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UNM project plans to analyze how academic culture can be improved

Nichole Harwood | December 15

A collaborative effort by three UNM departments has researchers exploring the impacts of commonly found disparities between academic contextual culture within student participants and their learning environments at Arizona State University. The research team — made up of UNM sociology associate professor Roberto Ibarra, Earth and planetary science professor Gary Weissmann and UNM graduate Michael Howland-Davis — will be be studying conceptual context diversity at ASU in a project funded by the National Science Foundation.

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UNM-created health care access initiative to be expanded nationally

Nichole Harwood | December 13

On Nov. 29 New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, joined the U.S. Senate in unanimously voting to approve legislation which would spread the UNM-created model of improving access to healthcare in rural areas nationwide. “We have already seen how the Project ECHO model can improve health outcomes in rural areas of New Mexico and throughout the United States by providing an innovative and affordable way to train local physicians in more specialized fields to treat diseases that they were not previously trained to treat,” Udall said. The ECHO Act expands the model by requiring Health and Human Services to actively seek areas where it can be implemented and provides funding opportunities to do so, Udall said.

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Settlement reached between UNM Regents, University president; Frank out at end of 2016

David Lynch | December 13

UNM President Bob Frank’s time at the helm is ending six months earlier than expected, after he and the Board of Regents reached a settlement on Tuesday. The agreement officially ends Frank’s tenure on Dec. 31. University Provost Chaouki Abdallah will take over as interim head of the University in the spring semester, while a Regent Robert Doughty-led committee continues its search for the next University president.

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Grad Issue: Student's daughter helps power her to degree

Emma Citizen | December 12

After 20 years of not going to school, Lisa Mascarenas will be receiving her associate’s degree in criminology from UNM Valencia. “Knowing I got this far, remembering the struggle and realizing just how easy it would have been to quit, I didn't and that makes me happy to know I did it,” Mascarenas said. Over the last three years, Mascarenas has been trying to get her degree. The biggest push for her was her 19-year-old daughter, Renee, who has been there the whole way.

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Grad Issue: News of mother's cancer motivated student to take college seriously

Nichole Harwood | December 11

Mario Armijo graduated in 2010 but didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until his mother’s battle with cancer inspired him to act. He is now graduating with a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in marketing. Armijo said while he had been attending college he didn’t know what degree he really wanted to pursue. He was taking only one physical education class when his mother called to notify him of her cancer. “That's when it kind of hit me like, ‘I really need to get it together,’ so I decided I wanted to go back to UNM. I wanted to actually try to get a degree and actually make an effort,” he said.

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Grad Issue: Entrepreneurial hopeful plans to use education to give his children a better life

Elizabeth Sanchez | December 11

Throughout Joseph Brasher’s life, he was a doer. Over the years, his titles have included: copier/fax/printer technician at the Duke City Typewriter Shop, service manager at Firestone, chemical equipment repairman for the military, dishwasher at the Sheraton Inn, truck driver, brother, son, husband, father, grandfather. And that’s just a start. But in 2008, he added another title to his résumé: full-time stay-at-home dad to his three sons, and caregiver to his wife who developed muscular sclerosis.

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Grad Issue: Unemployment turns into opportunity to pursue education

Robert Maler | December 11

Many non-traditional students have a difficult time adapting to college life and some never make it to the finish line, but one New Mexico student used a challenging situation as her motivation to graduate. Jessica Lucero, a 28-year-old liberal arts major, said she didn’t start her college career until an age when many people are finishing theirs. As a result, it was all very new to her. Stephen Becerra, Lucero’s stepfather and mentor, joked that she was the “little viejita — the old lady — of the class.”

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Grad Issue: Lobo springboards from UNM into working with Apple

Brendon Gray | December 11

A short two years after arriving to the U.S., Jorge Moukel — who will graduate this semester with a master’s in computer engineering — has already begun to make a name for himself in the tech industry. The Venezuela native immigrated to the U.S. after political unrest in his home country began. After getting his undergraduate degree in his country, Moukel began developing mobile applications, making around $200 a month. That initial interest has since blossomed into a much bigger opportunity: Moukel will be starting work at Apple next semester, developing debugging software for the technology giant. But his journey to success has been riddled with trials.

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Grad Issue: Mom hopes to use her college success as an example for her kids

Nichole Harwood | December 11

Angelique Maldonado is a mother of three boys who also worked full-time as she pursued her master’s degree in water resources. This semester. her hard work paid off as she will be graduating, an example of success she plans to use to motivate her kids one day. “(It was) definitely challenging, but rewarding at the same time,” Maldonado said. “It keeps me busy, but I’m pretty driven so it’s kind of nice to be able to set a good example for my kids and let them know the importance of school.” Maldonado works with Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, which has been flexible as she worked on her studies, she said.

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Grad Issue: Student overcomes illness and depression to get degree

Sarah Trujillo | December 11

Monique Renee Curley, who recently graduated with her Master of Engineering this past summer, is a born and raised Burqueña with a story of persistence. “I'm convinced that anyone can do anything. I wasn't born with the greatest of resources, but I did what I had to do to seek them out and make them my own,” she said. “I've pursued my childhood interest in science and trained myself along the way to become a scientist. You can do anything you want, but you have to want it enough.” Curley said her mother had a drug problem dating back to her teens — putting her in a place where she was unable to care for Curley as an infant — and her father left soon after she was born.

