The New Mexico Highlands University’s student chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management is on an unprecedented three-year roll of national recognition.
The NMHU SHRM chapter recently received the Merit Award for the 2023-2024 school year from SHRM national.
Dr. Melanie C. Zollner
“I think it’s a big thing,” Dr. Melanie C. Zollner, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Administration and the chapter’s faculty advisor, said.
The award is an acknowledgment of the chapter’s outstanding achievementsin operations and a commitment to providing meaningful programs and services to members and human resources students in the community, Nancy Woolever, Vice President, Academic, Certification and Student Communities for the national chapter, wrote in announcing the honor.
“This award recognizes the Student Chapter,” she wrote. “It also is recognition of your continued growth and development as a future business leader, capable of developing strategies that lead to business success. We are immensely proud of your chapter’s success and thank you for your continued partnership with SHRM.”
The chapter had to meet a number of criteria to earn the recognition, Zollner said.
Toward that end, the chapter organized numerous educational opportunities, including:
- SHRM BASK/Competency Model, “To promote the benefits and value of competency-based career development resources”;
- Communication is for the birds;
- Advance your Education and Future Career with SHRM and
- SHRM Certification, focusing on the benefits and value of SHRM Certifications.
In addition, student chapter members attended professional workshops and conferences, including the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, Collegiate Program: Teaching Business Ethics Workshop and the SHRM NM State Conference 2024 in Albuquerque.
The organization works to give students networking opportunities, leadership training and advocacy outreach.
“I’ve seen a lot of benefits,” Micaela Lechuga-Delgado, a Highlands senior and chapter vice president, said. “It’s helped with my networking, and given me a sense of professional development, building my leadership skills. Building my résumé and interview skills. They help you in dealing with human resources, which is inevitable wherever you want to work. You have to deal with human resources and this gives you an upper hand. No matter what profession or work force that I seek out in the future I feel more confident in the questions that they might be looking for.
The organization also gives Lechuga-Delgado a sense of being a part of the Highlands community despite being a remote student living in Farmington.
“Since I am attending outside of Las Vegas, it is very hard to find groups or chapters or any type of community that you can be part of being so far from the actual campus” she said. “This gives me a sense of unity and participation with the university that I was seeking.”
Students interested in joining the NMHU SHRM Chapter contact, Dr. Zollner at melzollner@nmhu.edu.