FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dr. Jay Gogue
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Dr. Jay
Gogue
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In my travels around
New Mexico - more than 12,000 miles during my first three
months as president - one message has come through loud
and clear: The people of this state value a degree from
NMSU, and they value the university's programs.
I've been impressed, too, with what students and
faculty have had to say about the university. In student
surveys for the past 13 years, students consistently
have said the thing they like best about NMSU is the
quality of teaching and interaction with faculty members.
And in every academic department I visit, when I ask
what the department is proudest of, the response invariably
focuses on the quality of teaching.
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I wonder how many other research universities would elicit
the same responses from students, faculty members and the
public at large. Our faculty are productive and talented researchers,
yet clearly teaching is valued above all.
Credit for NMSU's good reputation also belongs to the
people of the Cooperative Extension Service, who provide outreach
programs in all 33 of New Mexico's counties. The traditional
agricultural extension programs remain an important part of
this outreach, but increasingly the concept of extension service
is broadening into other types of support. A current example
is the formation of a new Rural Telecommunications Task Force
to provide high-tech workshops and training to establish e-commerce
and local online services in rural areas.
Another group that deserves a large measure of credit
for NMSU's reputation is the university's alumni. I'll be
talking a lot in the coming months about the need to reconnect
with our alumni - and I don't mean just at fund-raising time.
Think of what a wonderful asset an active NMSU alumni group
can be to a young graduate who has just moved to a new city
to start a career. Think how valuable the input of successful
alumni can be as we develop programs to prepare students for
today's ever-changing workplace.
Our newest alumni will cross the stage at the Pan American
Center on Saturday, Dec. 16. It will be my first Commencement
as president, and I hope some of you will be here to share
the occasion.
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Goddard Renovation
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NMSU work crews destroyed much of Goddard Hall's tower
and annex buildings in order to renovate them. In the tower
building, the exterior walls and floors were retained, but all
interior rooms were torn down to the floors. In the annex, only
portions of the north and east exterior walls were kept. When
work is completed in the fall of 2001, the buildings' exteriors
will look like the originals, but their interiors will be completely
different, with modern walls, doors, ceilings, heating, cooling
and plumbing, said Terry Coker, a construction supervisor with
NMSU's Architect's Office. Photo by Michael Kiernan |
Grad student enjoys 'Super' ranking
| Celina Roa Millerd, '99,
was featured as one of the nation's top 100 Hispanic college students
in the June issue of SuperOnda magazine. An NMSU second-year
graduate student and Alamogordo, N.M., native, Millerd has a 4.0
grade point average.
A single mother, she is majoring in marriage and family therapy.
Her two children, Rebecca, 13, and Michael, 10, are learning
too, she said. "They are very responsible. They understand that
Mom has homework too, and sometimes that means late nights at
the computer lab."
Millerd works at Mesilla Valley Hospital in Las Cruces as a
student therapist. As an NMSU undergraduate, she also worked
with the local Adolescent Family Life Program, providing child
safety and parenting classes to pregnant and parenting teens.
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Celina Roa Millerd
is one of the
nation's 100 top Hispanic college
students.
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As an undergraduate, Millerd earned a 3.85 GPA and received the Debra
Orozco Memorial Hispanic scholarship. She also received the Public
Service Company of New Mexico Hispanic Heritage Scholarship.
In 1999 she graduated as a Crimson Scholar and was selected as the
Outstanding Hispanic Student Graduate in the family and consumer sciences
department. Millerd also participated in the McNair program, a two-year
federal program for undergraduate minority students planning to enroll
as graduate students. Millerd said the program helped open doors for
her.
With the help of her faculty mentor, Esther Devall, Millerd has learned
that success doesn't fall in your lap. "Being a single parent in college
is a struggle," she said. "Hopefully I will meet my goal of being
a therapist."
Aside from practicing therapy, her goals are "to be a college professor,
certified family life educator and published researcher." In the spring
of 1999 her abstract, "Military Mothers: Balancing Family and Country
Responsibilities," was published in the NMSU McNair Journal.
The study compared how single and married active duty mothers affected
their children's behavior. A divorced military wife herself, Millerd
feels the study can be used by family support centers to help military
families cope more effectively.
Millerd said that her mother is her role model. "She raised us alone
too, and I know if she could do it, so can I. She was thrilled when
I decided to go back (to school) and she does all that she can to
offer encouragement."
The emotional support from her family keeps her focused, she said.
Her children have chores and responsibilities such as doing their
own laundry and helping with dishes. Millerd said she couldn't do
it without such cooperative kids. "They understand that they have
homework, and so does Mom," she said.
Maria Lucero
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