2008, Spring by UNM Alumni Association

spring 2008

5faves faculty share their top five favorite books

magazine

The P O E T S

University O N

P O E T R Y

of â&#x20AC;˘

New

Mexico

S T O R Y B O O K

L I V I N G

A l u m n i â&#x20AC;˘

W O M A N

A s s o c i a t i o n O F

T H E

W O R L D

take a look

unm

Looking at:

contents 10 What Are You AIMing for?

UNM alumni-teachers at a new university-affiliated school—AIMS@UNM—find

their new teaching environment rewarding… and beneficial to their students.

MONICA

SUMMERS

On the Cover:

20 5 Faves

We asked profs to list the most

Sixteen Distinguished Professors and recipients of our Alumni Association

important books in their lives.

Faculty Award list the books that mean the most to them.

Take a look at their responses. Then start reading.

NATALIE

ARMIJO

28 Say It with Satire Book review of Brian Jay Jones’ Washington Irving: An American Original. “The father of American literature,” Washington Irving took 19th century BY

JANICE

DS Canning

America with a grain of salt. MYERS

20 30 Conversation: Poetic Expression Four alumni poets talk about themselves and their work. M O D E R AT E D B Y V B P R I C E EDITED BY MARY CONRAD

spring 2008, Volume 26, Number 3, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: David J. Schmidly, President; Karen A. Abraham, Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations; Mary Conrad, Editor; Kelly Ketner, Echo Creative, Art Director. UNM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Lillian Montoya-Rael, President, Santa Fe; Judy Zanotti, President-Elect, Albuquerque; John Garcia, Treasurer, Albuquerque; Roberto Ortega, Past President, Albuquerque; Gene Baca, Corrales; Alice Hopkins-Loy, Albuquerque; Ruth Schifani, Albuquerque; Angie Vachio, Albuquerque MIRAGE is published three times a year, in April, August, and December, by the University of New Mexico Alumni Association for the University’s alumni and friends. Address all correspondence to UNM Alumni Relations Office, MSC 01-1160, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131-0001. Send all Album information to the attention of Margaret Weinrod. Send all changes of address to the attention of Records. Send all other correspondence to the attention of Mary Conrad. To comply with the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, UNM provides this publication in alternative formats. If you have special needs and require an auxiliary aid or service, please contact Mary Conrad. Phone: 800-258-6866 (800-ALUM-UNM) or 505-277-5808. E-mail to Mary Conrad: mconrad@unm.edu or alumni@unm.edu. Web address: www.unmalumni.com

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Bobby Tamayo

How does a poet mean?

14 Storybook Living on the Mesa

Sustainable living is the theme for two alumni-protagonists at Mesa del Sol. BY

RANDY

McCOACH

36 World of Learning and Caring Desiree Kosciulek is getting to know the world firsthand, while lending it a hand as well. BY MATT SCHWARTZMAN-STUBBS

46 From Peak into Sky From the perspective of his hang glider, John Wiseman finds the Sandia Mountains suddenly unfamiliar. BY

JOHN

WISEMAN

Looking Around:

Mirage was the title

3 Letters to the Editor

of the University of

4 Spring Tidings

New Mexico yearbook until its last edition

A letter to alumni from UNM President David J. Schmidly

5 Connections Research, gifts, accomplishments, new buildings,

in 1978. Since that

new faces, and a bit of everything that says UNM.

time, the title was

5 Album

adopted by the alumni magazine which continues to publish vignettes of UNM graduates.

Look for your friends here!

40 Development: The Foundation of a Foundation UNM’s single largest donor, the Sandia Foundation, has an unexpected beginning. BY

MICHELLE

McRUIZ

43 Sports Update 44 Alumni Outlook Honorees, travel, events & insight.

letters to the editor Teaching Respect… (winter 2008)

enrietta Mann’s words—“…each of us [has] a different view of reality”— rang true for me, a mixed blood, Anglo and Native American. The “we” in “us” is a reference to our indigenous blood. And, yes! We do have different views, different ways of seeing, as diverse as our cultures. From the southernmost to the northernmost, we are people of many views and vistas. Within the particulars of cultural bodies we differ, at times we even oppose one another, but we share the circle in all our differences that beckons us back to the common ground we all call home: our mother, earth. Thanks for sharing this reminder with us. Kimberley Williams, ’03 BUS Los Angeles

History Lessons (fall 2007)

y twin sister and I were among the fortunate Highland High School students to have the Figge brothers for world history… What great teachers they were! Others must have agreed, because I have since noticed buildings named for them at Highland High. I entered UNM in the fall of 1967 determined to major in and teach history because it had become my favorite subject. Along the way I drifted into elementary education, and now work as a middle school counselor. I am pleased to read Mr. Figge’s comment that “Teachers may not make a lot of money, but there are a lot of rewards.” Thank you, Mr. Figge, for the reminder that there are values greater than money, and for the inspiration you were to all of your students as you taught us about life under the guise of history! Audrey Zintz McGinnis, ’71 BS, ’96 MS Albuquerque

Mirage welcomes letters to the editor. If you would like to comment on something you’ve read in the magazine, please write us. Letters will be published as space allows and may be edited for clarity and brevity. Letters must be signed. It’s helpful if you include your location and degrees. Our address is Mirage, The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, MSC 01-1160, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131-0001. Email: mconrad@unm.edu.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

a look at spring

unm

spring tidings Dear UNM Alumni, We find ourselves on the tail end of another successful year at the University of New Mexico. Spring means one thing to many of our students, and that is graduation! We are so proud of the more than 2,000 graduates and are eager to welcome them into the proud legacy of UNM alumni. I was glad to be a part of my first commencement ceremony at UNM, as I see commencement as the ceremony that honors the hard work of our students and faculty. I look forward to many more successful graduation events in the coming years. Honoring the hard work of our students is something I believe very strongly in, just as I believe we need to continue to honor the hard work of those who have left the halls of

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

UNM to pursue successful careers in a variety of fields. In this issue of Mirage we are highlighting the notable work of the UNM alumni who are faculty at the new Albuquerque Institute for Math and Science (AIMS) at UNM. As well, we recognize the notable and courageous efforts of Desiree Kosciulek, ’05 BA, who has just completed a 1,000 mile walk to raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. To keep our alumni and students engaged over the summer months, some of our Distinguished Professors list their top 5 reading

recommendations. Along with those reading recommendations, we are also pleased to offer a conversation about poetry among VB Price, ’62 BA; Levi Romero, ’94 BAA, ’00 MARC; Mikaela Renz-Whitmore, ’97 BA, ’06 MCRP; and Karen McKinnon, ’60 BA, ’77 MA. Lastly, this has been an exciting year for Lobo athletics. Our football team grabbed up our first bowl win in decades and our men’s basketball team has made tremendous strides as well. Attendance for all sporting activities is up among students, community members, and alumni. I hope we can continue this trend moving forward. We continue to make great strides at UNM and, as always, I invite you to continue to be a part of our mutual success. Go Lobos!

David J. Schmidly President

connections

unm

funding connections pediatric pursuit: The UNM Health

Sciences Center’s pediatrics department has been awarded a five-year, $12.3 million research contract to partner with the people of Valencia County in the NIH’s National Children’s Study. http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output/ index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release &EntryID=6383 calling all nurses: UNM has received

a five-year, $4.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to increase the quantity and diversity of nurses with knowledge of health policy. here and there: UNM’s department

of Native American studies is partnering with Walatowa High Charter School in Jemez Pueblo and the Seattle-based Center for Native Education to develop dual enrollment opportunities for Native students. The partnership is funded in part by a $12 million, eight-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and Lumina Foundation for Education. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002508.html#more gift of inspiration: Inspired by a

son they lost to cancer in 1985, George Trujeque, ’73 BSPE, and Diana Trujeque, ’03 BUS, have now raised more than $3 million for the Children’s Cancer Fund of New Mexico. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002474.html#more gift of thanks: UNM Hospitals

honored former patient Geoffrey recently for his donation of $2.5 million to fund

SM Hedrick

the purchase of a Dual Tube 64 Computed Tomography Scan for use in the Trauma Center. Hedrick credits the staff at UNMH for saving his life and his legs after an accident 42 years ago. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002324.html#more beaming in: A National Science Foundation grant of more than $750,000 will allow the purchase and installation of a new focused ion beam system for the Electron Microbeam Analysis Facility in the department of earth and planetary sciences. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002374.html#more brain gain: The Mind Research Network can delve deeper into traumatic brain injury (TBI) thanks to a $65,000 grant from the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. The collaboration will involve Mind Research Network scientist Andrew Mayer, along with the UNM departments of neurology, psychology, and emergency medicine. like father, like son: Local real

estate developer Steven P. Jackson has made a key gift toward funding the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management Student Center and Financial Services Center in honor of his father, Paul R. Jackson. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002501.html#more visualize this! UNM recently

announced its first and largest corporate donation for the Science and Mathematics Learning Center’s new Visualization Lab. The $250,000 grant was awarded by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002520.html#more

album compiled by Margaret Weinrod.

Look for a friend on every page! Keep us posted! Send your news to Margaret Weinrod The University of New Mexico Alumni Association MSC 01-1160 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM 87131-0001. Better yet, e-mail your news to mweinrod@unm.edu. Fall (August) deadline: May 1 Winter (December) deadline: September 1 Spring (April) deadline: January 1

Geraldine Marie DuBois Perkins, ’27 BS, celebrated her 100th birthday in December. She lives in Corona, New Mexico. Barbara Heberholz, ’48 BFA, ’53 MA, and the late Donald Heberholz, ’53 MA, are the authors of Artworks for Elementary Teachers (9th edition), a textbook used throughout the country in art education classes. A Japanese edition has been released by McGraw Hill. Barbara has coordinated the art docent program in elementary schools for the last 25 years. She lives in Gold River, California. Thomas J. Nesbitt, ’48 BSCE, has been named posthumously a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the UNM School of Engineering. In 1981, Thomas launched Arizona Pavement Profiling, setting the standard for milling in the Southwest. Robert D. Taichert, ’49 BA, has received the 2007 Outstanding Lawyer of the Year Award from the Albuquerque Bar Association. Bob is of counsel with the firm Miller Stratvert. His practice focuses primarily on mediation and arbitration. Felipe Gonzales, ’52 BA, ’61 MATS, would like folks to know he is still of this world after his wife received a Christmas card in her name only. Felipe lives with his wife in Albuquerque. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

honorable connections urban agenda item: UNM President

has accepted an appointment to the executive committee of the Commission on the Urban Agenda, which focuses on urban issues and programs for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. David J. Schmidly

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002272.html#more well merited: The UNM Board of

Regents has honored law professor with the Regents’ Meritorious Service Award for his dedication to students, his impact on the legal profession, and his tireless defense of the rights of people with mental disabilities. The university also named Ellis to its Henry Weihofen Endowed Chair.

one of only eight health professionals in the nation to have been named a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for 2007-08. http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output /index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release &EntryID=6399 outstanding teacher: Steve Peralta,

director of engineering student services at UNM, has received the “Outstanding MAEStro Award” from the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002303.html#more

Jim Ellis

emeritus of pediatrics William Kelly recently served on an expert panel of doctors that updated asthma guidelines for the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program.

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002524.html#more

http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output /index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release &EntryID=6336

highest honor: Larry Sklar, professor

top mental health teacher: Philip

of pathology, will present the 53rd Annual Research Lecture, the highest honor UNM bestows on its faculty members, in April. His talk is entitled “Team Science: Partnerships for Discovery and Information.”

A. May,

investigator warranted: Michelle Steinauer, assistant professor of biology, has received the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She was one of five recipients recognized with the prestigious award.

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002565.html one of few fellows: Daniel Derksen,

professor in the UNM department of family & community medicine, is

asthma update: UNM professor

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

as part of the program titled “Naked Science: Solar Force.” http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002362.html#more on the web: Earth and planetary

science professors Laura Crossey and Karl Karlstrom were featured on the Discovery Channel’s Web site in a pictorial by Washington Post photojournalist Lucian Perkins, titled “Fearless Planet: Grand Canyon.” http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/fearlessplanet/fearless-planet.html.

new connections veep vips: Helen Gonzales has been

appointed vice president for human resources and Steve Beffort, vice president of institutional support services, after internal searches. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002449.html#more right playwright: The theatre and

professor of sociology and family and community medicine, senior research scientist at the UNM Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions, and director of the New Mexico Access to Research Careers program, has received the Wayne S. Fenton Undergraduate Research Educator Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002490.html#more

media connections on the air: Professor of earth and

planetary sciences Yemane Asmerom’s research on issues related to the sun was featured last fall on the National Geographic Channel

dance department has appointed award-winning playwright Elaine Avila as the Robert Hartung Endowed Chair of Dramatic Writing. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002326.html#more dean doings: Finnie Coleman, director of Africana Studies and associate professor of English, has been appointed acting dean for University College while the university prepares a national search. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002546.html#more

publishing connections bridal smarts: Allen M. Parkmen, Regents’ Professor Emeritus at the Anderson School of Management, has published Smart Marriage: Using Your (Business) Head

as Well as Your Heart to Find Wedded Bliss (Praeger, 2007). This innovative book suggests using business principles for better marital decisions. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002312.html#more

announced that Active Galactic Nuclei, or AGNs, are the most likely source of the highest-energy cosmic rays that hit earth. The results appeared in the November 9 issue of the journal Science. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002404.html#more

rifle-ready research: Assistant

professor of American studies hadn’t been in Truchas, New Mexico more than a couple of hours when a neighbor fired a rifle at him, introducing him to the tension over forest management in northern New Mexico, and resulting in a book: Understories, the Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico.

professor of sociology and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, has edited Expressing New Mexico: Nuevomexicano Creativity, Ritual, and Memory, an examination of the state’s varied Hispanic culture. Four UNM faculty members are among the contributors.

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002269.html#more

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002405.html#more

destinos: With Hispanics now

water intersects art: Professor of art

the largest US minority group, there has been increasing national interest about Mexican Americans, who make up two-thirds of all Hispanics. UNM law and American studies professor Laura E. Gomez has published a history of Mexican Americans in the US, entitled Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race (New York University Press).

and art history Basia Irland’s lifelong fascination with the intersection of water and art is the basis of Water Library, recently released from UNM Press and featuring nine of Irland’s projects throughout the world.

