2016, Fall by UNM Alumni Association

FALL 2016

M A G A Z I N E THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO I ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Firstâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Generation Lobos

Feeding Lobos | Civil Rights Memories Archived for History UNM Looks for a New Brand | Einstein Was Right and Alum Helps Prove It Bones Tell Stories in Osteology Lab | Alumna Breaks Major League Baseball Barrier

Contents

Heather Edgar, curator of human osteology at the Maxwell Museum, takes a closer look at a bone.

LETTERS

12 CATCHING THE WAVE

18 BREAKING BARRIERS

ALBUM

For first-generation college students, graduation day represents a milestone By Leslie Linthicum

Keeping current with classmates

7 CHANGING LIVES A message from UNM President Robert G. Frank

8 CAMPUS CONNECTIONS

What’s going on around campus

Alum confirms Einstein was right By Leslie Linthicum

14 MS. COACH

UNM grad breaks into the pros By Benjamin Gleisser

16 PRESERVING HISTORY Black alumni record civil rights-era memories

24 CSI: UNM Human Osteology lab holds thousands of bones By Aaron Hilf

On the cover: Four in 10 UNM freshmen are the first in their families to attend a four-year college. Meet Deyanira Nuñez and other education pioneers who made it to graduation.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Mirage was the title of the University of New Mexico yearbook until its final edition in 1978. The title was then adopted by the alumni magazine, which continues to publish vignettes about UNM graduates.

M A G A Z I N E

26 NOT THE RETIRING TYPE James B. Lewis is new Alumni

Association president By Leslie Linthicum

28 THE BRAND

34 FUELING LOBOS

Fall 2016, Volume 36, Number 2

Triple alumna Becky Freeman helps UNM athletes eat right

The University of New Mexico

36 SPECIAL GIFT, SPECIAL NEEDS Dentist’s passion spurs gift

UNM digs into its DNA in major rebranding By Leslie Linthicum

30 CATCHING UP WITH SIMON EJDEMYR

Check out the calendar of Homecoming activities

Ex-soccer star studies politics and well-being By Keiko Ohnuma

32 SHELF LIFE

Books by UNM alumni and faculty

to Dental Medicine By Michelle G. McRuiz

38 IT’S A HOWLABALOO!

40 HONORING ALUMNI Meet the winners of our 2016 winter awards

43 FROM THE VEEP A message from Alumni Association’s Dana Allen

Robert G. Frank (’74 BS, ’77 MA, ’79 PhD) President Dana G. Allen, Vice President, Alumni Relations UNM Alumni Association Executive Committee James B. Lewis (’77 MPA) President Harold Lavender (’69 BA, ’75 JD) President-Elect Ann Rhoades (’85 MBA) Past President Tom Daulton (’77 BS) Treasurer Dana G. Allen, Secretary Sandra Begay-Campbell (’87 BSCE) Member At Large Rosalyn Nguyen (’03 BBA, ’07 MBA, JD) Member At Large Henry Rivera (’68 BA, ’73 JD) Member At Large Alexis Tappan (’99 BA) Member At Large Daniel Trujillo (’07 BBA, ’08 MACCT) Member At Large Mirage Editorial Dana G. Allen, Vice President, Alumni Relations Leslie Linthicum, Editor Wayne Scheiner & Company, Graphic Design Address correspondence to MirageEditor@unm.edu or The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, MSC 01-1160, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001. You may also contact us at (505) 277-5808 or 800-ALUM-UNM (800-258-6866). Web: UNMAlumni.com Facebook: Facebook.com/UNMAlumni Twitter: @UNMAlumni Instagram: Instagram.com/UNMAlumni Flickr: Flickr.com/UNMAlumni

FALL 2016

Photo: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

editor LETTERS TO THE

FROM THE EDITOR:

TO THE EDITOR:

lthough Mirage has been hitting your mailboxes and sharing space on your coffee tables and night stands for decades, this is just the fourth issue I have had the pleasure of editing. After many years as a newspaper reporter and columnist in Albuquerque, I decided to explore a new journalism career. My only mantra was to work for nice people doing good things. That positivity principle has led me to write for and edit alumni and university publications, which offer what seems to be an inexhaustible supply of stories about smart people engaging with their worlds in interesting, positive and meaningful ways. Mirage is funded and published twice a year by the private, non-profit Alumni Association. Each March and September, we distribute more than 160,000 copies across UNM’s campus and to alumni around the world. My goal at Mirage is as ambitious as it is simple: to send you a beautiful publication filled with stories related to UNM and its alumni that you’ll find engaging, touching, informative, amusing, important or thought-provoking. I hope each issue offers a range of faces and ideas and will linger in your homes and offices for a while. I also hope the mail will not just be a one-way delivery. If a story sparks an idea or a response—or if it reminds you of a UNM alum you think is doing great things, I’d love to hear from you.

Leslie Linthicum MirageEditor@unm.edu MIRAGE MAGAZINE

was interested in the article on the Pueblo language in the recent Mirage. (“Secret Texts,” Spring 2016) My father, Henry C. Whitener, on a stop in Albuquerque while on a trip to the West, heard some Pueblo Indians speaking. He had spent twelve years in Japan as a Presbyterian missionary and spoke Japanese fluently. He recognized a great similarity between Japanese and Pueblo. As a result he had the urge to minister to the Pueblos by translating portions of the Bible to their language. We moved to Albuquerque in 1929, where I stayed until graduation from UNM in 1941. He found that as Japanese is written in syllables rather than vowels and consonants, so the Pueblo. He translated the Gospel of John, produced linguistic materials and other publications.

Regards, Phil Whitener (’41 BSME) Silverdale, Wash.

aving completed my doctoral dissertation at UNM on the psychological effects of journal writing, I read with interest your “Words” edition of Mirage (Spring 2016). I suppose my interest in words is a bit more pronounced than for most people, having proposed marriage on a Scrabble board. And in February 1978, two months shy of getting my Ph.D., I placed four different words on four large placards, got dressed up as a wolf (renting a costume from Disco Display) barnstormed center court during halftime, and thereby became the first Lobo mascot in The Pit and introduced placard cheering there. Cheerleaders held up my signs to each side of The Pit: MAKE IT HAPPEN LOBOS! Aah, those halcyon days of 1978! I reprised the outfit a second time, during the last home game. The “official” Lobo Louie in The Pit was not introduced until fall 1979. About 10-15 years ago, I was interviewed by a UNM archivist, so somewhere in the archives should be a stillnot-published story about this bit of arcana.

Secret Texts Control of the written word at one Indian pueblo By Leslie Linthicum

Erin Debenport was looking at a career in Mayan languages when she was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Chicago. But, as the academic joke goes, every village in the Yucatan has an anthropologist and a linguist. What could she really add to the body of research? On visits home to see her parents in Albuquerque Debenport saw increased interest among New Mexico pueblos in preserving their indigenous languages and, with the introduction by UNM Department of Linguistics Professor Melissa Axelrod, was soon working with one of the pueblos to develop a written dictionary of its previously only oral language. Theirs was a casino-operating pueblo that had seen an influx of capital and a renewed interest in cultural preservation. Only about 30 of the pueblo’s members were fluent in their native language and all those speakers were over 65. Debenport moved to New Mexico in 2002 and over eight years helped the pueblo Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

UNM-013-A-Mirage-Spring-2016-Single-pages-v5.indd 24

2/18/16 10:01 AM

All the best, Michael Baron (’78 PhD) Corrales, N.M.

Look for a friend on every page! Send your alumni news to Mirage Editor, The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, MSC 01-1160, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001. Or better yet, email your news to UNMAlumni@unm.edu. Please include your middle name or initial and tell us where you’re living now.

our beautiful spring edition of Mirage magazine came in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I loved looking through it at all the events and personalities who are doing exciting and meaningful things. This all reminded me of the loveliest two years of my life that I spent as an art major (1957-1959) on campus at UNM. My life changed when I took a class in Modern Dance under Elizabeth Waters, a true artist. Until that time I had never heard of this form of expression. Since then, from Elizabeth’s inspiration, I have danced throughout my life as well as taught dance for several years at the University of Delaware and for several years further as Artist-inResidence in the 1980s. The theme of “Words” in the recent Mirage also recalls a true learning experience for me. In 1959 at UNM, during the fall football season, a fraternity house on campus constructed a “clever” image on their front lawn. This was a large two-dimensional depiction of an archetypal “Rastus” figure. The black students on campus objected to the use of that image, as it was a demeaning representation of a black figure that was traditionally ignorant and stupid. At first, I thought the way the image had been constructed was clever and probably harmless and that any aggrieved objection was nit picking. But the more I thought

Deadlines:

about how images and words are used to vilify races and ethnic groups, the more I realized that the students were right to object. I have never forgotten that incident or what it revealed about my fellow students—and about me. Thank you again for the spring issue of Mirage.

Spring deadline: January 1; Fall deadline: June 1

David F. Romero (‘50 BSCE), San Luis Obispo,

Dolores Pye Josey (University of Illinois, ’52) Wilmington, Del.

1940s Sarah E. Mount (’48 BAFA), Albuquerque, was recently presented with her crown and sash from the 1948 Miss New Mexico contest. Mount won the title but was never crowned due to the postwar recession.

1950s Calif., was recognized as San Luis Obispo’s 2014 Citizen of the Year. Before retiring, he served for 36 years as San Luis Obispo’s public works director, eight years as a member of the city council and eight years as mayor. Jack L. Stahl (’57 BSED) and Carol A. Stahl (’58), Albuquerque, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

1960s Les K. Adler (’63 BA), Cotati, Calif., is dean emeritus at Sonoma State University. He retired as professor of history in 2012 after 42 years on the SSU faculty. Paul E. Brewer, Jr. (’63 BBA, ’68 MBA), Gualala, Calif., is a fine art photographer specializing in

SPRING 2016

nature photography. M A G A Z I N E THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO I ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Scott B. Brown (’65 BS), Albuquerque, and his wife Kay celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Gary Repetto (‘67 BS), Chandler, Ariz., retired after 40 years as a corporate recruiter, the last 19 with Northrop Grumman’s Intelligence Division. Busy now writing novels (“Prairie Fire,” published in 2015, and “Afraid of the Dark,” to be published later this year), he and Antoinette are enjoying retirement. He is also still active with the Phoenix Chapter of the Alumni Association and the Alumni

PROTECTING PUEBLO LANGUAGE | WORDS, THE BRAIN AND SCHIZOPHRENIA DANIEL ABRAHAM’S ‘THE EXPANSE’ | DECADES OF SCRIBENDI NEW YORK TIMES WRITER DEMYSTIFIES SCIENCE | MEET UNM’S POET LAUREATES UNM-013-A-Mirage-Spring-2016-Single-pages-v5.indd 1

Lettermen’s Association.

2/18/16 9:24 AM

FALL 2016

“I’m living proof that cancer does not define your life.” — Judy V.

ovarian and breast cancer patient

Judy has been living with cancer for more than 20 years and across three states. She received some great care, but she says none has been better than the care she receives right here at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Judy’s story at UNMHSLifeStories.org and cancer.unm.edu. 505-272-4946 • 1-800-432-6806 • 1201 Camino de Salud NE • Albuquerque, NM 87131

THE OFFICIAL CANCER CENTER OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO • A COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER DESIGNATED BY THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

Changing Lives

Mary R. Boning (’67 BSN) and Terry R. Boning, (’67 BSED), Albuquerque, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Edward Callary (‘68 MA), Austin, Texas, has

Dear Fellow Alumni:

published his fifth book, “Wisconsin Place

n my last letter, I wrote about the Lobo global impact. Our reach is far and wide and the research and contributions that we—our alumni, students, faculty and staff—make in a variety of disciplines influences the world on a massive scale.

Names,” with the University of Wisconsin Press.

With Homecoming approaching, this letter is the perfect place to bring the focus on “home” and talk about how we are shaping and enhancing both our statewide community and the Lobo communities, including all of you.

Freydoon Rassouli (’69 BAA), Encino, Calif.,

A community can be defined as a body of individuals unified in one or many ways—geographically, through shared interests and goals, through beliefs and cultures or having a common history. UNM has one of the largest organizational impacts on the state of New Mexico. UNM Hospital is the state’s only Level I trauma center, treating patients with severe or potentially life-threatening injuries from all over New Mexico. As one of the state’s largest employers and in the technology and knowledge we create, our economic impact is significant. And our athletic teams aren’t just ours; they’re New Mexico’s. But our community impact goes deeper than that. For our family, friends and neighbors, we give hope by searching in our labs and classrooms for cures and innovations that improve society. And we represent opportunity, not just to our enrolled students, but also to every student considering higher education. UNM offers an educational value like no other. And, thanks to more than $50 million in scholarships supported by the state and our alumni and friends, if anyone has the drive to become a Lobo, we can support that dream. By doing so, we advance the educational missions of the state and the nation. Put simply, we change the lives of those around us.

He is an emeritus professor of linguistics and lives in Texas with his wife, daughter and grandchildren. Charles W. Daniels (’69 JD), Albuquerque, is the newest chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. donated a piece of art for “Art Groove: Free Your Mind and Shine,” a suicide prevention and mental health awareness program.

1970s Terry Calvani (’70 BA), Greenbrae, Calif., is of counsel for the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Prior to joining the firm, he served on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He was also on the board of the Competition Authority of Ireland, where he was director of the Criminal Cartels Division. He was recently listed as one of the world’s top 20 antitrust lawyers. Bill Richards (’70 MFA), New York, showed his drawings at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea, where he has been represented since 1974. Richard D. Sanchez (’70 BA, ’71 MA), Sterling, Va., has published “Ecuador: A Nation Living Precariously on the Pacific Ring of Fire: A general description of the geography of Ecuador” in English and Spanish on Amazon Kindle. He is retired from the U.S. Geological

Richard D. Sanchez

Survey and a recipient of the National Science

Kind regards,

Foundation’s Antarctic Service Medal for his research and field work in Antarctica, where Sanchez Peak in the Sentinel Range of the

Ellsworth Mountains was named in his honor.

Robert G. Frank (’74 BS, ’77 MA, ’79 PhD) President, The University of New Mexico

Nancy B. Card (’71 BSED), Belen, N.M., and her husband Tom Card celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

FALL 2016

Campus Connections of the Nepal Study Center, who had been working on a project funded by the National Science Foundation when the earthquake struck. The project was an interdisciplinary civil engineering class under Stone's direction over the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters.

UNM students, faculty, friends and local volunteers in Bahunipati, Nepal. Photos: Courtesy of Alok Bohara

Stone helped the students research a way to rebuild earthquake resistant buildings in Nepal. After some experimentation they decided to use bags filled with earth stacked and stabilized. In the event of another earthquake, the bags won’t be destroyed like other building materials; they can quickly be refilled and realigned.

