McIlvoy's new novel gains acclaim

Kevin McIlvoy (Photo by Matt Gray)

English professor Kevin McIlvoy's novel Hyssop has received kudos from the critics and special recognition by a national bookseller since its publication last fall. Publishers Weekly gave Hyssop a starred review - the highest praise. Kirkus Reviews described it as "Charming, unpretentious, deep, poetic, life-filled. A joy." Kirkus picked Hyssop as one of nine 1998 novels of "unusual promise, grace, voice, clarity, stance, passion, appeal" that were nevertheless "the undersung, the underpraised, and above all, the under-read." Borders Books and Music chose the novel, published by TriQuarterly Books, for its nationwide Original Voices program. The program promotes "the best new voices in literature," according to Borders. McIlvoy's novel was displayed in 240 Borders stores throughout February. Since the novel's publication last October, Hyssop has gone into a second printing, and paperback rights have been sold to Avon/Bard Books.

Hyssop is set in Las Almas, N.M., which McIlvoy readily admits is Las Cruces. The novel is narrated by Red Greet, an 87-year-old thief whose confessor is the local bishop, Red's lifelong friend.

"Greet is a jackdaw of memory, collecting shiny, often unrelated bits of the past and presenting them with effusive joy," wrote Eric Burns in the New York Times Book Review.

McIlvoy has published three other novels and many short stories. He is editor-in-chief of NMSU's national literary magazine Puerto del Sol. At NMSU he has won three major awards for his teaching and service to the community.

Virtually all of Hyssop's characters are octogenarians dealing with issues of faith, love, sin and forgiveness, McIlvoy said. For years, the author has volunteered to teach a weekly class for elder writers at the Munson Senior Citizens Center in Las Cruces. The novel is informed by his work with those writers, he said. Thirteen years ago, he founded the NMSU anthology Serape, which annually publishes the work of New Mexico writers over 55.

Hyssop sells for $24.95. Copies are available through the NMSU Bookstore, (505) 646-1427.

Rita A. Popp, '93

Voters approve bond issue

New Mexico voters in November's general election approved Bond Issue B, which will provide $62.9 million for higher education and $10 million for public schools.

For NMSU and its branch campuses, the bond issue includes:

• $1.5 million for restoration of historic Goddard Hall on the main campus.

• $2.2 million for completion of the Health and Public Services Building at the Dona Ana Branch Community College in Las Cruces.

• $2 million for completion of a multi-purpose building at NMSU-Alamogordo.

• $1 million for improvements to baseball and softball facilities at the main campus.

• $50,000 for planning a college/community library center at NMSU-Grants.

Project has personal significance for Cobb

When NMSU English assistant professor Amanda Cobb wrote the award-winning book Listening to Our Grandmother's Stories, she hoped to tell an untold story: "one which focuses on the type of education American Indian women received and the special issues of language and identity they faced."

Her manuscript, Listening To Our Grandmother's Stories: An Historical Analysis of the Literacy Curricula at Bloomfield Academy/Carter Seminary for Chickasaw Females, Indian Territory/Oklahoma, 1852-1949, was one of two selected for the 1998 North American Indian Prose Award. The book is scheduled for publication in 2000.

Cobb also wrote the book for her grandmother, who attended the Bloomfield Academy in the late 1920s. The academy was established in the Ardmore, Okla., area in 1852 by missionaries and the Chickasaw tribe. Its establishment meant that female tribal members did not have to attend federally run boarding schools.

"By searching through pictures, documents and memorabilia and by listening to women who went to school there, who knew my grandmother, I got to know her better. I was listening to her story," said Cobb, who is of Anglo and Chickasaw heritage.

Joy Victory

Governor appoints two regents

Roswell, N.M., businessman James C. Manatt Jr., '71, and Avery Culbertson, a junior agricultural and extension education student, have been appointed by Gov. Gary Johnson to seats on the NMSU Board of Regents.

Manatt is chief executive officer and co-founder of Providence Technologies Inc., an oil and gas exploration company. His appointment is to a six-year term on the board. He replaces Carl Faubion, who served for 12 years.