Jake Kosek

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002290.html#more hotel history: Yale University Press

has published Hotel: An American History, by Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, UNM assistant professor of history. It has been featured in the Sunday New York Times Book Review, The Economist, and Slate.com. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002454.html#more

New Mexico anthology: Phillip B. Gonzales,

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002492.html#more imperial sensations: Jesse Aleman, associate professor of English, recently co-edited Empire and the Literature of Sensation: An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Popular Fiction (Rutgers University Press). It includes five 19th-century sensational novels about US imperial encounters in Texas, Mexico, and Cuba,1830 to 1960. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002506.html#more underground water storage: Law

cosmic rays: Scientists of the Pierre Auger Collaboration, including researchers in UNM’s physics and astronomy department, have

professor Denise Fort is one of the co-authors of Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water, a book

album Richard E. Hilbert, ’52 BA, professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, presented “adaptive Structures and the problem of Order” at the University of Manchester, England. His latest publication is “Swingin’ the Blues, Oklahoma’s Contribution to Jazz in America.” James T. Thompson, ’52 BA, Albuquerque, has received the Robert E. Burt Boy Scout Volunteer Award from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was the oldest participant to complete the latest BSA National Camp School at New Mexico’s Philmont Scout Ranch. Michael A. Baca, aka Miguel Cabeza de Vaca, ’56 BS, Albuquerque, retired from the County of Los Angeles where he worked as social worker and deputy clerk, and now works as an extra in the film industry and as an artists’ model. He received special recognition from the Secretary of Defense for promoting peace and civility in our nation while in the US Army during the Cold War. Gene E. Franchini, ’57 BBA, Albuquerque, has been appointed vice chair of the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. Gene served as Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court from 1997-1999, and has been inducted into the 2008 Anderson School Hall of Fame. Herbert T. Shillingburg Jr., ’59, was a founding faculty member of the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. In his honor, the Herbert T. Shillingburg Jr. Endowed Professorship in Fixed Prosthodontics was recently established. He and his wife, Constance Murphy Shillingburg, ’60 BA, live in Edmond, Oklahoma. Constance is in demand for her historical interpretations of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, and Tsarina Alexandra. Linda Estes, ’61 BSHP, ’79 MAPA, has been selected for the 2008 Albuquerque/ New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Linda was UNM’s senior associate athletics director from 1973-2000. She retired to Hawaii in 2000. Bill C. Rothanbargar, ’61 MA, received the “Keep the Dream Alive Award” from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Council for enhancing Albuquerque’s educational climate by embracing inclusiveness and celebrating multicultural

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm released by the National Research Council of the National Academies. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002525.html#more west choice: Beyond the Missouri:

The Story of the American West, by Richard Etulain, professor emeritus of history (UNM Press), has been picked for the annual CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title list. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002516.html#more

research connections breast cancer research alliance: UNM

has signed an agreement with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to create a powerful research alliance to find causes and cures for inflammatory breast cancer. New Mexico state lawmakers appropriated $3.2 million for IBC research. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002464.html#more less water: Researchers at

New Mexico State University and UNM released a new study finding climate change will result in decreased water availability in New Mexico’s Rio Grande Basin, cutting the state’s water supply and hurting its economy and agriculture. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002347.html#more officials of color: A team of political

scientists, including UNM professor Christine Sierra, recently completed the Gender and Multi-Cultural Leadership Project, an exploration into how race and gender affects 21st century politics. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002377.html#more

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

moon echo: A team of scientists

from the Naval Research Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Research Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, and UNM has detected the lowest frequency radar echo from the moon ever seen with earth-based receivers. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002519.html#more

student connections macro-encouragement: The

American Society for Microbiology has selected UNM’s Kathryn Frietz as a 2007-2010 award recipient of the Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship, which includes a $21,000 annual stipend for three years. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002302.html#more all academic: Two UNM-Gallup

students have been nominated to the All USA Academic Team for community colleges. They are Darryl Day Chief, a sophomore studying information technology, and Brittany Showalter, in the bachelor of university studies program. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002555.html#more landscape sur la loire: Tori Johnson,

a UNM landscape-architecture graduate student, presented “Forest Table,” her winning landscape design entry for the annual International Garden Festival in Chaumont-sur-Loire in France. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002543.html#more

playwriting awards this year. Leonard Madrid and Don Garcia received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Award for Latino Playwrights. Madrid’s play “Perla” was also a finalist for the John Cauble short play competition. Lou Clark received the regional award and a national honorable mention for directing. Kristen Simpson’s thesis play, “Four Days in the Delta,” and Madrid’s play, “Volver, Volver, Volver,” were selected for the nationally renowned University Playwright’s Workshop. Terry Gomez was one of four students nationwide awarded an American Indian College Fund-Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship for 2007-08. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002475.html#more

miscellaneous connections energy ed: Energy Education, Inc.

(a company that assists its clients in implementing comprehensive energy conservation programs) and Lobo Energy, Inc. (a UNM corporation formed to supply energy utility services to UNM) have announced a significant agreement to reduce utility consumption, save money, and benefit the environment. staying in school: Freshmen retention

at UNM has reached an all-time high, with 76.6 percent of students returning for a second year in fall 2007. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002282.html#more best college buy: UNM has been

standing ovations: Students from

the theatre and dance department’s dramatic writing program have claimed numerous national

identified as one of “America’s 100 Best College Buys” by Institutional

Research & Evaluation, Inc. a private research firm. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002295.html#more on autism: UNM leads the state in

research, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder, including autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder-not other specified. http://hsc.unm.edu/about/features/ 2007_10b.shtml

determined to be docs: UNM

is seeking the next wave of New Mexico high school seniors who demonstrate strong academic achievement and a commitment to practice medicine in New Mexico. In its third year, the combined BA/MD Degree program is a partnership between UNM’s School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences. http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output/ index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release &EntryID=6503

persistence pays: School of Law

professor emeritus Peter Winograd saw five years of persistence and hard work pay off in fall 2007, when President George Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Winograd helped draft a provision in the new law to reduce the monthly payment on federal education loans for graduates pursuing a career in public service. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002341.html#more

new grads: More than 1,500 UNM students received degrees at the end of the fall semester. The breakdown includes: 1,114 bachelor’s degrees, 341 master’s degrees, 5 post-master’s, 52 doctorates, 12 juris doctorates, 3 medical doctorates, 7 pharmacy doctorates, and 2 education specialists. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002479.html#more easy moves: UNM has signed a

hibben house: Brothers Dennis and

have announced plans to restore the Frank C. Hibben property in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill area. It will be an exhibit, education, and research center available to the public, featuring Hibben’s worldwide collection of animal head mounts, complying with his bequest. Douglas Lutz

http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002446.html#more

course transfer agreement with Central New Mexico Community College. The agreement will make it easier for CNM students graduating from associate degree programs in pre-management or general studies to have all their credits accepted when they transfer to the Anderson School of Management’s BBA program or University College’s BUS program. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002601.html#more

top ranks: The UNM School of

Law is ranked among the top 25 law schools both for Hispanic enrollment and for granting degrees to Hispanics, as reported in the December 3 issue of Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. http://www.unm.edu/~market/ cgi-bin/archives/002448.html#more

For all the latest campus news and events visit UNM Today: http://unmtoday.unm.edu/ For education and entertainment

through live audio and video recordings of UNM students, faculty, staff, and guests, check out UNM Live podcasts at http://www4.unm.edu/unmlive/ ?page_id=5

album richness. The retired APS teacher served 12 years on the Board of Education. Buddy Robertson, ’61 BSHP, has been inducted into the 2008 Albuquerque/ New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Buddy was an athlete, coach, and later an APS athletics administrator from 1977-2002. Heinz W. Schmitt, ’62 MSME, has been named a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the UNM School of Engineering. The award is given in recognition of his contributions to the community, his profession, and the world. Schmitt has served 36 years with Sandia National Laboratories and is now chief engineer and vice president of weapons systems. Elsie Charlese Spencer, ’62 BSNU, is a recipient of the 2007 UNM College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. She worked primarily in medical clinics in Ghana. She also taught nursing rotations to Native American students for the BIA, and at the University of Albuquerque, Luna Vocational/ Technical School, and Highlands University. Since her retirement in 1983, she has published her memoirs. Elsie lives in Albuquerque. Sajjad H. Durrani, ’63 PhD, is a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the UNM School of Engineering, given in recognition of his contributions to the community, his profession, and the world. He is a worldrenowned expert in satellite communications. He lives in Olney, Maryland. Donald L. Ivers, ’63 BA, has been named to the New Mexico Military Institute’s Hall of Fame in recognition of his eminence in the law profession. Judge Ivers lives in Alexandria, Virginia. Ilse Gay, ’64 BAED, ’84 MA, of Albuquerque, is president of the University of New Mexico Retirees Association. Elsie Charlese Spencer, ’62 BSNU, Albuquerque, has received the 2007 UNM College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. Elsie worked in clinics in Ghana, and taught nursing rotations for the BIA, and at the University of Albuquerque, Luna Vocational/Technical School, and Highlands University. She retired in 1983, and has published her memoirs.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

what are you AIMing for? B Y

M O N I C A

S U M M E R S

A I M I N G T O P R E PA R E KIDS FOR COLLEGE: More than half of the staff at Albuquerque Institute for Math and Science at UNM—a charter school at UNM Science & Technology Park—are Lobo alumni (indicated in bold). Shown here are, left to right, front row, Ben Mitchell, John Weber; row 2, Shulin Bergman, Ashley Claar, Audri Gonzalez, Philip Watje, and Megan Murray; row 3, Beverly Miller, Kathy Sandoval-Snider, Nicole Glasrud, Monica Summers, Ryan Kowal, and Mikhayla Harrell; top row: Cheryle Haley, Suzann Owings, Polly Azar, Dana Van Tilborg, Randy Sanders.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Three years ago, I found myself in a quandary.

I’d been living in New York City for ten years and I was ready to come home to New Mexico. As a high school English teacher, I knew that jobs in the Albuquerque area would be limited. I sent resumes to every middle school and high school in the district and even a few in Santa Fe. One school called for an interview. It was a charter school. It was opening its doors for the first time that fall. It had only 40 ninth-graders enrolled. It had three teachers. It was in a temporary building that used to be a racquetball court. I swallowed the knot of doubt in the back of my throat and accepted the job. Today that school—the Albuquerque Institute for Math & Science at UNM (AIMS@UNM)—is thriving, with more than 125 students. Among the 20 staff members are many UNM grads who, like me, found their way to education via a variety of other professions.

Roxanne DeMien

looking at aims@unm

Led by UNM alumni-teachers, students at a new university-affiliated school —AIMS@UNM— are aiming for college.

For eight of my years in New York I worked as a journalist—first as an Associated Press photo assistant, then a Reuters News Service financial reporter, and finally an AP national photo editor. I finished a master’s in journalism from NYU. I loved the journalists and photographers I worked with, but I felt that I had to do something different. Through a program called the New York City Teaching Fellows (designed to train professionals in non-teaching fields to be teachers) I began a master’s program at Fordham University. By June 2003, I was standing in my first classroom staring down a rather large group of high school students—all of them boys and all of them not so eager to be there. It was, after all, summer school in the South Bronx. Still, this group of boys was as patient with me as I was with them. Through them I learned my most valuable lesson: I love teaching.

Bumpy Take-Off. Exciting Ride. AIMS@UNM has itself come full circle in its growth as a school and its relationship with the university. The city has become saturated with small charter schools vying for students who would like a smaller school setting but don’t want to go the private school route. AIMS@UNM has managed to set itself apart with its math and science focus and its proprietary relationship with the University of New Mexico. Known originally as High Tech High Albuquerque, it was established to fill a desperate need for a math and science high school. Initially, it was funded by High Tech High, a non-profit charter management organization out of San Diego and partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Despite the big-name backers, the environment was unstable. By the end of the first year we had gone through three administrators, lost five staff

members, and our benefactors had abandoned ship. Enter veteran teachers and administrators Kathy Sandoval Snider, ’82 BS, ’87 MA, and Polly Azar, ’93 MA. Like Dr. Seuss’ Thing One and Thing Two, they appeared out of nowhere in the fall of 2006 and performed their magic. The duo had been a team at the Career Enrichment Center/Early College Academy, a magnet/college preparatory school in Albuquerque, before coming to AIMS@UNM. And here we are, a year and a half later, with a new home in the UNM Science and Technology Park, and an additional three grade levels. By next year, we will be all systems go as a fully enrolled middle school and high school. For the students, staff, and administration at the school, it has been both exhausting and exciting. Our main goal: to prepare our students for the rigors of college. For the students, the school’s proximity to the university foretells that they themselves are closer to becoming UNM students. For the staff, we know we have found a unique educational environment where we can push the teaching envelope and work with students to make the dream of college a reality.

Motivated Teachers Ryan Kowal, ’03 BS, joined the staff in early 2006, first as math tutor then as a surrogate physical education teacher. He had worked previously as a nurse in Beaumont, Texas, first in adolescent psychology hospitals and then in the federal prison system. In 1999, he moved to Albuquerque to pursue a degree in pure mathematics; he worked as a team leader at UNM’s Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS). He was struck by how many students were struggling in math. “Kids taking their undergraduate coursework in math have the same gaps in the fundamentals in mathematics as those in high school,” Ryan says. He was drawn to AIMS@UNM by its

album Joel Jones

Turning to Teaching

Joel M. Jones, ’66 PhD, president emeritus of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, has been honored by the renaming of one of the college’s buildings. A standing-room-only dedication ceremony in Jones Hall (formerly Sage Hall) honored Joel for his contributions as the college’s fifth president, serving for a decade. Jones Hall houses the music department, recital hall, and writing center, as well as classrooms and faculty offices. Ned Keltner, ’66 MSME/PhD, has been recognized by the ASTM International Committee E05 on Fire Standards with the SH Ingberg Award. The committee cited Keltner for his outstanding achievements in fire resistance research and in fire loss prevention, including development of related standards. He is the owner of FIRES Inc. in Albuquerque. Ben Moffett, ’66 BA, ’75 MA, has been appointed as a faculty researcher at the UNM Center for Regional Studies. Ben is intent on writing a book on the history of basketball in New Mexico, 1898-2008. He lives in Bosque Farms, New Mexico. George Bunch, ’68 MD, has retired from his 34 years of pediatric practice in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to live in Santa Cruz, California. Charles Daniels, ’69 JD, has been named to the New Mexico Supreme Court by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to replace Pamela Minzner, who died in 2007. He was with the Freedman, Boyd, Daniels, Hollander, Goldberg & Ives law firm in Albuquerque. R. Richard Lester, ’69 ME, was recently selected to attend the 4th Annual Painters’ Colony in Kog, Slovenia. The week-long event involves the artists’ painting all day and discussing painting in the evening. He is the first American to be included. One of his watercolors now rests in the museum at s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

relationship with the university and its potential for helping students make a seamless transition between high school and college. He says aligning the content of undergraduate education with that of high schools—what policymakers deem the P-16 initiative—is the key to closing the gaps and to student success. Most high school teachers would agree it also one of teaching’s greatest complexities. “The most challenging aspect is showing students that education is for them. It’s not for their parents or for their teachers,” says Dana Van Tilborg, ’91 MA, ’04 PhD, who has taught social sciences at AIMS@UNM since 2006. Dana joined the staff after seven years of college-level teaching, first at UNM and then as a post-doctoral fellow at Florida International University. “I loved that the school was small and creative,” she says. “When I saw the quality of other teachers and saw their excitement for learning, I felt that I could do college-level teaching at this school.” As an undergraduate, Philip Watje, ’03 BA, ’08 MA, had worked with The CERN ATLAS Project and at Los Alamos National Laboratories. Upon graduation, he taught at Albuquerque’s Eldorado High School for a year before taking his current position with AIMS@UNM. The school’s focus on math and science and the lure of different teaching methodologies—such as project-based learning and interdisciplinary curricula—drew him in. Mikhayla Harrell, ’02 BFA, ’07 MA, agrees. “The small classes and the teachers’ unified commitment to innovative, rigorous, and deep learning” set AIMS@UNM apart. Before she began teaching art and media arts at the school, Mikhayla lived and worked in Taos, New Mexico, as a yoga instructor and painter.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Student Views The students who come to AIMS@UNM are as distinctive as the staff. As a math and science charter school, it attracts kids who opt for small classes (between 15 and 20 students in each) and a unique learning environment. Kathleen Martin, 17, has attended AIMS@UNM since 9th grade. She wanted to break away from the kids she had gone to school with most of her life, and was drawn to the school because of its small class size and college prep focus. “It is a college prep school so you want to pursue higher education and they try to help there,” says Kathleen, who claims she does not yet know where she wants to apply to college but that UNM is one of her choices. “I know the campus and we’re pretty well tied with that,” she says, adding that she took a psychology class at UNM this past summer. Despite its size, AIMS@UNM already offers three Advanced Placement courses. Additionally, students are encouraged to take college-level courses at CNM and UNM, tuition free. Seham Aggad, a junior, is enrolled in three AP courses this year while taking additional college courses at CNM. She plans to apply to UNM’s BA/MD scholarship program next year. Seham says she chose AIMS@UNM because she knew the environment would be different. She says she was afraid of gangs and violence at a big public high school. On the other hand, she says, “I thought everyone here would be super smart and nerd-like,” she says. Now that she attends AIMS, she realizes there is “a mixture of different kids. There are the crazy ninth graders who always block the halls and the juniors who just study, study, study, and the sophomores who slack off, and

the little sixth graders who just try to dodge it all and get to their classes. It’s like a big salad bowl, just on a smaller scale.” Seham says the teachers set the school apart from the larger high schools. “They’re nicer and they have a sense of humor. It’s really clear that they care for their students. … I know that if I have a question I can go and ask them and not have them shoo me away. They’ll work with me through my bumps and experiences.”

