Magazine picks Goddard Hall as one of best renovations

New Mexico State University’s Goddard Hall is featured as one of “New Mexico’s Best Buildings 2002" in the May issue of the New Mexico Business Journal. The historic building was selected as one of the best renovation projects.

“The design challenge was to preserve the exterior envelope while making it weathertight; redesign the interiors of the tower to modern code standard requirements while retaining the original volumes and integrating new building systems; and finally, to determine an appropriate expression of modern materials and finishes while maintaining a historical perspective,” the magazine said.

The Jaynes Corp. was the general contractor for the renovation project.

Art student designs medallions for honors program

New Mexico State University honors students who graduated in the spring were the first to wear medallions designed as a new tradition for the Honors Program’s graduates by art student Jennifer Hardcastle.

Hardcastle, a senior graphic design major, was recommended for the free-lance job by her metals and jewelry professor, Julia Barello, said William Eamon, director of the Honors Program.

“The shape of the medallion is taken from the YMCA emblem on the west side of the Conroy Honors Center,” Eamon said.

“The medallion includes a triangle that reads, ‘Mind, Body, Spirit,’ which is the YMCA motto and embodies the ideals of the University Honors Program.”

The Honors Program moved into the university’s newly restored 93-year-old YMCA building in March when it was dedicated as the William B. Conroy Honors Center.

Hardcastle, daughter of John and Diane Hardcastle of Roswell, N.M., said she knew that the program wanted to incorporate the YMCA emblem into the design and started by researching wreaths and leaves to surround the triangle element of the emblem. She is minoring in jewelry and metals and said that she enjoys working with all types of media.

“This was a chance to use my design skills to build something from start to finish,” she said. “It is nice to hold a physical piece of something that you designed in your hand. You don’t always get hands-on opportunities.”

Hardcastle said a photo etching process was used to take the design from the computer to the metal. “I had never used a lot of the processes that I was able to try with this project,” she said. “It was interesting to learn new techniques.”

Hardcastle, a 1998 graduate of Goddard High School in Roswell, N.M., also works with the University Communications office as a student graphic design assistant and works on projects such as the design of Aggie Panorama. She also is working on a design for the university president’s holiday card and a logo for the Southwest Environmental Center, a non-profit organization in Las Cruces.

Eamon said 12 students graduated with Distinction in University Honors and six with University Honors. He said all of the students completed at least 15 hours of honors courses and a thesis. University Honors graduates maintained a 3.5 GPA and Distinction in University Honors graduates a 3.75 GPA.

The honors students received their medallions at a ceremony May 9 at the Conroy Honors Center, which is named for former university president William Conroy. They wore the medallions as part of their graduation apparel.

The Honors Program provides undergraduate with opportunities to broaden their academic experience, Eamon said. In small classes taught by master teachers, honors students engage in lively discussion and collaborative investigation of interdisciplinary topics and themes, he said. About 900 students enroll in honors courses each year. The program oversees Crimson Scholars and sponsors the University Fellowships Office and the University Speakers Series.

Julie M. Hughes

Outstanding Woman

Christine Eber, assistant professor of anthropology at New Mexico State University, was one of 20 women who received the 17th Annual Governor’s Award for Outstanding Women in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women gives the award annually to the state’s outstanding champions of women.

Eber joined the department of sociology and anthropology at New Mexico State in 1995. She has worked as an educator, researcher and adviser for women’s cooperatives in Chiapas, Mexico.

Her book, Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow, was the first to explore substance abuse in a non-Western culture from women’s points of view.

Eber and the other recipients were honored at a ceremony May 4.

Student turns spotlight on Las Cruces Black History

Phillips Chapel, once the cultural center of the Las Cruces African-American community, stands almost forgotten on a corner near downtown Las Cruces. But if Terry Moody, a graduate student in anthropology at New Mexico State University, has her way, the state historic preservation program will soon honor the importance of this modest one-room church.

Moody is nominating the Phillips Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church to the National Register of Historic Places, as an outgrowth of a course in historic preservation taught by Marsha Weisiger, an assistant professor of history.

“I think having Phillips Chapel listed as a historic property will recognize the significant part the black population has played in the Las Cruces community,” Moody said. “Having it on the register would preserve it, and maybe it could even become a place where a small exhibit could be displayed, recognizing the black history of the town.”

Constructed in 1911, Phillips Chapel was the first church built in Las Cruces to serve the African- American community. When the Las Cruces school system decided to segregate its schools in 1926, the chapel temporarily performed double-duty as the black high school, under the name Lincoln High School, until a permanent school for African- American children—Booker T. Washington School— was erected in 1934.

Graduate students in New Mexico State’s historic preservation course are partnering with the Historic Preservation Division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs to bring recognition to significant historic resources in southern New Mexico. The course is part of the university’s public history program, directed by associate professor Jon Hunner.

Other student projects include nominations for the Rio Grande Theatre, prepared by graduate student Scott Green and the old Branigan Memorial Library, now the Branigan Cultural Center, prepared by graduate student Peter Friesen. The preservation and restoration of the two buildings are cornerstones in the current effort to revitalize downtown Las Cruces.

“Giving students practical experience in applied history is the hallmark of New Mexico State’s public history program. In preparing nominations to the National Register, graduate students provide a service to the community and the state, while gaining handson experience,” Weisiger said.

