Points of Pride
Unleashing potential
Founded in 1888, we are New Mexico’s land-grant institution, dedicated to teaching, research and extension service. The university, home to the only Honors College in the state, is classified as a Hispanic-serving institution with $150 million per year externally funded research program. NMSU is ranked 28th in the nation (among all institutions without a medical school) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in research and development funding. NMSU serves a multi-cultural population of students and community members at five campuses, a satellite learning center, cooperative extension offices located in every county, 13 agriculture research and science centers, and through distance education. NMSU’s estimated annual economic impact in New Mexico is $1 billion.
The fall 2009 entering freshman class is the largest on record, showing a 6.15 percent increase over the year previous. NMSU recorded an 8.3 percent increase in enrollment across all campuses. NMSU is listed in the top half of universities ranked in a 2009 analysis by Washington Monthly magazine based on "contribution to the public good," including producing cutting-edge research and encouraging students to give something back to their country. Forbes.com rates NMSU among the top third of universities in its annual list of America's Best Colleges for 2009 based on student satisfaction with their course instruction, employment success after graduation, the likelihood of graduating on time and tuition costs.
Excellence in Teaching
Among institutions of higher education in New Mexico, we alone offer:
- an Honors College
- aerospace, industrial and surveying engineering
- professional golf management
In a 10-year span, NMSU faculty claimed fully half of the New Mexico Professor of the Year honors awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Qualified undergraduates can elect to enter the Honors College and further enrich a challenging academic program via rigorous classes taught by master teachers.
With a first-time pass rate of close to 100 percent on the National Council Licensure Examination, our nursing students beat the national average of 83.4 percent.
Nearly half of our student-athletes, fierce competitors in NCAA-Division 1-A athletics, maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
The International Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Educators places our hotel, restaurant and tourism management program among the top 20 percent.
Our Professional Golf Management program graduates have a 100 percent career-placement rate.
The College of Engineering graduate program is ranked 69th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report’s annual evaluation of American graduate school programs. (There are more than 270 doctoral and non-doctoral engineering programs in the United States.)
In response to industry demand, the College of Engineering developed a bachelor’s degree in Information Engineering Technology, preparing graduates for careers in information security, eCommerce, data mining and networking.
Our College of Education is a charter member of the Holmes Group, a consortium of research universities dedicated to improving teacher education and the profession of teaching.
College of Education’s culturally responsive math, science and technology education (STEM) program makes software technology available to classroom teachers, allowing them to develop their own computer-based learning materials tailored to the needs of their students.
Leadership in Research
NMSU has established interdisciplinary research clusters that build on institutional strengths and respond to local, regional, and national needs in areas such as natural resource sustainability, information sciences and security, space and aerospace programs, biosciences and border related programs (such as health, education, economic development, etc).
Our Minority Access to Research Careers, a research training support activity of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, prepares minority students for research careers and helps to increase the number and skills of scientists from underrepresented minority groups who are engaged in biomedical research.
Our Physical Science Laboratory (PSL), working with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, is saving lives in Iraq with the development of a signal-jamming apparatus that keeps improvised explosive devices from detonating. Working with the Federal Aviation Authority, PSL has established unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) flight test center facility. PSL has also helped NASA’s balloon program break records in achieving height and flight duration.
The College of Engineering is ranked 14th in the nation by NSF in all research and development funding among first 100 institutions.
NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station have been cited as exceeding expectations in research and public service by the NM Commission on Higher Education.
Serving through Outreach
NMSU is the only university in the nation to reach the platinum (highest) level of service to NASA's Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program, which makes the expertise of corporate and university researchers available to small businesses.
The Arrowhead Center assists to entrepreneurs by identifying markets, verifying new technologies, writing business plans and locating financing. One success story is provided by Alberto and Reina Delgado, who have found Arrowhead’s guidance to be indispensible: “The Center has helped us in many ways,” the Delgados report. “They provided us with a feasibility study which confirmed our initial research, and they notify us of beneficial workshops and symposiums—all of which have led to networking opportunities that would have taken us years to develop on our own.”
The College of Engineering’s Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development is helping communities remove arsenic from drinking water.
NMSU maintains cooperative extension offices in every county, as well as 13 agriculture research and science centers spread throughout the state, and a classroom center in Albuquerque. Plus, the College of Extended Learning provides a wide array of distance education programs.
The county-based Cooperative Extension Service offices provide expertise and education programs to businesses and residents statewide.
The College of Education’s Gadsden Math Initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, is helping students in elementary and middle schools understand and build math concepts, thereby raising test scores.
Bragging Rights
The fall 2009 entering freshman class is the largest on record, showing a 6.15 percent increase over the year previous. NMSU recorded an 8.3 percent increase in enrollment across all campuses.
NMSU is listed in the top half of universities ranked in a 2009 analysis by Washington Monthly magazine based on "contribution to the public good," including producing cutting-edge research and encouraging students to give something back to their country.
Forbes.com rates NMSU among the top third of universities in its annual list of America's Best Colleges for 2009 based on student satisfaction with their course instruction, employment success after graduation, the likelihood of graduating on time and tuition costs.
Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine named College of Engineering Dean Steven P. Castillo one of the most important Hispanics in technology, joining the elite ranks of “men and women who help define, influence, and control the course of technological change.”
Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education’s ranking of 100 colleges and universities graduating Hispanics with degrees through the doctoral level places NMSU 15th in bachelors, 24th in masters, and 19th in doctoral degrees.
We are among the top U.S. Department of Defense contractor among Hispanic-serving universities.
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education rates NMSU as one of the top 30 universities for Hispanic and Native American students.
NMSU graduated an African-American student in 1937, decades ahead of most U.S. universities.
NMSU is listed as one of America's 100 Best College Buys® for offering "the very highest quality education at the lowest cost".
The Washington Monthly ranks NMSU among the top 30 colleges and universities in the U.S. under the value added criteria.
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