combinations (driving with two trailers), equipment maintenance, driving policies and regulations, and such challenges as road rage, driving at night and driving in the rain. After two weeks, the students are ready to pass the written test at the Department of Motor Vehicles for a provisional license. Once they obtain their provisional licenses, they proceed to field training at the Gallup Sports Complex, where they inspect the cab, learning the instruments and how to use the air brakes. Other instruction includes how to do a pre-trip inspection (including a three-point air brake test in front of an examiner), how to do daily logging and yard skills training. The latter encompasses back-up, 90-degree alley dock, lane changing, straight backing, sight side parallel parking and blind side parallel parking.

For the last two weeks of the class, the students get on-the-job training on local highways, as well as training in how to use forklifts and special dollies to load and unload 18-wheelers. Students typically practice at the Safeway and WalMart parking lots early in the morning, before the stores are busy, learning to back up to the docks.

Once they complete this training, the students are ready to take the test for a permanent Class “A” CDL, which requires that they pass lot and driving tests through the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

Class size varies, but most classes are small and students can expect considerable one-on-one time with the instructor. Gonzales is currently teaching six students in his beginners’ class, which is held Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. He also holds a weekend class composed mostly of people who have passed the CDL test and who are looking for a refresher course. This class takes place on Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and runs for nine to 10 weeks.

Cost for the course is $2762, although Navajo students can have the tuition underwritten through Navajo Workforce Development, and Zuni students, through the Zuni Education and Career Development Center.

Currently, Gonzales is looking to expand from two leased trucks to four, with four trainers. His goal is to be able to teach 21 students in each class. He’s also working with local truck companies like Swift and RAC in the hope that they will help underwrite some of the classes. Recently, the program got a new truck, in which he can pack six students in the cab. That means he can drive as many as six of them out to a site where they can take turns practicing the maneuvers.

Although trucking jobs have been hit by the economic downturn, Gonzales still guarantees that his graduates can get a job upon completing the program. The most desirable jobs are, of course, with local transportation companies that go short distances. But while those jobs are at a premium today, there are still abundant opportunities with long distance haulers. Gonzales typically helps his students get their first job, and keeps in touch with them for the first year, to monitor their progress.

“If you want to work, you can get hired,” said Gonzales, who drove a truck for seven years prior to taking on the CDL instruction in 2004. Passionate about the program, he is eager to pass his on his enthusiasm for commercial driving and its rewards to his students.

“I still get a thrill from teaching, but perhaps my greatest thrill is when someone tells me that after completing our program and getting hired by a trucking company, he or she has gone from earning $400 a week to $700 a week,” Gonzales said.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - February 6, 2009

The work of Una Mjurka is on exhibit at Ingham Chapman Gallery at UNM-Gallup through March 4.

The exhibition consists of a new series of wall pieces composed of numerous tiles. As Mjurka, a native of Latvia, explains the inspiration for the work: “This new development was informed by moving from the Bay Area to the rapidly changing San Joaquin Valley in Central California. I grew up on a small farm in Latvia. The landscape there, even though it was used for agricultural purposes, maintained its natural characteristics. It felt appropriate to human scale, comfortable to live in, familiar and personal. The environment and landscape of the Central Valley has been completely transformed by large scale commercial farming. The layout of the land has become grid-like, controlled, organized and de-personalized. Today this already altered landscape is going through its next transformation; it is becoming an enclave of urban sprawl and endless subdivisions. The disconnect I harbor towards this artificially created landscape is at the root of my current work.”

Mjurka grew up in Latvia during the Soviet era. In recent years, she has focused on exploration of human nature and conditioning through the prism of Maslow’s pyramid of psychological needs, categorized in two distinguished groups such as “basic” and “being” needs.

“Through my work I celebrate the beauty of simplicity in mundane rituals fulfilling our basic human needs,” Mjurka says. “These rituals award us with a sense of security and purpose, whether it would be building one’s shelter, growing or preparing food for one’s sustenance or seeking meaningful interactions. Unfortunately though, it seems like today’s society, plagued with consumerism, has lost the longing for a higher fulfillment of being needs.”

Mjurka says the emotional discontent she feels is mirrored in her creative process.

“Instead of employing direct hand-building techniques, now I am utilizing plaster press-molds to produce the work,” she said. “Unlike my still lives, where form dominates, here the development of surface treatments has taken center stage. In addition to painted and mono-printed application of engobes [liquid clay slips applied to the surface of ceramics], I also have begun experimenting with line drawing and silk-screening directly on tiles. The employment of various printing methods as a part of surface treatment reflects the character of my somewhat distant and strained relationship with the landscape I occupy.”

An artist lecture is set for Thursday, February 26, at 6:30 p.m. A reception will follow the lecture.

