On Monday, July 6, University of New Mexico Provost Barbara Rodriguez announced the reappointment of School of Law Dean Camille Carey, who will be serving her second term as dean of the school. Carey’s current term will conclude on June 30, 2027, and her second term will last for three years, beginning July 1, 2027, and ending on June 30, 2030, according to a statement from Rodriquez.
The University of New Mexico School of Law community is continuing to call for new leadership at the school after pressure for such change peaked this spring when students, faculty and alumni sent letters to UNM leadership, urging them to not recommend the renewal of Dean Camille Carey’s contract. During a press conference at the UNM School of Law on June 22, alumni spoke about their concerns, including admissions being primarily based on LSAT scores, low numbers of New Mexican and Indigenous students, inability to retain law school faculty and loss of confidence in the school's ability to support students with multiple grievances. The press conference was held to “demand Provost Barbara Rodriguez reject UNM School of Law Dean Camille Carey's contract renewal,” according to a press release from a representative for the Center for Civic Policy in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque kicked off Pride Month with a double event on Saturday, June 13, starting with a morning parade in Nob Hill followed by Pride Fest at Civic Plaza, marking a 50-year legacy of celebrating Pride annually in the city. Starting at 10 a.m. and lasting two hours, an intergenerational crowd of around a few thousand people gathered along Central Avenue between Wellesley Drive and San Mateo Boulevard and cheered on the several parade floats representing local businesses, organizations, schools and community members.
Approximately 400 Albuquerque community members gathered at Montgomery Park on Friday evening to watch the United States and Paraguayan men’s national soccer teams battle in their World Cup opener in Los Angeles. The game was projected on a large viewing screen with a quality sound system, and the park offered space for pick-up games and soccer activities during commercial breaks. The event was the second of multiple watch parties that are scheduled at local parks throughout the month of June, which are a collaboration between the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico United, according to a press release.
On Friday, June 5, protesters and relatives of Jose Armas and Robert Salas — who were both fatally shot by Albuquerque Police Department officers the week prior — gathered and marched from Robinson Park to APD’s headquarters. Protesters called for “justice” for Salas and Armas, along with others who have been killed by APD officers in recent years. The march concluded with a vigil on the staircase of the APD headquarters, during which family members spoke to participants, calling for the release of all body camera footage and for police to handle mental health crises differently.
On Tuesday, June 2, voters in New Mexico decided who would be the nominees for U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor, among other local races during the state’s primary election day. Here are the election results of the 2026 New Mexico primary elections, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Election Day for New Mexico’s primary elections is on June 2, when voters will have the opportunity to vote at 74 voting center locations across Bernalillo County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Bernalillo County. The University of New Mexico’s Student Union Building will also serve as a voting center on Tuesday, with same-day voter registration available. Here are some of the major races in which Democratic and Republican candidates are running to be on the ballot during the general election in November.
This fall, the University of New Mexico AI Steering Committee will be launching campus-wide guidelines and best practices to address aspects of artificial intelligence use that are considered “urgent,” including ethics and academic integrity, according to College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences Dean and AI Steering Committee Chair Mark Emmons. The AI Steering Committee is made up of students, staff and faculty from across campus with a variety of expertise in artificial intelligence, and formed because of the large amount of AI use on campus without a coordinated set of policies or strategies to follow, Emmons said. The committee was charged in late February by Interim Provost Barbara Rodriguez and will integrate AI efforts around campus with both a long-term and a short-term path, according to Emmons, who said the long-term path will involve a town hall that gathers students, faculty, staff and any interested stakeholders to supply guidance that may ultimately end up in policies.
On Friday, May 15, the University of New Mexico announced that Steve Goldstein would be the next president of the University, succeeding outgoing president Garnett S. Stokes, who retires in July. The announcement came after the UNM Board of Regents unanimously agreed to select Goldstein as the next president, and all five candidates had spoken at public forums between April 20 and May 13. “I am delighted to welcome Steve Goldstein to the Lobo family,” Stokes told UNM Newsroom. “He inherits a university that is stronger, more innovative and more consequential to the people of New Mexico than ever before, and I have every confidence that he will build on that momentum in ways that will continue to benefit our students and our state for years to come.”
