As alumni of New Mexico State University, you know it is the strength and the fundamental tradition of land-grant universities to respond to the ever-changing needs of the communities, regions and nation we serve.

Today, land-grants, individually and collectively, are faced with several challenges and emerging realities. The research, teaching and engagement missions of land-grants reflect the pace of economic, social, cultural and political global integration. To be true to our mission of accessibility and providing “liberal and practical education for the industrial classes,” land-grants must find new ways to address the educational needs of an increasingly diverse student population.

Our research agenda is facing the reality of the increasing cost of science. At the same time, land-grants continue to provide research-based solutions for a very wide range of economic and environmental problems.

To become truly “engaged” institutions, land-grants must find ways to draw the entire university into the outreach mission once the exclusive province of the Cooperative Extension Service. Doing so means providing new services to traditional clients while bringing services to non-traditional clients.

All this will be accomplished while reinvesting in critical infrastructure and replacing the soon-to-retire “baby boom” generation of faculty.

I am pleased to write that New Mexico State is meeting these challenges each day. We are focusing on student success through first-year scholars programs. Our universitywide Extension and outreach activities are reaching global hot spots such as Iraq as well as our own Native American populations. Our research is centered on solving problems in critical areas such as energy, water and the environment. And we work daily to attract top-notch faculty to join us in the pursuit of excellence.

As you dip into the following pages, you will be able to see the great things NMSU has achieved and those on which we continue to work even as we plan events such as Homecoming and another WAC season. All of these things together make us who we are and they are reflected in this issue of Panorama.

Michael V. Martin
President