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. More than 1,900 districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects are listed in New Mexico, 19 of which are located in Las Cruces.

Aggies lead Sun Belt in academic selections

New Mexico State University athletes received a number of academic achievement awards for the 2001-2002 school year, including 120 on the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s List and Academic Honor Roll. These honors put the Aggies in first for Academic All- Conference Selections in the Sun Belt.

In order to be on the Commissioner’s List, student-athletes must have had at least a 3.5 grade point average for the past two semesters. The Honor Roll requires student-athletes to maintain a 3.0 to 3.49 GPA for the past two semesters.

Individuals who achieved the Commissioner’s List and Honor Roll included athletes from the Aggie baseball team, men’s and women’s basketball teams, the football team, men’s cross country team, men’s and women’s golf teams, women’s swimming and diving team, men’s and women’s tennis teams, women’s track team, the volleyball team and the softball team.

Men’s basketball starter Eric Channing was named the Sun Belt Conference Male Athlete of the Year and received the Sun Belt Conference Post-Graduate Scholarship. Channing was one of three Aggies who were selected for the Verizon Academic All-American Selections. He also was one of six chosen for the Verizon First Team Academic All-District Picks and carried a 4.0 GPA.

Alena Sharp of the women’s golf team and David Licini of the Aggie baseball team were both honored as Verizon Academic All-American Selections and Verizon First Team Academic All-District Picks.

Also chosen as First Team Academic All-District Picks were football player Siddeeq Shabazz, women’s tennis player Elke Blodau and women’s basketball player Melanie Maynes. Blodau also earned a 4.0 GPA.

Emma Alvin and Kim Burgess of track and Eva-Marie Schmitt of swimming were selected as Second Team Academic All-District Picks. Alvin has a 4.0 GPA.

Other 4.0 athletes included women’s swimmers Laura Berlin, Laura Hernandez, Misato Saito and Stephanie Williams, women’s golfer Millisa Hass, women’s track athlete Kendra Miller and volleyball player Megan Arner.

The Aggie athletics program also had 37 athletes graduate this year.

Sarah Wheeler

Ward leads alma mater to victory

Gary Ward, ’63, ’68, returned to New Mexico State University in 2000 to coach the Aggie baseball team and has successfully led them to victories and recognition not seen in some time.

Ward said the major factors that made him want to return to New Mexico State were friends he made and experiences he had during his time here as a student-athlete.

“I had a great experience here as a student-athlete,” he said. “It influenced my life as a professional.”

Ward’s son, assistant coach Rocky Ward, was coaching Aggie baseball when Ward took over as head coach. Ward said he saw returning as an opportunity to give something back and to be involved with his family.

During his first season back coaching, the Aggies posted a 32-23 record—the most wins since 1995. This past season the Aggie baseball team won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Ward also reached 1,000 wins in March—69 of those wins in the past two seasons, making him the second-most winning coach at New Mexico State.

From 1960-62, Ward played both basketball and baseball at New Mexico State. He was coached by Presley Askew, for whom the Aggie baseball field is named. He was a graduate assistant baseball coach and the freshman basketball head coach at New Mexico State during the 1962-63 season.

In 1991, Ward was inducted into the New Mexico State University Athletic Hall of Fame for his athletic accomplishments.

Ward is retiring this season, but said that he will not be any less involved with the program. “It’s been a total joy to be around family and friends and to have this experience,” he said, adding that a standard has been set for New Mexico State baseball. “What we’ve done is build a foundation of what can be accomplished,” he said. “It will be hard, but we’ll continue to work.”

Ward was born in 1940 in Ramona, Okla., and graduated from Ramona High School in 1958. Before attending New Mexico State, he attended a year of college at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where he played baseball and basketball.

Ward has been married to his wife, Catherine, for 42 years and has three children, Rocky, Roger and Sherri.

Sarah Wheeler

New Mexico State University professors receive Fulbright grants

Three New Mexico State University professors have received Fulbright grants to teach and carry out research in foreign countries in 2002 and 2003.

Rani Alexander, an assistant professor of anthropology, will be a visiting scholar at the Autonomous University of Campeche in Campeche, Mexico, from September 2002 to May 2003.

Benson

Philip Benson, an associate professor of management, will be a visiting scholar at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, from January to May 2003. Bob Weissberg, a communications studies professor, will be a visiting scholar at the University of Erfurt, Thuringia, in eastern Germany from September 2002 to July 2003.

In Mexico, Alexander will undertake a project titled “Archaeology and Spanish Colonization in Southwestern Campeche,” aimed at studying changes in Maya culture brought about by Spanish colonization through comparing a pre-colonial site with a Spanish-era mission.

In the fall of 2002, she will teach a workshop on research design and quantitative methods in archaeology.

Benson will lecture on business and human resources management at Al-Akhawayn University and collect data for a study of human resources management in Morocco.

Weissberg will work in the Department of English Linguistics at the University of Erfurt to help develop their recently established English language training and teacher education programs.

He will develop and teach courses in English as a second language to students and to German teachers of English working towards advanced degrees. He also will consult with faculty at the university who are interested in teaching and making presentations in English.

The Fulbright program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, offers grants in 37 disciplines in 140 countries. Since 1945 the program has given more than 250,000 scholars the opportunity to travel across continents, across disciplines and across cultures.