“We wanted to build with local products that can be replaced The effort is driven by UNM fairly easily in the event of another BUILDING SOCIAL students who had visited and worked earthquake,” said Stone. “We CAPITAL in Nepal before the earthquake. They are hoping to use the Women’s How do you put up buildings that formed a local group, UNM4Nepal, Community Center to demonstrate are simple, low-cost and resistant to and are supported by Mark Stone, the building technique and to teach earthquakes? With bags filled with earth. associate professor of civil engineering, people in the community how to and Alok Bohara, professor in the A team of UNM students, faculty use the earth bags to rebuild homes Department of Economics and director and other structures.” members and New Mexico volunteers spent part of the spring in Bahunipati, Nepal, working with 14 local laborers to fill, stack and stabilize earthbags in the construction of a women’s community center. The village of Bahunipati is in an area that was hard hit by the deadly 2015 earthquake in Nepal. It already hosts a women’s micro finance program affiliated with the UNM's Nepal Study Center. That made it a natural site for the “One Clinic, One School, and One Temple” theme the study center is using as a social capital rebuilding activity.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Earthbag walls take shape at the Women's Community Center.

Michael A. Franco (’71 BA), Albuquerque, is a paralegal with the City of Albuquerque. He has published three books

center’s training, which incorporates improvisational theater techniques, writing workshops, video storytelling, digital media messaging and learning how to distill complex scientific ideas for a lay audience. The Alda Center’s offerings include conferences, lectures and coaching opportunities, which it has made available to a number of universities around the country. Going forward, Alda Center coaches will provide training to UNM students and faculty several times a year. “Scientists need to be able to share with the public and their peers Alan Alda, Photo: Atlantic Photo—Boston. the significance of their research,” said Richard S. Larson, executive vice ALDA CENTER TEACHES chancellor and vice chancellor for research at the UNM Health Sciences STRAIGHT TALK Center, which has spearheaded the Alan Alda is known to generations initiative. “Effective communication of TV viewers for his starring roles on is critical to securing funding, “The West Wing,” “M*A*S*H” and collaborating across disciplines and “E.R.,” but the Emmy and Golden becoming a more effective teacher.” Globe award-winning actor calls his Larson says the Alda Center 15-year stint hosting “Scientific American Frontiers” on PBS “the best sought out a collaboration with UNM because of its location in the thing I ever did in front of a camera.” Southwest and because it is one of the That experience, which drew on leading institutions in the U.S. with a Alda’s lifelong love of science, led prestigious Clinical and Translational him to found the Alan Alda Center Science Award from the National for Communicating Science at Stony Institutes of Health. Going forward, Brook University in New York. Now, the the UNM-Alda Center partnership center is partnering with UNM to help will plug into a network of similarly scientists and graduate students learn designated universities across the skills they’ll need to advocate for the country. their work. “We need to bridge the Alda paid a visit to Albuquerque information divide with the people we in August to announce the new serve,” Larson said. “This partnership partnership. Several UNM faculty gives us valuable tools to help us tell members have already received the our story.”

through Createspace and Smashwords: “Were You Born Stupid? Tales of an Hispanic-American Family,”

Michael A. Franco

“Dust Mites: Nature’s

Garbage Collectors” and “The Huge, Empty Box.” Daniel H. Lopez (’71 BA, ’72 MA, ’83 PhD), Albuquerque, retired after 23 years as the president of the New Mexico Institue of Mining and Technology in Socorro. Daniel J. Mayfield (’71 BBA), Albuquerque, joined Youth Development Inc.’s board of directors. He is vice-chair of the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association. Donald T. Lopez (’72 MSE), Los Ranchos, N.M., is a Village of Los Ranchos trustee. Johnathan G. Turrietta (’72 BSED), Rio Rancho, N.M., was named the 2015 N.M. Ag in the Classroom “Educator of the Year” by the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau. He incorporates agriculture into the curriculum to show students in his fifth-grade class at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School real-world applications for math, science and technology. Carol E. Moye (’73 BSN), Albuquerque, was honored with a 2015 “Nursing Legend” award from the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence. Antonio J. Manzanares (’74 BAED), Tierra Amarilla, N.M., and his wife Molly continue the tradition of raising sheep on their 200-acre ranch. Diana L. Schoenfeld (‘74 MA, ‘84 MFA), Loleta, Calif., was named a finalist in fine art photography in the 2015 Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers. Selections from “Schoolhouse Odyssey,” her extended photographic

Diana L. Schoenfeld

study of remote historic schoolhouses, will be shown in the 2016 Berlin Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography in October.

FALL 2016

Campus Connections SEAL UNDER REVIEW UNM’s official seal is under review by the university’s Board of Regents after complaints that it is racist. The seal was first adopted when UNM was born, in 1898. Since then it has been redesigned seven times. The current seal, which features a conquistador and a frontiersman standing back to back, has been in use since 1969. Some Native American students and others have complained that it glorifies European aggression against Native Americans. In a large protest outside President Robert G. Frank’s office, protesters carried signs that said, “Abolish the racist seal.” Others, reacting to the protests, say the seal accurately reflects a period of New Mexico history.

“If one agrees with that idea, then the students who have raised the issue have a righteous claim because this seal seems to fail that test,” he said. “I am certainly willing to be educated further, but the seal simply does not seem to capture our modern vision of UNM.”

Jim and Ellen King

ENGINEERING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE The University of New Mexico School of Engineering has become UNM’s first school or college with an endowed dean’s position.

Frank has met with students about the seal and the university’s Office of Academic Affairs has scheduled a number of meetings to get input about the seal.

Jim and Ellen King’s gift of $500,000, along with matching funds from the state’s higher education endowment fund, will provide the $1 million needed to create the Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, held in its inaugural year by Dean Joseph L. Cecchi.

One possible outcome of those discussions is a new seal. It is up to the Board of Regents to make that decision. In a statement, Regents President Robert Doughty called the seal an important representation of the university and said it might be time to consider a change.

The endowed deanship, similar to ones at other top-ranked engineering schools, will generate extra funds each year that the School of Engineering dean can earmark for research or other uses to give UNM a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining faculty.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Although neither of the Kings is an engineer, they have respect for the field through their professional work and a love for UNM. Jim King earned a law degree from UNM. He is chairman of the board of Bradbury Stamm Construction, where he has served in a variety of leadership roles since 1972. He is a member of the UNM Alumni Association board of directors, the UNM Lobo Club and the President’s Club. Ellen King manages Bradbury Stamm’s philanthropic efforts. “We believe in great leadership, and this match provided a very attractive opportunity to have a real impact on the school and all that it can be,” Jim King said. “How could we not do it?”

COLLECTION FROM THE EAST “China Then and Now,” on display at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology through September 2017, attempts to understand the present by looking into the past. With glaze ware and more primitive ceramics, the exhibit walks though the ceramics tradition in China, a nation with a growing role on the world stage. The exhibit also marks an important turn in the museum’s impressive archaeology collection. Eason Eige, an Albuquerque painter and retired curator, contacted the Maxwell about accepting his impressive collection of Chinese ceramics, the pieces that make up the bulk of the exhibit. After the exhibit closes, Maxwell will continue to hold the pieces.

Michael E. Dexter (’75 BSME, ’76 MSE, ’11 MEMBA), Albuquerque, is president of Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers. Karen A. Spivey (’76 BSED), Darien, Conn.,

disproportionate misuse of opioids among Native Americans.

While most of the Maxwell’s collections are from the New World (especially the Southwest), the more than 250 pieces of ancient and modern Chinese pottery included in the China collection help the Maxwell become more global in scope. David Atlee Phillips, the Maxwell’s curator of archaeology, says the China ceramic collection is a good example of how UNM builds collections to foster student training, research and public outreach. Phillips is also curating an online exhibit of the ceramics for visitors who can’t make it into the museum.

EASING PAIN IN INDIAN COUNTRY

a web designer, redesigned SoccerTimes.com and created a website, SOSBeagles.org, to help rescue beagles.

Pain center director Joanna Katzman, M.D., says it is important to continue to treat legitimate chronic pain by offering alternatives to opioids when possible and prescribing opioids more responsibly when they must be used.

Mike Epperson (’77 BA), Aurora, Colo., is a fire

The new IHS training program builds on Katzman’s efforts to educate prescribers throughout New Mexico on the safe use of opioid painkillers in response to the state’s troubling rate of drug overdose deaths, which has been one of the highest in the nation. She has published research showing that the quantity of opioids dispensed in the state declined after prescribers underwent the training.

is the Bank of the West’s head of retail banking in

More than 1,800 IHS, tribal and urban physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists and behavioral health providers already have undergone training and they can now take a new, more detailed course that covers screening for opioid abuse, safe prescribing practices and allows for questions and feedback.

received the Best Reference Book award for

The Indian Health Service has An estimated 4 percent of found that through telehealth it can Americans 12 years and older quickly and effectively train health misuse hydrocodone, oxycodone, professionals without having to fly morphine, codeine and other powerful them to a central location. painkillers, compared to nearly 7 With a presidential memorandum percent of American Indians. directing all federal medical Through UNM’s Project ECHO professionals with prescribing and the UNM Pain and Consultation authority to receive adequate training Treatment Center, UNM is providing on appropriate pain medication expanded training to more than 1,200 prescribing practices, Katzman Indian Health Service prescribers to anticipates the telehealth program share best practices in chronic pain will expand beyond IHS providers. management in hopes of reducing the

protection engineer with Lockheed Martin’s Antarctic Support Team, which supports three National Science Foundation facilities on the continent. He has been deployed to Antarctica 10 times. George C. Stanfield (’77 BBA), Albuquerque, its consumer banking division. Robert C. Brack (’78 JD), Las Cruces, N.M., a U.S. district judge, was named the 2015 “Distinguished Resident” by the Las Cruces Sun-News. Kevin Georges, (’78 BFA, ‘80 MARCH), Albuquerque, is principal architect of KGA Architects, one of the leading health care design firms. Georges just celebrated 30 years in practice. Richard A. Melzer (’79 PhD), Belen, N.M., won two New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. He “A River Runs Through Us: True Tails of the Rio Abajo” and the Best Anthology award for “Murder, Mystery & Mayhem in the Rio Abajo.” He teaches history at UNM-Valencia. William Q. Sabatini (’79 MARCH), Albuquerque, is a cofounder of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, an architecture and design firm, which received a 2016 Ethics in Business Award from the Samaritan Counseling Center of Albuquerque. Bradley D. Winter (’79 MA, ‘95 EDD), Albuquerque, was appointed New Mexico Secretary of State. He also serves as vice-president of the Albuquerque City Council.

1980s Doug Swift (’80 PhD) and his wife Jane, Albuquerque, were honored by the Albuquerque Community Foundation with the Founder’s Award in April. Peter L. Driscoll (’81 MD) is a surgeon at Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso, N.M.

FALL 2016

The SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project

Catching the Wave Physicist/actor confirms Einstein was right By Leslie Linthicum

t happened just before 6 a.m., East Coast time, on Sept. 14, 2015. Both of the U.S. Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detectors, one in Hanford, Wash., and the other in Livingston, La., detected two black holes colliding a billion light years away. It took cautious scientists until February to share the news with the world and explain its stunning implications. The observatories, each called LIGO, had finally recorded proof of Albert Einstein’s century-old theory of general relativity. Robert Ward (’00 BS), an Albuquerque native and UNM alumnus, had kept the secret under wraps for five months. A member of the Advanced LIGO team since 2003, he helped design, construct and test some of the precision instrumentation on the wave detectors. Ward calls the LIGO concept “ambitious and audacious,” a huge machine that pushes the limits of technology to monitor the universe for movement billions of light years away, converts that energy into volts and ultimately records it as a little squiggle on a computer screen.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

“A large part of my contribution has been in getting the machine working,” says Ward, 38. “It’s really been my entire career so far.” So imagine Ward’s emotions when he started to see a flurry of emails last September that said LIGO had found what it was looking for. “Exciting, very exciting,” Ward says. “It was amazing. Every scientist has small breakthroughs throughout a career. This is a big one.” It is a big one, one most likely to win the Nobel Prize for physics. Ward was part of an enormous team—more than 1,000 scientists—who worked on LIGO and Nobel prizes are much more often given to individuals than to teams. But he has the satisfaction of knowing that he was part of one of the biggest scientific discoveries of the last century, one that opens the door to probing the farthest reaches of the universe. And the September detection wasn’t a fluke. In June, LIGO announced the detection of another collision in December.

ball on a trampoline, it will stretch the trampoline fabric. Put another ball on the Ward's career could have just as easily found him in the credits of “The Martian” trampoline and it will roll toward the first ball. It’s not because the first ball is pulling or “The Big Bang Theory.” it, but because of the curvature that has He spent his four years at UNM trying been created. not to worry about a future career. He enrolled at UNM thinking he might study Another of Einstein’s theories, Ward explains, was that concentrations of math and economics, but in his second matter pulled together by gravity could semester he took a physics course and become so tightly packed that light cannot found it “exciting and interesting and escape—the theory of what we now call fun.” Although he declared a physics “black holes.” major, he graduated one class short of “We don’t actually know what black fulfilling the requirements for three holes are,” Ward says. Since black holes different minors—theater, English don’t emit light, they can’t be seen. literature and computer science. The job of the LIGO machines was to “I was all over the place,” Ward recalls. act as giant eardrums, continually “I loved reading. I always thought the monitoring the relatively close space theater kids were interesting.” While of a billion light years away for at UNM he performed in productions movement—gravitational waves. of “Twilight Los Angeles 1992,” “The Ward left Caltech and continued work Hyacinth Macaw” and “A Child’s on the project at the Astroparticle and Christmas in Wales,” while studying the motion of matter through space and time. Cosmology Laboratory in Paris and then “I was the only physics major in theater moved to the Centre for Gravitational Physics at the Australian National rehearsals and the only actor in the University, where he is a research fellow. physics lab,” Ward says. While he also is working on developing Physics won out. He received his methods to track and mitigate space B.S. in physics in 2000 and went to debris, much of Ward’s recent work Oxford University on a Marshall has concentrated on the upgrade to Scholarship. He received a master’s the original LIGO. The second-generation in computer science and also got to Advanced LIGO had just been put perform theater there. into commission a day before the Ward moved on to the California Sept. 14 detection. Institute of Technology for a Ph.D., intending to work in quantum computing, That’s why the first news of the detection was met with skepticism before but gravitated to the gravitational waves repeated tests confirmed it was real. detection project. His explanation of the With the discovery, Ward says, scientists project—for non-physics majors—is that can now “see” the universe more clearly “it’s kind of the story of gravity.” and understand it better. How do black You can’t see or feel gravity, but every holes form? How are stars born and how time you drop something, you know it’s do they die? there. Einstein theorized that gravity “There must be things we haven’t even was the result of space-time (the fourimagined,” he says. dimensional fabric of the universe) reacting to the presence of massive objects In that spirit, Ward and his colleagues didn’t spend too much time celebrating. in space. Many scientists have used the image of bowling balls and a trampoline to “We went out for drinks,” he says. explain how it works: If you put a bowling “Then we said, ‘Let’s get back to work.’” ❂