Manatt received his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and mass communications. After serving as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Army in 1971-72, he held several positions in the Republican Party of New Mexico in the 1970s and was state campaign manager for Gerald Ford's presidential campaign in 1978. He was vice president and then president of Permian Exploration Corp. of Roswell before co-founding his current company in 1994.

Culbertson, of Las Cruces, was appointed to a two-year term. She replaces Natalie Evans Russell as the student member of the board.

Culbertson has been vice president and president of the 4,000-member state Future Farmers of America. She is a College Ambassador and member of the Speakers Bureau of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.

At press time, Manatt's and Culbertson's appointments were subject to confirmation by the New Mexico Senate.

HONORED

Hubert B. Cooper Jr., '51, recipient of an NMSU honorary doctor of letters degree, delivers the Commencement address Dec 12, 1998. Nearly 800 students received their degrees at the ceremony. An internationally recognized leader in cotton breeding research, Cooper had worked at the U.S. Cotton Research Station in Shafter, Calif., the California Planting Cotton Seed Distibutors and Phytogen, now operated by J.G. Boswell Co. A $2.5 million cotton research center he helped design for Boswell was named in his honor in 1996. He has been responsible for the development of every major cotton variety in the San Joaquin Valley since 1973 except one, and that single exception was a direct selection from an advanced breeding strain he developed at the U.S. Cotton Research Station. (Photo by Kevin Palmer)

Davis leads program that was there for him

Black Programs Director Mike Davis, center, congratulates winners of the Racial Harmony Awards at the 1999 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Breakfast in January. Harry Lujan, left, director of NMSU's American Indian Programs, was honored for his efforts to increase the enrollment of American Indian students at NMSU. Roberto Estrada, right, has been a long-time supporter of the Las Cruces Public Schools and NMSU, and also has supported Las Cruces' Whole Enchilada festival for nearly 20 years. (Photo by Michael Kiernan)

Mike Davis, '74, '98, should feel right at home as director of Black Programs at NMSU.

"I've been affiliated with this program since 1971," he said, referring to his first year as an undergraduate student. "I've stayed involved in one way or another, and I've watched the program grow over the years."

Little did he know back then that he would one day head the program he looked to for support as a football scholarship student from Pasadena, Calif. In those days, he had his sights set on becoming a lawyer or football coach. Instead he went into teaching and counseling - and coaching football, too - after he got his bachelor's degree in government.

"Coaching helped me with the art of communication and with motivating people to be self-starters," he said.

His current responsibilities focus on recruitment, retention and graduation of black students.

Davis completed his master's degree in curriculum and instruction while serving as interim director of Black Programs, after director Andrew Wall's retirement in 1997. Davis was named director in June 1998.

Since then, he has created new scholarships named in Wall's honor, which are presented to NMSU-bound students from local high schools.

"I truly enjoy my job," he said. "I do a lot of recruiting and work with alumni, all over the country, and help students with all sorts of problems. It's fun, but it can be draining."

Karl Hill

Engineering dean steps down

Morgan

J. Derald Morgan is in the middle of a six-month sabbatical leave, after stepping down as dean of NMSU's College of Engineering Jan. 1. Morgan had occupied the college's top post since 1985. Following his sabbatical his plans were to return to the faculty as a professor in the college's Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Jay Jordan, who headed the Klipsch School, is serving as interim dean. A national search for a permanent replacement is under way. "The College of Engineering has gone through an unprecedented period of growth and development under Dean Morgan's leadership," said NMSU President William Conroy.

During his tenure as dean, Morgan helped establish eight major programs in the college, including the Advanced Manufacturing Center, the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium and the Nondestructive Bridge Test and Evaluation Center. The college's annual research expenditures increased from $1 million to more than $20 million.

NMSU wins $450,000 challenge grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $450,000 challenge grant to NMSU to establish a Southwest and Border Cultures Institute.

The grant is one of 10 challenge grants awarded by the NEH to colleges and universities nationally.

Reed Dasenbrock, associate dean and director of NMSU's Arts and Sciences Research Center, said the university will raise an additional $1.35 million to create a total endowment of $1.8 million.

