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Eight UNM students spent the summer preparing to interact directly with national leaders and policymakers at a public-policy conference in Las Cruces.
The 2012 Domenici Public Policy Conference, which will take place on Sept. 19 and 20, includes 20 student panelists, eight of whom are UNM students.
The student panelists will discuss topics such as national security and entrepreneurship with various speakers, including political consultant James Carville, adviser to former President George W. Bush Karen Hughes, Colorado Rockies owner Linda Alvarado, former U.S. former U.S. rep. Heather Wilson and current U.S. rep. Martin Heinrich.*
The UNM students chosen to participate are Jake Wellman, Sunny Liu, Richard Baca, Iric Guthrie, Mark Kunzman, Keioshiah Peter, Ehben Reed and Lauren Salvato. They will have 15 minutes to ask questions of their assigned panel speakers after each hourlong speech.
Vice president of ASUNM and student panelist for the Linda Alvarado panel Sunny Liu said the panel is an opportunity for students to communicate with national leaders. Each group, which includes three or four students, works together to research its assigned speaker and formulate questions to ask after each speech.
“It promotes awareness of national and global issues and problems that we will have to face in the future and makes us more prepared,” Liu said. “I think it will give some insight and ideas about those who have pioneered or burned a trail for us about some of their ideas and experiences and a projection about what the future will hold.”
Liu said panelists were told to prepare for the discussion in advance by having a solid grasp of the wide range of issues the speakers could cover because the discussions may change focus. To prepare, his group gathered as much information as possible to have a well-rounded understanding of the speaker’s ideas, choices and actions.
“It’s almost impromptu in a sense, but it’s also structured with specific topics regarding our nation,” he said. “You have to be able to go with the flow of the conversation, so once you ask your initial question, if the topic sort of trails off in a different direction, you need to be able to pick up on that new subject and continue with related questions. You need to be able to think on your feet.”
Liu‘s panel chose to focus on Alvarado’s stance on green building, issues regarding political stances taken by the food industry and how she has overcome social issues as a Hispanic female in an executive position.
“We delved into research about our speaker extensively to find out some of her specific interests and to find some topics that might procure interest,” he said. “And we took some certain aspects of her career and her life and her experiences to formulate some questions as well.”
Student regent and student panelist Jacob Wellman, who is the only UNM student invited to the conference for the second time, said he sits on the panel for Wilson and Heinrich. He said that last year, he sat on the panel for Norm Augustine, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the nation’s largest defense contractor, and discussed issues about the federal budget.
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“There were a lot of discussions about how we solve our nation’s fiscal crisis,” he said. “We talked about the future of the University and public support for the University and getting scientific research from the University out to the public.”
Wellman said he enjoyed having the opportunity to discuss national issues and policy with his peers and that the conference allows students to interact with policymakers and speakers and formulate debate.
“It’s an opportunity to tap into their knowledge about the state of New Mexico. It’s going to be exciting,” he said. “It was just incredible to have all of these people interested in public policy and be able to talk about that in a really exciting and engaging way. The students are awesome.”
*The printed version of this story incorrectly labeled Martin Heinrich a former New Mexico representative. He is a current U.S. representative. The article also labeled Heather Wilson a former New Mexico representative when she is in fact a former U.S. representative.