A Stage

David G. Gallagher (‘81 BE), Houston, was named president and CEO of American Gilsonite Company. The company is the world’s primary miner and processor of uintaite, a naturally occurring hydrocarbon resin used in the oil and gas, foundry, inks and paints and asphalt markets in more than 50 countries. David G. Healow (’81 MD), Billings, Mont., was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Distributed Wind award by the American Wind Energy Association. He is president and CEO of Montana Marginal Energy. James H. Hinton (’81 BA), Los Ranchos, N.M., president and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services, was named a winner of the 2016 New Mexico Spirit of Achievement Awards, given annually by National Jewish Health. Robert H. Pasternack (’81 EDD), Alexandria, Va., is a nationally certified school psychologist, educational diagnostician, administrator and K-12 teacher. He has served as assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education and as state director of special education for the State of New Mexico. He is currently the chief education officer at Accelify Solutions, LLC. Robert A. Rikoon (’82 MBA), Santa Fe, N.M., founded Rikoon Investment Advisors, now The Rikoon Group, LLC. He is also the author of “Managing Family Trusts: Taking Control of Inherited Wealth.” Pamela Garfield (’83 BUS), Corrales, N.M., is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Presbyterian Medical Services’ Farmington Community Health Center. Dennis P. Davies-Wilson (’84 BA, ’91 MMU), Santa Fe, N.M., is the library director at UNM-Los Alamos. Ellen K. Miller (’84 BA), Red River, N.M., co-owner of Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Center, recently purchased the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle online newspaper. Lambert W. Calvert (’85 MBA), San José, Calif., is vice president of financial planning and analysis for Isola Group, a multinational corporation that provides laminate materials for the fabrication of advanced printed circuit boards. (continued on page 27)

FALL 2016

t wasn’t unusual for Rachel Balkovec (’09 BS), the Latin America strength and conditioning coordinator for the Houston Astros, to hear a “macho mindset” comment from one of her teenaged players in the Dominican Republic. After all, she is the first woman to be named a conditioning coach for a Major League Baseball team. But Balkovec, 28, who has been working with male and female athletes for nearly a decade, believes it’s best to meet prejudice with compassion. So she turned the incident into a positive learning experience for the player, who wasn’t accustomed to seeing women on the field. “I started talking to him and found out he’s never encountered a high-level female athlete in his country, or a woman in a position of power,” Balkovec says. “I

with a laugh. “Many of them call me ‘madre.’ Sometimes I call them ‘my sons.’” This experience, and others in her past, led Balkovec to create Damsel in the Dugout, an organization aimed at inspiring and empowering young women in sports and throughout their lives. During baseball’s offseason, she delivers motivational speeches to high school women’s sports teams and at strength and conditioning conferences around the world. Her goal is to begin working more in impoverished communities and create college scholarships for deserving female athletes. For inspiration in a profession that can be lonely for a woman, she credits Sue Falsone, the first female athletic head trainer for a major American professional sports team (the Los Angeles Dodgers) and

Ms. Coach Rachel Balkovec breaks into the majors By Benjamin Gleisser

thought, ‘Wow, this is a great opportunity to show this young man what a woman can do.’ It was a great opportunity to mentor him, and show him how to speak to and treat a woman with respect. He came to understand that a woman can be a partner and a role model.” Balkovec occasionally works with developing players in the U.S., but her main job involves visiting the Astro’s Dominican Republic baseball complex every five weeks. She speaks Spanish and has developed an easy relationship with the talented youngsters who aim to be the next Latin American superstar. “The most important women in these fellows’ lives are their mothers, and I’ve become their surrogate mother,” she says

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Meg Stone, the first female head strength and conditioning coach in collegiate athletics (the University of Arizona). “I reached out to both of them,” Balkovec says. “Like them, I’ve encountered gender discrimination, and drew strength from that. Damsel in the Dugout is an opportunity to impact other women—to pay it forward, and be a role model to young women athletes.” Winning Through Confidence Born in Omaha, Neb., Balkovec was recruited from Creighton University to play catcher on the UNM softball team. She switched majors from psychology to exercise science and then kinesiology because she liked designing exercise regimens for athletes.

She credits Len Kravitz, associate professor of exercise science at UNM, and former UNM instructor Chris Frankel as her mentors. “Dr. Kravitz was an incredible teacher who made it exciting to go to class,” she says. “He taught me, ‘Coaching is motivating others to learn.’ And Chris taught me how to train athletes. He said, ‘Always keep your mouth open when you’re coaching.’ In other words, you should always be giving cues to players, being motivational and talking about making plays.” Her psychology classes came in handy when she began examining her own abilities as a player, and today she firmly believes in the importance of the mindbody connection in athletic performance. “I had game anxiety,” she admits. “I had the skills to play, but during game time my anxiety often caused me to completely lose it. My mind kept me from being successful, and I realized how much confidence affects physical outcome.” “Today, I see it all the time—people who may not have the physical ability to do something, but they will themselves to succeed. I see players with bad body language on the field and as a result, can’t pick up a ground ball hit to them. And I can tell by the way a batter walks up to home plate whether or not he’ll get a hit.” She pauses for a moment, then adds, “Confidence is taught through repeated action and knowing you’ve put in the time to learn your craft. It’s mental reps, and being able to use failure as a learning experience.” Swinging for the Fences In 2012, the St. Louis Cardinals called the Louisiana State University School of Kinesiology looking for a student to work as a Minor League strength and conditioning coach at their baseball training camp near Baton Rouge. Professors recommended Balkovec, who was earning a master’s in sports administration while working as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at the school. “The Cardinals took a tremendous leap of faith in hiring me,” she says. “I wasn’t nervous on the job, I was excited.

I take pride in presenting myself in the correct manner. I knew I was not only representing myself, but representing all women in a professional manner.” Used to working with male athletes at New Mexico and Louisiana State, she found it easy to transition to coaching male baseball players. “They didn’t care who they were working with, they were more interested in developing their skills,” she says. “Many of them knew female coaches in college, or had girlfriends who played in sports in college. I was actually more concerned with the older coaching and management staff. They were a bit of old school, because when they were growing up they never dealt with women in management positions— and certainly not as strength and conditioning coaches.” After her first stint with the Cardinals, she moved to Phoenix, taking classes at Arizona State and volunteering there as a strength and conditioning coach. She sent résumés to the 15 baseball teams operating in the area and figured that her master’s degree and Major League experience would help her find a job. Nope. She struck out. “I applied for internships with a great résumé, but found it hard getting back into baseball,” she says. “I heard from one team in a roundabout way they weren’t hiring me because I was female. Another fellow told me off the record his boss had my résumé, but didn’t want to hire me.” Happily, the Chicago White Sox hired her as a strength and conditioning coach. She then re-joined the Cardinals as the Minor League strength and conditioning coordinator. In November 2015, the Astros brought her on as the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator. “I’m passionate about empowering others,” Balkovec says. “My end goal is to make Major League baseball create a better educational system for players, and help them get better lives past baseball.” ❂

Photo: Mark Berman/Fox26

FALL 2016

Preserving History

Cinematographer Barry Kirk (’76 BA) records as Charles P. Roberts is interviewed by Marsha K. Hardeman (’77 JD, MPA).

he title is a mouthful—The UNM Alumni Association Black Alumni Chapter Oral History Project: New Mexico Black History, the Civil Rights Movement. But the project, a joint venture between the Office of the Provost, the Black Alumni Chapter and Zimmerman Library, has a simple mission: to document the ways in which highachieving black UNM graduates overcame racial discrimination. “The theme is ‘breaking the color barriers,’” says Barbara Simmons (’69 BA, ’74 JD), co-founder of the Black Alumni Chapter. “All of the people involved are high achievers—educators, judges, lawyers, elected officials. It’s a documentation of how they were able to overcome discrimination and segregation and Jim Crow.” Over a few days in May, the subjects sat in front of a video camera and talked about their lives and challenges and triumphs. The raw videos will be available in the Center for Southwest Research digital collection at Zimmerman.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Charles P. Roberts (‘65 BA, ‘69 MA)

These are the initial subjects of what the Black Alumni Chapter hopes is an ongoing effort: Lenton Malry (’68 PhD), an educator and consultant, was New Mexico’s first African American state representative, serving from 1968 to 1978, and the first African American elected to the Bernalillo County Commission. James B. Lewis (’77 MPA) retired in 2014 after nearly four decades in public service in New Mexico. He served as state treasurer for more than 13 years and remains the only African American to have been elected to statewide office in New Mexico. Charles P. Roberts (’65 BA, ’69 MA) served as assistant dean of men, then associate dean of students at UNM. A three-year letterman in football, he was instrumental in creating the Black Student Union and African American Student Center on campus. Ira Harge (’64 BA) scored 1,016 points in two seasons at UNM in the early 1960s. After taking the Lobos to the NIT finals, he was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, but signed with the newly formed American Basketball Association. Charles Becknell, Sr. (’68 MA, ’75 PhD) served as the first director of African American Studies at UNM. He served as the state’s criminal justice secretary from 1975-79 and as a national board member for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Angela Jewell (’79 JD) served as a special commissioner for the Second Judicial District’s Domestic Relations and Domestic Violence Division before being elected District Court judge. She was the state’s first black female judge. Harold Bailey (’68 BS, ’71 MA, ’75 PhD) served as director of UNM’s Afro-American Studies Program, executive director of the state Office of African American Affairs and has twice headed the Albuquerque NAACP. Tommie Jewell, Sr. (’63 MA) graduated from a segregated high school in Phoenix, Ariz., in 1944 and went on to a decades-long career teaching at the Albuquerque Indian School, on Acoma Pueblo and in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Rita Powdrell (’68 BA), a part of the Mr. Powdrell’s Barbeque House family, has chronicled African American history in New Mexico. She was one of the founders of the African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico. Barbara Brown Simmons (’69 BA, ’74 JD) was the first black woman to graduate from the UNM School of Law and the first black woman admitted to the State Bar of New Mexico. With Sam Johnson (’73 BUS, 76 JD), she co-founded the UNM Alumni Association Black Alumni Chapter. Marsha K. Hardeman (’77 JD, MPA), a former city of Albuquerque administrator, launched the black newspaper The Cornish Russwurm Chronicles, which published for six years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

FALL 2016

Photos: Chad and Michelle Abeyta by Desert Skye Images. All others by Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA).

MICHELLE AND CHA DA BEY TA

VILLAR JOSE

IZ UÑ M SE AY

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

pioneers FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS BALANCE CHALLENGES AND REWARDS By Leslie Linthicum

eyanira Nuñez walked with her class in cap and gown this spring, the proud holder of a UNM diploma. The view from the finish line is sweet, but the Albuquerque native says there were challenges on her path to a diploma. “There were moments in my undergraduate career when I asked myself, ‘What am I doing here?’” While many freshmen arrive at college following in a family tradition, Nuñez was stepping into the unknown. Her father, Alfonso, a maintenance man, had left school in Mexico after the second grade. Her mother, Herlinda, had gone through sixth grade. While her parents encouraged her to further her education so she could get a good-paying job, the native Spanish speaker navigated college admissions and scholarship

applications on her own. She decided to live on campus in order to fully immerse in college life. But once on campus she felt guilty for leaving her parents, who relied on her to translate for them. “They thought I was moving out because I didn’t want to be with them or I didn’t want to help them out anymore,” Nuñez says, “when in reality my goal was to be closer to the university and know how to navigate it. I think I was searching for my identity and independence as well.” She found support and a peer group in campus programs that assist students who are the first in their families to go to college and that helped her to find a passion for student services, a field she hopes to pursue as a master’s degree and a career.

FALL 2016

OLIVIA CAR PEN TE R

“I think as a first-generation student there’s always a thought process—do I belong here?” Nuñez says. “But without any of those roadblocks I wouldn’t have grown into the person I am today.”

A Foreign Language

At UNM’s main campus, about four in every 10 freshmen are “first-generation” students. While the definition of firstgeneration varies—a student with neither parent having any education beyond high school or a student with neither parent having received a four-year degree—the challenges are similar. “It’s knowledge of the process,” says Terry Babbitt, vice president for academic affairs. “Just how to navigate what can be a confusing system.” UNM has been asking a general question about a parent’s college degree on its application for years, but two years ago it adopted a more specific question that

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

asks about no college, some college or a college degree. If you were raised by parents who attended college, you have a built-in resource to ask how to pick a major, map out a class schedule, even to navigate the linen section of the big box store for all those freshman dorm room necessities. If you’re the first in your family to head off to college, it can be a maze of confusion: What’s a FAFSA? Do I need to buy all these books new? If my professor isn’t taking attendance, do I really need to come to class? And just what does a bursar do? While being the first in a family to attend college isn’t necessarily a barrier to success, it is often accompanied by other challenges to success: being low-income or an English language learner. “For places like UNM that are really diverse, it’s really important for us to identify factors that influence the

achievement gap. First-generation is obviously one of those,” Babbitt says. “We really add it to help our evaluation of achievement gaps and interventions.” Students may be referred to tutors or mentors through a variety of campus programs. And the data is used to track graduation rates. While about 49 percent of students on main campus graduate in six years, only about 40 percent of firstgeneration students do. Admitting first-generation students and getting them to the finish line is a core mission, Babbitt says. “One of our biggest goals should be to reach out to those students and make them be successful. That should be one of the things we should take the biggest pride in,” Babbitt says. One of the programs designed to improve those graduation numbers is the College Enrichment Program, which offers academic guidance, tutoring and mentorship and

IC K

DE YA NI R

RR A W RYAN

Z ÑE NU

ZA CK AR YD OD SON

even mock final exams to students who are first-generation, low-income or from rural communities—or all three. Jose Villar, the senior student program advisor, offers a unique perspective when he encounters baffled first-year firstgeneration students. “In my household,” Villar says, “college was never talked about. It was never discouraged or encouraged.” He came to UNM from Grants High School knowing almost nothing about college life, took some of the wrong classes that didn’t count toward his major and missed out on a Pell Grant. And in social settings, he hid the fact that neither of his parents had attended college. “As a freshman, any time I was asked that question, I lied,” Villar says. “I was embarrassed.” Villar (’05 BBA, ’12 MBA) is trying to change the identity of first-gen from a disability to a strength.

AND AYSE MUÑIZ

“I toe a weird line,” he says. “I encourage students to embrace these opportunities for assistance and support, but then I look back at 18-year-old Jose who was embarrassed to admit his parents never went to college. I think we need to look at it in a prideful way rather than, ‘You’re at risk.’”

Finding Your Way, Changing Your Life

When Olivia Carpenter got off the plane at the Albuquerque International Sunport, she was a scared 18-year-old who was navigating the higher education system on her own. Her mother, with a two-year nursing degree, had the most formal education in her extended family. Carpenter, who went to high school online in her native Los Angeles, came to UNM’s attention when she qualified as a National Achievement finalist.

“I got a letter in the mail that said if I applied and was accepted by a certain date I would get a four-year scholarship that covered tuition, fees and room and board,” Carpenter says. “So I learned how to spell Albuquerque and moved here. I came here sight unseen.” She arrived as a chemical engineering major, got a job in a neuroscience lab and took classes in the Honors College for fun. Struggling with science and not enjoying it, her semester GPA dropped below the 3.3 required to hold onto her scholarship and she found herself in danger of going home. Meanwhile, she loved her literature classes in Honors, especially those taught by Renee Faubion. But Carpenter, like a lot of firstgeneration college students, worried that switching to a literature major might undermine one of her goals for attending college—financial security.