A Worthy Challenge Of course, teaching is not without its challenges. Many times students come to the school with low math and reading skills and we have to play catch up in getting them to the proper level. Still, the small class sizes and intense college-prep environment allow us to work one-on-one with the students and cater to their individual needs. “Students and teachers are able to work in a close-knit, collaborative environment,” says Ben Mitchell, ’00 MA, who teaches English and history, adding that the faculty is “motivated.” Ben, an Albuquerque native and graduate of Albuquerque Academy, joined AIMS@UNM after working as a freelance writer and editor in the Washington, DC area and after teaching English, ELL (English language learners), and film production at a high school in Arlington. He says that tailoring instruction to fit the wide variety of needs each student has is the most challenging aspect of teaching. History teacher Suzann Owings, ’78 PhD, agrees. “Teaching is immensely timeconsuming and enormous,” Suzann says. “We develop the scope, prepare the lessons, deliver the lessons, evaluate their effectiveness, and then devise both remediation activities and the next lesson. In a way the enormity of the job is part of what I like.”

Suzann, who has been teaching since 1971, has also peppered her life with other experiences, such as working as a college counselor, a statewide comprehensive planner, an instructor at NMSU, a corporate planner and training program manager, a graduate school dean, a university professor at Golden Gate University, and a management consultant. She brings to her classroom a sense of what can lie beyond college if the students push through these first trying years.

Suzann says one of the difficulties of teaching is watching those students with clear talents show little care for their future, while watching less-advantaged students struggle to improve themselves for college. “These kids grow and change so fast,” says business manager Nicole Glasrud, ’97 BS, ’99 BA, who came to education from the corporate world, having worked at MCORE, Pepsi Bottling Corp., and Gap Inc. “We become very attached to them.”

school business with Kathy Sandoval-Snider, Director, AIMS@UNM

What is the proprietary relationship of AIMS@UNM with UNM? AIMS has a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UNM, assuring membership on our board of UNM professors, including President Schmidly or his representative, from the College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Education. Currently four of the seven board members are UNM professors and/or administrators. Additionally the MOU identifies AIMS@UNM as a UNM high school, located on the UNM campus. The school is supported through state tax dollars generated by the school funding formula. UNM provides the building, tuition support, and name.

Is there a relationship with APS? The original charter with High Tech High Albuquerque had APS as our licensing agent. State law says that must remain in place until our renewal in two years. At that time, our licensing agent can change to the State of New Mexico.

How are the kids chosen to attend your school? Children must have some basic requirements to enter the school, as listed on the application. Should the school have more applicants than room in a particular grade level, the student body is chosen from a pool of qualified candidates through a lottery.

Are the expectations that your students attend UNM or just that they attend college? The requirement is AIMS@UNM students attend UNM during their junior and senior years in high school. It is the hope they will continue their college education at the University of New Mexico. Research demonstrates that students who have already developed relationships with educational institutions, through dual credit or mentorships/internships, have a much likelier chance of (continuing) those relationships. It’s simply human nature that when a student has the credit, the relationship, the comfort level, and the familial support—as do our students—they will continue on where they are comfortable and successful.

album Ormoz, Slovenia. He is retired from teaching music and art in public education. Yvonne Lopez-Morton, ’70 BUS, has been appointed chair of the Washington Human Rights Commission by the state’s governor. Yvonne has been a project assistant for the Spokane Public Schools’ Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative and supervisor of several after-school programs, as well as many other advocacy programs. Harold R. Bosch, ’71 BSCE, is a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the UNM School of Engineering, given in recognition of his contributions to the community, his profession, and our world. Bosch is director of the Aerodynamics Laboratory at the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center of the Federal Highway administration. He lives in Herndon, Virginia. Alex Pattakos, ’71 BA, is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts, Viktor Frankl’s Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work, in a new edition later this year in both audio CD and digital download formats. It appears in the upcoming film “The Heaven Project” as featured set dressing. Alex is at the Center for Meaning in Santa Fe. Eliverio Chávez, ’73 BAED, ’75 MATP, ’84 PhD, has published Mestizaje: Introducción a la cultura mexicanoamericana (AuthorHouse, 2007). It presents the culture and history of Mexican-Americans from their pre-Columbian origin to their present day forms, with Spanish, Native American, Mexican, African, and Anglo-American elements. Eliverio is a retired professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Patrick Henry, ’73 BSPE, has received an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Western New Mexico University where he earned a master’s degree. Henry is now serving as president of the NCAA-US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (2007-09). He lives in College Station, Texas. Holly Mercer, ’73 BA, has been appointed executive director of the Oregon State Board of Nursing. Barbara Valles Quintana, ’73 BSED, has left her position at the City of Albuquerque to spend more time with family. She is moving to Denver.

www.aims-unm.org s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

looking at mesa del sol

unm

Two Lobo alumni play leading roles in the premiere of sustainable living at Mesa del Sol.

B Y

R A N D Y

M c C O A C H

storybook living

on the 14

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

DS Canning

mesa

album Any kindergartner who knows the story of the Three Little Pigs can tell you: When you live in Lobo country, there’s a right way and a wrong way to build a house. You can do it quickly, with cheap materials – and suffer the consequences – or you can practice prudence and do the job right. While the story teaches children it takes time, patience, and careful planning to build a nice, comfy, wolf-proof home, it also gives grown-ups an opportunity to take a closer look at that fairytale house. Are the appliances Energy Star rated? Does the house use captured storm water for its landscaping? Does it utilize some form of alternative energy? And what’s the point of having a nice house in a crummy neighborhood? Shouldn’t this perfect house be part of an entire community built around the prudence-is-best philosophy? There should be parks and open space. There should be jobs – good jobs – so close to the house that you could ride a bike to work every day. There should be good schools, attractive architecture, museums, and theaters. There should be so much planning and professional expertise that you could actually see the stars at night – thanks to energy-saving “light pollution” requirements. The 3,000-acre community of Mesa del Sol, currently under development south of Albuquerque’s international

airport, runs along these lines, but it diverges from the fairytale in a couple of important ways: it’s very real, and two Big Bad Lobos are huffing and puffing to breathe life into this vision instead of blowing it all down.

To UNM’s Benefit After living in the blurry haze of the “conceptual stage” for 25 years or more, the Mesa del Sol community finally is coming into sharp focus, and two UNM graduates have been key players in this transformation. Mark Lautman, ’72 BUS, is the director of economic development, and Harry Relkin, ’70 BAED, ’74 JD, is the director of land development at Mesa del Sol. They both work for Forest City Covington, the land’s master developer, but they’re both cherry and silver through and through, which is fitting since the Mesa del Sol land was essentially university property before UNM accepted a check for $9,536,852 in June 2006. “It was luck of the draw,” Harry says of the university’s windfall. “The State Land Office holds about 9 million

P O I N T O F V I E W : Just south of the Albuquerque International Sunport, Mesa del Sol, a self-sustaining housing and business development, will benefit UNM and the environment as the plot unfolds.

Tom Quirk, ’73 MA, ’77 PhD, is the author of Mark Twain and Human Nature (University of Missouri Press). Tom is professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Thomas J. Schoeman, ’73 BARC, has received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNM School of Architecture and Planning. Thomas is president and CEO of JMA, the 45th largest architectural firm in the US. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilmer L. Sibbitt, Jr., ’73 BA, ’77 MD, has received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from the UNM Khatali Medical Alumni Association in recognition of his significant contributions to the UNM School of Medicine. Lt. Col. Michael T. Feltman, ’74 BSEE, has retired from the US Air Force Reserve with 30-1/2 years of military service. In addition, he will be retiring as a government employee (GS 13) with over 32 years of combined military and civil service. He lives in Summerland Key, Florida. Phillip B. Gonzales, ’74 BA, is professor and chair of the UNM Sociology Department. He is author of Forced Sacrifice as Ethnic Protest: The Hispano Cause in New Mexico and the Racial Attitude Confrontation of 1933 (University of Arizona Press). Bob Hall, ’74 BA, retired in 2005 with 34-1/2 years of combined military and civilian federal service. He earned four sets of wings as a helicopter crewmember in Vietnam. In his Civilian service, he developed and certified instrument approach procedures and aviation aids for the FAA as an aviation safety inspection pilot and ended his career as the FAA aircrew program manager for the American B-737 fleet. He represented FAA flight standards at the international study group that developed proficiency standards for the use of English in pilot/air traffic controller communications. Bob is enjoying retirement in northern California. Eric Pillmore, ’75 BBA, was hired by Tyco International as senior vice president of corporate governance in 2002 to restore integrity and values after the fraud scandal. He recently talked about his experience at the Mennonite Economic Development Associates in Toronto. Eric has now left Tyco to pursue an academic career as a college professor, with special focus on s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

surface acres in New Mexico, and it’s all being held in trust for the benefit of various institutions … public schools, New Mexico State, UNM, and others … and each piece has been designated for a particular institution. The Mesa del Sol property happened to be designated for UNM’s benefit. “I don’t know if serendipity is the right word … but it certainly worked out well for UNM,” he says. That’s not to say that UNM accepted its check, turned over the keys, and walked away. The university remains a key part of Mesa del Sol and will be for generations to come. “UNM got a heck of a deal,” Harry says. “The agreement Forest City negotiated with UNM gives them 15 percent of the future profits from the land with no risk whatsoever, and UNM still retains 480 acres for future campus development.”

Mark Lautman’s Improbable Route to Economic Development

Still, that’s only the beginning of UNM’s ties to Mesa del Sol, which today is little more than miles and miles of dirt and desert shrubs.

Jobs First What will eventually become a full-scale, self-sustaining housing and business development has passed some key milestones in the past year, one of which is the completed expansion of University Boulevard. Leading away from the airport, the road crosses through a wide, dry arroyo, over Bobby Foster Road, and up a small hill striped by off-road vehicle tracks. In the middle of the ascent, an enormous stone sculpture of a rattlesnake rises from the median. Just beyond the plateau is the parking lot for the Journal Pavilion amphitheater, previously accessible only by a

winding narrow road that was the direct opposite of a short cut. Catty-corner from there is Advent Solar, a manufacturer of high-tech photovoltaic cells, the first open and operating business recruited to Mesa del Sol. Next door is the Albuquerque Studios movie complex, looking like it was plucked straight from Hollywood, with its huge, numbered sound stages visible beyond the gate and guard shack. Two cable TV series are being filmed there, and there’s room for plenty more. For now, that’s about it; for the most part, the 3,000 acres that will be Mesa del Sol remains as they have been for centuries: plain, Southwestern desert disturbed only by the feet of romping cottontails. But the houses, neighborhoods, parks, and stores will be along shortly. First things first, and topping the

he filmmakers at Albuquerque Studios might do well to have a chat with Mark Lautman. His life was full of celebrity and adventure long before he became part of the Mesa del Sol story. “If there’s going to be an article in Mirage mentioning me, it’s too bad it has to be about economic development,” he says. “What’s more boring than economic development?” Mark was a scholarship swimmer at UNM, and when his eligibility ran out, he started up a little swim team of his own. One of his pupils, Albuquerque resident Cathy Carr, made the US national team and went on to win two gold medals and set two world records at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. “If it wasn’t for Mark Spitz (and his seven gold medals), she would have been the headliner,” Mark laments. Soon after, Mark found himself in the South American nation of Chile as a member of the Peace Corps – and as the coach of the Chilean national swimming team. He had been considering the Peace Corps after college because his architecture professors told him it would be a good way to get some drawings done for his portfolio, but when the Chileans learned he had coached a gold-medal winner, they “full-court pressed me,” Mark says. The only problem was that Chile was mired in a state of revolution, and the government eventually fell victim to a military coup, which inaugurated the long and bloody reign of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. “It was a blast,” Mark says with a hint of sarcasm. “I had my apartment shot up. I got thrown in prison. … And the US swim team happened to be down there training with the Chileans when the revolution happened, so I ended up with all these US swimmers at my apartment for three days while they’re shooting the place up. “The Mesa del Sol stuff is boring compared to the rest of my life,” he says.

Nick Layman

P E R S P E C T I V E : Mark Lautman, '72 BUS, economic development director at Mesa del Sol, says success makes everyone in the community better.

subdivision goes up in 2010. I mean, you’re going to have an eclectic mix of Hollywood, digital animation, solar photovoltaic people – which is like a mix of ‘greens’ and Intel-type guys – and then you’re going to have the national security types with crew cuts and pencil protectors, all sharing the same neighborhood. “I don’t know if it’s going to be as diverse as the Star Wars bar, but it certainly will be an interesting mix of people,” he laughs. And all of this job development is happening before the first foundation has been poured for the first house. Harry says this order of business is unusual in the world of property development. “The way many developers work is that they build the homes first,” he says. “That brings them immediate cash.

After getting everyone home from Chile in one piece, Mark resumed his coaching career and briefly joined the professional ranks before some turbulence in his personal life led him to a life of grime. “I disappeared into the oil fields, working on drilling rigs … dumb enough to be proud,” he says. Finally, after three years, it came time for some serious self-analysis. Mark says he drew up a matrix – a chart that showed his skills across the top and his interests down the side. It turned out that his skills and his interests intersected at a place called “economic development.” In a nutshell, economic developers are people who recruit out-of-state businesses to a particular region. The goal is to provide jobs for the residents; the better the jobs, the better the prosperity of the people, especially if these businesses draw money from out of the state. It can be good work for fast-talking illusionists, but it’s also a good position for someone who truly has the best interests of their community – and their alma mater – close to heart. And those points scored high on Mark’s soul-searching matrix. “The cool thing about the economic development business is that it’s the kind of profession where, if you’re successful, every person in the community gets better,” Mark says. “Whether you’re a school district or a city government, everybody has more revenue per person than they had the year before, and over time, you see transformational things happening in the community. “What it all comes down to is this: Can you get the economy to grow faster than the population? If you’re successful, everybody’s better off,” he says. “It raises all bets.” Before joining the Mesa del Sol team, Mark worked to build Rio Rancho into a world-class city. He says that after Intel opened its “Fab 11” plant in 1993, employing about 5,000 workers, he was asked by a foreign reporter to comment on the “biggest economic development deal in the United States this decade.” Mark says that after he concluded his call, his daughter Sarah turned to him and said, “That’s pretty amazing, Dad. … So does this mean you’ve peaked?” Still, Mark says, he owes most of his success to “karma” and simply being in the right place and right time. “I’ve lived a charmed life,” he says. “There’s no doubt about it.”

album ethics and corporate governance. He lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Laura Tohe, ’75 BA, has published three books of poetry that have been nominated for or won awards. The most recent is Tséyi’, Deep in the Rock, Reflections on Canyon de Chelly. She recently finished a commissioned libretto for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, which had its world premiere as Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio in February. Laura is associate professor of indigenous literature in the English department at Arizona State University. Mark Youtzy, ’77 BME, now serves as director of music for the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Reunions, and has opened a part-time practice in hypnotherapy, certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists. Frank Romero, ’76 BA, is now with Moss Adams accounting and consulting firm in Albuquerque as a segregation specialist. Corinne Grieco Collins, ’77 BSNU, has been appointed executive director of the Cancer Institute Foundation by its board president. The Santa Fe resident will oversee services for patients and families as well as cancer prevention, education, and screening programs in the community.

JD Salazar

agenda for the Forest City developers was job creation. That specific initiative received a huge boost with the announcements in January that SCHOTT Solar, a German company specializing in photovoltaic technology, and Fidelity Investments, the worldwide financial services company, each announced plans to open large-scale facilities at Mesa del Sol. Each company says it will employ more than 1,000 local residents. “The economic development business is like baseball in that you spend a lot of time beating out singles,” Mark says. “Every once in a while you hit a grand slam, and we’re getting a couple of grand slams here, back to back. And there’s more behind that. “What’s really great about these companies is that you’re going to have such a great diversity when the first

JD Salazar, ’77 BAE, appears in Chicago United’s 2007 Business Leaders of Color publication. JD serves as managing principal of Champion Realty Advisors. Under his leadership the firm has become one of the most successful Hispanic-owned commercial/ industrial real estate companies in the country. He lives in Burr Ridge, Illinois. Nancy Hollander, ’78 JD, is an Albuquerque attorney with Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg & Ives. She is currently involved in pro bono work for a Mauritanian held at Guantanamo Bay. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

Only later do they think about jobs, and then they might add some retail stores, and finally, at the very end, they start planning for base economic jobs – true economic development. “What we did with Forest City was to reverse the entire process. It’s a much smarter way to do it,” he says. Of course, once Mesa del Sol is brimming with high-skill, high-salary jobs, those employers will need a large supply of trained professionals to fill those positions, and that’s another piece of the puzzle that’s a perfect fit for UNM. “Forest City feels that UNM must be a school of excellence,” Harry says, “so we’re working on various other partnerships that will help UNM and Mesa del Sol at the same time. For example, we have funded a chair at UNM for film and digital media, and

those graduates could work for Albuquerque Studios.” The $750,000 endowment from Forest City was announced in March 2007. It establishes the Mesa del Sol Endowed Professorship in Film and Digital Media, and plans are being drawn to make UNM a nationally recognized program to help feed the “native New Mexico Hollywood,” as it says in a UNM news release. “We’re also working on similar partnerships with other fields,” Harry says. “Architectural planning, business, engineering, and on and on. Just look at SCHOTT Solar, for instance. They’re going to be looking to UNM for technology graduates.”

