Office of the President
Monday Morning Memo | January 19, 2009
Dear NMSU Campus Community:
Our week begins with the important observance today of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s enormous contributions. In fact, as this memo is circulated this morning, NMSU Athletics Director, Dr. McKinley Boston, is speaking at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at the Mesilla Valley Hotel & Conference Center. Also, Dr. Festus Addo-Yobo, Director of NMSU Black Programs, is preparing a series of events to commemorate Dr. King's legacy as well as many other great accomplishments during the next few weeks. We look forward to sharing these activities with all of you.
It was exciting at Tuesday's Convocation to announce "2009: The Year of Sustainability at New Mexico State University." I am pleased to see the first in a series of events come so closely on the heels of the start of the semester. On January 22-23, we will be hosting the conference, "Transboundary Water Crises: Learning from our Neighbors in the Rio Grande and Jordan River Watersheds." The Conference, hosted by the New Mexico Water Resources and Research Institute (NMWRRI) and NMSU's International Relations Institute (IRI), will gather national and international experts to discuss issues and solutions associated with this most precious resource. For more information, please contact Karl Woods at NMWRRI, Ambassador Delano Lewis at IRI, or simply go to http://wrri.nmsu.edu/conf/rgrj/conf.html.
To advance our goals during The Year of Sustainability, NMSU will be hosting The World Café, an innovative conversational process. It is set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, January 31, in the Corbett Center East Ballroom. The World Café is a conversation facilitation technique that brings people together to discuss important topics. Participants move to multiple discussion tables, taking with them insights from previous tables, and share these insights with their new conversation partners. This cross-pollination technique leads to the emergence of a collective wisdom, which is "harvested" and analyzed by the group as a whole. I invite you to learn more at the World Café Web site: http://www.theworldcafe.com/.
The World Café event is a chance for people in our community to become involved and express ideas on this topic. It is a participatory, integrated event in which participants collectively consider and discuss several questions on the topic through the day. Importantly, in keeping with the topic of sustainability, the menu for that day will consist of organic and locally grown food products. If you are interested, you must RSVP to participate by contacting NMSU Professor Connie Falk at cfalk@nmsu.edu. The deadline is Wednesday, January 21.
I offer my sincere thanks to these individuals for taking the lead on organizing events that will foster the discussion through these innovative forums. As we explore sustainability throughout the year, such a pioneering spirit will surely be one of the keys to our success.
Have a great week!