FALL 2016

“It was a real resistance in me to trust that what felt right was right,” she says. “I was afraid to make the wrong decision and be graduating in four years with a degree I could never use. And I didn’t want to disappoint my family. I didn’t want to have to ask them to support me.” Carpenter won her appeal to keep her scholarship, switched her major to English and blossomed. “The whole thing changed. College became bliss for me after that,” she says. “I met these amazing people who were working on these amazing questions. I took wonderful classes from wonderful people who became my mentors and my friends. I never got under a 4.0 after that.” Ready to graduate this spring, she got a voice mail on her cell phone. It was Henry Louis Gates, Jr., telling her she had been accepted to Harvard University’s Ph.D. program in English literature. She will move to Cambridge this fall, fully funded for five years. Looking back, Carpenter sees her college experience, if not her degree, as life-changing. “For me it was a very important kind of growth that I don’t think other people in my family have had the chance to have access to,” the 22-year-old says. “I feel like it was a time and a place where I was really encouraged to follow my dreams. I felt like I was encouraged here to acknowledge that I was good at something and then pursue that something. If I would have told that 18-year-old-girl who got off the plane, ‘You’re going to apply to Harvard and

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

you’re going get in and you’re going to go,’ she would have laughed in my face.” While some students see college as a place to stretch and grow, first-generation students are often looking for a credential to ensure a place in the middle class or higher. Ryan Warrick, who graduated this spring with a B.A., initially majored in engineering and, when he found he didn’t like it, did his research before choosing a new major. “I looked at unemployment rates and starting salaries and something I might find interesting,” says Warrick, a native of San Diego and the son of a retired Border Patrol officer and an administrative assistant. Warrick found starting salaries in the $45,000-$60,000 range in jobs tied to a degree in economics and he had his new major. “I wanted something practical,” he says. “There’s no family business to fall back on or old money to fall back on. It’s, ‘Gotta get out there and gotta start working.’” He was able to land a paid internship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, which led to two more paid internships there. And upon graduating he was offered a job at JSC as a resource analyst. He got through college with support from his parents and leaves with some debt, but he is also leaving with a credential that only about one in three working-age Americans can claim. “Social mobility is really hard in this country,” Warrick says. “As a college student, it feels like everyone around you is getting a college degree, but in reality not that many people go to college.”

“We Kind of Winged It”

Ayse Muñiz and her boyfriend Zackary Dodson graduated in the Top 10 at Alamogordo High School, taking AP classes

and working as the Sonic Drive-In to save money. No one in their families had gotten past high school. But they didn’t see high school as end; they saw it as a beginning. “I knew that I wasn’t done with school,” says Dodson, “I liked going to school and gaining knowledge.” Muñiz envisioned herself as an archaeologist or a doctor or a lawyer and knew that college was required for those careers. No one in their family could guide them through the prep tests or admission process or financial aid, so they did it themselves. In her junior year, Muñiz qualified for the National Hispanic Scholarship, which covered all four years of college. Dodson received the UNM Scholars scholarship among others and Pell Grants. “That took off a lot of stress,” Muñiz says. “We didn’t really have a plan otherwise.” “We kind of winged it,” says Dodson.

“We were naïve, I would say,” says Muñiz. Four years later, they are married and graduated together, debt-free. Muñiz has a degree in biochemistry; Dodson’s is in nuclear engineering. They are off to the University of Michigan, where each has a fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. Their parents—a utility lineman, a hairdresser, a cashier and an auto mechanic—are proud of their achievement, even if they are a little confused by the need to spend even more years in school. And while they’ve changed and grown during college and are now the most educated in their families, neither Muñiz nor Dodson believes their choice makes them special. “As the first person to go (to college) I think they might think that we have assumptions that we’re ‘better’ than them or something,” says Muñiz. “And that’s never been how we feel. We chose something different and different is not better or worse, it’s just different.”

“You’ve Changed”

Michelle Abeyta, 32, and Chad Abeyta, 27, were another husband and wife team in cap and gown this spring. She received B.A.s in Native American studies and communications and he received a B.A. in psychology. Coming from the Navajo reservation— she is from To’hajiilee and he is from Alamo—where higher education is even rarer than in non-Native communities, the couple faced barriers on campus and off. “Especially when you come from a bilingual family and you hear ‘the admissions office, the registrar’s office,

advisors, academic advisors, financial aid’ and all the acronyms, it’s overwhelming,” she says. But both started at Central New Mexico College to ease into a four-year degree. Chad got his architectural drafting license after high school, served four years in the Air Force and, encouraged by his wife, enrolled in CNM in 2014 to lay the groundwork for a transfer to UNM. Michelle got an AA from CNM in 2006 and worked at To’hajiilee Behavioral Health and in the district court there before realizing she needed a four-year degree to advance. “The AA degree was just enough to get me in the door,” she says, “but I realized if I wanted to go further I’d have to go back.” With two children, Hailey, now 5, and Miles, 3, they lived at home on the reservation and commuted into Albuquerque for classes. Living in the two worlds came with conflicts. “My wife and I, we’ve experienced asking questions and being in the city,” says Chad. “My mom and my dad say, ‘You guys ask a lot of questions. You guys act too perfect.’” “Getting an education definitely changes your personality, the way you interact, the way you communicate. That’s the challenge of the first-generation college student,” says Michelle. “You change. So when you interact with your family you’re not who you once were anymore and that can really pull families apart. We noticed that early on.”

To break down those barriers, they decided to involve their families and community elders in their research projects and cited them as scholars with knowledge of Native American history. “Education builds confidence and a new attitude, a new perspective,” says Michelle. “When they say to us, ‘You’ve changed,’ I say, ‘We’re still us; we’re just a little bit enhanced.’’ Chad plans to go to law school and Michelle is looking toward a master’s degree, and they are counting on their children to become Lobos. It’s just the outcome that proponents of breaking down barriers to college hope for. “If we can get students who have never had a successful college completion in their family and get them there,” UNM’s Babbitt says, “that opens the door for their brothers and sisters, their children. So I think it’s one of our biggest priorities and accomplishments.” ❂

FALL 2016

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

Talking Bones

Human Osteology lab helps solve mysteries of disease and crime By Aaron Hilf

nside an unassuming laboratory in The University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, a group of scientists looks to the dead for answers. UNM’s Laboratory of Human Osteology is one of the largest repositories of human bones in the country, according to curator Heather Edgar. “We house approximately 4,000 sets of human remains and about 6,000 orthodontic records,” says Edgar, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology. “We curate remains mostly in the form of skeletons, but we do have some mummies and other materials as well.” The number and variety of human remains in the collection, ranging

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

from prehistoric Native American to modern bones, are truly what set the program apart. “It’s a unique resource,” Edgar says. “Very few other universities in the country have these kinds of materials readily available.” The lab’s documented skeletal collection—bones that come into the lab’s collection through donations after death— was established in 1984 and includes nearly 300 individuals, all with varying amounts of demographic data. Prospective donors or their families are asked to provide health, lifestyle and occupational information, making the collection extremely valuable for a variety of research.

Graduate students or visiting researchers are able to use the collection to examine skeletal manifestations of particular diseases like cancer or osteoporosis. The documented remains can also be used as a comparative sample to help identify unknown remains in forensic investigations. “If you ever watch a crime show like ‘Bones’ or ‘CSI,’ they’ll say things like, ‘This skeleton is male between 35 and 45 years old.’ To know that piece of information, a real scientist must have a documented, comparative sample,” Edgar says. “To be able to say, is this male or female, means that we’ve looked at many skeletons that are male and female and noted what the differences are between them.”

Curator Heather Edgar

It is through this work that Edgar and her team are occasionally asked to assist the Office of the Medical Investigator with unsolved cases, including the highprofile “West Mesa Murders” in which investigators unearthed the skeletons of 11 women buried on Albuquerque’s West Side in 2009. Along with these practical applications, Edgar says the remains are also used for research into contemporary human variation and evolution. “If you want to understand some things about human evolution, it’s required that you understand contemporary human variation,” she said. “What are the factors that shape the bodies of people today? How are they reacting to the environment? How are people interacting with each other and how is that reflected in biological remains?” Anna Medendorp Rautman (’07 MS) uses the remains in her research toward a Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology. “It’s an amazing collection, both in terms of the documented collection and in terms of the pre-contact remains,” Rautman says. “The collections are just phenomenal.”

The lab also houses a large number of skeletal remains excavated from prehistoric Native American sites around New Mexico. Many of them came to Maxwell after being unearthed by archaeologists at UNM and other institutions prior to 1960. Other Native American remains are curated at UNM for federal agencies, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The lab complies with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and has worked with several local Native American groups to return remains to tribal lands. Edgar, one of seven members of the national NAGPRA Review Committee, takes the lab’s NAGPRA responsibility seriously. “Repatriating human remains and other NAGPRA objects to appropriate tribes is the responsibility of any institution that receives funding from the federal government, like UNM,” Edgar says. The lab, which stores most of its collection in shelved, labeled boxes, will soon be undergoing some major renovations, thanks to more than $100,000 earmarked by the New Mexico Legislature

this year. The makeover will include updating the lab space, replacing the floor and lighting and putting in a new staircase to be able to safely access the collection space above the lab. If you think you might like your own bones to eventually join the human osteology collection, you can investigate donating your skeleton at UNM.edu/~osteolab/faq.html. ❂

FALL 2016

Photo: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

Not the Retiring Type After decades in government, James B. Lewis has an ambitious agenda for the Alumni Association By Leslie Linthicum

■ Lewis, a widower, has four adult children. ■ His late wife, Armandie (’77 RN), worked for UNM’s CASAA program. ■ At Gallup High School, he played both cornerback and running back for the football team, guard in basketball and competed in sprints, broad jump and javelin. ■ The B. in Lewis’s name stands for Beliven.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

he new president of UNM’s Alumni Association is a familiar name to New Mexico voters. James B. Lewis (’77 MPA) recently retired from a political career that spanned nearly four decades. He was elected twice as Bernalillo County treasurer in the early 1980s and then served as state treasurer for 13 years—New Mexico’s longest-serving treasurer and also the first (and still only) African-American to be elected to statewide office in New Mexico. Lewis also served on boards and in executive positions in the cities of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, the state of New Mexico and the federal government. He was appointed by mayors, governors and presidents of the United States. In his years of public engagement, Lewis became known for his hard work, impeccable ethics, quiet charisma and closet-full of fine suits.

“There is no greater honor than being a public servant,” Lewis says, while acknowledging that politics and government are taking a beating in public opinion polls. “Do what’s legal, do what’s ethical and do what’s good for the community” has always been his motto. With that in mind, he has approached his government postings like a repairman. “My concern was to get in on the inside and work hard and repair things,” he says. “And when people said, ‘Oh, you’re a politician.’ I always said, ‘No, I’m a public servant.’” Lewis, who was born in Roswell, didn’t grow up in a political family. His grandfather served for 31 years in the U.S. Army and Air Force and his grandmother and mother were housekeepers at the New Mexico Military Institute. Lewis went to first grade in a racially segregated school in Roswell before

his mother moved to Albuquerque to open a restaurant, Moore’s, in the South Broadway neighborhood. She moved to Gallup when Lewis was a sophomore in high school to open another restaurant and he became a sports star—lettering in football, basketball and track—at Gallup High School. Lewis got involved in Democratic politics when he was asked to help a candidate for district attorney. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s call to public service, he ran for county treasurer in 1982 and won. “I’d heard all these derogatory things about government and I said to myself, ‘Either be part of the problem or part of the solution.’ I am a firm believer that you can be anything you want to be, so I decided to venture off and run for public office.” Lewis campaigned door to door and studied the speeches of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, President Ronald Reagan and the Rev. Martin Luther King to develop his own style of energized campaign speech, which he took to all corners of the state in his decades in politics and government. About to turn 69 and officially retired, Lewis is not slowing down. The UNM grad (’77 MPA) arrives for an interview on campus in a gray pinstripe suit and with a full calendar. He is active in his church, God’s House, belongs to a roster of civic and professional organizations and has jumped into his role as president of the Alumni Association with the same energy and thoroughness he brought to his government work. Since being appointed the association’s president-elect last summer, Lewis has been studying the organizational structures of both the Alumni Association and the university and meeting with student and alumni groups. “I see that there’s a lot of different silos here,” Lewis observes. “Engineers go to engineering events. Lawyers go to lawyer events. We want to collaborate so we can

provide services to all entities and get them to work on things together.” His theme for the coming year can be characterized as “communication, Janice K. Laird (’85 BSHE), Albuquerque, owns collaboration and cooperation.” Jan’s On 4th Cooking School. Lewis is coming aboard in a period Rosa Matonti-Montoya (’86 BSN), Albuquerque, of transition. Karen Abraham, who had is the senior director of the Center for Digestive served as director of the Office of Alumni Health and Endoscopy Services. She was awarded Relations for decades, retired at the end the Excellence in Nurse Executive Leadership of 2015. Dana Allen, who most recently Award from the New Mexico Center for worked in alumni relations at Penn State Nursing Excellence. and Old Dominion University, took over Fermin A. Rubio the office in February. (’86 JD), Las Cruces, N.M., Meanwhile, with both enrollment and is a brigadier general state funding in decline, the university and assistant adjutant is in budget-cutting mode. The Office general in the New of Alumni Relations staff has seen its Mexico Air National Guard. He previously numbers reduced even as its mission served on active duty to serve more than 180,000 alumni has with the U.S. Navy. become more ambitious. “We want to work to enhance Jamie A. Silva-Steele Fermin A. Rubio engagement with our alumni,” Lewis says. (’86 BSN), Albuquerque, is president and CEO of UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center. “These are our ambassadors and these ambassadors can help to tell the story of Twana Sparks (’86 MD), Silver City, N.M., was the the university and build UNM pride.” first otalaryngology (ear, nose and throat) resident Lewis’s goals for the coming year at UNM in 1992. She has practiced in Silver City include completing the Dr. Karen since 1994. She has also walked across the United Abraham Courtyard landscaping project States, performed as a musician and stand-up comic and supports many philanthropic programs. just east of Hodgin Hall; continuing to work with the UNM Foundation Christopher T. Taylor (’86 MFA), San Cristobal, on centralizing and updating the N.M., and his wife Debi have worked as visiting alumni database; working with Allen to artists creating tile mosaic murals with more than 600 students in Taos schools. review the Office of Alumni Relations organizational structure to enhance Carolynne White (’87 BA), Denver, has joined efficiency and reviewing all of the the board of the Arvada Center for the Arts and association’s programs for effectiveness; Humanities. She is co-chair of the real estate increasing collaboration with UNM and department of the Brownstein Hyatt Farer Schreck law firm. the UNM Foundation; establishing new alumni chapters or affiliates and helping Timothy G. Ellington (’88 JD), Santa Fe, N.M., existing chapters with fundraising is a district court judge in New Mexico’s First and outreach; and getting members Judicial District. of the Alumni Association board Kaylynn Deveney (’89 BA) is a lecturer in and the smaller executive committee photography at the University of Ulster’s Belfast more engaged in UNM and Alumni School of Art in Northern Ireland. Association activities. Joseph H. Edward (’89 BBA, ’91 MBA), Beverly “It is a very ambitious plan for a year,” Hills, Calif., is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ director Lewis acknowledges. “But we’re at this of sponsorship development for the team’s crossroads and we need to all work radio broadcasts. together to maximize our resources.” ❂ Hunter B. Greene (’89 BUS), Albuquerque,

owns South Valley Care Center, an intermediate care facility.