Harry Relkin:

For the Long Term Over the next 20 years or so, with the help of Mark and Harry,

what will rise out of the desert will be a compact, environmentally friendly community where everyone will be welcome and a tight sense of community will be prevalent. “It won’t be a gated community,” Harry says. “It’s totally open and integrated, and we’ll have room for all income levels. The people at Forest City like to say that every person who works in Mesa del Sol should be able to live in Mesa del Sol.” And what of this company Forest City, which swooped in from its home base in Cleveland and now holds the reins over the entire project? Can it be trusted with our desert goldmine? “They are definitely not in this for a quick profit,” Harry says. “I am really, really happy to be working with an organization like this. I mean, Forest City is a publicly traded company, so

arry Relkin says his association with Mesa del Sol and Forest City – and the soon-to-be-realized bonanza for the region and for UNM – has given him a tremendous sense of pride. But while this accomplishment is a fine feather in his cap, he’d prefer to swing the spotlight toward a certain player on the 1940 Lobo basketball team and a small band of resolute nuns in southern New Mexico. Born in Albuquerque, Harry attended high school in San Antonio, Texas, and returned to New Mexico in the mid-1960s with plans to be a Lobo football player. “Besides my total lack of talent, I also had a bad knee, so my football career was short-lived,” he says. Still, he wanted to be around the athletic department, following in the footsteps of his dad, Marvin Relkin, who played basketball for UNM until World War II led him – and thousands of other New Mexicans – to the higher calling of volunteer military service. Like his dad, Harry ended up lettering in basketball, but unlike his dad, he never sank a single free throw. “I was the guy who arranged all the trips and all the meals,” Harry says. “I made sure we had hotel rooms and all our equipment when we were on the road. If the players didn’t have tennis shoes for a game in Laramie, it was my butt that was in for it.” Harry’s ties to the basketball team ensured that he had a ringside seat at one of college basketball’s most historic moments: the first game at The Pit. It was December 1, 1966. “We played Abilene Christian,” Harry says, “and we won. The big star for the Lobos in those days was Mel Daniels – a great human being in addition to being a great basketball player.” Off the court, Harry received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1969 and his law degree in 1974.

Off the Court, At Court, and Courting the Good Life

Nick Layman

M O T I V A T I O N : Harry Relkin, '70 BAED, '74 JD, Mesa del Sol's director of land development, says good works are their own satisfaction.

they have to keep their shareholders happy, but at the same time, it’s a family owned company, and they see Mesa del Sol as a generational investment. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Albert Ratner (Forest City’s co-chairman of the board) come down here with one of his grandkids. Their plan is definitely for the long term, and their interests really are with the well-being of Mesa del Sol and its residents.” Mark says he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Albert Ratner’s opening line to me when he hired me was, ‘Look. I’m 80 years old, and I can’t possibly spend the money that we’ve created. At this point, I really just want to be remembered as the guy who figured out how to develop communities where people can get their lives back.’ … And I said, ‘Me, too.’

“For somebody like me to be involved in something like this – to be the economic architect of a project like this for my alma mater – you’ve got to kind of pinch yourself. Me and Harry keep looking at each other, thinking, ‘Are we really getting to do this?’” When asked if his affiliation with UNM made his work at Mesa del Sol any sweeter, Harry didn’t hesitate with his answer: “Absolutely. “And you know where I’ll be tomorrow night – at the Air Force game. Go Lobos! Beat those flyboys!” Sure enough, the Lobos won, 59-44, yet another indication that things are looking fairytale sweet for the cherry and silver – in many, many ways.

He became a fixture in Albuquerque legal circles as a partner in Harris, Relkin & Lee, which eventually became a one-man operation: Harry Relkin, Attorney at Law. He was recruited to the State Land Office in 1992 and served as the assistant land commissioner under Ray Powell. “Ray is just a super guy, and he’s also a UNM alum,” Harry says. “I don’t think people realize the size of the State Land Office’s responsibility … millions of acres … and for someone with an interest in real estate and business law, it was a great opportunity for me. It’s such a big arena. ” Harry says he helped arrange land deals for the benefit of UNM, Albuquerque, and Rio Rancho, and he had a hand in the creation of Double Eagle II Airport, the Sandia Science and Tech Park, and Spaceport America between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences. “But if you want to know my favorite – the one that really makes me smile – it’s the work we did for the nuns down in Sunland Park near the border,” Harry says. “They wanted to build an affordable-housing community for first-generation Americans, and it’s a beautiful, environmentally green, straw-bale (construction) community on state trust land.” Harry says there was strong opposition against the Tierra Madre development, co-founded by Catholic nuns Jean Miller, Joan Brown, and Joan Durell, but despite the objections, the non-profit, self-help construction program is up and running. Harry says one of the first completed projects at Tierra Madre was a playground for the workers’ children. “There’s a ton of sweat equity being built up,” Harry says, “and I mean ‘sweat’ in the very real sense. These people work hard jobs, and in the summer, there isn’t a shade tree in sight.” The homes at Tierra Madre are designed to be energy efficient, harvesting solar, wind, and water resources whenever possible, a blueprint which mirrors plans for the Mesa del Sol development, only on a much smaller scale. “You know,” Harry says, “the older I get, the more satisfied I am when I can help someone do something really good.”

album RG Wells, ’78 BBA, is employed as controller for the Jicarilla Apache Nation’s Utility Authority in Dulce, New Mexico. Delfino Candelaria Jr., ’79 BS, ’85 MD, has joined the South Valley Health Center of First Choice Community Healthcare in Albuquerque. Sue Young, ’79 BA, has received a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award for her 2007 CD release The Legend of the Quetzal – Tales and Tunes of Latin America, featuring folk tales, classic Latin American songs, and original bilingual songs. It is a resource for English-speaking children who are learning Spanish and for bilingual kids. The Austin resident teaches and performs as a singer/ songwriter and storyteller. She is currently on the Texas Commission for The Arts Touring Artist Roster and the Mid America Arts Roster. Susan Vigil MacEachen, ’81 BA, ’05 MAPA, has been inducted into the 2008 Albuquerque/New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. She was a track and cross-country standout with the Duke City Dashers and at UNM, and won a national intercollegiate 800 meters title as a Lobo in 1979. Sue is senior alumni relations officer in the UNM Alumni Relations Office. Bradley J. Preber, ’81 BBA, has been selected by the Anderson School of Management Foundation board as a 2008 inductee into the Anderson Hall of Fame. He is an account partner with Arthur Andersen in Phoenix. Joseph Traugott, ’81 MA, ’83 MFA, ’94 PhD, is the author of Gustav Baumann’s Southwest, a collaboration of San Franciscobased Pomegranate Communications, Ann Baumann, the late artist’s daughter, and the New Mexico Museum of Art. Over 50 of the artist’s woodblock prints and gouaches are presented in an 80-page survey featuring 65 full-color illustrations. Traugott is curator of 20th Century art at the New Mexico Museum of Art. Emmi Whitehorse, ’81 BFA, ’82 MS, exhibited her paintings last fall in the Ingham Chapman Gallery in Gallup. She lives in Crownpoint, New Mexico.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

look into great books

unm

Which five books have most swayed your life? Sixteen Distinguished Professors and recipients of our Alumni Association Faculty Award list their top tomes.

books to live by faculty choose

5faves B Y

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

N A T A L I E

A R M I J O

album Steven Block

Professor, Music UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient The Bible

Cindy Bellinger, ’82 MA, has received two New Mexico Book Awards for 2007: Best Self-Help Book for Journaling for Women: Write, Doodle, Scribble! and Meet Yourself Up Close (Sunstone Press), and Best Gardening Book for Waterwise Garden Care (High Country Gardens Publications). Cindy is a Santa Fe journalist and Pecos resident.

From just about any perspective, this is the most formative and influential book in the world, containing all that is necessary for anyone to know.

Rosane Hayes, ’82 BBA, is a partner in the Accounting and Consulting Group, in Albuquerque.

The Complete Shakespeare

David Sedillo, ’82 BBA, has been promoted to the Senior Executive Service as the Director of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General, NNSA Audit Division. He resides in Albuquerque.

What can top a really fine Shakespeare play with its prose-poetry, rhythm, and psychological and moral insights into the human character? I can’t choose among Hamlet, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Much Ado About Nothing.

Either Middlemarch or Daniel Deronda, George Eliot What Shakespeare has done for the poetry of English language, Eliot, has done for literary prose. Her insights into human character have richness and depth, and her language, preciseness and keenness.

Any Nero Wolfe novel, Rex Stout I’d choose the three based on the battle between Wolfe and Archie Goodwin on one side and mobster Arnold Zeck on the other (And Be a Villain, The Second Confession, and In the Best Families). These joyful and comedic narratives focus ostensibly on the unlikely, obese, gourmand, and demanding genius detective but really on the work of Archie Goodwin who sizes up humanity with wit and flair.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen True confession time: I adore good love stories and this is the best. There’s rich social commentary in this novel that can be read over and over again at deepening levels of understanding.

Mary Bess “Maggie” Whidden Professor Emerita, English UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient What a fine question! I feel not at all like Paris Hilton when David Letterman asked her to quote her favorite Bible verse. Having studied and taught Shakespeare most of my life, I’m jiffy out of the chute with the works we should count as the 50,000 favorite books I live with. Shakespeare’s plays and poems have, to be precise and original, well, everything, everything except maybe a coherent and consistent philosophy, not what I look for in fiction. Everything else is there as if to give an excuse for language, thought, character, astonishment. But I understate.

Emily Abbink, ’84 MA, is the author of New Mexico’s Palace of the Governors: History of an American Treasure (Museum of New Mexico Press). Emily is a lecturer in American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she lives. Lois Beardslee, ’84 MA, has published Not Far Away, The Real-life Adventures of Ima Pipiig, a semi-fictional memoir (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). The Ojibwe artist is an instructor of communications at Northwestern Michigan College and lives in Maple City, Michigan. Stuart Campbell, ’84 BBA, is now general manager at Amangani-Amanresorts, located in Jackson, Wyoming. John A. Garcia, ’84 BBA, has been appointed by President George W. Bush to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, promoting the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of our nation’s historic resources. John is UNM’s chief economic development officer, and serves on the executive committee of the UNM Alumni Association board. David Iglesias, ’84 JD, has signed on to perform law enforcement consulting work for Booz Allen Hamilton’s Albuquerque office, following the purge of federal prosecutors. He lives in Santa Fe. Patricia L. Farrell, ’85 BA, ’95 MA, is the executive director of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, an international scholarly society dedicated to higher education as a field of study. Patricia lives in Mason, Michigan.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

Monica Cyrino

Professor, Classics UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient

Fred Harris

Professor Emeritus, Political Science UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy

Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy A classical-style collection of profiles of great men written by one of our greatest Americans, this book is an important daily reminder that honor and distinction come not from mere popularity but from doing the right thing.

A Walk in Ancient Rome: A Vivid Journey Back in Time, John T. Cullen This dazzling narrative puts you right on the streets of ancient Rome, and brings the ancient world vibrantly to life, in all its sights and sounds and smells. This is what I endeavor to do for my students!

Suzy Gershman’s Born to Shop Italy: the Ultimate Guide for Travelers Who Love to Shop, Suzy Gershman What can I say? This is an absolutely indispensable guide to the best shopping secrets in my favorite city, for pros (like me) and novices alike. I wouldn’t leave home without it!

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan The vital daily supplement to what my mother and grandmother taught me about cooking. Mille grazie, Marcella!

The Best of Mutts, Patrick McDonnell For a shot of cool humor, Zen-like truth, and just plain fun, I read Mutts every day. Mooch is the Snoopy of our times.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

As a university freshman, I was fascinated by Hardy’s indelible drawings of the lives and doings of the fictional characters that inhabited the mysterious heath.

Wah-to-Yah and the Taos Trail, Lewis H. Garrard This compelling true-life adventure account of an eastern boy who signed on with a bunch of early-day fur trappers to follow the Santa Fe Trail first captured my imagination long before I’d ever been to Taos.

North Toward Home, Willie Morris I was so impressed by this poignant early-age memoir by a young Mississippian, the late Willie Morris—who, after a stopover in Texas, made his home for a time in Manhattan as editor of Harper’s Magazine—that I had my friend, publisher and author Bennett Cerf, host a dinner party in his home so I could meet him.

Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin This terrific book by my longtime friend, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, shows what a skillful and effective politician and president Abraham Lincoln was and how smart and self-confident he was to bring his great rivals right into his cabinet.

Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy I was greatly inspired, before I myself went to the US Senate, by then Senator Kennedy’s award-winning book about the most notable examples of political courage exhibited by a number of former members of the Senate—taking an unpopular position because they thought it was right.

Shiame Okunor

Executive Director, The Charlie Morrisey Education Center UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient The Holy Bible The Heart and The Mind, Guy Endore A Black Theology of Liberation, James Cone Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah, Samuel Obeng In short, each of these books recounts or depicts in varied ways the eternal tug-of-war between intellectualization and activism and between spiritualization of the gospel and social gospel or liberation theology. I have read The Heart and The Mind and A Black Theology of Liberation about three times each. The Bible is also a constant companion.

Robert Treat Paine Jr.

James Brown

Distinguished Professor, Chemistry

Distinguished Professor, Biology

(several very worthwhile books read in 2007)

The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin

Weight of Glory and Mere Christianity, CS Lewis

This is still a source of inspiration for me and many other biologists. Filled with amazing observations, critical insights, and creative thoughts.

Both have their origins in WWII radio talks by the author and both offer food for thought regarding modern day struggles in our society.

The Ecological Implications of Body Size, Robert Henry Peters

Ghost Stories, Hampton Sides Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley I enjoy historical accounts from WWII events, I suppose in part because my father, his brothers, and my wife’s family were participants in the European and Pacific theaters. These two were of the can’t-put-down variety. The war stories are moving, but the real stories are about the fabulous generation of people that went off to do the ugly fighting.

Bo’s Lasting Lessons, Bo Schembechler and John U. Bacon I also enjoy reading about leaders, some real, some imitators, and their insights on leadership. I am a Michigan grad so this had special impact for me, but the lessons are well worth reading even for those who have never heard of the man.

Rumpole mysteries, John Mortimer Lastly, I enjoy light reading at bedtime and Rumpole mystery stories provide a good laugh before lights out and a solid night’s sleep.

I use this reference book more than any other in my own research. Peters was a distinguished Canadian ecologist/ biologist who died at an early age.

The Best of Sunset: Recipes from the Magazine of Western Living, Editors of Sunset Books A collection of excellent recipes that I use all the time in my hobby of cooking.

Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain, Penelope Casas Another source of inspiration for my cooking.

