DAILY LOBO new mexico
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thursday January 23, 2014
Fee board hears group funding requests Child care, LGBTQ groups say they need more space, funds
by Chloe Henson
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5 A Student Fee Review Board forum Wednesday night focused primarily on child care at UNM. About half a dozen of the 30 people who participated came up to voice their support for the UNM Children’s Campus for Early Care and Education. Daniela Baca, the interim director of UNMCC, said the supporters came out to make sure members of the board recognized the importance of the program. “I think that we want to make sure that the review board is aware of just how many students we benefit,” she said. “Not only in our facility, but also the students who benefit from us having child care for their professor or other students in the class so that they don’t have to bring their children to class, or having a professor cancel class because they don’t have care available.” The supporters also wanted to raise awareness of the program itself. “I’ve been a part of classes here at UNM where the teacher was unaware that we have a center, and he brought his child to class,” said Josh Crawley, a childcare worker for UNMCC. “It was very disruptive because he was trying to do a lecture, and you would hear chalk being thrown. So I really appreciate it when my professors have children over here so we can have class and focus.” Baca said UNMCC provides care and early childhood education for about 300 to 350 children of students, staff and faculty of the University. According to a document distributed at the forum, the UNMCC is requesting the same amount of money per student to fund the center as last fiscal
Ardee Napolitano / Daily Lobo Matt Fleischer, attorney general of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, reads from a tablet during a forum organized by the Student Fee Review Board on Wednesday night. Attendees expressed funding concerns about various University bodies, such as the UNM Children’s Campus for Early Care and Education, in the forum. year. The total amount of money requested is $378,865, according to the document. Priscila Poliana, president of UNM’s Graduate and Professional Students Association, said she believes the UNMCC to be important, but one of the major problems for the Children’s Campus is limited space. “One of the things that we learned, through the Student Fee Review Board, is that they are running into quite a few limitations that are related to the
space,” she said. “They cannot expand their services because they need to comply with state requirements.” According to the UNMCC’s application to the SFRB, there is a waiting list of more than 300 children. Matthew Rush, chief of staff for the GPSA and member of the board, said he also supports the Children’s Campus, but it would be difficult to help them with their limitations on space. “We’ve talked to them several
times in the past about the projections for building a new building,” he said. “They do have some quotes out there for projected plans. Those are in the millions of dollars for a new building. Unfortunately, that’s not within the SFRB budget to do it.” LGBTQ Resource Center Space was also an issue for another center located on campus. Several students came up to voice their support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender and Questioning Resource Center. Alyssa Hedrich, a member of the LGBTQ Resource Center, said moving the center would make it more accessible to the UNM community. “To make the LGBTQ Resource Center more integrated in the campus community, it really needs to change space,” she said. “It’s in a basement. And it’s inaccessible to handicapable folks on campus. It’s really got to get moved.”
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Innovate ABQ will benefit university, city by Manuel Sandoval news@dailylobo.com @sandovalmanny
Innovate ABQ is taking another step toward readiness, this time with regard to how students and non-students alike can get directly involved in entrepreneurship. As part of the larger technology incubator, the newly conceived Innovation Academy, which is undergoing planning at the moment, is a way for UNM students to use their skills to advance the New Mexico economy. The academy is set to be located in the downtown part of the planned Innovate ABQ. Lisa Kuuttila, CEO of STC.UNM, has played a leading role in the development of Innovate ABQ and said that UNM has a big role to play in Innovate ABQ as a whole.
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“We anticipate there to eventually be an incubator and entrepreneurial dorm where students who are part of the Innovation Academy will reside. There will be an apartment building, an office building and maybe one additional building,” Kuuttila said. “So it’s hard for me to quantify exactly what percentage (will be directed towards the Innovation Academy) but you can tell that students play a very important role in the whole project.” Senior Interim Vice Provost Carol Parker is part of the committee for the Innovation Academy. “The committee is working on determining a framework by which UNM faculty will participate in determining what academic courses and programs are offered there,” Parker said. “We have not yet made a final determination. It could be as small as innovative courses being piloted
there (UNM) to perhaps certificates, perhaps minors in entrepreneurship or innovation, or perhaps an actual degree program. All of those things are being discussed.” The upfront cost of a program like this could be tremendous, but it will cost the state little to nothing, Parker said. “At this point the Innovate ABQ project, as a whole, is based predominately on private funding,” Parker said. “We anticipate that entrepreneurs and investors will want to become involved in the project, and, in fact, there is already a lot of interest in the project.” Kuuttila said the claim that no state money is being used is true, with private donations encompassing the whole of the required money. “The funds that have been approved are $7.3 million,” Kuuttila said. “This includes a gift of $3 million which is coming from
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New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union. The city of Albuquerque is putting in $2 million, and we have secured a grant from the Department of Commerce, what is called the Economic Development Administration, for $1.5 million. So that’s $6.5 million. The remaining $800,000 is from the UNM Foundation. So there’s no state money that’s going into this project.” For Albuquerque residents who don’t attend UNM, there are still ways to work with Innovate ABQ, Kuuttila said. “The other aspects (of Innovate ABQ) are entrepreneurial training for people in the community who have an interest in starting a business, so this could really be anybody,” Kuuttila said. “This is a partnership between the city, the county, the university and others in the community who want to provide training. So people will have an opportunity to go to workshops and seminars as well.”
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