(continued on page 35)

FALL 2016

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

By Leslie Linthicum

NM: Reimaging rural medicine while fine-tuning flamenco. UNM: Living la vida Lobo. UNM: Each of us defines all of us. Those are some of the slogans that are emerging in advertising and marketing for the University of New Mexico as it undertakes a four-year $1.98 million rebranding campaign. In a January rollout on campus, a representative of 160over90, the Philadelphia marketing and branding agency contracted to revamp UNM’s public image, stressed that a brand isn’t a logo or one of those slogans or taglines. Instead, he said, it is “an over-arching big idea.” What is that “big idea”? And why does UNM need to find it and create advertising and marketing around that concept? University officials say that unless they take hold of their public image, others will. And the view from outside is not always accurate or flattering. In perception surveys over the years, people reported generally favorable opinions about UNM. But almost no one could identify a specific program outside of Lobo sports and University Hospital.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

And the reputation as a safety school lingers on and off campus. “The university has not had a consistent brand—not meaning a logo or campaign—but really talking about who we are collectively and not disparately,” says Cinnamon Blair (’10 MS), UNM’s head of marketing and communications. “The old brand, whether it was intentional or not, was ‘University Near Mom.’ It was thought of as the default or the safety school. We want to position UNM as a university of choice.”

Recruitment tool

That is even more important amid declining enrollments and shrinking revenues. Remaining attractive to potential students in New Mexico while also appealing to out-of-state students can help bolster a sagging bottom line. “One of the initial targets, given our situation, is new students,” Blair says. “We have a declining prospective student pool in New Mexico and if the lottery scholarship changes, that’s going to change our ability to attract in-state students. We don’t want to discount that group, but financially and also

just to build a better university, we need people from different places and different backgrounds and perspectives.” As the marketing department begins to develop new material for recruiting students, it will focus on what Albuquerque and New Mexico have to offer, as well as what sets UNM apart. A sample headline in a prospective student view book reads “On a plateau below a great sky next to the Watermelon Mountains. Live and learn in a historic city on an expansive mesa a mile above sea level, a city that is simultaneously cosmopolitan and soulful, urban and rural and brimming with light and possibilities.” The firm 160over90 was chosen from among eight bidders and began work in 2015 by surveying students, faculty, staff and alumni. About 450 people responded to the survey and then representatives of the company came to campus for a week of interviews with 350 people representing all facets of the university. The consultants distilled some themes from what they heard: Soul and spirit. Diversity in ethnicities, thought and approaches. Scrappiness and innovation.

Alumni perspective

A deeply rooted sense of place. And the “land of mañana,” which expressed both a frustration with inertia, as well as a positive trait of taking one’s time and being warm and genuine. The firm came up with a sentence to sum up the university’s essence: “UNM is a hub for progression rooted in history propelling us forward.” That’s not a slogan you’ll see on a billboard or a T-shirt for sale in the bookstore. But it will be repeated internally as a touchstone as the university continues to think about its identity and market itself. The process will go on for several years and, as Blair describes it, it is about digging into the university’s DNA. “There are individual components that make up the university, but how do we collectively refer to ourselves and reference ourselves and act?” Blair says. “The brand is probably 10 percent aspirational, but the other 90 percent is who are we, honestly? It’s the sum of every experience and interaction that people have here at UNM. It needs to transcend individuals."

Preserving the wolf

University officials were quick to reassure students, alumni and Lobo sports fans that a few things are not under review. The school colors will remain cherry and silver and the wolf will remain the school mascot. On the chopping block, though, is the official university logo—the silhouette of Mesa Vista Hall that has been the logo for 30 years. Some 1,200 people, including alumni, responded to a survey about the current logo and only 65 percent could correctly identify the outline of the building as UNM’s official logo, even though it is on most of UNM’s letterhead and marketing materials.

“We’ve changed in the past 30 years,” Blair says. “It’s not saying it’s a bad logo, it’s just not representative of our entire university today. It feels very dated. It feels very corporate.” And, she adds, “Nobody wants to wear that.” The new logo, which will undergo the scrutiny of multiple focus groups, is being designed to better represent the entire university—and to look good on T-shirts. The firm, 160over90, has done brand and advertising campaigns for a number of high-profile companies and institutions, including Nike, Ferrari and MercedesBenz and UCLA, Notre Dame and the University of Oregon. Branding campaigns have become popular at universities and they are sometimes controversial. After spending $5 million toward its rebranding and planning to spend $15 million more, Oregon recently cut its contract with 160over90 short and opted to change direction, using in-house resources for marketing instead. While university officials said the change was no indictment of 160over90’s work, the campaign’s main concept— “If…”—was called “inane and insulting” by the incoming president of Oregon’s faculty senate. Faculty at Oregon also complained that they were left out of the rebranding process. Blair said UNM’s approach has been to pull in people from all schools, colleges and departments. “One of the things I think we’ve done really well in terms of this branding message is to be super-inclusive and super-transparent,” she said. “We want people to be part of this because it’s really a living thing. It’s collectively owned and shaped.” ❂

Alumni who responded to the survey and who were interviewed also conveyed a theme: That their relationship with UNM was largely transactional. UNM’s Cinnamon Blair, sums it up: “I went to college and I got my degree and that was nice.” “It was a functional relationship; it was not an emotional relationship,” Blair says. “It was more of a business relationship than a deeper personal relationship.” Overcoming misperceptions and rekindling or deepening relationships between the university and alumni will be priorities in a process that could last a decade. It will begin this fall as Homecoming 2016 adopts the theme “Howlabaloo.” UNM hopes Howlabaloo will become a vital part of UNM’s identity, with monthly themed celebrations on Johnson Field scheduled around each full moon. Alumni stories are also being included in unmproud. unm.edu, a website that features accomplished Lobos, and in UNM marketing materials. "It’s a great opportunity," Blair says, "to reconnect with alumni who have maybe been out of touch for a while and show them that it’s still your UNM, but it’s changed.”

FALL 2016

Catching Up With Simon Ejdemyr Ex-soccer star studies politics and well-being By Keiko Ohnuma

Former UNM soccer star Simon Ejdemyr (’10 BA) studies the political determinants of well-being.

t’s hard to beat life in Sweden for a young man: free education and health care, a safe and permissive society, fiveweek paid vacations. Unless, like Simon Ejdemyr, you have too many talents and options. Pity poor Simon: At age 19 he had grown into a talented athlete and a gifted student. Even though he came from a working-class background, in Sweden he could easily make his way into a top academic program or a top professional soccer club—which was precisely his problem. It was either/or. He was already playing with one of Sweden’s top professional clubs, captain of a youth team that practiced, if not competed, with the soccer pros. He fell short of winning a professional contract,

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

but he could still have pursued an athletic career, except that he also wanted to go to university. It was only in the U.S. that a young person could do both simultaneously. “With the U.S. system, the academic part works with the athletic part, and professors are very understanding if you have to miss class for practice,” he reasoned. Not so in Sweden, where he would always be choosing between the two. Ejdemyr looked at U.S. colleges with soccer teams that had reached the NCAA finals, and that year (2005) New Mexico’s Lobos had finished second. Although it was hardly common for a young Swede from the southern city of Borås, Ejdemyr reached out to Lobo coach Jeremy Fishbein, and ended up qualifying for

both academic and athletic scholarships at UNM. Thus began a career full of awards, honors and firsts. “I was surprised by a lot of things,” Ejdemyr says of arriving in New Mexico. The effects of high altitude, for one. The searing summer heat. And the difficulty of speaking English every day. “There was a bit of a transition period,” Fishbein admits, “but he quickly became a team player and leader for us.” As a freshman, Ejdemyr made the College Soccer News Freshman All-American first team. By sophomore year, the 6-foot-5 defender was starting every game. He became captain in his senior year. “He made a real impact on our program,” the coach says, pointing to Ejdemyr’s professionalism and empathy. “Putting aside all his soccer ability, the

Ejdemyr volunteered at a school and children’s home in Chennai, India, last March.

main thing about him was leadership, and how much he cared about others.” Those traits probably didn’t hurt in the voting to make him ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year in 2009, the only men’s Lobo soccer player in history to win the national honor. Ejdemyr was also a four-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-conference performer and Lobo Club Male Student-Athlete of the Year for 2009-10, not to mention winner of the L.F. “Tow” Diehm Inspirational Award that same year. What makes this track record all the more impressive is that the lanky Swede was also pulling straight As in his classes. He graduated with a 4.15 cumulative GPA, and wrote his senior honors thesis during the summer so he could focus on soccer during the school year. That paper was “one of the best I have ever read,” according to his thesis advisor, political science professor Christopher Butler, “and was given highest honors by the department.” The student athlete, for his part, credits his advisor with sparking an interest that would eventually eclipse his passion for sports. This was not just political science, but a quantitative, statistical approach to it that puts the emphasis on “science.” Intrigued by the differences in the Swedish and American political systems, and how they influence people’s well-being, Ejdemyr discovered in Butler’s classes a way to analyze those differences “in a more systematic way,” rather than just having opinions. “I also just found it fun to work with data,” he adds. His doctoral research at Stanford University investigates what motivates politicians to fund basic public services such as education and health care,

or not—and especially the role played by ethnic favoritism. By number crunching and mapping, Ejdemyr has been able to demonstrate bias at work in specific cases. His website at Stanford (stanford. edu/~ejdemyr/), where he is a teaching assistant, offers some high-level tutorials on statistical analysis, along with some intriguing maps and charts showing child mortality patterns as well as government response rates and the ecological footprint of various nations.

Ejdemyr says he chose Stanford because its poli-sci department welcomes such a social-scientific approach, and the university’s close ties to the tech industry offer multiple employment possibilities in the private sector if his ambition to become a professor does not pan out. With a history of facing too many options, Ejdemyr benefited from his experience at UNM, according to his mentors.

“He was thinking about some secondand third-division teams in Europe, and was going back and forth between that and law school and grad school,” Butler says, “and at one point grad school was last on his list.” Fishbein saw Ejdemyr take full advantage of the chance to engage with top professors and classes, and “he was unique, getting into a doctoral program at Stanford,” even if it meant giving up the chance to play pro ball. “I think he made a good decision.” “Soccer is way more fun,” Ejdemyr admits, “and I still literally dream of being in professional games.” But after two knee surgeries and two concussions, he saw the practical value of “something to fall back on.” Though he still plays on an intramural team, soccer has given way to a hierarchy of priorities that now includes a girlfriend and the possibility of raising a family, either here or in Europe. Weighing two political systems that are so often set at odds in contemporary debate, Ejdemyr takes a characteristically detached view. Americans should treat politics more objectively, he says, evaluating specific policies instead of resorting to personal attacks and vitriol. Even a liberal haven like Sweden has its drawbacks, he notes. “Because the state provides so much for you, the family structures have kind of withered” compared with less-generous states. He was impressed by the strength and resilience of family ties in New Mexico. Back at sea level and no longer split between body and mind, teamwork and individual achievement, Europe and America, the native son of Borås and UNM appears to have found his peace with either/or. ❂

FALL 2016

Shelf Life

Books by UNM Alumni

The Pot Thief Who Studied Georgia O’Keeffe J. Michael Orenduff (’69 MA) Open Road, 2016 What is Hubie Schuze up to this time? In the seventh book in Orenduff’s “Pot Thief” series, Schuze, a dealer in Native American pottery, is looking for a relic as usual. This time it’s pottery from the Tompiro people who lived on what is now the White Sands Missile Range. Promised a big payday, Schuze risks breaking into the federal installation. Murder, a lost painting by O’Keeffe and plenty of New Mexico-centric plot details follow.

About the author: A native of El Paso who served as president of New Mexico State University in addition to academic postings in Bulgaria and Bermuda, Orenduff retired to write murder mysteries.

Bad Clowns

Benjamin Radford (’06 BA) University of New Mexico Press, 2016 From Batman’s The Joker to Krusty from the Simpsons—and even the deeply dark John Wayne Gacy’s Pogo character— Radford carves out a unique subject area. Why do clowns go bad? What lurks behind those painted smiles? And from where does coulrophobia—the fear of clowns— arise? While entertaining, Radford isn’t clowning around: his book is heavily researched and well-footnoted and he takes readers from the first known clowns in ancient Greece through serial killer Mr. Punch of Punch and Judy right up to the legions of fans of Insane Clown Posse. About the author: Radford is a writer, investigator and columnist for Discovery News. He lives in Corrales, N.M.

Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens & Landscapes Baker H. Morrow (’69 BA, ’97 MA) University of New Mexico Press, 2016 Gardening in New Mexico can bring to mind Sisyphus, that Greek fellow who kept pushing the rock uphill. Wind, drought, sun and poor soil can spoil the most ardent gardener’s spring enthusiasm. Thank goodness for Morrow, a landscape architect who introduced this invaluable

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

guide in 1995 and updates it here with more photos and new species now widely available in the region. Especially helpful are his “best plant” lists that include trees, hedges, grasses and flowers.

About the author: Morrow, a landscape architect in Albuquerque, is the founder and a professor of practice in the landscape architecture program at UNM’s School of Architecture and Planning.

Arab American Drama, Film and Performance Michael Malek Najjar (’93 BAFA) McFarland & Company, 2015 Najjar’s impetus for this study of Arab American performing arts from 1908 to the present came from his own experience as a second-generation Arab American. As a theater student with three advanced degrees, he had never been assigned a novel, play or book of poetry by an Arab American. His wonderment at why resulted in a critical study of this largely ignored canon. Najjar’s historical overview begins with Khalil Gibran and ends with contemporary stand-up comics and a new generation of playwrights and filmmakers who are shaping our understanding of what it means to be Arab American.

About the author: Najjar is an assistant professor of theater arts at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He is also a director, playwright and scholar of Arab American drama.

Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place Shelley Armitage (’84 PhD) University of Oklahoma Press, 2016 The Canadian River springs to life in Colorado and cuts a canyon through New Mexico and into the Texas Panhandle before running through Oklahoma into the Arkansas River. The stretch that concerns Armitage is the one that lies near her family place in Vega, Texas. Looking to understand the changes in the llano—that “sea of grass” in the panhandle—Armitage walked from the farm up the river canyon. Along the way she remembers her family history, confronts the devastation of drought and fire and reminds us that empty places sometimes have the greatest stories to tell. About the author: Armitage is professor emerita at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she taught English and American Studies. She lives in Las Cruces.

The Sorrows of Young Alfonso Rudolfo Anaya (’63 BA, ’69 MA, ’72 MA) University of Oklahoma Press, 2016 Readers of “Bless Me, Ultima” will recognize in this latest novel from Anaya the landscape and characters of the llano in eastern New Mexico and Anaya’s lyrical descriptions of Hispanic culture and the underlying sorrow of a people and place struggling to survive in a changing world. They will also recognize many similarities between Alfonso and Anaya. Told through a series of letters from writer Alfonso, (Anaya’s middle name) about his past, this volume is a spiritual meditation on the human condition. About the author: Anaya, professor emeritus in UNM’s Department of English Language and Literature, has won the National Medal of Arts. His best-known novel, “Bless Me Ultima,” is being made into an opera, set to debut in 2018.

Rockhounding Delaware, Maryland, and the Washington, D.C., Metro Area Robert Beard (’87 MS) Falcon Guides, 2015 Falcon Guide fans have come to rely on the books for detailed and accurate guides to hiking, camping, kayaking, climbing and other outdoor recreation pursuits. Beard applies those same standards to rockhounding—amateur geology that can also include rock collecting. Here he is in the urban Beltway, but Beard points potential rock hunters to county, state and federal lands where feldspar, quartz, marble, granite and mica can easily be discovered.

