Goals for Success: International Reach

NMSU has now completed a leadership of the Afghanistan Water, Agriculture and Technology Transfer project (AWATT) funded by USAID. One of AWATT's final feats was a major upgrade of Kabul University's capacity for high-tech teaching, research and technology transfer. The team set up a teaching lab and an internet lab for the students of the Faculty of Agriculture complete with 60 desktop computers.

In late May, Engineers Without Borders-NMSU built a pedestrian bridge in the small Nicaraguan community of Hondura Azul. The 56-meter suspension bridge, completed in just two weeks time, will provide rainy-season access to school, medical care, food and other supplies for some 600 people in three villages whose lives are typically disrupted by the seasonal rise in water level of the local river.

NMSU is expanding its collaboration with the Peace Corps through the Master's International Program. An avenue for students to earn a master's degree while serving their 27 months of overseas volunteer work. Students begin and end the program with coursework at NMSU. Provost Wendy Wilkins approved the new program in September 2010 and applications are being accepted in the College of Health and Social Services and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. This development builds upon the Peace Corps Fellows Program, which has been offered at NMSU in CHSS since 2003 and in ACES since 2009.

International Programs organized a task force on Mexico that drew more than 90 faculty and staff participants. From that event, four groups are currently working to help develop priorities in Mexico; key areas they are exploring include health, urban youth development, law enforcement training and economic development. The International Relations Institute (which now reports to the International and Border Programs) also has organized two successful conferences focusing on immigration issues. With a grant of $75,000, the Institute continues to work on the topic of immigration to inform the public on all aspects of the ongoing debate.

A delegation from China’s Ministry of Transportation was in Las Cruces to gain expertise from the university’s world-renowned Bridge Evaluation Research Center, while also pursuing a potential academic exchange program. NMSU’s Ruinian Jiang, an assistant professor in engineering technology and native of China and primary NMSU-China liaison, and Sonya Cooper, engineering technology professor, visited China last year to gain insights from the ministry and explore initiating an NMSU Ph.D. program in the republic.