Chinese, New Mexican film officials begin cross-cultural media partnership
According to a UNM press release, the University of New Mexico is collaborating with Panda iMedia, one of China’s top online media holding companies, The Albuquerque Film Office, New Mexico Film Office and the New Mexico Economic Development Department to create a cross-cultural media design program intended to bring more opportunities and jobs in digital mediums.
The Chinese film market is one of the biggest in the world and is actually projected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest film market, according to the release.
The initial relationship between UNM and Panda iMedia began with Irene Ran, one of the executives for Panda iMedia in North America, who took classes from UNM in the Department of Communication and Journalism, according to the release.
“[Ran] decided to set up a collaboration with her new employer, Panda iMedia, and the university she loves,” James Stone, chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts, was quoted as saying in the release.
This is news that could bode well for officials of New Mexico’s economic and film industry as well as others involved in the industry, including UNM, which hopes to become part of the partnership academically, according to the release.
Medieval Manuscript Seminar attracts students from across the country
According to a University press release, every year for a couple of weeks, graduate students from across the United States travel to UNM to attend Paleography and Codicology: A Seminar in Medieval Manuscript Studies.
The class offers students a rare opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge from an internationally recognized expert on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the release states.
“There are very few places in North America that offer this kind of training in manuscript studies to graduate students,” Timothy Graham, a history professor at UNM and the seminar’s instructor, is quoted as saying in the release. “The main reason for that is because most professors in medieval literature or medieval history, in North America have not had a chance to work first hand with these kinds of materials for any extended period of time.”
According to the release, the seminar focuses on two major parts of manuscript studies: paleography and codicology. Paleography is the study of ancient and medieval handwriting. For the purposes of the seminar, much of the material covered is written in Latin, a language class participants are able to speak and read.
Students go through a variety of ancient texts, decoding the meanings and dating the material using different techniques.
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The biannual seminar is one of only about a half dozen like it offered in North America, according to the release.
Because this type of course is very rare in North America, top-ranked graduate students from institutions like UNM, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Missouri, Arizona State University, the University of Oregon and many more travel to UNM to attend, according to the release.
U.S. ambassadors recognize #academy4women at UNM
According to a UNM release, the University partnered with The Innovation Academy for Women of the Americas (Universidad La Salle and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán) to bring together undergraduate women from New Mexico and Mexico who are majoring in STEM fields.
The Academy launched earlier this month as a pilot program, bringing together undergraduate women from UNM and 16 undergraduate women from Mexico whose majors are in the field of STEM+A, with a special focus on those from indigenous backgrounds, according to the release.
The release states that this pilot program gave undergraduate women the chance to receive a month full of intensive career mentorship and research training.
At the end of the program, each participant presented on the research accomplishments they made during the program and were evaluated by a panel of four judges, according to the release. The top five women in the Academy received scholarships for graduate study at UNM.
According to the release, the professional mentors included UNM faculty, former UNM Regent and Sandia National Laboratories Engineer Sandra Begay, Spaceport America CEO Christine Anderson and Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Eva Birnbaum and Anna Llobet – many of whom provided hands-on experiential learning opportunities for program participants.
“From working on a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease to inventing a new type of filter for wastewater treatment that is more efficient and environmentally friendly, the Academy cohort demonstrated that investing in women in the STEM+A fields is an investment in a better future for all,” Nicole Tami, executive director for Global Initiatives at UNM, is quoted as saying in the release. “As The Academy cohort progresses into graduate school and into the workforce, they can count on support from the network they built while at UNM.”