About the author: Beard, a geologist, is a contributing editor to Rock & Gem magazine, as well as other Falcon Guides to rockhounding in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He lives in Harrisburg, Pa.

Finding the Buddha: A Dark Story of Genius, Friendship, and Stand-up Comedy Eddie Tafoya (’85 BA) Pen-L, 2015 In the prologue to “Finding the Buddha,” a nurse checks in on patient Mark Wladika in a northern New Mexico psych hospital, expecting to find him still sedated. Instead, the comedian who has set Albuquerque on fire has vanished. Over the next 300 pages, Wladika’s sad story is told through the voices of six narrators. Tafoya has done stand-up and, despite the dark story line, his comedic chops are on display. About the author: Tafoya teaches creative writing and literature in the Department of English and Philosophy at New Mexico Highlands University. He lives in Las Vegas, N.M.

Free Love, Free Fall: Scenes From the West Coast Sixties Merimée Moffitt (’89 BA, ’02 MA) ABQ Press, 2016 Moffitt arrived in Taos in 1970, and that is where her memoir of the Sixties ends, as she says goodbye to loser guys, gin, bar fights and feelings of worthlessness. Her memoir begins at Reed College in 1964 when she reads “On the Road,” stops going to class and ventures on a journey where “sex, booze and drugs were inextricably linked.”

About the author: Moffitt recently retired from teaching in Albuquerque Public Schools and at Central New Mexico College. She is a volunteer English instructor to local refugees in Albuquerque.

ATTENTION PUBLISHED ALUMNI AUTHORS: We would like to add your book to the alumni library in Hodgin Hall and consider it for a review in Shelf Life. Please send an autographed copy to: Shelf Life, UNM Alumni Relations 1 UNM, MSC01-1160, Albuquerque, NM 87131

FALL 2016

Fueling Lobos Triple alum Becky Freeman helps UNM athletes eat right By Leslie Linthicum

Photos: Roberto E. Rosales (‘96 BFA, ‘14 MA)

hen the Lobos take the field against San José State for the 2016 homecoming game, they’ve got a secret weapon. Becky Freeman, a triple UNM alumna (’04 BS, ’05 BS, ’07 MS), has been UNM’s full-time sports dietician since 2014 and her mission is to teach Lobo athletes how to put healthy fuel in their tanks for maximum performance.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Freeman works with all 450 athletes, addressing vitamin deficiencies and food allergies, arranging training tables, putting together weekly meal plans, even taking Lobos grocery shopping to help them find fresh nutritious food that fits a student’s budget. “I want them to have healthy life skills that benefit them as student athletes,” Freeman says. And she wants those habits

to last a lifetime. “It’s creating functional adults who can learn this stuff now and use it, and also take it with them when they go into the work world and when they have families.” With degrees in exercise science, nutrition and dietetics and sports administration, Freeman takes a holistic look at the athletes she sees in the athletic training offices at the L.F. “Tow” Diehm Sports Center.

Karen Cook Janes (’89 JD), Austin, Texas, retired as director of the Magistrate Court Division of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts. Wayne E. Marshall (’89 BSED, ’93 MA), Clovis, N.M., retired as the Clovis High School principal. Marshall spent seven years with the Clovis Municipal School District and 20 years with the Moriarty-Edgewood School District.

To make sure each athlete is getting the proper nutrition, Freeman needs to understand training and class schedules, performance goals and underlying medical issues. She sees a lot of athletes with iron and Vitamin D deficiencies and dehydration along with under-eating or poor food choices. “Not eating breakfast. Not drinking enough water. Those are probably the biggest problems,” Freeman says. “And you’d be surprised at what walks through the door—gifted athletes, world record holders walking around with McDonald’s bags. They really don’t think about nutrition.” Freeman’s job is to coax busy teens into thinking about, planning for and caring about what they eat. Basketball, football and volleyball players benefit from team training tables, where Freeman has a say in what is offered: one or two cooked vegetables (asparagus, steamed broccoli and green beans are favorites), salad, soup, a couple of starches and two or three proteins, often grilled chicken, a roast or lean meatballs. While she has a few absolute nono’s—trans fats, fried foods and sodas— Freeman tries to lead athletes away from the traditional American diet of processed, sugary food toward healthier options without turning them off. The trick is to make the food both appetizing and nutritious. “You have to pick your battles in this setting,” she says. “You can’t come in

and say, ‘You’ll never have mac and 1990s cheese again.’” Anne E. Laptin (’90 BA), Laguna Beach, Calif., Some athletes, out of ignorance about is a clinical social worker/therapist with a their caloric needs, disordered eating or private practice. just lack of time, don’t eat enough. Michael B. Riley (’90 BA), Between practice, class and weight Rio Rancho, N.M., has room, they don’t have time to eat returned to UNM as the during the day. commanding officer of Freeman helps those athletes stick the Naval ROTC program to daily schedules and prepared meals. after serving more than “We work on, ‘What do I have with me? 25 years in the U.S. Navy, What do I keep in my locker? What do I including deployments keep in my car? What doesn’t need to be to Iraq, Afghanistan, refrigerated?’ The scheduling piece is huge.” the Persian Gulf, the Michael B. Riley Freeman, a former athlete at Belen Horn of Africa and the Western Pacific. High School, takes care of her own Stephen K. Schroeder (’90 BBA, ’93 MBA), nutrition with a freezer full of meat from Albuquerque, is the 2016 chairman of the an elk cow she shot last December, along Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. He with fruits and vegetables, yogurt, cottage is the CEO and president of Real Time Solutions. cheese and other healthy dairy, eggs and David L. Ceballes (’91 JD), Alamogordo, N.M., is nut butter. She’s not a complete purist. district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District in Freeman likes coffee and popcorn and Otero and Lincoln counties. even candy. Stephanie L. Kuehn (’92 MFA), Albuquerque, “Food is social, it’s cultural,” she says. wrote “Heart of a Dragon,” a play performed “I’m not perfect and I don’t expect the by Coral Community Charter School. athletes to be. If you go home for the John Trujillo (‘92 BA) is assistant human summer and your mother makes you resources director for the Hyatt Regency fried chicken, I say eat the fried chicken Houston Downtown. and then get back on track.” Freeman ran marathons and triathlons Cristi L. Jurata (’93 BSN, ’00 MSN), Albuquerque, before switching to Olympic-style is a certified family nurse practitioner for weightlifting for seven years. She recently Vessel Health. switched to Crossfit and has the guns Twila B. Larkin (’96 JD), Albuquerque, joined to prove it. New Mexico Legal Group P.C. “Look the part and practice what you Jennifer L. Padgett (’98 BUS), Albuquerque, preach,” Freeman says. ❂ was appointed Santa Fe district attorney.

Erin L. Hagenow (’99 BA), Albuquerque, is interim executive director of the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce.

FALL 2016

UNM People Changing Worlds

SPECIAL GIFT, SPECIAL NEEDS Dentist’s Generous Gift Gives Unique Program Good Chance for Long-Term Viability By Michelle G. McRuiz

hroughout her four decades as a dentist, Shelly Fritz has always enjoyed caring for patients with special needs. Whether they have developmental disabilities, a degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s or behavioral health issues, Fritz is inspired by their courage and energy. “One of the reasons why I went to dental school was to treat people with special needs,” she said. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough dentists in New Mexico with the specialized

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

training required to treat people with special needs. Treating these patients often calls for special equipment, additional staff and extra time per patient encounter. And when the special-needs dentistry clinic at UNM Carrie Tingley Hospital lost its dentist to an out-of-state university, the clinic closed. With its future uncertain, Fritz, a triple UNM alumna (’74 AA, ’75 BA, ’82 MBA) couldn’t stand by idly. “I met with everyone who takes care of people with special needs: ARCA, Special

Olympics, caretakers, moms, etc.,” she said. “I asked them, ‘In a perfect world, what would we want?’ We wanted the University to re-establish the special-needs program to teach dentists how to provide this kind of dentistry. We wanted an educational setting where residents and dentists could get special training. It wasn’t my idea, really. I was just the one with the cattle prod. And then I talked to UNM.” Things began happening. UNM provided money for the relocation and renovation of the old dentistry clinic. A year later, the new clinic opened in Novitski Hall on North Campus. By all accounts it is a vast improvement on the old facility. Then, in July 2015, the Department of Dental Medicine received a $2.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health

Dr. Shelly Fritz and Dr. Carlos Tuil provide dentistry to patients in a Guatemalan school earlier this year. Dr. Fritz recently created an estate gift to support UNM’s special-needs dentistry program.

Resources and Services Administration for a residency educational program, which includes special-needs dentistry. But as generous as the grant is, it doesn’t cement the program’s future. The grant also allows UNM to hire dentists for the residency. And that’s a tall order. In the most difficult cases, a patient may need a papoose board to stabilize him for treatment, family members in the exam room to help calm him or sedation. “You have to take their blood pressure,” Fritz said. “A lot of times you have to call the [patient’s] physician, check his health history…and you have to have special training to do all that. It’s above and beyond putting a filling in.” In addition, she said, dentists need to learn not to fear. “The grant helps UNM hire a dentist and start a program,” Fritz said. “But what happens after five years? If we can raise $3 million for an endowment, UNM can have that program forever.” And so Fritz created a very generous estate gift for the special-needs dentistry program. “You have to have a personal commitment about a cause if you want to see it succeed in the long term,” she said. “If you care so much about something, then do something about it.” Beginning in the 1970s, Fritz worked as a hygienist for 16 years before enrolling in dental school, where a woman’s presence was rare. “‘You’re taking a man’s space,’ I was told. Dentistry was the last male bastion in health care,” she recalled. While a dental

student at the University of Colorado Boulder, she received special training in treating patients with developmental disabilities and worked at the Fort Lyon Veterans Affairs Hospital. After graduation, Fritz returned to Albuquerque and approached associations and societies, such as the New Mexico chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and behavioral health programs, introduced herself and stated that she wanted to treat special-needs patients and their family members. “That’s how I started my practice,” she said. “Dentistry was very easy for me. I wanted a challenge. I was adventurous; I found special-needs dentistry fun. It just spiked my interest.” Above all, Fritz wants special-needs patients to have equal access to quality dental care. “They deserve the same thing that anybody else deserves. We all need to be treated the same.” And that is the ultimate goal of the program, the grant and Fritz’s gift. “We can have that happen by educating dentists,” she said. “You don’t give people fish; you teach them how to fish.” To learn more about special-needs dentistry at UNM’s Department of Dental Medicine, please visit DentalMedicine.unm.edu. A full-length video about this program is available at Vimeo.com/148643753. ❂ If you would like to support this program, or any program, scholarship or research area at The University of New Mexico, please contact the UNM Foundation at (505) 277-4503 or visit UNMFund.org.

2000s Denise M. Chanez (’01 BA, ’06 JD), Albuquerque, is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization for those who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and the Denise M. Chanez highest principles of the legal profession. She is a director at the Rodey Law Firm. Melanie N. Velasquez (’01 BA), Albuquerque, is co-owner of Titanium Fitness. The company started with mobile boot camps in city parks and now has a permanent location in Albuquerque. Eleanor C. Werenko (’01 BA, ’08 JD), Albuquerque, joined Sheehan & Sheehan law firm as an associate. Cristin M. Heyns-Bousliman (’02 BBA), Albuquerque, is corporate counsel and human resources director for Blake’s Lotaburger and president of the Albuquerque Bar Association. Valerie J. Almanzar (’03 BA, ’06 MBA), Albuquerque, is founder and CEO of Your Casa Team at Keller Williams Realty. Sean Lochlainn Cahill (’03 BSCS), Austin, Texas, is a senior software engineer at MaxPoint, a company specializing in hyperlocal online advertising. Sally A. Kelly-Rank (‘03 PhD), San Antonio, Texas, has been selected as the 82nd Medical Group commander at Sheppard Air Force Base. Melynda V. Lopez (’03 BA, ’12 BSN, ’14 MSN), Abiquiu, N.M., is a certified nurse practitioner with Lovelace Medical Group. Man V. Phan (’03 BBA), Rio Rancho, N.M., is vice president and branch sales manager in the mortgage department of Bank of Albuquerque. Deena C. Crawley (’05 BBA), Rio Rancho, N.M., is marketing director for Dion’s pizza restaurant chain. Felicia J. Fonseca (’05 BA), Flagstaff, Ariz., was selected by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism for the 2017 class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. Fonseca is a correspondent for the Associated Press based in Arizona. She will spend the year studying in Cambridge, Mass. (continued on page 43)

FALL 2016

HOMECOMING 2016

L E T ’ S G E T T H I S PA R T Y S TA R T E D Updates to the schedule of events, merchandise orders, registration details, official hotels and online auction items can be found at www.unmalumni.com/homecoming SUNDAY, SEPT. 25

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28

Noon UNM Alumni Association Online Auction begins ALL WEEK

11 a.m.

omecoming Collections Tour and Indian H Bread Making at the Maxwell Museum – Register in advance at mhermans@unm.edu.

12 p.m.

aculty and Staff Alumni Appreciation F Luncheon and Silent Auction – Tickets will be available at Hodgin Hall the week of September 19. Co-sponsored by UNM Dining and Food Services.

5:30 p.m.

aval ROTC 75th Anniversary N Celebration – Re-dedication of unit and alumni weekend kickoff. Alumni Memorial Chapel.

ommunity Service Project – Dry C and canned food will be collected for Roadrunner Food Bank, which supports the Lobo Pantry, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Hodgin Hall lobby or at the All Alumni Open House Friday, Sept. 30.

omecoming 127 Club – Anyone can H join! Members will receive either a pair of tickets to the Homecoming football game or a copy of the limited edition Homecoming poster.

The Tamarind Institute, 2500 Central Avenue S.E., will be open to alumni from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. tudent Activities – For details on student S events during Homecoming Week, check LoboSpirit.unm.edu.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 29 12:30 p.m.

he UNM Robert Wood Johnson T Foundation Center for Health Policy Homecoming Lecture – Check HealthPolicy.unm.edu for updates.

4 p.m.

arth and Planetary Sciences Alumni E Weekend Welcome Reception – Northrop Hall. Updates at EPSwww.unm.edu or call 505-277-1633.

MONDAY, SEPT. 26 Noon Campus Sculpture Walking Tour – Meet at Hodgin Hall and we’ll go from there. TUESDAY, SEPT. 27 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

NM Art Museum – Visit Tuesday through U Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

ew Mexico Office of the Medical N Investigator Tour – Take an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Office of the Medical Investigator. Reservations are required and participants must wear close-toed shoes. Reception and check in at 5:30.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

FRIDAY, SEPT. 30 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Game Day Fridays at UNM Bookstores – Save 25% on all regularly priced Lobo wear at Main and North Campus bookstores, Lobo Den Store at The Pit and Lobo Den Store at University Stadium. Also Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Noon

obo Spirit Day Pep Rally – Join students L for a pep rally in the SUB atrium to send the Lobos on to victory.

1:30 p.m.

amarind Institute Tour – Join the T world-renowned Tamarind Institute lithography workshop for a presentation, video and tour. Contact Shelly Jo Smith, sjsmith@unm.edu

4:30 p.m.

onors College Alumni Weekend H Welcome Reception – Artichoke Café. Email unmhonorsalumni@gmail.com for details or contact Sophia Alvarez at sra@unm.edu or 505-277-4211.

