Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. New Mexico Highlands University Receives Instrument Donation 

   November 8, 2021 When Miamon Miller, a musician and resident of Montezuma, moved away, he donated a number of orchestral instruments and music books to the Highlands University music department.   Miller is an ethnomusicologist and composer who has arranged music for film, composed for theatre, and has played with classical and folk groups, including mariachi. As a musician, Miller owned…

2. Highlands University English Professor Benjamin Villarreal Receives Faculty Fellowship  

   November 4, 2021 Benjamin Villarreal, an English professor at New Mexico Highlands University, has been awarded a faculty fellowship by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, or AAHHE.   The national fellowship is intended for Hispanic tenure-track faculty in order to provide support in career goals, build community, and foster faculty fellow leadership.   The group of faculty…

3. Highlands University to Participate in Statewide Esports Showcase 

   November 2, 2021 A four-student team from Highlands University will be participating in the first New Mexico Educational Esports Classic showcase beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 3.   Eleven teams from high schools and colleges in New Mexico will be competing in the video game competition this week. Playoffs on Friday, Nov. 5, will determine which teams will advance to the finals…

4. 

   New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute Hires New Director

   November 1, 2021 Alan Barton, previously the manager of the collaboration program at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, stepped into the role of director in October.   The new leadership comes at a time when the Institute’s budget has grown substantially due to increased Forest Service funding, which previous Institute director, Kent Reid, attributed to good past performance by the Institute staff and to the advocacy of…

5. 

   Robert Henssler’s Exhibition at Ray Drew Gallery Gives Insight to Daily Life 

   October 20, 2021 Las Vegas resident Robert Henssler’s art is now on view at the Ray Drew Gallery at Highlands University. The exhibition, titled Flora, Fauna and Somewhere In Between, can also be viewed online, and features photography, painting, ceramic work, and wood prints.   Henssler said he picked up his first camera at age five and started painting in junior…

6. Highlands University Matanza Will Be Ticketed to Ensure COVID-19 Safety Precautions 

   October 19, 2021 Highlands University is hosting a traditional Matanza event at the Cultural Park and Melody Park on Saturday, October 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free activities, including music and food, will begin at 1 p.m.  Attendees to the Matanza this weekend will need to have tickets. A limited number of tickets are available to ensure adherence to COVID-19 social distancing and safety protocols. Tickets are…

7. 

   Highlands Students Engage in Hands-On Learning in Las Vegas Community Garden 

   October 18, 2021 Students in the Highlands forestry class Ecosystems and Humans are volunteering in the Las Vegas Community Garden this fall to acquire a first-hand understanding of the reciprocal relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.   The class, which is taught by professor Tomasz Falkowski, will help students build skills they can use in future employment, network with community partners,…

8. 

   Highlands University Offers Debt-Free Four-Year Education to Students from Partner High Schools 

   October 14, 2021 A new partnership between Highlands University and nine regional high schools will provide current high school juniors and seniors with four-year funding to attend Highlands.   Highlands is partnering with Santa Fe Public Schools, Denver Public Schools, and most of the schools in the Northeast Regional Education Cooperative, including Mora, Santa Rosa, Wagon Mound, West Las Vegas, and Las Vegas City school…

9. 

   New Honor Society at Highlands University Expands Opportunities for Students Studying Spanish 

   October 13, 2021 Highlands University has been chartered through the national Spanish honor society, the Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica Alpha Beta Lambda chapter of Sigma Delta Pi. The honor society provides a wide range of opportunities to members, including scholarships, internships, and study abroad programs.   Spanish professor Norma A Valenzuela and bilingual education professor Elisabeth Valenzuela serve as co-advisors for Sigma Delta Pi and they said they hope the honor society will…

