DAILY LOBO new mexico
wednesday February 19, 2014
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Food bank will help students make ends meat
LEAPING FORWARD
by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
Aaron Sweet/@AaronCSweet / Daily Lobo Cullen Neal jumps for two points against the Nevada Wolf Pack Saturday night at the Pit. New Mexico defeated Nevada 90-72 allowing just 24 points in the first half. This was the sixth time in nine games UNM has held opponents to 27 points or fewer in the opening half. For a preview of tonights game at the UNLV Thomas & Mack Center, see Page 6.
PhD fellowships funded Mellon, UNM funds will support 20 Latino, Native doctoral candidates by Chloe Henson
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5 A national foundation has awarded UNM $800,000 to help some graduate students complete their dissertations. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded the five-year grant to UNM in order to fund 20 dissertation completion fellowships. UNM Professor Adriana Ramirez de Arellano, a principal investigator for the grant, said the grant is intended to increase scholarship among Latino and Native American populations by increasing doctoral degrees for graduate students who would continue on to be hired by universities nationwide.
“It increases the success of our students,” she said. “But the larger goal is to, on a national level, increase the number of people teaching at other universities in areas that are of importance to Latino populations and Native American populations.” According to a press release in UNM Today, the grant will apply to 10 departments, including anthropology, communications and journalism and sociology. The Graduate Research Center, the Office of Graduate Students, the Dean of Graduate Studies, the Provost’s Office, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office for Equity and Inclusion will add $400,000 to the grant, Ramirez de Arellano said. She said UNM received the grant on the condition that the University would also contribute.
“It makes sense for a foundation such as Andrew W. Mellon to require evidence that, if they are willing to invest in the university, that the university is also willing to invest in this program,” she said. According to the foundation’s website, Andrew W. Mellon is a not-for-profit corporation that gives grants to program areas in the arts, higher education and scholarly communications and information technology. Distinguished Professor Michael Graves, another principal investigator, said beginning in the fall, UNM will fund five dissertations a year for the next four years. “We’ve already done a process of awarding 3 1/2 fellowships that run from January through August,” he said. “But then
anything useful.” Associate Provost Greg Heileman said students go by the catalog requirements that are in place at the time of enrollment. He said if the program they are enrolled in decides to decrease their requirements to 120 credit hours, then the students can go to their advisors to request those catalog standards. “Basically what this does, is it says any baccalaureate degree at UNM has the option of reducing their credit hours from 128 to 120 if they choose to do so,” he said. “And if they do, a student who comes in… can switch over to a new program as soon as it’s approved.” Heileman said the 128 credit hour requirement was only stipulated in the catalog. He said the Board of Regents and the University President didn’t need to approve the proposal. “This is a change to existing policy that
went up to the Faculty Senate,” he said. The senate also decided to decrease the minimum credit hour requirements because most other universities require 120, Holder said. He said students take more courses than necessary to graduate, and lowering the required number of credit hours could help with the graduation rate. “A typical student, to graduate, takes about 165 hours here, even though 128 were required until last month,” he said. “So, by dropping that down a little bit, maybe people will graduate a little faster, and maybe the graduation rate will go up a little bit.” Holder said he believes only one or two faculty senators were in opposition to the proposal. Heileman said in an email sent to the Daily Lobo that the University was only
see Mellon
Grant PAGE 2
Minimum hours cut to 120 by Chloe Henson
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5
Undergraduates will now need to take fewer credit hours in order to graduate. The UNM Faculty Senate cut the minimum number of credit hours required to graduate from 128 to 120 at a meeting at the end of last month. Faculty Senate President Richard Holder said the final vote to approve the decrease will go into effect right away. He said the senate decided to pass the proposal because it would make more sense for students trying to graduate on time. “We had 128, which doesn’t make any mathematical sense,” he said. “If you think that people should graduate in eight semesters, eight into 128 doesn’t give you
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 118
issue 100
see 120
Vegas, baby
Looking for revenge
see Page 5
see Page 6
hours PAGE 3
Starting Thursday, some UNM students may be able to ditch the instant ramen diet at least once a month. The University has cooperated with the Roadrunner Food Bank to launch the Lobo Food Pantry, a mobile food warehouse that would provide free healthy food to UNM students monthly. The program will kick off Thursday afternoon in the northeast parking lot of the UNM Football Stadium. Lisa Lindquist, student affairs specialist at the Dean of Students Office, said her office and Student Affairs worked with the food bank to launch the program. Lindquist said that the University initially planned to establish a permanent student food pantry on campus. “The Roadrunner Food Bank is a primary advocate to getting food out to the community,” she said. “Originally, when we started looking into doing this for the community, we wanted to have a free-standing food bank on campus. But we realized quickly that we don’t have the space for anything like that. And there are so many food safety requirements for us to do that.” The office plans to hold the event every third Thursday of the month, Lindquist said. Students will have to provide their student banner ID and fill out a short questionnaire to access a ration of food, Lindquist said. She said the pantry will give away 150 rations in a first-come, first-served basis at the kick-off event. Lindquist said the event will be of critical help to students, especially with the current state of the economy and of the University’s financial aid funds. “There’s that myth of the starving student that everyone knows about, but the reality is a lot of our students don’t have enough food,” she said. “That’s the case for a majority of our students particularly because financial aid is being cut back and scholarships aren’t as prevalent as they used to be… People are really having to tighten their belts.” Kim Kloeppel, fiscal and planning officer at Student Affairs, said the University started planning the program more than two years ago in the model of similar programs in other universities. She said the University finally followed through with its plans this year after a lot of research. Kloeppel said the program will give students more access to healthy food. She said rations would include various meats, bread and fresh fruit. “I think a lot of students are on such a tight budget that they don’t always eat well,” she said. “This is an opportunity to provide food for students who might need that extra help with their nutrition and their diet.” The program would also help improve students’ academic success, Kloeppel said. “A lot of times, a lot of students don’t eat, or they eat ramen noodles or things like that, that aren’t very healthy,” she said. “Their energy level is low. So, I think that if they eat better and healthier, then it gives them the energy to study more and be more successful in their academic areas.” Kloeppel said Students Affairs would provide $500 from its budget every month to fund the program. She said the department is willing to increase the number of rations in the future if student demand amounts more than expected. At the moment, UNM plans to run the program for six months, Kloeppel said. But she said the University would strive to extend the program for as long as possible. “We’d like to continue with it,” she said. “I hope students appreciate it and utilize it and get their food.”
Lobo Food Pantry kick-off event Thursday, 2 p.m.
Northeast parking lot of the UNM Football Stadium Students need to provide their banner ID number to access food rations.
TODAY
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