5 p.m.

lack Alumni Chapter – The annual B Living Legends and Trailblazer Awards ceremony—in the Centennial Engineering Auditorium. Contact Barbara Simmons at barbarasimmons64@yahoo.com.

5 p.m.

NM Men’s Soccer Tailgate and Game – U University Stadium – Sponsored by UNM’s Global Education Office, CELAC, UNM Alumni Association and UNM Alumni Lettermen. Free food and noisemakers.

5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. All-alumni Open House and Silent Auction – Join us in Hodgin Hall for live music and refreshments and bid on Lobo gear, sports packages, unique jewelry items and more—all offered by our generous donors. Proceeds benefit the UNM Alumni Association Scholarship Fund and other programs. 6 p.m.

omecoming Exhibition Celebration H at The Maxwell Museum – The museum opens for a special celebration of “Earth, Fire, and Life: Six Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics” and the opening of “Cross Currents: China Exports and the World Responds.”

7 p.m.

NM Alumni Lettermen Homecoming U Social – End Zone Club, Tow Diehm Athletic Complex at University Stadium. Reservations requested. Contact: Madison Warren, mwarren@unm.edu or 505-925-5905.

11 a.m.

NM Alumni Tailgate – Join fellow alumni U and Lobo fans in the North 4 lot for the biggest tailgate event. Entertainment, food, special guests. Get your free alumni pom poms, tattoos, beads and stickers here! Also enjoy a unique Oktoberfest pub crawl (must show valid ID). $10 food and beverage ticket.

11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Chi Omega Alumnae Green Chile Stew Open House – 1810 Mesa Vista N.E. RSVP to Amy Schwartzman Nolker at 505-263-5951 or amynolker@msn.com. 2 p.m. UNM Lobos vs. San Jose State – Cheer on the Lobos at University Stadium as they take on the Spartans. Half-time festivities include the coronation of the Homecoming Queen and King. $11. 5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. Honors College Homecoming Open House – Honors College alumni are invited to meet faculty, staff and other alumni at the Dudley Wynn Honors Forum, lower level of the Student Health Center. Contact sra@unm.edu.

SATURDAY, OCT. 1 9 a.m.

he All University Breakfast recognizes T the accomplishments of New Mexico resident alumni through the presentation of the Zia, Lobo and Inspirational Young Alumnus awards. UNM SUB Ballrooms, $20 per person. Reservations required.

10 a.m. Campus Walking Tour – Meet at the Alumni Clock at the UNM Duck Pond for a 45-minute walking tour. 11 a.m.

NM Alumni Lettermen’s Tailgate – U All UNM Alumni Lettermen are invited to a tailgate party at the Lettermen’s Lounge in The Pit. Contact: Madison Warren, mwarren@unm.edu or 505-925-5905.

FALL 2016

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS

From left to right: Robert Solenberger, Celia Foy Castillo, Kenneth Gonzales, Gary Gordan, James Miller, Carol Pierce, Randy Royster and Bridgit Lujan.

Each fall the Alumni Association recognizes exceptional UNM alumni with the Lobo, Zia and Outstanding Young Alumnus awards. Meet this year’s winners, who will be honored this October at the annual All University Breakfast.

Lobo Award Robert Solenberger (’65 BSCHE) Solenberger, a physician and a colonel in the U.S. Army, has been deployed as a senior surgeon and field hospital commander in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Honduras, Egypt and Korea. The surgeon credits his engineering education at UNM with helping him think outside the box in medicine, including a unique and successful separation of conjoined Siamese twins in 1995 in which Solenberger led a 70-person team through more than 26 hours in the operating room.

Zia Awards Celia Foy Castillo (’81 JD) Castillo began working as a teacher but eventually attended law school and went into the family business, joining the Foy, Foy and Castillo law firm in Silver City. She was elected to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in 2000 and served until her retirement in 2013, including two years as chief judge. In retirement she serves on the boards of several small companies and is president of the International Women’s Forum—New Mexico. Kenneth Gonzales (’88 BA, ’94 JD) Gonzales is a U.S. District Court judge serving in Las Cruces. Before his judicial appointment, Gonzales served as U.S.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Attorney for the District of New Mexico from 2010 to 2013 and as an assistant U.S. attorney in that office from 1999 to 2010. Gonzales was commissioned in 2001 as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and he holds the rank of major in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Gary Gordon (’83 BBA, ’86 JD) Gordon practiced with the Miller Stratvert P.A. law firm in Albuquerque for 23 years, specializing in medical malpractice defense, and has been involved in a host of civic and philanthropic organizations. He has been especially active with the Albuquerque Academy and UNM, his alma maters. Gordon served as a trustee of the Academy for 15 years, including three as board chair. He served for 12 years as a trustee of the UNM Foundation. James Miller (’70 BS, ’76 EdD, ’79 PhD) Miller put his degrees in elementary education and education administration to use in the Albuquerque Public Schools and for the Department of Defense in Germany before heading up the Carrizozo and Farmington school districts as superintendent. In 1991 he was hired to create the new Ruidoso branch campus of Eastern New Mexico University, where he served as campus director and dean emeritus until his retirement in 2005. Miller’s father, James Miller, Sr., was a Zia Award recipient in 1995. Carol Pierce (’86 MPA) Pierce has worked on behalf of the health of New Mexicans for more than 30 years. A former public health director for the New Mexico Department of Health, she

now holds two positions—as program manager for the UNM School-Based Health Center Program, which provides integrated medical, behavioral and dental services, health education and case management at six Albuquerque Public Schools, and as the school nurse for PB&J Family Services’ Therapeutic Preschool. Randy Royster (’92 JD) Royster worked in real estate, construction, health care and law before making the switch to the nonprofit world. Since 2005 he has been the president and CEO of the Albuquerque Community Foundation, which manages a community endowment and makes grants to nonprofit organizations. Under his leadership, the foundation’s managed assets have grown by more than 40 percent, average annual contributions have almost tripled and average annual grant making has more than quadrupled over the first 24 years of the foundation’s existence.

Inspirational Young Alumnus Bridgit Lujan (’98 BBA, ’00 MBA, ’04 MA) Lujan has been dancing since she was 2, when she began attending Spanish folk dance classes. Since then, she has trained in classical ballet, jazz, flamenco, classical Spanish and Mexican folklorico dance. Lujan founded her own national touring company, Dulce Flamenco Internacional, Inc., and offers a professional training program for young aspiring flamenco dancers. The Anderson School of Management recognized Lujan with a 2016 Hall of Fame Young Alumni Award. Visit UNMAlumni.com for tickets.

Alumni Calendar

UNM Alumni Association 2016-17 Travel Program

Events Calendar

Country and Blues

SEPTEMBER

Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri

September 1 Denver Chapter Game Watch, UNM Football vs. South Dakota, Choppers Sports Grill, 6:30 p.m. September 10

UNM Football vs. New Mexico State University

September 11

Washington, D.C., Chapter Green Chile Roast and Taco Picnic

September 17 UNM Football vs. Rutgers, Piscataway, N.J. Pregame tailgate, 10 a.m. EST;

October 23-31, 2016

Paris Immersion October 24-November 4, 2016 France

Holiday Markets

kickoff, noon

December 6-17, 2016

September 22

School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awards

France, Luxembourg, Germany

September 25

HOMECOMING WEEK—See schedule on Pages 38 - 39

Pure Polynesia February 4-16, 2017

OCTOBER

Papeete to Papeete

October 1

Atlanta Chapter Green Chile Roast

October 14

Alumni Social—Dallas/Ft. Worth

Cuba: People, Culture, Art

October 15

UNM Football vs. Air Force, Cotton Bowl, Dallas

March 12-20, 2017

October 21 Young Alumni Halloween Costume Drive and Social, Apothecary Lounge, Albuquerque October 21

School of Law Distinguished Alumni Awards, UNM SUB, 6 p.m.

October 26

Lobo Living Room: Law School

October 29

UNM Football vs. Hawaii

NOVEMBER November 12

Gordon Biersch Brewery, 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. Lobo Living Room: Inside the Albuquerque Journal

November 19 San Diego Chapter Game Watch, UNM Football vs. Colorado State, McGregor’s November 19

Austin Chapter “Hill Wine Country Tasting Tour”

November 24-27 San Diego and Los Angeles Chapters at Wooden Legacy Basketball Classic, November 26

Barcelona Immersion April 15-23, 2017 Spain

Palms in Paradise April 24-May 10, 2017

San Diego Chapter Game Watch, UNM Football vs. Utah State, McGregor’s

November 15 San Diego Chapter Young Alumni/Millennials Networking and Social, November 16

Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad

Featuring Panama Canal Transit

England’s Castles, Cottages & Countryside June 15-25, 2017 Canterbury, Broadway, London

Switzerland July 5-15, 2017

Fullerton and Anaheim, Calif.

Thun, Kandersteg, Brienz, Zermatt

San Diego Chapter Game Watch, UNM Football vs. Wyoming, McGregor’s

Awe-Inspiring Alaska July 14-21, 2017

DECEMBER December 2

Hanging of the Greens: Main Campus/Hodgin Hall Alumni Center

December 3

Austin Chapter Holiday Celebration

December 3

Seattle Chapter Howliday Pot Luck

December 3 San Diego Chapter Posole and Red Chile Christmas Dinner,

Seattle to Seattle

Baltic and Scandinavian Treasures August 22-September 2, 2017 Copenhagen to Stockholm

River Colony Clubhouse, 6 p.m. December 15

New Grad Wine and Cheese Social, Hodgin Hall Alumni Center

December 16

Graduate Commencement WisePies Arena

December 17

Undergraduate Commencement WisePies Arena

Events, dates and times are subject to change. Please contact the Alumni Relations Office at 505-277-5808 or 800-258-6866 for additional information. Get up-to-the-minute information on activities and events at UNMAlumni.com

This is a preliminary schedule. Trips, dates and pricing are subject to change. For additional information, contact the Alumni Relations Office at 505-277-5808 or 800-258-6866.

View details, itineraries and pricing online: UNMAlumni.com/travel

FALL 2016

Alumni Network Snapshots from Alumni events

Spring Class of 2016 graduates celebrate with family and friends at the UNM Young Alumni Chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s semi-annual Wine & Cheese reception.

Spring Class of 2016 graduates celebrate with family and friends.

UNM Alumni Association President James Lewis and Executive Director Dana Allen.

Happy Kappa Kappa Gammas gather at the Alumni Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual Thank You reception at the Albuquerque BioPark.

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Alumni Association President-elect Harold Lavender with Mark and Renee Humphrey.

Ashleigh and Florencio Olguin with their son.

From Dana’s Desk

Cameron Goble (’05 BUS), Albuquerque, works for UNM’s Human Resources Departments office of Employee and Organizational

Cards For Careers

Development. Goble is a member of the

leadership development programs.

ello to you, loyal Lobos, as I write for the first time as the new executive director of the Alumni Association. It’s been a fantastic few months. And to answer the question I’ve been asked most often, I’ve definitely come down on the side of Team Green Chile. (Although I can’t say no to Christmas, either.) Thank you to everyone for the notes of welcome and support. I’m thrilled to be here and look forward to working toward continuing to build a network rooted Dana Allen in pride and support of alumni across the world. We are 180,000+ strong, and the potential is limitless. In this issue, I’m asking for your help to join in to show current and future Lobos the breadth and depth of where a degree from UNM can take them and just how influential our alumni are across the globe. No one can tell the story of the success of our graduates better than alumni themselves. Without realizing it, you probably have at your fingertips the ability to shape the future of a current student, or help someone realize their potential at UNM. The odds are good you give it away every day as second nature. It is your business card. This fall, I’m asking you to mail five of your business cards to us. We’ll assemble binders that we’ll share with the career services and enrollment management offices to help them tell the UNM story to prospective and current students. Your cards will stay in these binders within the offices and offer students and their families an opportunity to browse the vast scope of careers that are possible with a UNM degree. Two books will be composed for each office. We’ll return the last card to you as a luggage tag—our way of saying thank you for participating. I’d like to encourage graduates from all class years, career levels and disciplines to share your information. With an alumni network of more than 180,000 worldwide, I would love to see at least 10 percent respond. And while you’re at it, we’d love to hear your news of what you’ve been doing since leaving UNM and how your time here prepared you for the career that’s represented on that card. So feel free to include a note as well! To share your business cards, please send them to the attention of “Business Card Book,” UNM Alumni Relations Office, MSC01-1160, 1 University of New Mexico, 87131. I’ll update you on the response in a future issue of Mirage, along with other key programs and their progress. In the meantime, if your Alumni Association can be of any assistance to you, don’t hesitate to let us know. And, if anyone wants to make a case for Team Red Chile… well, I’d be open to that as well. Until then,

ULead team working to re-invigorate UNM’s Pablo H. Padilla (’05 JD), Zuni, N.M., received the All Pueblo Council of Governors’ distinguished Governors’ Award for his “commitment and service to tribal leadership.” Nicholas Torres (’05 BSCE), Los Lunas, N.M., is vice president/principal and on the board of directors of Grieves Consulting Engineers. Amanda K. Kane (’06 BA), Albuquerque, is the executive director of the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program. Brian E. McMath (’06 BA, ’15 JD), Albuquerque, joined the Sheehan & Sheehan law firm as an associate. Felicia R. Nieto (’06 BBA), Albuquerque, is a marketing specialist for New Mexico Mutual. Barbara A. Casey (’07 EDD), Las Vegas, N.M., was elected to the Las Vegas City Council. Casey previously served 12 years as a New Mexico state representative from Roswell. Jesse D. Hale (’07 BA, ’13 JD), Albuquerque, joined

Barbara A. Casey

the Montgomery & Andrews law firm as an associate. Peter Liam Cahill (‘08 BSME), Eagle River, Alaska, is the Atlantic and Eastern Canada Well Services Operations Manager for Schlumberger, a leading provider of services to the oil and gas industry. Brenda K. Beck (’09 MSN), Albuquerque, a certified nurse midwife, is working in prenatal care at the Lovelace Women’s Hospital clinic. Jonathan K. Kahn (’09 BBA, ’11 MBA), Albuquerque, is board member and treasurer for Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, the state’s first resident professional choral ensemble.

Dana Allen Vice President for Alumni Relations.

Evan A. Kitsos (’09 BBA, ’11 MACCT), Albuquerque, joined REDW as an audit associate.