History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, To the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and ... Meriwether Lewis and William Clark We have a copy of the original 1814 edition that has been passed down in my family. The superb first-hand account of perhaps the greatest expedition of exploration in the history of humankind. I love to read early western Americana.

album Sharlene Begay-Platero, ’86 BBA, was named Developer of the Year by the State of New Mexico last fall. She works for the Navajo Nation’s Division of Economic Development and helps manage the tribe’s industrial sites and other economic development projects. Sharlene lives in Gallup. Marty Esquivel, ’86 BA, ’89 JD, was recently included in the 25th anniversary edition of The Best Lawyers in America-2008 in the specialty of First Amendment Law. He is a shareholder in the Narvaez Law Firm in Albuquerque, and serves on the APS Board of Education. Matthew W. Parkes, ’86 BA, says that since becoming a licensed general securities representative, he has consistently recommended municipal bonds issued by UNM. In 2004, he became a licensee branch office of JP Turner & Co. in Albuquerque where he is senior investment executive. He entered the 2007 Stock Trading Challenge sponsored by CNBC, and of the million-plus participants, his final ranking was within the top 16 percent. Keri Sutter, ’86 BFA, presented a workshop on movement for public speakers at the Toastmasters International convention in Phoenix last August. Keri is with Surgite, a sacred dance company in Albuquerque. Ruth Ann Castellano-Piatt, ’87 BA, has been appointed tax manager at Pulakos & Alongi, in Albuquerque. Dean Duane, ’87 BA, is a 19-year veteran of the Tinton Falls, New Jersey, Police Department. His wife, Sheila McBride Duane, ’83 BA is an English instructor at Brookdale Community College, in Lincroft, New Jersey. Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert, ’87 DEd, is serving as president of the National Indian Education Association for 2007-2008. He is from the village of Moenkopi, and is professor of education at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Lawrence H. Holmes, ’87 MAPA, has joined RCI in Albuquerque as finance director. Debra Winkeljohn, ’87 BSJU, ’96 MS, has obtained a license to practice as a clinical nurse specialist. Debra is with Hematology Oncology Associates in Albuquerque.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

Margaret “Maggie” Werner-Washburne Professor, Biology UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient

The Heights of Machu Picchu (Las Alturas de Machu Picchu) and We are Many, Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda opened my eyes to the amazing world of poetry and literature of Latin America. He loves history, women, and the sea, and uses Spanish of the common person in a way that opens the reader’s eyes to new ways of seeing things.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Márquez This was the first book I ever read that described my family. For 21 years I felt that I was the only one whose Grandmother spoke to angels and whose aunts wrote to invisible doctors. This book allowed me to stop fearing what I had experienced growing up and start embracing it.

Paula, Isabel Allende. This is about the last year of Allende’s daughter’s life. It was perfection in its balance of pain, joy, and laughter—and the ending was celestial. It is the kind of book that, after you read it, gets put on an altar.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and Flight, Sherman Alexie Sherman Alexie has an amazing talent to bring you into the lives of his characters. You find yourself laughing and crying and, in the Diary, when people die, even gasping in shock.

I Ching “Time is fleeting, learning is vast, no one knows the duration of one’s life. Therefore, choose the swan’s art of making milk from water, and devote thyself to the most precious path.” The Taoist philosophy of the I Ching has helped me get a different perspective through many challenging times and understand how to see difficulties as blessings.

A Feeling for the Organism, Evelyn Fox Keller This is a biography of Barbara McClintock, a Nobel Laureate in Genetics who was so driven by her passion for science that having to be brought into the back door of places where she was to give a talk—places that women couldn’t belong— didn’t seem to faze her. She understood that DNA contained mobile elements from her studies of corn before the structure of DNA was known and decades before one gene was sequenced.

Miguel Gandert

Professor, Communication and Journalism UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh For a photographer, the lessons on meditation are invaluable for learning to see and concentrate. The three words “be here now” help us separate our mental baggage and focus on the world in front of the camera.

México Profundo, Guillermo Bonfil Batalla The late Mexican anthropologist Bonfil Batalla examines the conflicts of the mestizo Mexican people in their relationship to the two Mexicos, the one the West’s linear time and the other of Amerindian circular time.

The Reenchantment of Art, Suzi Gablik Suzi Gablik writes about art’s failures and how we need to look at art based on its power to change the world and educate, not just on its market value.

A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time, JB Jackson My time working with JB Jackson in the 1980s and the clarity and simple elegance of his writings gave me a clear way of looking at how people and culture shape the world and our place in it.

The Hidden Dimension, Edward T. Hall This book helped me see the importance of space in the frame and its relation to culture. It also helped show me the significance of where I place myself in relationship to what I photograph.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Leslie Donovan

Associate Professor, University Honors Program UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient

album

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien Lorin Abbey

Tolkien’s epic never fails to bring tears to my eyes. What it says about connecting with others across boundaries of race, class, and culture and about our relationships to the natural and supernatural world are extremely important. Yet, the reason this book is at the top of my list is because of what it says about the power of the individual will, the value of love and friendship, and, most especially, how even the smallest of us can make a difference.

The Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke Rilke’s attention to the layers of meaning in words, sounds, and our interactions with others and with nature resonates strongly for me. I think a great deal about Rilke’s insistence that we appreciate and honor beauty wherever we find it. Reading Rilke makes me feel like I matter and that everything has a purpose.

Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu For someone who considers herself spiritual rather than religious, the Tao is a text that always rests in my heart. It spans all ages and cultures to provide important lessons and ways of thinking. If I were sent off into space, never to see Earth again, I would want to have the Tao with me as a comfort and as a guide.

Beowulf I live with this anonymous Old English epic as closely as if it were a member of my family. Its hero represents the very best in humanity. The poem’s powerful themes and language carry messages about fate, faith in one’s self, and duty to others that make me feel strong and able to tackle whatever comes my way.

Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf This quiet little text demonstrates unmatched clarity of style and purpose. Its turns of phrases and sentences are often brilliant and sometimes heart-stopping in their simple eloquence. This text speaks to me, about the meaning of each individual life and the ways those lives are connected to others.

Rodney Ewing

Regents Professor Emeritus, Earth and Planetary Sciences The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin Wonderfully written science.

Skeptical Essays, Bertrand Russell I have read almost all that Russell has written. He liberated me from my upbringing and my environment.

Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner A story that could be one’s own life.

Disgrace, JM Coetzee A complicated story with beautiful imagery.

Day of the Bees, Thomas Sanchez A great love story

Lorin Abbey, ’88 BUS, has been elected to a three-year term on the Santa Fe Association of Realtors Board of Directors. Lorin has been an associate broker with Southeby’s International Realty since 2005 and was named the Association’s “2006 Rookie of the Year.” John April, ’88 BSCE, has more than 15 years’ experience in environmental engineering with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Bechtel, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. For the past two years he has worked on Department of Homeland Security projects. He recently completed a pilot project in Karachi, Pakistan, involving freight security. John lives in Richland, Washington. Sandra Matthews, ’88 MA, ’98 PhD, published her first book last fall, Between Breaths: A Teacher in the Alaskan Bush (UNM Press), the story of Donna McGladrey who was lost in a plane crash in Alaska. Sandra says she never met Donna, who was her mother’s twin sister, until she wrote the book. Sandra is associate professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln. Randall D. Roybal, ’88 BA, has been elected to the board of directors of the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel, the national association of judicial misconduct prosecutors and investigators. The Albuquerque resident is deputy director and chief of staff attorney for the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission. Jennifer Stone, ’88 BA, ’91 JD, has joined the Rodey Law Firm in Albuquerque where she will practice in the business department, representing hospitals, insurers, medical groups, healthcare professionals, etc. Previously, she was general counsel and deputy cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

David Craven

Distinguished Professor, Art and Art History

Lawrence Straus

Distinguished Professor, Anthropology

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius This is a legendary set of “stoic” reflections on the nature of human existence and a guidebook on how to confront life with poise and equanimity.

Das Kapital, Karl Marx This world famous book first introduced such terms as “commodity fetishism” and “commodity production,” while demonstrating the inherent structural paradoxes and social inequities of modern capitalism… It remains a sine qua non text for understanding contemporary phenomena.

Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction), Walter Benjamin Long before key writers from the 1960s did so, Benjamin introduced such ideas as the “death of the artist,” the ascendancy of the viewer in relation to the polyvalence of visual images, and the unavoidable link between fascist militarism and a corporate capitalism in crisis.

Phénoménologie de la Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty This is one of the most stringent philosophical examinations ever written of how we see what we see and why vision is not only receptive but also projective. A striking insight here concerns how, in artistic creation, conception can never entirely precede execution, just as in perception there is no vision without cognition.

Pedogogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed), Paolo Freire This landmark book on “dialogical education” contains some of the most significant thoughts of the 20th century on how to radically democratize teaching in favor of popular self-empowerment.

King Lear, William Shakespeare The greatest and most human of the tragedies, with profound lessons for us all.

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Despite all the odds and in the face of the absurd, a life worth living keeps tilting at the windmills that the world throws up at us.

The Spanish Civil War, Hugh Thomas To deal with the present, we must understand the past, its passions, paradoxes, and on-going reality.

Fossil Man in Spain (El Hombre Fosil), Hugo Obermaier Still the Bible for Paleolithic prehistorians of Spain, written by a man who gave his life for science and conscience.

Billy Budd, Herman Melville Impending doom.

Candide, Voltaire Despite everything, one must muddle through.

Howard Waitzkin

Distinguished Professor, Sociology and Medicine The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, Friedrich Engels The first major work on the social determinants of illness—a classic in social epidemiology.

Capital, Karl Marx Still (in my opinion) the best source for understanding the fundamental characteristics of capitalism.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

The Prison Notebooks, Antonio Gramsci

The Night Visitor and Other Stories, B. Traven

Essential to understand why people consent to oppressive social conditions, through the impact of ideologic “hegemony.”

Key to understanding Mexican society, through wonderful fiction

The Open Veins of Latin America, Eduardo Galeano

A very helpful guide to meditational practice and its relevance to sociopolitical practice.

Still the best and most gripping social history concerning the exploitation of Latin America over the centuries and the sources of resistance.

The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh

Tey Diana Rebolledo

Distinguished and Regents’ Professor, Spanish UNM Alumni Association Faculty Award recipient La respuesta a Sor Filotea, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Sor Juana was a nun living in Mexico; this is her intellectual biography in which she confronts high-church authority... This is a passionate treatise about the right of women to education, infused with irony and sharp social comment.

Against the Grain (A Rebours), JK Huysmans A decadent French experimental novel about the life of the mind and aesthetics in which the hero, Duc Jean des Esseintes, searches out the essences of things, combining them with all possible senses and sensations. Shocking in its time, it has become a classic novel of the search for enlarged imagined experiences and new sensations.

Trilce, César Vallejo Vallejo is a major Peruvian poet of the 20th century. The poems combine language experimentation, including the invention of new words, such as trilce, with social commentary and the loss of love.

Agua Santa/Holy Water, Pat Mora I particularly like the section titled “Cuarteto Mexicano” where Mora, a Chicana poet, portrays four icons of Chicano/Mexicano culture in talk show interviews. They seize their own voices, and give advice to today’s generation.

Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, Peter Turchi This is my current reading. It has changed my perceptions on how we see and symbolize space and how we imagine our surroundings. Never again will I take maps for granted or think that what they are mapping is real.

Gary Scharnhorst

Distinguished Professor, English Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain The quintessentially American tale of individualism and non-conformity.

The Higher Learning in America, Thorstein Veblen A reality check for every academic, past or present.

Without Feathers, Woody Allen The last book I laughed while reading.

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck. The last book I wept while reading.

The Quest for Corvo, A. J. A. Symons Half-life story, half detective story, it inspired me to try my hand at literary biography.

album Leslie Venzuela, ’88 BA, has returned to UNM as the new marketing officer at the Anderson School of Management. Previously, she worked as a news producer at KOAT-TV and then as the public relations & marketing director at the Albuquerque Museum. Lillian Montoya-Rael, ’89 BA, ’98 MBA, UNM Alumni Association president, has joined Smith Barney in Santa Fe as a financial advisor and Guided Portfolio Manager. Jorge Burbano, ’90 MARC, serves as project designer for Ratcliff, an architectural firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has been awarded the American Institute of Architects’ Alpha Rho Chi Medal. He is currently guiding the design of several projects, including Junipero Sierra High School in San Mateo and Golden Gate University’s Law Library. Kermit Lopez, ’90 BSEE, ’94 JD, is a patent attorney and partner with the intellectual property law firm of Ortiz & Lopez, in Albuquerque. He recently published an historical novel set in 1800’s New Mexico, entitled Cibolero. Timothy Kochery, ’91 MA, is now director of Hamline University’s new Center for Academic Technology in St. Paul, Minnesota. Its mission is to support faculty members in enhancing teaching, learning, and research through the uses of technology. Cristina Ortega, ’91 MA, is the author of another story from her New Mexico Hispanic heritage, entitled The Key to Grandpa’s House (UNM Press). She lives in Albuquerque. Lisa Hepner, ’92 BS, is the creator of the Meditation Challenge whose goal is to help 100,000 people develop the habit of meditation. She does this by converting waiting rooms across the country into meditating rooms as part of the national Don’t Wait-Meditate T campaign. Lisa lives in Portland. Cameron Weber, ’92 MBA, has published his first book, Economics for Everyone, a summary for the layman. His website is cameroneconomics.com. Cameron lives in Brooklyn and is in graduate school at the New School for Social Research. LeManuel Lee Bitsói, ’93 AALA,’95 BS, has received his EdD in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. He continues as director of minority training in genomics/bioinformatics

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

looking at washington irving

unm Washington Irving: An American Original by Brian Jay Jones, ’89 BA Arcade Publishing, 2008

Washington Irving let it rip

say it with satire B

Evidently, getting published wasn’t much easier in the 19th century than it is today, and it was just as hard to earn a living at it. Author Washington Irving, whom author/alum Brian Jay Jones dubs “an American original,” spent much of his life in classic writer’s agony, hoping to make a living with his prose. Still, lacking access to such marketing vehicles as the New York Times Bestsellers List, he did pretty well for himself: even the least literary among us is familiar with Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

album Having been Advances in pronounced a “dunce” modern transportation by his kindergarten notwithstanding, the teacher was a rather world was a lot smaller inauspicious beginning in the early 19th for a man who would century. Irving was at eventually give “his one time or another fledgling nation her friendly with Martin Brian Jay Jones very own literature.” Van Buren, Andrew Irving was not ambitious by nature, Jackson, James Madison and Aaron and he spent a good deal of his youth Burr. Dickens and Walter Scott were shirking responsibility and flirting with admirers of his work. He had an clever young ladies. When he put his on-again off-again professional mind to it, however, satire dripped off relationship with James Fenimore his pen…and into the hearts of his Cooper. He hobnobbed with royalty fellow New Yorkers. When, at age 26, as minister to England and Spain. he wrote A History of New York under It’s interesting to see Irving’s life the pen name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, unfold before the backdrop of 19th Irving became an international celebrity. century history. The word “Knickerbocker” was As good biographies do, bestowed on all things New York, Washington Irving: An American which ultimately gave the basketball Original draws back the velvet curtain team their name. to reveal the sensitive, moody Irving Those of us who remember the and his constant struggle with himself. golden age of Mad magazine (i.e., Later in life, Irving tackled more serious middle and high school) owe Irving a subjects, including a biography of his debt of gratitude. He invented the namesake, George Washington. He genre with a magazine called also wrote The Life and Voyages of Salamagundi. Just like Mad, each of Christopher Columbus. Both were the 20 issues of Salamagundi was commercial successes. anxiously anticipated by his adoring The author of this book, Brian Jay public, most of whom enjoyed a good Jones, has had a long career in politics. joke—provided it wasn’t on them. After majoring in history at UNM, he’s Although his writing brought been a speechwriter, ghostwriter, and him fame, his failure to secure the policy analyst for two US senators and copyright on Salamagundi cost him now works as a writer and sometime financially. For the rest of his life, policy analyst. This background gives Irving would struggle with the feast/ him a unique perspective on a subject famine cycles of publishing and his that might just as easily have been public’s fickle taste in reading material. approached from a literary angle. For the “father of American letters,” English majors may wish for a little Irving spent a lot of time in Europe. more dissection of Irving’s work in this His brothers financed an unheard-of painstakingly researched biography, two years of socializing his way across but considering the critical role of the Continent. A constant theme in diplomacy in our highly politicized Irving’s life was the support of his world, Jones’ approach is both brothers (Ebenezer, Peter and William) refreshing and timely. for Irving, and vice versa.