Some students eating lunch at the Student Union Building during finals week this spring said that the University of New Mexico needs more healthy food and fresh fruit options available on campus. The Student Union Building has multiple food vendors, including Chick-fil-A, Blake’s Lotaburger, Mandalay Express, Subway, Dion’s Pizza and Freshens, as well as a rotating local food vendor that switches each semester and a “grab-and-go” market downstairs. Junior Kieren Sanchez said that while UNM has a lot of food offerings, she doesn’t think that there are a lot of healthy options.
If you know the Daily Lobo, then you know the work of our departing Managing Editor Nate Bernard. As managing editor, Bernard is responsible for ensuring that everything published in the Daily Lobo is correct and clear. If you trust us, you trust him. Bernard began his career three years ago at the Lobo like many, he said, as a freelance reporter for the news desk. As a political science and psychology double major, Bernard said his work as a journalist allowed him a new perspective on what it means to make change and do good work. “Oftentimes, we’re told that the only change we can make is the big sweeping changes to the federal government, but in actuality, the biggest changes that we can make are right here at home,” Bernard said. “The Daily Lobo is how I sought to make those changes and hold powerful people accountable.”
For many at the University of New Mexico — and throughout the state — President Garnett Stokes’ name looms large. Stokes joined UNM as its 23rd president in 2018, the first woman to hold the position after previous stints at the University of Missouri, Florida State University and the University of Georgia. In September 2025, Stokes informed the Board of Regents that she would be retiring at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Stokes was inspired to take her first real trip to the state after reading a novel by another big name in New Mexico, author Tony Hillerman, a UNM professor who taught journalism and served as an assistant to two University presidents.
Simon Reseigh’s first article was an opinion article, an article type he would continue to write during his time at the Daily Lobo. From “Bobbleheads of the Week” to predictions, Reseigh always had something to say. “I’m a big yapper when it comes down to sports, and I have some very strong opinions on certain teams and how I feel about certain teams, so I thought, might as well just throw it out into the universe and let everyone read my ramblings and see if the agree or if they think I am a crazy person,” Reseigh said.
For the past year, Daily Lobo readers could always count on seeing a — very often cat-inspired — positive or thought-provoking comic strip on the last page of the weekly paper. Daily Lobo Cartoonist Avery Silfer’s weekly comics have the ability to make readers smile and boost self-worth, or reflect on tragedy and political tension. This semester, Silfer is graduating with her bachelor’s degree in art studio with a minor in journalism, after having produced over 100 illustrations for the paper.
Melissa Maldonado is a week away from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in Spanish. This will be her third and final year at the University of New Mexico as a transfer student from CNM. Maldonado was initially drawn to criminology because of an interest in crime documentaries. Through this degree she was exposed to sociology, which allowed her to study how society was organized and what pushes people to make certain choices. This drew her to social work. However, as she got further into her degree, something didn’t quite click. She began to feel concerned about the possibility of social work taking a heavy emotional toll. It was when she took a marketing class at the beckoning of a friend that everything clicked.
Next year, Daily Lobo beat reporter Shin Thant Hlaing will be headed to one of the best law programs in the country after graduating from the University of New Mexico with a degree in political science. If you’d asked her a year ago about what her plans were after UNM, law school wouldn’t even have been in the conversation. “I wanted to either become a researcher or a policy advisor,” Hlaing said. “My mind was going in a lot of different places, but what drew me to law was when the earthquake happened in Myanmar.”
If you’ve visited creative spaces around the University of New Mexico campus, then you’ve likely encountered Addison Fulton. Whether through student films, local arts events, satire magazines or newsroom conversations, Fulton has spent much of her college career immersing herself in the communities creating culture around Albuquerque. On top of being a serial contributor to Conceptions Southwest, the founder of satire magazine Weekly Coyote and a writer, actress and director, Fulton is also the outgoing culture editor at the Daily Lobo.
“Wyatt Padilla is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo,” is not a phrase readers are going to see at the end of new articles anymore as the UNM senior out of Los Lunas retires and his contributions to the paper become reflected upon fondly. Wyatt Padilla got his start at the Daily Lobo in the spring of 2025, after being a student manager for the UNM women’s basketball team for two years. When he left that job, he knew he wanted to stay in sports in some way, but he didn’t know how. That was until he met the Daily Lobo Sports Editor Rodney Prunty, who encouraged him to apply for a job as a freelance sports writer.
Solutions by The State News
