As of the beginning of the fall semester, Janet Shiver is the new chair of the communications and journalism department at UNM, following the retirement of former chair Karen Foss earlier in the month. According to the department’s website, Shiver has been a full-time faculty member at UNM since 2007.
The UNM’s Office of the President is accepting nominations for the Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Award. The nominations will be accepted through Monday, Sept. 28. “The award, which recognizes the volunteer service work done by members of the UNM community, was established and endowed by former Regent and Anderson School of Management Dean Doug Brown to honor his wife, Sarah Belle Brown, and her lifelong commitment to public service,” according to a UNM press release.
An expensive parking ticket inside a glaring yellow envelope stuffed under a windshield wiper. It’s an exasperating sight that nearly every student on campus has been confronted with at one point or another. Luckily, if students believe a parking citation is in error, they have the opportunity to request an appeal review through UNM Parking and Transportation Services up to five days after receiving the ticket. After this time the fee will be transferred to the student’s bursar account.
The Associated Students of UNM, the University’s undergraduate governing body, held its first full senate meeting of the semester with 2015-2016 Vice President Alex Cervantes presiding. Here are the big things you need to know.
The UNM Health Sciences Center is providing a cooking class to help participants recover from mental illnesses and substance abuse. The class is offered at the UNM Psychiatric Center and is a part of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program.
At some point between the evening hours on Monday and 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a portion of the cement steps on the north side of the SUB were vandalized, with a small area of the steps being destroyed and rubble strewn nearby.
In recent weeks there has been a noticeable increase in the number of reported sexual harassment incidents on campus, which has some begging the question: is UNMPD doing enough to protect its female students? “I think they need to have more patrols,” said Mary Martinez, a junior biology major.
UNM renovations could soon be reaching for the stars. In addition to the planned renovations of Johnson Center, Smith Plaza and Anderson School of Management, the University plans to create a physics and astronomy interdisciplinary science facility to replace the outdated physics and astronomy building on north campus. The new facility would be located on the Yale Mall across from Castetter Hall, the former location of a Bernalillo County water reservoir.
As part of the relatively new LoboRESPECT initiative that works to end sexual harassment on campus, UNM will soon open a physical LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center where students can find support in situations of harassment on campus. Dean of Students Tomás Aguirre, chair of LoboRESPECT, said that the center is expected to open sometime in mid-September.
Monica Kowal has been named associate dean of the newly designated Office of Community Engaged Learning & Research in the University of New Mexico’s University College, according to a UNM press release. According to the press release CELR, formerly the research service-learning program, will serve as an interdisciplinary “University-wide office committed to supporting community engaged scholarship and teaching.” Kowal was a lecturer in the Professional Writing Program in the UNM Department of English, Language, and Literature, according to the statement.
UNM’s Health Sciences Center received $4.7 million in funding increases in 2015, according to a UNM HSC press release. This year, the HSC has received $160,753,570 for different research projects, according to the statement. “Since 1998, HSC has more than tripled its research grants and contracts, from $45 million to more than $160 million,” according to the statement.
UNM scientists have discovered a protein that organizes autophagy in the human immune system, “the vital internal cell-scrubbing process that maintains the intracellular landscape by gathering and disposing of worn-out proteins and invading microorganisms,” according to UNM press release. Autophagy is the early immune response that regulates which cells die or live longer.
New jobs are beginning to emerge in developing and underdeveloped countries. Economies are opening up and people are moving to major cities in search of new career opportunities. Agrarian societies are turning into industrial societies. A UNM researcher is examining how these recent changes in socioeconomic opportunities affect the distribution of wealth in China and Bangladesh. “Previously, these societies have been agrarian and most people subsisted in fairly similar ways. Everyone was a farmer and everyone had similar things. But now that the economies are opening up and they are integrating with regional economies, people have different opportunities,” said Siobhán Mattison, assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology.
A UNM arts professor is being honored by having her work displayed at an exhibit in the nation’s capitol this month. Fine arts professor Mary Tsiongas’ video artwork, “The Mercurial Dog Anticipates Her,”is being featured in the 2015 Women To Watch exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. “It was a wonderful surprise, and I was just thrilled to have it go to Washington, D.C.,” Tsiongas said.
For the third time in about as many weeks, UNM is being warned of an incident of sexual harassment on or near main campus.
Francie Cordova has been appointed as the new director of the Office of Equal Opportunity. Cordova came to UNM after serving as assistant chief counsel for the California Department of State Hospitals, which is the biggest provider of long-term mental health care in the world. In that position, she was responsible for many of the equal opportunity and affirmative action functions within the office.
For almost a year UNM has been in the early stages of planning a new sports and entertainment district on south campus. Below is a timeline of the process, and where the University stands now with a potential partner.
The University is in the preliminary stages of planning the first major renovations to Johnson Center in 15 years, and officials are asking students to help them out. Kevin Grant Stevenson, strategic planner in the president’s office, said that any eventual designs for renovation to Johnson are grounded almost completely in what students want.
The UNMPD arrested a man who was accused of harassing and physically attacking a female student. The accused unlawfully touched a female student and held her against her will “when she tried to pull away”, according to a UNMPD press release. “Henry Budford of Brimhall, 50, is charged with false imprisonment in connection with an incident Monday morning, Aug.
The UNM Division of Student Affairs, in collaboration with El Mezquite Market, will host the annual Mezquite Golf Tournament on Friday. The tournament is aiming to raise funds for scholarships for UNM students, according to a UNM press release. “We are grateful each year for the generosity of El Mezquite Market owner Sergio Bermudez, who brings together a number of donors to contribute to a worthy cause,” Dr. Eliseo ‘Cheo’ Torres, vice president for UNM Student Affairs, said in the press release.
Solutions by The State News