in the department of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard. Lee lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Phyllis A. Dominguez, ’93 BSED, ’03 JD, has been appointed to membership in the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. The Corrales resident is a prosecuting attorney in the felony domestic violence division for the Second Judicial District. Katie Harris DuBerry, ’93 BA, has been promoted to associate creative director at Rick Johnson & Company in Albuquerque. Rodolfo Parga Jr., ’93 JD, has been elected managing shareholder of the Ryley Carlock & Applewhite law firm where he practices commercial litigation. Rudy lives in Denver. Jennifer Bartlett, ’94 BA, has had her first poetry book published by the UNM Press. Its title is Derivative of the Moving Image. Jennifer is an instructor at Montclair State University and lives in Brooklyn. Cecilia Coats, ’94 BA, received her MA last summer in intercultural communication from the University of the Pacific. She teaches elementary school in Denver, and specializes in diversity/social justice education. Teresa C. Gomez, ’93 BA, ’95 MA, is serving as acting Secretary of Indian Affairs in Santa Fe. Teresa lives at Isleta, New Mexico. Ned A. Godshall, ’94 EMBA, has been selected by the Anderson School of Management Foundation board as a 2008 inductee into the Anderson Hall of Fame. Ned is president and CEO of MesoFuel, in Albuquerque. Eric Herrera, ’94 BBA, has been promoted to principal of REDW The Rogoff Firm in Albuquerque. He is the former senior tax manager. Linda Lizut Helstern, ’95 MA, has been awarded a 2007 Larry W. Remele Memorial Fellowship by the North Dakota Humanities Council for her project “Revisiting Hiroshima, Reclaiming History: Gerald Vizenor’s Crossblood Vision and JapaneseAmerican Cultural Exchange.” The $5,000 stipend supports original scholarly research and related public humanities presentations. Linda’s first book, Louis Owens, was recently published. She is on the English faculty at North Dakota State University.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

see what they say

unm

Four alumni poets talk about poetry’s place in our lives and theirs.

poetic expression Participants:

Karen McKinnon,

’60 BA, ’77 MA, has been a National Endowment for the Arts Poet-in-the-Schools in New Mexico and Writer-in-Residence at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos. Her work has appeared in several literary journals and anthologies, most recently In Company, An Anthology of New Mexico Poets After 1960 (UNM Press, 2004). She has published three collections of her poetry: Coming True (Watermelon Press, 2000), Stereoscopic (Solo Press, 1975), Spiralings: a journal into poems (San Marcos Press, 1980). A book of Karen’s prose, poetry, and memoir is due out soon from Wildflower Press.

Mikaela Renz-Whitmore,

’97 BA, ’06 MCRP, is a community planner with Sites Southwest, in Albuquerque. This spring, along with co-editors, Mikaela will have two poetry anthologies published by UNM Press. ¿de Vera? Young Voices from the National Hispanic Cultural Center is a collection of teen writing from Voces, a summer creative writing program for teens, for which Mikaela has served as a mentor since it began in 2002. A Bigger Boat: The Unlikely Success of the

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

album A R O U N D T H E TA B L E : Seated around the table in the Hodgin Hall parlour, clockwise from top, poets Mikaela Renz-Whitmore, VB Price, Levi Romero, and Karen McKinnon share their thoughts on poetry.

Paul Andrew Mikkelson, ’95 BS, ’02 MD, has joined the staff at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington as an emergency room physician. Previously, he was an attending physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe. Scott D. Gordon, ’96 BA, is listed in The Best Lawyers in America-2008. Scott is chairman of the litigation department at the Rodey Law Firm in Albuquerque. James Montoya, ’96 BBA, former audit and consulting senior manager, has been promoted to principal of REDW The Rogoff Firm. He lives in Santa Fe. Terry Odom, ’95 BSNU, is now chief operating officer and vice president, clinical services at Heart Hospital of New Mexico, in Albuquerque.

Bobby Tamayo

Adrian B. Chernoff, ’96 BSME, ’99 MBA, ’99 MEME, is a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the UNM School of Engineering, in recognition of his contributions to the community, his profession, and our world. Adrian is a prolific inventor who holds 59 US and foreign patents, with many more pending. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Albuquerque Slam Team illuminates the slam community’s rise and ultimate success hosting and winning the National Poetry Slam 2005 in Albuquerque, for which Mikaela helped coordinate volunteers. Levi Romero,

’94 BAA, ’00 MARC, is a bilingual writer, born and raised in the Embudo valley. He teaches in UNM’s creative writing program and School of Architecture and Planning. He is the author of In the Gathering of Silence (West End Press, 2006). His latest collection of poetry, A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works, is forthcoming from UNM Press this year.

Moderator: VB “Barrett” Price,

’62 BA. VB Price’s selected poems from 1966-2006, entitled Broken and Reset, along with his novel The Oddity, are recently out from UNM Press. He is currently working on The Orphaned Land: Notes For An Environmental Accounting of New Mexico Since the Manhattan Project. Barrett has taught classes in UNM’s Honors Program since 1986 and the UNM School of Architecture and Planning since 1976.

Monica T. Rodriguez, ’96 BS, has been promoted to deputy court administrator of the 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. She will oversee the Children’s Court. Angela McLaMore Sanchez, ’96 BS, ’98 MS, has joined Southwest Medical Associates in Albuquerque as a family practice physician. Ron Zorn, 96 BSCP, has joined Beacon Associates, a Bel Air, Maryland consulting firm, as chief technology officer. Jeffrey H. Albright, ’97 JD, has been included in the 2008 edition of Best Lawyers in America. Albright practices administrative and environmental law at Lewis and Roca, in Albuquerque. Pearl Alonzo, ’97 AANU, ’02 BSNU, has received the 2007 UNM College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. She was the first Ramah Navajo community member to receive a BSN and has returned to Ramah where she serves as a leader for the Field Health Department, consisting of five community health representatives. That team makes home visits to the elderly, disabled, and impoverished community members. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

VB “Barrett” Price: Why do you think New Mexico has so many good poets?

There has been an emphasis on the written and spoken word in New Mexico for as long as I can remember. You go to a poetry reading in Los Angeles—an urban area of 17 million or 18 million people— and six folks appear whose work usually doesn’t have any of the juice we have here.

Barrett:

Maybe because there’s more to look at here—the mountains, the desert, and the high mesas. They’ve influenced my poetry a lot.

Karen McKinnon:

We have so many layers operating at once. Somehow here all perspectives are considered valid. It leads to a lot of good poetry and a lot of richness.

Mikaela Renz-Whitmore:

It’s more accessible here. Anybody can find a place to perform.

Mikaela:

that cultivates thinkers in general is going to motivate poets, who have to think about things deeply and broadly, across disciplines. Karen: There

is an excellent creative writing program here. It’s very active and accessible. David Johnson and Gene Frumkin were my mentors here. They are both excellent teachers and were responsible for my publishing my first book of poetry.

Levi: I

It’s such a small environment that anything pretentious stands out. The oral story-telling tradition in New Mexico communities raises the bar for writers. When you go to a poetry reading and listen to somebody with a “name,” and their work isn’t as engaging as the stories you hear down at the general store or the post office, you’re not going to go away feeling very impressed.

Levi Romero:

have a friend from San Antonio, Texas, who we set up with a reading at the Blue Dragon (coffee house) last spring, on a middle of the week open-mic night. He was taken by the level of participation and the quality of the poetry at the venue. He felt it was one of the best readings he’d ever been to. It was just the middle of the week, kids and adults reading together in a small coffee house. It was nothing special, and that’s what made it special.

Mikaela: On an implicit level, a university

I find that the students who are really free thinkers, who are sound about their own ideas and concepts, have developed those outside the university. It’s a struggle once they’re here. How do they keep the creative inspirations and influences they’ve picked up on the outside and bring them here? How can their artistic passion be nurtured and cultivated?

Levi:

Karen: My

Has UNM had anything to do with this?

Barrett:

“There has been an emphasis on the written and spoken word in New Mexico for as long as I can remember.” — VB “Barrett” Price

experience at UNM, a long time ago, was very supportive of poetry. We were given invitations to read regularly. My first poetry reading was in the old SUB, which is now part of the anthropology complex—that beautiful building with flagstone floors and carved vigas. I happened to sit between Scott Momaday and Robert Creeley in contemporary poetry. It was like a tennis match. The professor, Edith Buchanan, let them talk. I was fortunate to be part of that. I was an anthropology student. We had huge anti-war rallies with many dozens of writers. It took some considerable risk. But I didn’t feel the same sense of community that I’m beginning to understand now exists.

Barrett:

is very supportive of poetry —but within itself. What you have here is not connected to the South Valley or Española or Pojoaque. But we’re trying to make a link between the university and its programs and the community. It

Bobby Tamayo

Levi: UNM

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

album is the spoken-word community within and outside the university that is enabling us to make a stronger connection. Barrett: I’m getting the clue here that something new has been added in the last 10 to 15 years: I guess you’d call it the slam world?

Slam is a subset. The bigger category is spoken word; outside that is performance poetry. Slam is the gimmick that gets people to hear poetry.

Mikaela:

There’s now a middle school slam too. We are working our way down. Soon we’ll have kindergarten slams!

Mikaela:

Levi: Kids

that develop at a young age do really well. They come to UNM and find a place here that nurtures them. It’s happening all around the country actually. But it is intentional here. Slam poets here have worked for years

Mikaela:

“Poetry increases our awareness of the world, of how we see and feel and hear it.” — Karen McKinnon

It’s a genre that’s accessible to anyone who wants to participate— not just writers enrolled in a formal writing program.

to cultivate a spoken word community. We have four regular slams a month, five with Lobo Slam. Barrett: What is the difference between print poetry and spoken word poetry?

Levi:

Karen: They

are beginning to get closer and closer together.

Mikaela: My

Definitely. The Albuquerque slam team won the national competition two years ago.

Karen:

Shane Evangelist, ’97 BBA, has been appointed CEO of US Auto Parts Network, an online provider of aftermarket auto parts and accessories. Previously, Shane was senior VP and general manager of Blockbuster Online where he led the creation and launch of the online movie rental service. He lives in Carson, California. Jean-Paul A. Hebert, ’97 BSN, has been promoted to partner status at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis where he practices as a Pediatric Critical Care Nurse. He and his partner, Norm, live just outside of Indianapolis in Danville. Paul A. Sanchez, ’97 BA, has returned to Albuquerque to join Southwest Eyecare. David Wanek, ’98 MBA, has been selected by the Anderson School of Management as a 2008 inductee into the Anderson Hall of Fame. He is with Western Technology Investment in San Jose, California. Marcos Abeyta, ’99 MS, has been re-appointed vice president of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs of New Mexico. Also, he has completed exam certifications for both his Project Management Professional and the Competitive Intelligence Professional. He lives in Albuquerque.

Bobby Tamayo

Spoken word is much more democratic than page-writing is. It is looser and open to more topics. It tends to be more activist-based, and more accessible to youth.

Nicholas P. Ciotola, ’97 MA, is a museum curator at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. He worked on a current exhibition, “The Darkest Month,” which tells the story of December 1907, the month that witnessed five coal-mining calamities nationwide. The last blast occurred in Carthage, New Mexico, in Socorro County, and left 11 miners dead.

first instinct was to say there is more discipline in page poets but that’s not true. Performance poets hone their poems after each performance. They tweak, they move words, they move phrases. They

William G. “Dooley” Gilchrist, ’99 BA, has joined the firm of Bannerman & Williams, in Albuquerque, where he will practice as an associate in the areas of employment and commercial litigation. Jesse J.B. Rutherford, ’99 BA, co-authored The Modern Mom’s Guide to Dads: Ten Secrets Your Husband Won’t Tell You (Cumberland House) with Hogan Hilling. Jesse is a freelance author, writer, and writing coach based in Encinitas, California. Cinnamon Ruvolo, ’99 BBA, ’04 MBA, is now a compensation analyst at the corporate offices of T-Mobile, USA, in Bellevue, Washington. She lives in Issaquah, Washington.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

know how each word interacts with the audience. That’s sometimes more intention than page poets give their work.

It’s like pop-music with an attitude, and what can you do with three minutes?

Levi:

The topics in slam poetry tend to be news headline, pretty dramatic. You are trying to connect on an emotional level with your audience.

Mikaela: Levi: I’ve

worked with students in the classroom who are spoken word poets. They have that discipline, but getting them to transfer it to the page can be difficult!

There are still a lot of people who say, “I just don’t get poetry.” If they hear a poem performed, they get it. The language is somehow more transparent when you hear it spoken.

Mikaela:

“You can read one poem anytime and get a complete thought, a complete moment from somebody else.” — Mikaela Renz-Whitmore

Levi: Twenty

years ago I was a closet poet. It wasn’t safe to be a young chicano male who wrote poetry. “What do you mean you wrote a poem?” The guy who helped make it an acceptable and popular art form is Jimmy Santiago Baca. Before that, it was all Wordsworth, Frost, Whitman, and Stevens. I made up my mind when I was in high school that I wanted to be a poet when I grew up, based on those poets. It wasn’t until later when I discovered Raul Salinas and José Montoya that the actual possibilities were given to me. I discovered then that I could express myself as a person from Embudo. They gave me the means to appropriate my own language and experience in my writing.

Bobby Tamayo

Mikaela: One of my favorite experiences

Mikaela: One

difference is that overwhelming focus of slam poets on how their work influences the audience member. You want page poetry to communicate to your reader but if they don’t get it, oh well, they go on to some other poem. But if you are performing for a score from a judge and to a larger audience in the room, you have to be concerned with every word, every phrase, how your meaning gets across. poetry is designed for competition and the poet is given a time limit to present their poem.

Levi: I

have poems I won’t do as part of a live reading because I don’t feel that they have the power to engage the audience. I think it’s important to have a sense of how poems work on and off the page. Poetry with formal rhyme or meter is actually closer to slam in some sense because you are working within a structure. Sometimes that structure can stand in for a lot.

It’s choreographed…

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Barrett: How would you describe your writing process?

Mikaela:

Levi: Slam

Mikaela:

teaching at the National Hispanic Culture Center’s Voces program was talking to a young man who I’m sure my mother would have been afraid of— he looked like a gang-banger but was the sweetest guy ever. He said, “I’m loving this writing program. I go home every day and my friends come over and say ‘read us what your wrote.’” It was a transformative experience for him.

Barrett: Ten or 20 years ago, most people hated poetry. Students wouldn’t read it. Books wouldn’t sell. That doesn’t seem to be true now.

Karen: For

many years I taught flow-writing, where you take what occurs to you and you write it all down. The editing and critiquing process comes later. I keep a journal. It’s not indexed, so I can’t go to a particular part of it. Sometimes I open it at random and find events I’ve forgotten about, feelings, conversations I’ve had that I use in my poetry.

album

Levi: Some

of the kids we teach in Voces come to us as wounded birds. We offer them poetry. It’s beautiful because we can give them something they don’t have or may be looking for—something that can help hold them together. I have a book coming out from Wildflower Press that combines prose, poetry, and a memoir. Suddenly to be writing in prose is a different experience but I’m enjoying it and

Karen:

learning a lot. Writing is always a process of discovery. You don’t know what you mean until you write it. Barrett: What is poetry’s service to all of us? Why do it? Karen: Awareness.

It increases our awareness of the world, of how we see and feel and hear it.

The magic is that it forces each poet to synthesize, not describe everything. What is the essence, the one image that’s going to communicate your perspective? When we share those multiple perspectives, it’s a powerful experience. A lot of people write books for the same reason but you can’t read a whole book. You can read one poem anytime and get a complete thought, a complete moment from somebody else.

Mikaela:

It brings us together at the table—me from my background and you from yours. It’s the door that allows us to enter each other’s lives and experiences. Poetry is an invitation to share. It’s an act of communion.