The institute "will promote humanities research, education and outreach with special emphasis on understanding and maintaining the unique multicultural heritage of our state and region," Dasenbrock said.

He said the institute will bring together the NMSU Library, the University Museum and the departments of history, sociology and anthropology, languages and linguistics, and English for a broad, interdisciplinary focus on the cultures that have converged in the border Southwest. Areas of interest will include oral history, folklore, popular culture and historic preservation, he said.

The endowment will support research and creative activities by faculty and graduate students, acquisition of materials, and public programming activities such as library and museum exhibitions and lecture series.

MURAL ISSUE

This artwork by Robert Lavadie and Hector Tellez is one of three murals in Garcia Annex that Chicano Programs plans to either restore or paint over during an office renovation. "We're trying to make the offices look better, and we want student input as to what should be done with the mural," said Laura Gutierrez Spencer, Chicano Programs director. She encourages students and alumni to vote on what should be done with murals. To receive a ballot, contact Chicano Programs, MSC 4188, NMSU, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003-88001, or call (505)646-4206. Votes must be cast by June 30. (Photo by Michael Kiernan)

Golfers make history

The New Mexico State University women's golf squad, ranked 18th in the country at press time, enjoyed one of its most successful autumns in school history.

Head coach Joann Cox's team captured the Chip-N-Club Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska Sept. 14-15. The Roadrunners carded rounds of 306 and 293 to take the title by five strokes over Nebraska.

The Roadrunners posted the second-lowest score of the final round of the Jones Intercable/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque Sept. 24-26 to finish in seventh place.

At the 35th annual Stanford/Pepsi Women's Intercollegiate Oct. 23-25, the team posted a final round score of 305 to finish in a tie for ninth place.

The team defended its own turf in a one-hole playoff Nov. 1 to win the Diet Coke-Roadrunner Invitational at NMSU.

This spring the Roadrunners play matches:

• March 26-28 at Wake Forest/UNC Invitational, Greensboro, N.C.

• April 1-3 at Arizona State Invitational, Tempe, Ariz.

• April 18-20 at Big West Conference Championships, Boise, Idaho.

• May 6-8 at NCAA West Regionals, Houston, Texas.

• May 19-22 at NCAA Championships, Tulsa, Okla.

Alumna is medalist

Former NMSU golf standout Anna Jane "A.J." Eathorne, '98, played four solid rounds at the LPGA International Course in Daytona Beach, Fla., in October to share medalist honors with Shani Waugh of Australia at the LPGA Qualifying School.

Eathorne earned one of 24 available full-exempt cards for the 1999 edition of the Ladies' Professional Golf Association tour in addition to the $2,750 first-place purse. She also received a 1998 NCAA state Woman-of-the-Year award. The NCAA presents 51 state-level awards (including the District of Columbia) to outstanding female student-athletes who excel in academics, athletics and community leadership.

Thomas Dick

Henson nears 700

Head Basketball Coach Lou Henson, in his 12th year with the Aggies, is close to etching his name on one of college basketball's biggest milestones.

Through Feb. 9, Henson, '55, '56, coached 697 winning college basketball games. Win No. 700 will, most assuredly, come this season.

"Being the coach on this many winning teams shows the type of quality athletes we have had playing for us," Henson said. "The players are the ones who have won the games, not me."

Henson will become just the 13th NCAA Division I coach to record 700 wins.

Henson is in his 12th season overall as NMSU's head coach and 36th year as a collegiate coach. He guided NMSU to a 191-83 record from 1966 to 1975 and led the Aggies to the 1970 Final Four. In 1997, he returned to his alma mater and has guided the Aggies to a 34-19 record. From 1975-1996 Henson coached the University of Illinois to a 423-224 mark. He began his college coaching career by leading Hardin-Simmons University to a 62-36 record from 1962-1966.

Prior to college coaching, Henson led Las Cruces High School to a 145-23 record. Henson's record, coaching college and high school, is an amazing 860-385 in 42 years.

Dan Trujillo, '92