Dear NMHU Community,

When I think back on my time at NMHU, I have a hard time believing it’s been nearly a full year. My first act as the incoming NMHU president was to attend last year’s commencement ceremony. Now that commencement has come again, and I am amazed at how busy the last year has been and all that we as a team have accomplished. Thank you to each of you for your many contributions. As we enter summer, this will be the last bi-weeklly message until we return for the fall semester. 

I want to share my gratitude to our Highlands community for your dedication and commitment. We tackle challenges with open communication, transparency, mutual respect, and with a solutions-oriented mindset. From a successful legislation session, to the restructure of the budget and budget processes, to fundraising success, to new partnerships with many new friends of Highlands, this year is just the beginning of our strengthening as an institution. 

Our graduation celebrations, inductions, and commencements are already in full swing. Below are a range of pictures taken in Santa Fe, Farmington, Albuquerque, and Rio Rancho.

The Santa Fe and Farmington graduation celebrations are a great way for center students and their families to come together. Many thanks to Robert A. Anaya and his teams at Santa Fe (Mary Angell, Mary Anne Sandoval) and Farmington (Sharon Doom, Summer Charley, Fancy Fenton), who always organize a moving set of student speakers to talk about their experiences at NMHU:

In between graduation celebrations, the International Student Club hosted a night “Celebrating Culture, Unity, and Legacy”:

The Albuquerque Social Work induction, held this year at the national Hispanic Cultural Center, was a great success:

The Rio Rancho commencement, held at the Santa Ana Event center, is always a highlight of the year. Many thanks to Joe Moreno and his team for leading that event. Here’s the view from the platform as our students walked in:

As our students graduate, let us celebrate our faculty as well. This time of year, we finalize our tenure and promotion decisions, and those letters will already have gone out by the time this bi-weekly email is sent. Congratulations to:

• Dr. Benjamin Bencomo, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr. Justine Garcia, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
• Mariah Hausman, promoted to Full Professor
• Dr. Anna Koch, promoted to Full Professor
• Dr. KwangJong Park, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr. Rodney Sanchez, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr. Elisabeth Valenzuela, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr. Melanie Zollner, received tenure and promoted to Associate Professo

Achieving tenure and promotion to associate professor, or receiving promotion to full professor, are landmarks of academic careers, and they represent years of hardwork and dedication. Here’s a picture of the dossiers, some physical, someonline, that our faculty put together. I’m constantly impressed by the sheer scope of work that our faculty do for our students and our community:

I began the year by introducing these pillars of what I call the Highlands Triangle of Success (kinda corny, I know). Each pillar represents a vital component of what we do and how we do it – all with the success of our students at the center of what we do.

I am confident we will continue to do great things at Highlands now and in the future. Congratulations once again to all our graduates. 

Respectfully,

Dr. Neil Woolf
President
New Mexico Highlands University