Rising gas prices not only put a strain on students’ wallets, but also affect UNM’s operation. Gary Smith, an associate director of UNM’s Physical Plant Department, said the rising cost of petroleum-based products and services like transportation, plastic trash can liners and fertilizers has tightened the budget.
UNM engineering professor Chaouki Abdallah was appointed University Interim Provost on Monday. University President David Schmidly announced Abdallah’s one-year appointment, which begins July 1. “Professor Abdallah will bring exciting new perspectives and energy to the provost’s position, as well as expertise gained during his long tenure of work at UNM,” Schmidly said.
If you have a college degree and a six-figure income, chances are you’ll live longer than someone who doesn’t.
UNM Professor Christine Sauer was presented with the Presidential Teaching Fellow Award on Wednesday at the SUB. Sauer, who teaches economics at UNM and serves as the director of the International Studies Institute, said that she hopes to make international programs a larger focus for the University.
UNM President David Schmidly said that faculty members’ concerns about salary and benefits are not unique to UNM, and any university facing budget cuts is in the same situation. “Whenever there are big budget reductions, there are going to be tensions — they go hand in hand,” he said.
Living within walking distance of The Pit and other UNM sports fields keeps residents close to the action, but they say it’s a double-edged sword. UNM alumnus Scott Murphy lives about two blocks south of The Pit, and he said he deals with myriad problems from people leaving the arena after events. “There is a strong liquor culture here,” he said.
African American Student Services gathered outside Mesa Vista Hall on Wednesday to protest what it said was a racist depiction of President Barack Obama in the Opinion section of Tuesday’s Daily Lobo. AASS student employees Christina Foster and Kyran Worrell spoke to a crowd of about 30 people about the illustration, which parodied a scene in “The Lion King.” The original scene showed a monkey, Rafiki, holding baby lion Simba over a cliff.
Beekeepers, firefighters, security personnel and Physical Plant Department technicians gathered Wednesday morning in the R parking lot to deal with an unusual problem — a swarm of bees. The swarm gathered on a dark green truck parked near Coronado dorm.
For most, people-watching is a way to enjoy a lazy afternoon, but for some UNM students, it’s a subject to be studied. The archeology of walking is a course on the study of people-watching.
UNM men’s basketball team’s player Chad Adams, 20, was arrested Sunday morning and charged with DWI, according to Metropolitan Court records. Adams was arrested near I-25 and Comanche Road at 3:04 a.m.
More students are enrolling at UNM, but tuition hikes mean fewer students are staying. UNM’s undergraduate enrollment grew 4.5 percent the last year, according to the Office of Institutional Research. But its retention rates dropped from about 92 percent in 2010 to 88 percent in 2011. Wynn Goering, vice provost for Academic Affairs, said that the average retention rate in pre-recession years was about 89 percent, but he couldn’t account for the most recent drop. “It’s harder to know for sure whether this return to a more typical level means the economy is returning to normal,” he said. “One thing I can say is that we didn’t see any other patterns to account for the drop.” Because of the economic downturn, more people are choosing to go to school, said Terry Babbitt, associate vice president of Enrollment Management.
Budget cuts and administrative obstacles have led several professors to leave UNM for higher-paying, more prestigious, and better-funded research programs at other universities.
Julia Roberts may never play him in a movie, but considering the work one UNM employee did to try to uncover the truth about a cancer cluster in Ohio, it’s hard not to compare him to Erin Brockovich.
The UNM Cancer Center is helping women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a disease that one in 70 women will develop in their lifetime.
Spring campfires, barbecues and other open flames in Bernalillo County must be extinguished. County commissioners approved a resolution April 26 banning and restricting smoking, campfires and open burning in parts of the county for the next 180 days. County Commissioner spokesman Larry Gallegos said the ban is standard for this time of year, but because of the extreme cold in January and February, plants died and created a greater risk for a brush fire.
The budget is finalized. The regents unanimously passed the budget and finalized tuition-and-fees during Friday’s meeting at the SUB.
Diné activist Louise Benally knows firsthand how corporate takeover can destroy traditional ways of life.
Keep your spare change for the laundromat. Last week, UNM began replacing coin-operated parking meters with machines that exclusively accept credit cards.
Where does cannabis come from? Assistant professor Chris Duvall discussed on Friday the origins of cannabis sativa, or marijuana, during the Student Organization for Latin American Studies’ final Brown Bag Lecture Series. He said the plant originated in Central Asia, spread across the continent to North Africa, and enslaved Africans brought knowledge of marijuana to Brazil.
Sick of Webmail? IT might have the solution. The IT department sent out requests for proposals this week and hopes to have an executive-level decision on a new email system in August, said Deputy Chief Information Officer Moira Gerety. She said the University’s email system is outdated and not user-friendly. Gerety said the University uses about 25 different email systems, and that she and her team hope to bring this number down to one. She said students should have a new email system within a year. “UNM staff and employees, in particular, were really sort of working around multiple email systems,” she said. “It’s just a pain. They want to be able to bring everybody up, schedule messages and schedule meetings on one email system.” Gerety is co-chairing a committee with Mike Campbell, the director of PC Systems and Support for UNMH. Gerety said this is a collaborative effort, in which departments from across UNM are giving feedback.
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