Call John Zimmerman, manager of the gallery, for more information at 863-7774.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - February 17, 2009

Small business has been on the new President’s radar recently, as an important target of economic stimulus funds. While local small businesspersons will certainly appreciate these measures, they can also avail themselves of new, improved instruction in entrepreneurship from the University of New Mexico-Gallup.

The Johnson Scholarship Foundation of Florida, which typically funds Native American institutions or Native American-serving institutions, recently awarded the college’s entrepreneurship program $60,000. The funds will be dispersed in two payments of $30,000 over two years to pay half the salary of a faculty member, who will spend two-thirds of his or her time teaching and the other third of the time promoting the program.

“They found us, came out and visited with us about our program, and now we have the funds,” said Bill Stenberg, chair of the Business Management and Technology Department. “They are very interested in us, and think our entrepreneurship program is critical to our region.”

The college offers a certificate in Entrepreneurism and an Associate of Applied Science degree in General Business with an Entrepreneur concentration. The revised curriculum for the program has been approved and will start in the fall.

Besides several basic courses in math, English, physical education and the humanities, students seeking the degree will take business classes in such topics as Accounting, Salesmanship, Business Communication, Spreadsheets, Customer Service and Relations, Cash Flow Management, Microcomputer Accounting, Developing a Business Plan, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Statistics.

Students seeking a certificate, in addition to the basic courses, must take Accounting, Human Relations in Business, a Business elective in Internet or Web Design, Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism, Introduction to Travel and Tourism Marketing, Computing for Business Students and Small Business Management.

UNM-Gallup has been offering the Entrepreneurism, Hospitality and Tourism certificate and degree for a number of years, but according to Stenberg, this funding will allow the college to greatly improve the program.

“The goal will be to teach adventurous people how to establish and maintain a small business,” Stenberg said. “We will give them all the skills they need to do so.” Stenberg said the department will also be working with the Small Business Development Center, which has a close affiliation with UNM-G, as a consultant with the program.

Call the Business Management and Technology Department at 863-7705 for more information.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - February 27, 2009

Peterson Zah, special advisor to the president on American Indian Affairs at Arizona State University, will speak on “Education: A Lifelong Journey and a Necessity to Change a Society, a System” on Wednesday, March 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Zah, a Diné, was recruited by Arizona State University in 1995 to address the education concerns of the growing Native American student population. During his tenure at ASU, the university’s Native American student population has doubled from 672 to over 1,400, with retention rates increasing from 43 to 78 percent, among the highest of any major college or university in the country. He is also credited with helping to build faculty representation of American Indians at ASU to a level of 30 – one of the highest numbers in the country.

In the fall of 2004 Zah received a lifetime achievement award from the National Indian Education Association.

Zah’s respect for the value of education is rooted in his own story. Born in 1937 and raised in the middle of the Navajo Reservation at remote Low Mountain, Ariz., he left his home and family in 1953 to attend the Phoenix Indian School. He later enrolled at Phoenix Community College and then went on to ASU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1963. He returned to his homeland as a vocational educator, teaching Navajo adults the essentials of the carpentry trade, and then worked as a field coordinator for VISTA Indian Training Center at Arizona State University.

He is co-founder and later became executive director of DNA-People’s Legal Services, a nonprofit legal services program for the Navajo, Hopi and Apache people. He assisted tribes in legal matters, set up widespread community education programs, and championed native rights.

In 1982, Zah was elected Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council. In 1990, under a new tribal government, Zah was elected the first president of the Navajo Nation, leading the movement to restructure and modernize their governmental system from a council to a nation.

Zah, who is considered one of the 100 most important Native Americans of the last century and a key leader in Native American government and education, received an Honorary Doctoral Degree of Humane Letters from Arizona State University in 2005. He is also the 2008 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Servant Leadership Award.

During the 2007-2008 academic year ASU had 409 seniors and graduated over 300 Native American students; of this number 21 graduated with their doctoral degrees and 56 graduated with their master’s degree.

The lecture is scheduled for Calvin Hall 248. It is free and open to the public.

In addition there will be VIP session preceding the lecture, from 5:30-6 p.m. in Calvin Hall 229. Contact the Student Senate at 505.863.7553 for more information.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: January 15, 2009

GALLUP— UNM-Gallup is asking local voters to be mindful of the college’s contributions to the local community as they go to the polls February 3 to vote on an $8 million General Obligation Bond issue.

To that end, Barry Cooney, Interim Executive Director, is taking the campaign to the community, speaking to local service organizations and urging media support.

“UNM-Gallup’s most obvious service to the community is in providing education. Not only do we offer certificates and associate degrees to ready our graduates for the local work force; we also prepare those students who wish to go on to a four-year university,” Cooney said.

Cooney’s other thrust in the campaign concerns the estimated $20 million the college generates in the local community. With an annual budget of more than $16 million, UNM-Gallup is one of the area’s largest employers. The college and its employees fuel tax dollars, tuition and grant money back into the local economy by buying local goods and paying for local services.