10. Free Business Course at Highlands Promotes Entrepreneurship 

    October 12, 2021 After taking the free course, Launching Your Own Business, at Highlands University last summer, 74-year-old student Jewll Powdrell is on course to finish the degree he started in 1966 and to launch his own accounting business.   Launching Your Own Business was a four-week class offered to students and community members at no cost. The Regional Development…

11. Highlands Senior Benito Vigil Awarded Federal Internship  

    October 7, 2021 Benito Vigil, a senior double majoring in Spanish and business, was one of just two New Mexico students selected to participate in the internship program facilitated by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, or HACU.    Vigil is a native of Las Vegas and said he learned of the internship opportunities…

12. Highlands University Awarded Grant to Boost College Graduates in the Sciences 

    September 30, 2021 Highlands University has been awarded nearly $300,000 in grant funding for a program dedicated to increasing the number of students graduating in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, fields.   The grant was issued by the United States Department of Agriculture’s research branch, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA. The grant will fund three years of summer…

13. 

    Highlands University Hosts Annual STEM Showdown for Northern New Mexico Youth 

    September 29, 2021 Students from middle schools and high schools across Northern New Mexico are participating in the annual STEM Showdown, hosted by the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute at Highlands University.   The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, or STEM, Showdown is run by Shantini Ramakrishnan, conservation and restoration education program manager at the Conservation Science Center @HU. The…

14. 

    Highlands President Sam Minner: Improved Compensation is a Matter of Human Dignity 

    September 28, 2021 Hourly employees at Highlands who were a part of the non-exempt union bargaining agreement will soon see their hourly wages jump from $12 to $15 an hour. During a special Board of Regents meeting that convened Sept. 27, board members voted unanimously to approve the wage increase.   The vote came after months of collective bargaining. According to Labor and…

15. Author and Photographer Traer Scott to Present on Shelter Dogs

    January 25, 2022 Photographer Traer Scott will be sharing her photographs and stories of shelter dogs featured in her book “Finding Home: Shelter Dogs and Their Stories.”   The lecture will take place on March 9, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Building ballroom at 800 National Ave. Admission is free, but seating will be limited to…

16. 

    Highlands Senior Wins Gold Glove: Spotlight on Estevan De La O

    September 23, 2021 Estevan De La O didn’t know he had won the Gold Glove until his friends posted about it on Instagram.  The New Mexico Highlands senior received the national award for National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II teams for 2021.   De La O is one of just nine outfielders among 263 Division II schools to receive the…

17. 

    Spotlight on Highlands Graduate Savannah Padilla

    September 21, 2021 Highlands graduate Savannah Padilla said she started thinking about going into medicine when her 5-year-old sister was hospitalized. Helping to care for her much younger siblings and witnessing the limited medical resources in Las Vegas made Padilla aware of how few doctors are from Las Vegas.   “She never got a specific diagnosis, but she did develop sepsis,” said Padilla, remembering her…

18. Highlands University Kicks Off Annual Power of Service Event

    September 15, 2021 The Highlands University customer service group, Power of Service, will celebrate its fifth year with a virtual lineup of speakers to kick off a new year of training across campus.   The Power of Service kickoff event will take place on September 23 from 9-11 a.m. and will be accessible via Zoom.   Power of Service is…

19. 

    New Mexico Association of Museums Teams Up with the Highlands Cultural Technology Program for Virtual Tech Showcase 

      September 13, 2021 An interactive map, new websites, short-form videos and animations, digital illustrations, an interactive title wall, and an augmented reality web app are among the multimedia projects that will be featured in this year’s New Mexico Association of Museums, or NMAM, Tech Showcase. The projects were created by student interns from the…

20. 

    Highlands University will Celebrate Homecoming with a Mix of In-Person and Online Events 

    September 10, 2021 Homecoming week at New Mexico Highlands University begins Monday, September 27, and will feature a range of events and activities both online and in person.   In 2020, Highlands Homecoming was held almost entirely virtually, but this year’s hybrid schedule of events offers in-person activities alongside online options. Due to the surge in Delta,…