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Grad Issue: Mom comes from Ukraine to pursue nursing career

Gabriela Garcia-Huff | December 11

16 years ago, Lyudmyla Kostyk left her home and travelled to New York City in the hopes of pursuing a degree in nursing. At the time, she left her two children, Oksana and Pavlo Vivchar, with her parents in their home — nearly 5,000 miles away in Ukraine. This week, Kostyk will be graduating with a Bachelors of Science degree in nursing from UNM. But she will not be alone. Kostyk’s daughter, Oksana, will be joining her mother on this highly anticipated day, with her own bachelor’s degree in biology.

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Grad Issue: Iraq veteran uses military experience to get through college

Audrin Baghaie | December 11

The most outstanding, vivacious rewards in life are seldom material. It takes time, effort and strife to realize ambition and achieve that level of personal satisfaction. On an individual basis, we’re all often trying to achieve the abstract; what is meaningful to one’s self. After serving in the U.S. Army for eight years and persevering through her nephew’s diagnosis of brain cancer, Esmeralda Moreno will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. Moreno was born in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Albuquerque during her middle school years. She joined the ROTC in high school and attended TVI, now known as CNM, to secure a liberal arts degree.

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Grad Issue: From mayor of a small NM town to UNM graduate

Matthew Narvaiz | December 11

Diego Montoya, a 29-year-old american studies major, will be receiving his bachelor’s degree after attending school on and off for nearly 10 years. Montoya, in the midst of pursuing his degree, has accomplished a feat most people in their twenties can't say that they've done, or even thought about. At the age of 25, Montoya was elected mayor of Magdalena — a small town located in southwestern New Mexico with a population of roughly 1,000 residents.

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Grad Issue: Student overcomes addiction to succeed

Matthieu Cartron | December 11

Throughout most of her life Jennie Noriega was a drifter, searching for a place where she could belong, somewhere she would feel wanted. She said she was the little girl who felt neither Hispanic nor Native American, running away from home to smoke marijuana on rooftops. She was the middle schooler who was dragged to California to live in horrific conditions. She said she was the teenager and young adult who dealt illegal drugs in New Mexico to earn herself a spot on the New Mexico FBI’s most wanted list. Suffice to say, Noriega’s life has been anything but ordinary.

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Grad Issue: Student pursues his passion for rural medicine

Cathy Cook | December 11

Clement Jose is graduating this semester with his master’s in health education and a concentration in community health. Jose said, while he planned to go to continue his education immediately after finishing his undergrad, he was accepted by four medical schools, but turned them all down. “A week after I graduated my brother passed away,” he said. “All of the schools that I got into were far east. So it was New York, Virginia and then there was Kansas. So I decided, ‘You know, I don’t want to leave my family.’”

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Grad Issue: Hodgkin's Lymphoma can't stop Lobo from graduating

Megan Nyce | December 11

Thanh-Lan Thi Sena will be graduating this fall with her master’s degree in public administration, despite the hardships she has faced dealing with cancer. As it turned out, her battle could have, and should have, started much earlier than it did. Born and raised in Albuquerque, the cancer survivor was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2011 while attending UNM. Sena described Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as a twin to Leukemia.

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New Native American scholarship at UNM

Gabriel Garcia-Huff | December 8

The Indigenous Nations Library Program recently introduced the Michael and Enokena Olson Memorial Scholarship for full-time Native American students attending UNM. The scholarship is comprised of two $250 awards per semester, and targets both graduate and undergraduate students who may need further financial assistance throughout the year. Kevin Brown, program specialist for INPL, said through this scholarship the department hopes to alleviate some of the financial burden of those attending the University.

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Crime Briefs for Dec. 8

Elizabeth Sanchez | December 8

Battery on healthcare personnel at UNMH On the morning of Nov. 24, a UNMPD officer was sent to UNMH in reference to a patient-on-nurse incident battery, according to a police report.

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Wolf Tracks Podcast Ep 4: Milo Yiannopoulos

Jonathan Baca and Robert Maler | December 8

On this episode, we sit down with Ryan Ansloan, the chairman of the UNM Young Americans for Liberty, who has invited controversial alt-right blogger Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at UNM in January. We also visit the 53rd annual ASUNM Arts and Crafts Fair, and talk to some of the artists about their work. And finally, sports editor Robert Maler gives a wrap-up of last weekend's Lobo men's and women's basketball games.

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Giving Tree event promotes helping local community

Gabriela Garcia-Huff | December 7

ASUNM’s Community Experience is partnering with Albuquerque Public Schools, UNM Hospital, and the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department this year to put on their annual Giving Tree event, as the student governing body hopes to encourage the spirit of giving this holiday season. Students interested in participating in the event can take an ornament from the Christmas tree — located in the SUB atrium. Attached to each ornament are gift tags with specific items listed that students can donate to the participating organizations.