SENATE MEMORIAL 53

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Pete Campos

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 23, 2023 "NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS DAY" IN THE SENATE.

 

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university has been an important educational, cultural, social and economic asset in New Mexico, particularly northern New Mexico, since 1893; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university serves almost three thousand students each year and has more than five hundred employees at the school's main campus and centers; and

     WHEREAS, the vision of New Mexico highlands university is to be a premier university, transforming lives and communities now and for generations to come; and

     WHEREAS, the core values of New Mexico highlands university are excellence, diversity, accessibility and responsiveness; and

     WHEREAS, the priorities of New Mexico highlands university are academic excellence, academic integration and student success; strategic enrollment management; vibrant campus and university life; community partnerships; technological advancement and innovation; and enhanced communication and efficiency across the university; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university effectively serves students across the state and beyond its borders, online and on its campuses and centers in Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Farmington, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university educates many first-generation students, transforming their lives and the lives of their families and future generations; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university has many active alumni, representing every state, many countries and nineteen tribes and pueblos, and seeks to effectively reach out to all alumni through the establishment of a vibrant alumni association board of directors while offering engaging events for alumni and community members; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university was named one of the most diverse regional universities in the west, a top one hundred best regional university in the west and one of the top sixty public universities in the west by U.S. News & World Report; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is also ranked seventy-sixth in the top one hundred among all universities nationwide on U.S. News & World Report's top performers on social mobility list and was recognized as one of the top one hundred colleges and universities for Hispanics published in the Hispanic Outlook for Higher Education's October 2021 issue; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university continues to demonstrate diversity as an institutional value through a number of partnerships with other New Mexico higher education institutions, including working in tandem with New Mexico state university, eastern New Mexico university and New Mexico's developmental disabilities council; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university received one million dollars ($1,000,000) from the federal government to support the New Mexico reforestation center's seed bank and seed collection efforts, and New Mexico highlands university works closely with its partners to meet New Mexico's current and future reforestation needs; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is home to the Native American social work studies institute, which includes programs and initiatives serving Native American people, and continues to achieve success in the alternative teaching program while expanding the professional development school model in teacher education; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university launched a new distance education partnership designed to increase student enrollment, and the school's success coach student-mentoring program model has contributed to a historic retention rate in 2022; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university recently developed new degree programs: master of arts in criminology; master of arts in cultural resource management; bachelor of science in wildlife biology and conservation; bachelor of arts in organizational leadership in public safety; bachelor of arts and sciences in general business; master of business administration in health care administration; and master of social work; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university added new programs in biology, entrepreneurship, cultural resource management and criminal justice; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university was awarded twenty million five hundred thousand dollars ($20,500,000) in endowment funding from the higher education department to bolster its education, social work and nursing degree programs; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico highlands university school of education received ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to support a new institute for culturally and linguistically responsive learning and teaching; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico highlands university Facundo Valdez school of social work receives one million six hundred thousand dollars ($1,600,000) in federal funding annually through Title IV-E, earmarked for training social workers in New Mexico to work in child welfare; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is piloting a new student mental health initiative to support student wellness, with funding from the higher education department, to be used to assess the impact of a new model of care that uses health and wellness coaching to assist students in navigating college experiences; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is addressing students' basic needs through the implementation of the highlands caring about food equity project with funding from the higher education department to be used to overcome the stigma related to food insecurity and will administer the basic needs survey in spring 2023 as part of the statewide initiative to combat food and housing insecurities at colleges, a first survey of its kind in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, two hundred thirty-eight New Mexico highlands university athletes earned a cumulative grade point average of three or higher; seventy-seven athletes earned a cumulative three and five-tenths grade point average or higher; seventeen athletes earned a four-point grade average; twenty athletes were recognized as all-Rocky mountain athletic conference performers; seventeen athletes were recognized as Rocky mountain athletic conference academic performers; six athletes were recognized as Rocky mountain athletic conference athlete of the week; four athletes were recognized as national collegiate athletic association all-Americans; one athlete was an elite ninety recipient; and athletes contributed more than two thousand hours of community service; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution, with more than fifty percent enrolled Hispanic students, and strives to be a Native-American-serving institution, with nine percent enrolled Native American students; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university welcomes students from northern New Mexico, all of New Mexico, the United States and the world;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 23, 2023 be declared "New Mexico Highlands Day" in the senate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that New Mexico highlands university be commended for its service and dedication to the residents of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the president of New Mexico highlands university.

- 6 -