The college also acts as a community center, offering free space to nonprofit organizations for meetings, workshops and conferences. Further, the college allows the community to use its library and computer labs at no charge. UNM-Gallup also provides a number of free concerts, cultural events and art exhibitions each year.

The bond money, if approved, will go toward several projects to improve the campus facilities, including rehabilitation of Gurley Hall, razing and replacing the aged Lions’ Hall, building a new childcare facility and a new maintenance facility.

It is not expected that the general obligation bond will increase taxes, as it will simply replace the bonds set to expire in the near future.

“UNM-Gallup recently celebrated its 40th year of providing educational opportunities to the local community,” Cooney said. “While we have much to be proud of in regard to our facilities, we realize the current economic downturn may offer challenges to our ability to maintain the excellence the community has come to expect in the campus complex. That’s why we want local voters to understand how important it is to continuously improve our campus. Buildings age, and need rehabilitation and replacement. This rather modest bond request, if approved, will go a long way in helping us maintain and improve the level of service our students and other patrons have enjoyed in the past.”

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

For Release - January 29, 2009

Joe Kee, UNM-Gallup’s new full-time Navajo language instructor, understands the challenges of learning to read and write the language, even for a native speaker like himself. After all, he made that journey years ago. But he is passionate about the difference that literacy can make in terms of ensuring the survival of Navajo culture, and now he is ready to help others in the Gallup area acquire those skills.

Kee comes to UNM-Gallup after spending three years at home in Steamboat, Ariz., where he returned after a long teaching stint at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, to reconnect with his roots. A graduate of NAU with a master’s degree in Navajo literacy, Kee devoted those years to “non-academic” research, attending local events, observing ceremonies, attending chapter meetings and social functions and even herding sheep. During that time, he also developed a new approach to teaching Navajo.

“I introduce students to where I come from, and engage them in learning by talking about how I came to be the person I am today,” he says. “I stress family, relationships and kinships inside the classroom to make learning fun. I try to help students learn not just words, but to learn through the meaning and context behind the vocabulary.”

Kee recalls a very traditional rural upbringing, in which he spoke Navajo as his first language. Later, at school, he was able to pick up English, as did his classmates, at around eight or nine. He describes the process as relatively painless, in comparison to the struggles older American Indians recount, when they were sent far from home to boarding schools, forced to speak only English and to forget their native tongues.

By the time he got to college, Kee knew he wanted to study the Navajo language. But studying Navajo literacy was something new.

“Although I was a fluent speaker, it took me four and a half years to grasp Navajo literacy,” he says. “But afterward, I felt proud and empowered that I could speak, read and write my language.”

Kee traces the history of Navajo literacy for his students from the 19th century. Linguists traveling through Dinetah listened to the language in various parts of the reservation, and began to write it down. A written alphabet was standardized.

But this process was interrupted by two factors, according to Kee: the introduction of the boarding school system, in which students were forbidden to use Navajo so that they might be more easily assimilated into the dominant culture, and the coming of World War II—when the language was used by the military to transmit secret tactical messages via Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific Theater.

“The language became classified,” Kee said. “The government wanted care taken about how the language was taught, and to whom it was taught. We had to accommodate these circumstances, although Navajo remained strong inside the home, regardless of what was going on outside.”

It would be at least 20 years after the war before the government relaxed its strictures against teaching Navajo; but when it did, the effort to spread Navajo literacy began to gather momentum again.

As an advocate of Navajo literacy, Kee has come to UNM-Gallup well prepared to answer questions from traditional Navajos about why an oral tradition should be written down.

“Older people would share with me that our tradition should remain intact as an oral history, and that to write things down is not right,” Kee says. The elders point to the example of the Anasazi, who, some believe, wrote too much, and thus exposed themselves to the world and by doing so, met an uncertain fate. “They believe that writing things down exposes you to the outside world, and then you’re sharing too much. I have to explain to them that we are losing a lot of the history and the language, and that writing it down can help us document it and help it continue.”

Students in Kee’s classes – which include Navajo 101 and 102, and the literacy course, Navajo 105 – will become familiar with such paradoxes as they learn not only how to speak, read and write Navajo, but also learn the stories of the people. Currently, most of those taking the classes have done some work in Navajo; in the future, he hopes to design classes to reach out to beginners and non-Navajos.

The instructor also says he is greatly impressed with the reasons his Navajo students give for wanting to learn the language of their people.

“Navajo students want to communicate with their great-grandparents before it’s too late, to show appreciation to their elders,” he says.

Kee says he sees great potential for UNM-Gallup to grow its Navajo language and studies program.

“I am really excited to be here at UNM-Gallup, in a town I visited as a child,” says Kee, who was born into the Black Streak Wood People Clan for the Mexican People Clan. “I hope to build a program where students will come to Gallup to take the language. And, I am really thankful that I am able to use my language and make my living by it.”

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