Hello Aggies! I am excited to serve as the interim president at your alma mater. As a native of New Mexico it is my honor to be part of the state’s land-grant system and I am impressed with the dedicated faculty, motivated students and loyal staff at New Mexico State.

In an effort to expand the land-grant mission and continue to build our relevance among the people of New Mexico, we are considering new ways to involve the entire university in outreach activities. This means finding even more pathways to develop our communities by sharing our knowledge and research in areas such as education, business, science, health, the arts and humanities as well as engineering and agriculture.

Strong partnerships built on mutual respect and understanding of community needs will be fundamental to our future plans and alumni play a critical role. We will be traveling to communities across New Mexico this fall to engage in conversations about how NMSU can be a statewide resource. Alumni input as we move around the state will be valuable to this effort.

We also will look at partnerships with other institutions in the state to address important issues such as enhanced health care for smaller New Mexico communities.

Also new for NMSU this fall is the move of the NMSU Albuquerque Center to a bigger location. The center will be part of expanding what is unique specifically to NMSU for northern New Mexico.

As you flip through the pages of Panorama, you will be able to see how your fellow alumni are impacting the state and nation and see what is going on at your university.

I look forward to meeting many of you in the next few months.

Manuel T. Pacheo
Interim President