FALL 2016

In Memoriam We remember alumni who recently passed away. 1930 - 1939 Ralph Seitsinger, ‘38 Rob H. Singer, ‘39 1940 - 1949 Eileen Scanlon Broughton, ‘40 Elizabeth Fischer Overstreet, ‘41 Mary Elizabeth (Green) Bryant, ‘42 Henry Forest Worthington, ‘42 Virginia (Ellinwood) Edwards, ‘45 Shirley Mount Hufstedler, ‘45 Arthur L. Langford, ‘45 James McDowell, ‘45 Margaret M. (Padilla) Vasilakis, ‘45 Milden J. Fox, ‘46 Robert S. Schadel, ‘46 Mildred Schaefer Litt, ‘47 Seth I. Neibaur, ‘47 Beverly May (Covert) Noyes, ‘47 Patricia Ann Reedy, ‘47 William H. Chilton, ‘48 Herbert Jay Hammond, ‘48 Thomas G. Morris, ‘48 F. Bill Power, ‘48 Ralph R. Reeve, ‘48 Constance S. (Schutte) Sears, ’48, ‘53 Ernest S. Stapleton, ’48, ‘54 Samuel L. Sutherland, ‘48 Rudolph A. Krall, ‘49 Marian Elizabeth (Macdonald) Mercer, ‘49 Homer Gene Pierce, ‘49 Enoch A. Rodriguez, ‘49 1950 - 1959 James M. Alexander III, ‘50 Albert N. Bove, ‘50 Florenceruth (Jones) Brown, ’50, ‘53 Maebeth (Ridings) Guyton, ‘50 James R. Moran, ‘50 Donald T. Rippey, ’50, ‘53 Arlene (Cunningham) Vath, ‘50 Charles W. Wetterhus, ‘50 Jules Louis Adelfang, ’51, ’55, ‘58 Charles Randle Browder, ‘51 Thomas G. Davis, ‘51 Edward R. Gutierrez, ‘51 Joann (Livingston) Hillard, ‘51 Maximilian W. Kaslo, ‘51 Evelyn Curtis Losack, ‘51 Edward L. Morrell, ‘51 Theodore H. Pate, ‘51 Nick Thomas Pavletich, ‘51

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

Silas C. Peterson, ‘51 Frank Anthony Reno, ‘51 Mary Waitt (Jackson) Baroody, ‘52 H. Allen Berkheimer, ‘52 Walter Fife Bowron, ‘52 Jesse G. Cervantes, ‘52 Robert H. Ernst, ‘52 Hugh R. MacDougall, ’52, ‘57 Gordon D. Shaver, ‘52 Richard E. Torres, ‘52 Tom H. Chapman, ‘53 Harold A. Conroe, ‘53 James J. Hester, ‘53 Robert B. O’Sullivan, ‘53 Michael Prokopiak, ‘53 Alfred H. Spano, ‘53 Franklin B. Barker, ‘54 Patsy R. (Morrow) Cushing, ‘54 Joseph L. De La Puente, ‘54 Ervin J. Crampton, ’55, ‘84 Robert W. DeBolt, ‘55 Lucy I. (Maestas) Gordan, ‘55 Beverly Jane Hoese, ‘55 Robert T. Kirkpatrick, ‘55 Richard D. Panzica, ‘55 Glenn W. Tillery, ‘55 Albert A. Anella, ‘56 Weanelle Hedgcoxe Huff, ‘56 Dale F. MacKey, ‘56 Sigrid Marit (Holien) Marlow, ‘56 Ramon H. Rede, ‘56 Gayle (West) Anderson, ’57, ‘73 David Armijo, ‘57 David S. Hawley, ’57, ‘61 Robert P. Matteucci, ‘57 Joann (Ruehrup) Oppermann, ‘57 Stanley D. Fenner, ‘58 Charles Wayne Gares, ’58, ‘65 Nancy M. Kriebel, ‘58 Jo Nelle (Vinyard) Miranda, ’58, ’63, ‘76 Kim Ong, ‘58 Donald H. Des Jardin, ‘59 Nile Richard Ellis, ‘59 Donald K. Martin, ‘59 Anthony Eli McCullough, ‘59 Harry W. Montgomery, ’59, ‘60 Anna L. Ulrich, ’59, ‘74 1960 - 1969 David L. Endsley, ‘60 Robert L. Holloway, ‘60 Jack D. Key, ‘60

Josephine (Delmastro) Meadows, ‘60 James A. Moeller, ‘60 Cherrill M. (Meyer) Whitlow, ‘60 John P. Olsen, ‘61 John A. Westman, ‘61 Patricia Marlene Absher, ‘62 John W. Cleveland, ‘62 John F. Micsko, ‘62 Charles Richard Clausen, ‘63 Robert Otto Meitz, ‘63 Hubert Molina, ‘63 Charles D. Preston, ‘63 Ray L. Caldwell, ’64, ‘71 Consuelo C’ De Baca, ‘64 Peter J. Broullire, III, ’64, ‘67 James E. Lambert, ‘64 David C. Polley, ‘64 Anthony F. Reynolds, ’64, ‘66 Robin Read Brunelli, ‘65 G. Michael Heck, ‘65 Hillard H. Howard, ‘65 Lawrence H. Ivy, ‘65 Malcolm Jamieson, ‘65 David R. Kendall, ‘65 James Donald Harper, ‘66 Lucienne LeBlanc, ‘66 Samuel L. Tapia, ’66, ‘70 Dan Dane, ‘67 Harry E. Raymond, ’67, ‘78 Alice (Barrett) Upton, ‘67 Maria Teresa (Marques) Velez, ’67, ‘70 Charles R. Borgman, ‘68 Richard P. Hyslin, ‘68 Roberta J. (Brown) Krehbiel, ’68, 73, ‘85 Frank Lloyd Lopez, ‘68 Margaret E. Mapes, ‘68 William R. Porter, ’68, ‘70 Cordell G. Puckett, ‘68 Margie B. Bligh, ‘69 George R. Dalphin, ’69, ‘88 David J. Grandia, ‘69 Janet (Schultz) Kahn, ’69, ‘91 Roye L. Kidd, ‘69 Jennie E. Maes, ‘69 Albert G. Moore, ‘69 1970 - 1979 Will E. DeBusk, ‘70 Paul Gomez, ‘70 Suzanne Ivener-Pettersson, ‘70 Jim C. Pecha, ‘70 Patricia (McAlister) Williams, ‘70

Edward C. Carlisle, ’71, ‘75 Andrew Thomas Clawson, ‘71 Dorothy Camille (Smith) Lorentzen, ‘71 Joyce A. (Eyster) Nantze, ’71 Melvin L. Prueitt, ‘71 Kenneth Joseph Friedenbach, ‘72 James F. Hopper, ’72, ‘77 David Anthony Padilla, ‘72 C. Eric Stoehr, ’72, ‘74 James Harmon Hill, ‘73 Thomas Joseph Lascari, ‘73 Marilyn C. Mauldin, ‘73 James Patrick Powers, ‘73 William Reynolds Shover, ’73, ‘76 Karl Wayne Ward, ‘73 Robert Warren Brashear, ‘74 Stephanie Jenkins, ‘74 James O. Collins, ‘74 Thomas E. Crabtree, ‘74 Diana Gallegos Hamm, ‘74 Alicia Allman Snyder, ’74, ‘81 Larry W. Gordon, ’75, ‘87 Jeffrey Henry, ‘75 Jack May Reynolds, ‘75 Constance S. Shannon, ’75, ‘80 Minnie Tsinhnahjinnie, ’75, ‘77 Rose M. Cordova, ’76, ‘78 Leo Hollins, ‘76 Barbara Jean House, ‘76 Christopher G. Lackman, ’76, 79 Debra Ann (Serns) Sumrow, ’76, ‘79 Stephen Wesley Cooper, ’77, ‘78 Lois (Steinmetz) Duncan-Arquette, ‘77 James Robert Elkus, ‘77 Miguel Encinias, ‘77 Louise R. Fourhorns, ‘77

Patrick E. Kavanaugh, ‘77 D’Alene Gladys (Hobbs) Seymour, ’77, ‘83 Nancy Schlehner Gioe, ‘78 John D. Kiker, ‘78 Daryl D. Moellenberg, ‘78 Henry Ray Ortega, ‘78 Charles Issac Ortiz, ‘78 Madonna Green Watkins, ‘78 Carol A. Connor, ‘79 William Harry Heitman, ‘79 James P. Hughes, ‘79 Myron Lee Morris, ‘79 Don Hertial Rowland, ‘79 Ronald J. Sikorski, ‘79 1980 - 1989 Bob Earl Basham, ‘80 Linda Lou Harris, ‘80 Judith A. (Holpp) Mason, ‘80 Sandra B. Weeke, ‘80 Lloyd Milton Westphal, ‘80 Christine Carol King Deuto, ’81, ‘88 Yvonne Roye Oakes, ‘81 Bradley Alling Smith, ‘81 Retta Stapp, ‘81 Barbara Jean Pennington, ’82, ‘88 Floyd M. Trombley, ‘82 Dorothy Palmateer Lewis, ’83 Louise Wiseman Edwards, ‘84 Joan F. Guntzelman, ‘84 Sandra Lee Schwanberg, ‘84 Elaine Florence Schwers, ‘84 Michael James Carter, ‘85 Oralia Barrandey Franco, ‘85 Lorissa Lynn Rael, ‘85 Laura Louise Thomas, ‘85

2010s Jessica Huybrechts (’10 MACCT), Albuquerque, is a manager in the KPMG Albuquerque office. Octavio Casillas (’11 JD), Las Cruces, N.M., is the head administrator for La Academia Dolores Huerta Middle School and was named Educator of the Year at the Annual Banquet for the Las Cruces Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Jason C. Harper (’11 PhD), Rio Rancho, N.M., represents District 57 in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Antiesha C. Brown (’13 BUS, ’15 MS), who played guard for the UNM women’s basketball team, spent last season playing for Paddy Power Sesto San Giovanni in Italy. Timothy Sosa (’13 BBA), Peralta, N.M., a mixed martial arts fighter, competed in the King of the Cage competition. Matthew J. Hanson (’14 BA), Los Alamos, N.M., was the featured composer and musician at the Lensic Performing Arts Center’s presentation of the remake of “Salt of the Earth.” Alex R. Kirk (’14 BBA), Albuquerque, hosted a children’s basketball camp in Las Vegas, N.M. Taylor E. Lieuwen (’14 JD), Albuquerque, is an associate with NM Divorce & Custody Law. Lesley Stephens (‘14 BBA), Albuquerque, has joined Keres Consulting, Inc., a Native American-owned general management consulting firm, as a marketing assistant. Ian A. Wood (’14 BS), Albuquerque, joined

Lesley Stephens

the Dominican Ecclesial

Institute as chief administrator. Nancy Holguin (’16 BS) and her sister Elba

Have a Good Howl Our monthly email newsletter, The Howler, keeps Lobos up-to-date with Alumni Association news and events, as well as additional alumni profiles not published in Mirage. You can read it online at UNMAlumni.com/howler or subscribe to

Holguin (’13 BA), both of Albuquerque, took first and second place in the women’s half marathon of the Annual Run for the Zoo. Joseph Sanchez (’16 PhD), Albuquerque, joined the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence as executive director.

the email version by sending a request to alumni@unm.edu.

FALL 2016

In Memoriam Alan Joseph Beauchamp, ’86, ‘90 Dale Ray Broughton, ‘87 Kirby William Reed, ‘87 Anthony Thomas Lovette, ‘88 Dawn Marie Maxwell Sandoval, ’88, ‘14 Russell I. Shinn, ‘88 Jennifer Lynn Stone, ’88, ‘91 Katherine Collins (Werner) Hunt, ‘89

Lynne Marie Guran Morgan, ‘95 Mary B. John, ’95, ‘96 Therese S. Zucal, ‘95 Natalie Joy (Weaver) Whitezell, ‘96 Charles Louis Williams, ‘96 Cara Connors-Perea, ‘97 Marily Wilson Griffin, ‘97 Roderick Lynn Grubbs, ‘97 Pavlo S. Quintana, ‘97 David C. Quintana, ’98, ‘07 Vicki Lynne Holden, ‘99 Benjamin Earl Johns, ‘99 Jo A. Mounger, ‘99

1990 - 1999 Diane Marie Gately, ‘90 Eric Walters, ‘90 Beverly Kathryn Engelbrecht, ‘91 J Anthony Spataro, ‘91 Larry R. Gonzales Smith, ‘91 Deborah Kay Duran, ’92, ‘95 Michael Thomas McCauley, ‘92 Clare Dingman Rhoades, ‘92 Bazan J. Romero, ’92, ‘94 Catherine Lee Fraser, ‘93 Karl R. Conrad, ‘95 Patti Williams Derganc, ‘95 John R. Herron, 95

2000 - 2013 Stephen J. Sawyer, ‘01 David Giles Maurer, ‘03 Archie L. Espinoza, ‘04 Cathy Lynn Llamas, ‘04 Edward M. Pennington, ‘05 Jason Patrick Settlemoir, ‘05 Kristina Marie Bair, ‘06 Stacy L. Burroughs, ‘06

LOB O

April L. Neidigk, ’06, ‘10 Daniel S. Martinez, ‘07 Donley E. Watkins IV, ‘12 Theodore S. Lopez, ‘13 OTHER ALUMNI William E. Abbott Betty (Budge) Baker Martha Ann (Hood) Brown John G. Burton Maxine E. (Smith) Christensen Wanda (Leighton) Gard Barbara M. (Davis) Gunderson William M. Herbert Elnora (Pryor) Hilger Malcolm D. Hill Phyllis (Orrick) Keenan Carol (Haviland) Lewis Felix Martinez Alfred Savisky William H. Scott

FAN S

JOIN THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, LOBO CLUB AND UNM ATHLETICS FOR PREGAME TAILGATES IN 2016 September 10

September 17

October 15

October 29

vs. New Mexico State University Aggie Memorial Stadium

vs. Rutgers High Point Solutions Stadium

vs. Air Force Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas

vs. Hawaii Aloha Stadium

For more information, visit UNMAlumni.com and click on Go Lobos!

MIRAGE MAGAZINE

“If you want to touch the past, touch a rock. If you want to touch the present, touch a flower. If you want to touch the future, touch a life.” – Unknown

No matter the size, every gift to The University of New Mexico can change worlds. Your gift can help researchers conduct cutting edge research, provide tuition for a student, offer programs to help students excel, enhance vital patient care, and much more. Your gift to UNM can change someone’s world. Whose World Will You Change? Visit unmfund.org to learn more or make a gift today.

@UNMFund

UNMFoundation

@UNMFund

505-277-4503

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 1260 Liberty, MO 64068

M A G A Z I N E

The University of New Mexico Alumni Association MSC 01-1160 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

avid Escudero credits both the giants of French Impressionism— Monet, Manet and Cezanne—and the Old Masters—Rembrandt, Velasquez and Goya—as influences on his painting style. If those artists are his influence, the dramatic New Mexico landscape is his inspiration. His painting chosen for our 2016 Homecoming poster, “Chamisa Near Villanueva,” is a perfect representation of Escudero’s muse. Escudero has roots in northern New Mexico that reach back generations. He was born in Las Vegas, N.M., and received his first oil painting set when he was 12. With those tubes of paint, his love of painting began. Studying art and mathematics at New Mexico Highlands University, Escudero was influenced by teacher Elmer Schooley, who painted vivid landscapes by building layers of paint on the canvas. In a description of his own technique on the website of his gallery, InArt Santa Fe, Escudero explains his similar micropalette technique in which he layers paint colors and allows small cracks to reveal underpainting colors. “The texture created produces micro shadows which cause the colors on the surface

“Chamisa Near Villanueva” by David Escudero 18” x 24” Signed, limited edition: $45. Unsigned, limited edition: $30. Order at UNMAlumni.com/homecoming.

to change in intensity,” Escudero says, “depending on the time of day and the light source.” The results are lifelike and familiar to New Mexicans: Hermit Peak, aspen trees in Santa Fe, Tecolote Mesa, an apple orchard in Velarde and canvas after canvas of yellow chamisa.

Escudero lives in Santa Fe and paints in studios in Santa Fe and Las Vegas. His work is in the collections of the State Capitol and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, the Museum of Art in Albuquerque and the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, as well as in many private collections.