Levi:

Mark A. Koski, ’00 BSPE, ’03 MS, is an assistant director with the National Federation of State High School Associations in Indianapolis, Indiana. The association is the governing body for all high school athletic programs in the country. Mark has earned the Certified Master Athletic Administrator designation. Angela L. Rapko, ’00 BA, ’02 MBA, has been selected by the Anderson School of Management Foundation board as a 2008 inductee into the Anderson Hall of Fame. Angela lives in Boston. Vincent Trujillo, ’00 BBA, has joined Lewallen Mortgage in Albuquerque as a senior loan officer. Ion C. Abraham, ’01 JD, has joined the intellectual property law firm Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds in Concord, Massachusetts, as a patent agent. Irvin D. Harrison, ’01 BUS, received the 2007 Dorothy Keller New Professional Award from the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA). Irvin is working on his doctorate at San Diego State University. Jason S. Hilligoss, ’01 BA, is the social studies department chair at Albuquerque’s Cibola High School, where he teaches philosophy and Classical Greek and Roman history. He often leads student trips to Greece. Luke R. Hinshaw, ’01 MD, was named the Attending Physician of the Year at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, where he has a large practice.

“Poetry is the door that allows us to enter each other's lives and experiences.” — Levi Romero

Lewis W. Kneib, ’01 BBA, has been selected by the Anderson School of Management Foundation board as a 2008 inductee into the Anderson Hall of Fame. Lewis lives in Redondo Beach, California. Margot A. Sigal, ’02 BA, ’07 JD, has joined the Rodey Law Firm in Albuquerque as an associate practicing in the litigation department, primarily in the area of complex and high-risk litigation.

Bobby Tamayo

always wrote poetry. I have vivid memories of writing when I could barely write. It was educated out of me in some sense: other people were the experts. It wasn’t until I was in the writing department at UNM, in technical writing, that I learned the editing process. I started doing it to my journal writing and my essays. I realized that as I got rid of words and phrases that I didn’t need, they started to become poems again. I don’t know if I’m a good poet. I write and edit and leave the poetry for someone else to decide what it is and what it’s not.

Mikaela: I

Kelly Beckley Stuart, ’02 MD, and John R. Stuart, ’03 MD, recently completed training in Phoenix. Kelly completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology, and John in family medicine. Additionally, John completed a fellowship in sports medicine at Kaiser Permanente in southern California. Both practice in Albuquerque with Presbyterian Medical Group. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

global learning and caring B Y M A T T S C H W A R T Z M A N - S T U B B S

It started with a television program. It took her as a teenager into some of the remotest corners of Amazonia. It sent her to South America, the United Kingdom, Germany, and now South Africa. Between far-flung adventures Desiree Kosciulek earned two bachelor’s degrees at UNM (in anthropology and Portuguese) and completed two international internships. She is currently working on her master’s degree in development studies (as in the development needs of societies) at the University of the Witwatersrand (“Wits”) in Johannesburg. Eight years after she boarded her first international flight, she has matured from a curious exchange student to a committed humanitarian activist, working in communities wracked by HIV/AIDS. What was sparked by a vague fascination has become a mission.

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

courtesy Desiree Kosciulek

looking at desiree kosciulek

Desiree Kosciulek, '05 BA, has lived and studied around the world, giving as much as she takes.

H O P E F U L H I K E R : In December 2007, Desiree Kosciulek, '05 BA, participated in a 500-mile Rotary-sponsored hike to benefit children with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, stopping in that country's Valley of 1000 Hills for a photograph.

Waving the Flags As a child, Desiree stared at flags from around the world displayed at her church in Denver and watched episodes of “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” They piqued her interest to travel at a young age. “I don’t think I could even explain today, but it was then that I began to understand something about the world outside the United States. All of those different people with different ways of life fascinated me,” Desiree says. She found support to travel early on in the Rotary Club, which gave her her first opportunity to go abroad. As a 16-year-old high school junior she arrived in the remote state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. There she immersed herself in the language and the culture. Something more than the rice and beans must have stuck with her into college.

Zest for Exchange At UNM Desiree dove into her new environment with the same zeal that had taken her to South America as a high schooler. “Desiree took advantage of every international offering UNM made,” says Margo Milleret, Desiree’s Portuguese professor, including a semester at the University of Wales Swansea, followed by a semester at Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil. As an undergraduate, Desiree worked at the Office of International Programs and Studies (OIPS) where, she says, “every opportunity came

album Tracy Alexis, ’03 BA, is the new development director of St. Martin’s Hospitality Center of New Mexico in Albuquerque. St. Martin’s mission is to assist homeless and near-homeless people by providing resources, opportunities, and hope.

across my desk.” She developed an extensive working knowledge of the possibilities for travel and study abroad. And, in 2004, she chartered the UNM Study Abroad Association. The SAA works to raise awareness among students of the opportunities available for study abroad and advocates for study-abroad funding. It also seeks to raise the profile of international students studying at UNM, for whom Desiree had seen a void in services. “Some people had no one to meet them. Some people had no place to go when they arrived,” she says. Desiree wanted to leave students who came to New Mexico to study with a positive impression. Members of the SAA began meeting incoming international students, assisting them to their new homes, and even inviting them into their own. Additionally, the group sponsors social events like movie nights and excursions to some of New Mexico’s natural wonders, such as White Sands. The SAA’s efforts have paid off. According to Ken Carpenter, associate director of OIPS and faculty advisor to the SAA, the number of students on long-term exchange programs went from 97 to 120 in three years, and the number on short-term study programs increased from 327 to 482. Even now, Desiree says her work with the SAA is not yet finished. She plans to establish a direct exchange between UNM and the University of the Witwatersrand.

Paul Bogard, ’03 MA, earned his PhD in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, and is now visiting professor of English at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, “… a long way from green chile.” Robert G. Cutchen, ’03 MD, has joined First Choice Community Healthcare in Albuquerque. Matthew Philip Traucht, ’03 BA, of Sandia Park, New Mexico, has joined the Peace Corps and has been sent to The Gambia in West Africa. Dimitri Pavlakos, ’04 BBA, ’07 MBA, a staff accountant at Pulakos & Alongi in Albuquerque, was part of a team that recently won second place in the annual 2007 Cadillac Case Study Competition. Megan M. Backsen, ’05 BS, has graduated from the US Coast Guard Recruit Training Center. Megan’s home is in Albuquerque. Sharon T. Shaheen, ’05 JD, has joined the law firm of Montgomery & Andrews, as an associate. Sharon lives in Santa Fe. M. Cathrene Connery, ’06 PhD, is now at Ithaca College where she assists in the development of a graduate childhood education program emphasizing language, literacy, and socio-cultural Studies. Jaime R. Kennedy, ’06 JD, has joined the law firm of Montgomery & Andrews, as an associate. Jaime lives in Los Alamos. Jessica Locker, ’06 BBA, has joined Atkinson & Co., in Albuquerque, as a member of the tax department. Alejandro Alvarado, ’07 BARC, has joined Studio Southwest Architects, in Albuquerque, as a project designer. Daniel Cancilla, ’07 BARC, has joined Studio Southwest Architects, in Albuquerque, as a project designer. Jenny Marlowe, ’07 BUS, competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss New Mexico. The Albuquerque resident won the reality TV show contest, “Miss America: Reality Check.” John Miller, ’07 MA, has accepted a position with Albuquerque Public Schools as a communications specialist. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

unm

Germanely German

HIV/AIDS Pandemic Perhaps Desiree’s experience in Germany and in Brazil—living among the descendents of the large West African slave population that once

courtesy Desiree Kosciulek

After graduating from UNM, Desiree was accepted for the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals. Carpenter thinks the 12-month program in Germany marked a change in the focus of Desiree’s education. As an undergraduate she had built a solid linguistic and analytic foundation. After her experience in Germany, she shifted

Generations, Family, Women, and Integration. Her work included research on “post-conflict situations and the role of the African diaspora in various countries in Africa.”

H E L P I N G H A N D : Part of the proceeds from the Rotaract AIDS 2007 hike in which Desiree Kosciulek, '05 BA, participated benefited HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children living in Johannesburg's Itsotseng settlement.

more toward comparative politics and international studies. Desiree completed a two-month intensive German course and a semester at Ruhr Uni Bochum. At the same time she lived with a family in Essen and went on to do two internships in Dusseldorf, first for InWEnt—an NGO (non-governmental organization) dedicated to human resource development worldwide— and later for the government of North Rhine Westphalia’s Ministry for

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

existed there—channeled Desiree to South Africa. At “Wits,” her thesis focuses on the “context” of HIV/AIDS. “I am looking at community involvement and the effect (good or bad) of donors on these communities and these children,” she says. In the midst of her thesis Desiree has also managed to help make a documentary film focusing on the communities hardest hit by the disease. On December 1 (World AIDS Day), she started out on an 800 km

(approximately 500 mi) hike from Johannesburg to Durban. The Rotaract AIDS Hike 2007 and the documentary borne of it were part of the Rotary Club’s effort “to raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children” in Africa. The hike lasted 20 days and took Desiree and her friends through communities like Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng that, Desiree says, “have the highest rates of HIV in South Africa. “HIV/AIDS is a huge crisis, one which truly does affect everyone in every part of society. From school child to bank president, you are affected. Your teacher, your mother, your brother, your gardener might be infected. “There is no assessment for the long-term impact this pandemic is having on South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, but one thing is sure, even if a cure for AIDS was developed tomorrow, the economic, health, and social consequences of AIDS will be felt for generations to come.”

Finding the Positive And yet, in the face of such a seemingly desperate situation, Desiree says the experience has been enlightening and, surprisingly, positive. “I saw a lot of things people are doing for themselves,” she says. “For the most part what we see is that children are taken in by another family member or a neighbor once their parent or parents are too sick to care for them or die. You see that there are countless local NGO’s—such as NOAH (Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity)—and CBO’s (community based organizations), usually comprised of women from the local community, that are working not just to feed these children, but also to

album make sure they attend school, provide after-school care and activities, and help them to be somebody. At some of the NOAH sites they are running their centers out of old, refurbished,

Immersing herself in other aspects of the culture, Desiree has also been listening to local musical acts. “One of the best concerts I have ever been to was for ‘Freshly Ground.’ It was so

marriages Correction: Tom Rutherford, ’70 BBA, ’82 JD, married Charlene Beth Smith Elyssa Baca, ’03 BS, and Jacob Bland Kay Langley, ’79 BBA, ’99 BSPH, and Tim Gifford

“To see what some people are able to accomplish with so

Michael Rivera, ’81 BBA, ’90 MAPA, and Rosita Valdez

little is enough to give anybody hope.” —Desiree Kosciulek

Tonna Rieger, ’93 BED, ’95 MA, ’99 EDSP, and Marcos Burgos Carlene Sanchez, ’98 BA, and Anthony Boisselle

shipping containers. To see what some people are able to accomplish with so little is enough to give anybody hope.”

Playing, Just a Bit Despite the high status and rigor of the programs Desiree has participated in, it hasn’t been all work and no play. In South Africa she enjoys going to braai. “At braai,” she says, “you traditionally have boerwoers—South African sausages—and pap, which is a maize starch, a bit like grits. People love spending afternoons together ‘braaing’ meat, eating, and drinking with friends and family.” Desiree was invited to her colleague Malebo’s wedding — “celebrating the whole day with traditional dance and more food than anyone could eat in a lifetime!”

amazing to see such a diverse crowd of people enjoying music that mixes South African languages like Zulu and Xhosa with English. Apartheid did a lot of horrible things to people, but at this concert I really felt like the new generation is eager to embrace a new South African identity, unified in its ‘Rainbow Nation.’”

Make It Better Desiree knows full acceptance of a multicultural identity in South Africa will be a long struggle, made more difficult by the pervasive spread of HIV/AIDS on the continent. Still, she is driven to make the world better. “There is a lot to be done, but each person can make a difference,” she says.

Margaret Maier, ’99 BA, and Quinn Cornelius Gabriel Garcia, ’00 BA, and Shilla Weese Jason Julian, ’00 BBA, ’07 MBA, and Miriya Goertz, ’01 BA, ’06 MA Jennifer Breneiser, ’01 BA, ’04 MS, and Jesse Campbell Brisa Urquieta, ’02 BUS, and Richard Hernandez Miranda Katz, ’04 BFA, and Philiop Ziegler Hugh Brock, ’05 MD, and Hilary Brown, ’05 MA Jovonne Lopez, ’05 BA, and Adrian Roybal, ’07 BA Benjamin Pedneau, ’05 BA, and Jennifer Blythe Secrest, ’06 BA Amy Aragon, ’06 BA, and Reuben Trujillo, ’05 BA Emily Boudreau, ’06 BFA, and Paul Ortega Jaime R. Fontaine, ’06 JD, and Patrick Kennedy Heather Howard, ’06 BBA, and James Loftis

Here are some Internet sites Desiree suggested, linking to information about the AIDS Hike and to some organizations that are doing amazing things in desperate places. Perhaps Mirage readers will decide to “make a difference” also. • www.noahorphans.org.za • http://www.1000hch.charishealth.co.za/home.html • www.rotaryaidshike2007.blogspot.com • http://rotaryaidshike2007.googlepages.com/ s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

the foundation of a foundation B Y

Hugh and Helen Woodward founded the Sandia Foundation, UNM's single largest donor.

M I C H E L L E

Hugh and Helen Woodward could have afforded any lifestyle they wanted. But instead of wearing their fortune on their sleeves, they lived frugally and started the Sandia Foundation to assist their two favorite schools and local nonprofits. That one of those two schools—the University of New Mexico—is not an alma mater to either Hugh or Helen, and that the Woodwards were not native New Mexicans, makes their legacy even more remarkable. Over the past 30 years, the Sandia Foundation has distributed tens of millions of dollars, and via a very generous annual gift has become UNM’s single largest donor.

Becoming Established Hugh and Helen graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1908. Seeking relief for Helen’s tuberculosis, the Woodwards moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1913, then to New Mexico in 1915. Hugh, who had also received a law degree from Dickinson, began practicing law in Clayton, New Mexico, and in 1928 was elected lieutenant governor of the state. One year later, he was elected district attorney for the Eighth

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

M c R U I Z

Judicial District of New Mexico and appointed US Attorney for New Mexico. Hugh was also a rancher, but when his cattle perished in a severe snowstorm, he and Helen decided to relocate to Albuquerque, where Hugh resumed his law practice. In Albuquerque, Hugh formed a relationship with UNM that would endure for the rest of his life. He served as a regent of UNM from 1935 to 1937. At the same time, the Woodwards began amassing a fortune in commercial real estate. These sorts

courtesy the Sandia Foundation

see what you can do

unm

of investments were uncommon then, but Hugh was a man ahead of his time.

Nascence and Growth Hugh and Helen put only a few thousand dollars into the Sandia Foundation when they established it in 1948. It wasn’t until Hugh’s death 20 years later that the foundation began to gather monetary steam. Upon Helen’s death in 1974, the balance of their estate was transferred to the Sandia Foundation, which used to have its offices in Two Woodward Center at Lomas and Woodward at the northeastern edge of downtown Albuquerque. UNM now owns the building that houses the UNM Development Office and the UNM Foundation, which receives gifts and disburses funds on behalf of the university. “Nineteen seventy-six was the first year that the [Sandia] foundation made significant contributions—about $450,000, of which about $165,000 went to the university, a like amount to Dickinson, and 10 percent to local charities,” recalls John Perovich, ’48 BBA, ’50 MBA, chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees and former UNM president. Every year since then, the foundation has made significant gifts to UNM, Dickinson, and Albuquerque charities. Perovich estimates that the foundation has distributed $70 million in charitable giving over the past three decades.

The Perovich Connection Perovich met Hugh Woodward through a mutual friend, William Parish, a UNM professor and the first Sandia Foundation chairman. Perovich had been employed at UNM since 1948. His positions included purchasing agent, comptroller, and vice president for finance and administration. He served as president of UNM from 1982 to 1985. In 1964, Parish expressed a desire to leave the Sandia Foundation for

health reasons. He suggested to Hugh that he appoint Perovich. In 1968, Perovich became chairman of the board and has retained that role ever since. He was an ideal successor to Parish because, as Sandia Foundation trustee Bernard “Gig” Brummell, ’62 BBA, puts it, “John Perovich is, to me, Mr. UNM.” According to Gig, Perovich has developed the foundation to where it is now, building its total assets from about $8 million at the time of Helen Woodward’s death to a net worth of about $85 million today—“and that’s after giving away about $70 million, 45 percent of which has gone to UNM,” says trustee and executive director Patrick Glennon.

Sustainable Scholarships Those funds have gone into the Hugh B. and Helen K. Woodward Endowment, which is UNM’s largest private endowment. From it comes support for the Presidential Scholarship Program. UNM began the program in 1976 and currently awards approximately 140 scholarships per year. “The Woodwards specifically wanted the money distributed to the students for their academic achievements,” says Perovich. “I don’t think UNM would have been able to sustain that program if it were not for the Woodward money. Sandia Foundation has really enhanced the quality of the students at the university.” Gig views the Woodwards and Perovich as “silent heroes for the community and for UNM specifically.” But Perovich is modest about his accomplishments, instead emphasizing the value of a hard-working board of trustees. “Sandia Foundation has been fortunate to have some outstanding, dedicated board members,” he says. “… The Woodwards had a lot of foresight in doing this, and it’s been a really positive thing for UNM.”

album in memoriam John T. Watson, ’29 Mary R. Harrison, ’32 Helen H. Williams, ’33 Mildred M. Conley, ’34 CK “Bud” Redd, ’35 Mary Evelyn Hinde, ’36 Marjorie E. Marantz, ’36 Robert Tallman Person, ’36 Charles Girard Davis, ’37 Lucy Caroline Hadley Rohovec, ’37 Fred M. Brewer, ’38 Clara May Pryor, ’38 Peggy Paxton Dailey, ’39 Edith May Rey, ’39 Ruth A. Davies, ’41 Paul Moore Devendorf, ’41 Benigno BC”Ben” Hernandez, ’41 Robert W. Duke, ’42 Audrey Pitt Enarson, ’42 Margaret A. Freeman, ’42 Harold J. Gilmore Jr., ’42 Laurence L. Hartdorn, ’42 Virginia Minter May, ’42 Martha Lee Stamm, ’42 Paul R. Weeks, ’42 Marie B. Groth, ’43 Eugene Lee McGehee, ’43 Joseph N. Garcia, ’44 Ray L. Hulick, ’44 Bill Thompson, ’44 DE Garcia, ’45 Robert B. Balian, ’46 Ielene Scott Benally, ’46 Roy L. Anderson, ’47, ’50 Jean Barricklow, ’47 Patricia Sue Higgins, ’47 Charles M. Miller, ’48 Pascual Nicasio, ’48 Jack W. Reed, ’48 Joe B. Rice, ’48 William James Cheek, ’49 John R. Dickman, ’49 Ruth H. Mahoney, ’49 Frank D. Manfredi, ’49 Charles A. Repenning, ’49 John Barrett Roberts, ’49, ’52 John P. Smith, ’49 Morton Tenenbaum, ’49 Bob W. Watkins, ’49 Albert F. Boeglin, ’50 Michael A. Charles, ’50 Marianne Chatillon, ’50 Jane Hoyt Cotter, ’50 Robert A. Crawford, ’50 Joseph John D’Angelo Jr., ’50, ’54

s p r i n g

Robert George Dittmer, ’50 Christina M. Hartley, ’50 Geneva Lee Angell Hyde, ’50 Oscar H. Koski, ’50 Edith G. Manfredi, ’50, ’55 Gloria Monte, ’50 Mary-Louise “Polly” Reynolds, ’50 Rodolfo A. Valdez, ’50 Dan J. Woodford, ’50 Fred M. Calkins, ’51 Warren Jay Gunderson Sr., ’51 Robert J. Himmelright Jr., ’51 Darrell M. Pinckney, ’51 Harold F. Schmidt, ’51 Dorothy Sievers, ’51 Carolyn F. Voss, ’51 Jorene C. Bygel, ’52 William Raymond Collopy, ’52 June M. Flaig, ’52 Carolyn F. Voss, ’52 Don H. Fleming, ’52 Derwood Knight, ’52 James M. McGinnis, ’52 Barbara Richardson, ’52 Donald R. Richmond, ’52, ’56 Juan Patricio Sanchez, ’52 Carolyn F. Voss, ’52 Evelyn Lucille Sargent Walker, ’52 Joan Tafoya Brock, ’53 John Mitchell Drabelle Jr., ’53 Blanche V. Griscom, ’53, ’65 Oscar E. Halsell, ’53 Victor Keith Jensen, ’53 Patricio Sanchez, ’54 Joel R. Chambers, ’55 Sanford Evans, ’55 Gerald A. Ferguson Jr., ’55 Georgiana Hillyer, ’55 Earl Leslie Mayne Jr., ’55 Ralph Melbourne, ’55 Howard E. Murphy, ’55 Neil Edward Weaver, ’55 Lita Vigil Ortiz y Davis, ’56 Arthur Everitt Ross, ’56 Loy Sue Siegenthaler, ’56, ’81 Margaret Jane Swinburne, ’56 Ronald R. Clothier, ’57 John W. Eichman Jr., ’57

2 0 0 8

A schedule so

loaded

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s apt to make you

drool. On The Mtn., we get sports the way you get sports. The passion. The heartbreak. The occasional and incomprehensible urge to GDVK RXW RQ WKH ÂżHOG DQG WDNH over the game yourself. Satisfy your college sports desire on The Mtn. Where loyal fans (really) sink their teeth into the action.

Sadie says call your cable or satellite provider to ask about The Mtn. Check www.themtn.tv for updated schedules and events.

hoops and then some…

A few Lobo highlights as Mirage goes to press on March 17:

B A S K E T B A L L : By beating San Diego State 62-59 in the Mountain West Conference final, the Lady Lobos (20-12), under Coach

Don Flanagan, won an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they will play West Virginia University in the Pit. This is the Lobos’ seventh straight trip to the Big Dance. The Lobo Men (24-8) will play the California Bears in the first round of the 2008 NIT, in the Lobos’ 28th postseason trip. Senior guard JR Giddens was named MWC Co-Player of the Year. In this turnaround year—Coach Steve Alford’s first with the Lobos—the team tied the record (24) for the most victories of a New Mexico team during the regular season. Junior Sandy Fortner finished 12th in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor T R A C K A N D F I E L D Championships. She is the first Lobo multievent athlete and just the second Lobo woman since 1984 to qualify for the NCAA indoor meet. W O M E N ’ S G O L F is ranked 23rd, under Coach Jill Trujillo. Sophomore Jodi Ewart is ranked 18th nationally. UNM will host the finals of the Division I NCAA championships at its Championship Golf Course on May 20-23, 2008. S K I E R S Karin Ohlin and Thomas Schwab earned All-America honors for their Top 10 finishes in the women’s and men’s slalom competition at the NCAA Ski Championships at Bridger Bowl, Montana. The Lobos finished the 2008 meet in seventh place. Fredrik Landstedt is the second head coach in the history of the UNM skiing program.

Lobos Illustrated: K

nown worldwide for his colorful depictions of celebrities and sporting events, artist Leroy Neiman created Lobo Layup after attending the Lobos’ final, victorious game against UNLV in the Pit. Drawn directly on stones at UNM’s Tamarind Institute, and printed in a limited edition of 100 impressions by Tamarind master printers, the five-color lithograph, 32'' x 24'', sells for $2,500. Nieman has generously donated all proceeds to Tamarind’s capital campaign. For more information, call 505-277-3901 or stop by the gallery at 110 Cornell SE, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

album more memoriam Helen Irene Lutz Harriger, ’57 E. Henry Hurst, ’57 Betty Jennings Lindberg, ’57 Michael C. Meyer, ’57, ’63 Gus Peterson, ’57 Robert King, ’58 Betsy Phelps, ’58 Martha “Lynell” Burns Caton, ’59 William H. Dark, ’59 Paul L. Garcia, ’59 Elmo Zack Meystedt, ’59 Conrad J. Chambers, ’60 Roger Leigh Johnstone, ’60, ’71 James E. Williams, ’60 Dorothy Lea Cooney, ’61 Dick D. Griffith, ’61 Maurice McDonald, ’61 Theodore E. Smart, ’61 Robert P. Carter, ’62 Lois N. Gilman, ’62 Roger V. Kranz, ’62 Gregorio Pino, ’62 Rudolph Octavio Velasco, ’62 Edward L. McKelvey, ’63 Miguel E. Trujillo, ’63 Bettyann Garcia-Syverson, ’64, ’68, ’83, ’89 Jerry Jacobs, ’64 Patrick Lewis Chowning, ’65, ’68 Jean B. Evins, ’65 William J. Taggert, ’66 Jim Bedinger, ’67 Margaret E. Hoffman, ’67 Donna Louise Mercer, ’67 Annell Ross-Vickers, ’67 Ronald W. Gould, ’68 Rex Clark Henington, ’68 Joseph B. Leininger, ’68 Craig Thomas Othmer, ’68, ’74 John H. Zoller, ’68 George W. Ashmore, ’69 Edward L. Dubeau, ’69 Alexander Evanoff, ’69 Nora Marie Mitcham, ’69, ’70 James K. P. Mortensen, ’69 Scott W. Randall, ’69 Virginia Silber, ’69 Kent Laverne Bennett, ’70 Helen A. Thomas Hood, ’70 James Edward Simpson, ’70, 74 Andy Davis, ’71 Frances Rolles Kenney, ’71

s p r i n g

George James Miller, ’71 Eloy L. Romero, ’71, ’74 Karl F. Schiltz, ’71 Dorothy Walker, ’71 Robert James Ward, ’71 Laska Yurchak, ’71 Gene Ballweber, ’72 Christina M. Connell, 72 John Steward Okie, ’72 Mary Woodlee, ’72 C. Robert Appledorn Jr., ’73, ’77 Michael K. Budak, ’73 Paul John La Prairie, ’73 Thomas P. Snodgrass Jr., 73 Douglas Spencer Adams, ’74 Marjorie Devaney, ’74 Lydia M. Mauer, ’74 Richard I. Green, ’75 Hal S. Weisberger, ’75 Jesse Aragon, ’76 Donald Eugene Martinez, ’76, ’84 Sally McLeod, ’76 David M. Powell, ’76 Timothy Danny Schinhan, ’76 Randolph Glenn Beres, ’77 Gordon Query Freeman, ’77 Brian Kim Mortensen, ’77 Charles Robert Nichols Sr., ’77, ’80, ’81 Richard Eric Tonigan, ’77 Bruce T. Brown, ’78 Cynthia Gagneux, ’78 Stuart Allen Hughes, ’78 Everardo Lester Lopez, ’78, ’81 Louise A. McCurtain, ’78 Charlotte S. Kanouse, ’79 Oliver “Rick” Ricketson, ’79 Margi Scharff, ’79, 83 Christine M. Zeck, ’79 Samuel Jed Fletcher, ’80 Bennie S. Archuleta Jr., ’81 Vinson Francis Ertz, ’81 Jerry L. Stroud, ’81 Cindy Ellen Bingham, ’82 Peter J. Campos, ’83 Lois E. Dickerman, ’83 Daniel Shaffer, ’83 Leigh Ann Hobbs Vanover, ’83 Donna Louise Drayer, ’84 Neil Lowry Burt, ’85 Carole Herren, ’85 Judy Woodward, ’86

2 0 0 8

alumni outlook

unm

On the Cusp of Commencement by Lillian Montoya-Rael, ’89 BA, ’98 MBA — President, UNM Alumni Association

t’s hard to believe we’re on the cusp of commencement— the day students become alumni! They were UNM students for part of their lives, but they will be UNM alumni forever. We welcome them into the alumni fold, and congratulate them upon reaching this milestone. In my months as alumni association president, UNM has reached many milestones as well. Of course, the first

of these was the inauguration of our new university president, David J. Schmidly. In turn, President Schmidly has initiated the following momentous events (among others): • In partnership with CNM (formerly TVI), the university will open a Westside campus in Rio Rancho. • In partnership with CNM, a Gateway program will allow dual enrollment for students at CNM and UNM, with their CNM credits transferring seamlessly. • The athletics program has become a fully integrated part of the university, with a vice president for athletics, reporting lines to the president,

and athletes required to live in student dormitories. • The hiring of Lobo men’s basketball coach Steve Alford has set the stage for years of excitement in the Pit— which will be renovated. We’re eagerly watching the development of Mesa del Sol—another milestone affecting the university's future and that of many alumni interested in living and working there. The Alumni Association has reached its own milestone in preparing for the renovation of Hodgin Hall as our alumni center. We’ll keep you posted. I’ve enjoyed serving as your alumni president this year, participating in our university’s growing momentum. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

going places spring forward! UNM Alumni Travel Program

April 24-May 2 Essence of India May 25-June 5 Alumni College—Greece July 14-27 Ukraine on the Dnieper River September 19-27 Enchanting Ireland

November 12-19 Rome Escapade Trips, events, dates, and times are subject to change. Please contact the Alumni Relations Office at 505-277-5808 or 800-258-6866 or check out our website at www.unmalumni.com for updates.

M I R A G E

April TBD April 19 April 23 May 15 May TBD June 21

m a g a z i n e

Sushi and Sake Workshop UNM Spring Storm Community Service Educators Job Fair (Career Services http://career.unm.edu) Welcome New Grads Wine and Cheese, Hodgin Hall Whitewater Rafting Carrie Tingley Mudd Volleyball

with UNM Alumni Chapters April 6-15 April 12 April 12

October 11-19 Best of Tuscany & the Italian Riviera

with UNM Young Alumni

April 12 April 20 May 2 May 3 May 3 May 10 May 16 June 14 July 5 July July 12 July 26 August 2 August 9

Los Angeles Chapter College Fairs San Diego Chapter Art Alive – Social and Lunch at Water’s Café at noon – Tour of SDMA at 2 pm Austin Chapter Annual Anne, Karin & Bill Birthday Bash & Wildflower and Eagle Watching Tour Denver Chapter 2nd Saturday Breakfast Austin Chapter Lobo Day Rafting Event Denver Chapter Cinco de Mayo Happy Hour and 1st Friday Walk Los Angeles Chapter Lobo Day Mexican Food Luncheon San Diego Chapter Lobo Day Luncheon Denver Chapter 2nd Saturday Breakfast Engineering Chapter Golden Graduate Celebration Denver Chapter 2nd Saturday Breakfast San Diego Chapter Star Spangled Pops Concert Denver Chapter Green Chile Orders Begin Denver Chapter 2nd Saturday Breakfast Los Angeles Chapter Hollywood Bowl: Diana Ross Concert Austin Chapter Annual Hot Weather Relief Ice Cream Social Denver Chapter 2nd Saturday Breakfast

album more memoriam

winning ways

U N M A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N 2 0 0 8 AWA R D W I N N E R S

t its annual awards dinner on February 7, the UNM Alumni Association presented its four major awards to a distinguished group of alumni and professors. They are, left to right:

Bradley R. Ellingboe, UNM professor of music, received the UNM Alumni

for outstanding teaching and service to students. Brad is director of choral activities at UNM, and conducts the Concert Choir, University Chorus (comprised of community members), and Las Cantantes, the women’s ensemble. King Harald V of Norway bestowed upon Brad the Medal of Saint Olav—the equivalent to Norwegian knighthood—for his contributions as a Grieg scholar. Brad also leads the chorus for the summer Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy—in which many UNM students will have the opportunity to sing.

Association Faculty Award

Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, ’71 BA, who received the Zimmerman Award

given to a UNM alum who has brought fame and honor to UNM or New Mexico, is the first woman to serve in that capacity in New Mexico. A former small business owner, Diane has chaired the Democratic Party of New Mexico, New Mexico First, New Mexico Community Foundation, the state’s Commission on the Status of Women, and the New Mexico Tech Board of Regents. Children, education, health coverage, and small businesses top her legislative agenda. Henrietta Mann, ’82 PhD, president of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College,

received the Bernard S. Rodey Award for her contributions to higher education. A progenitor of Native American Studies, Henrietta holds the first endowed chair in that field at the University of Montana. Rolling Stone Magazine named her one of the top ten leading professors in the US. She has been honored as the Cheyenne Indian of the Year and the National American Indian Woman of the Year. Warren Heffron, UNM professor emeritus of family & community medicine,

received the Erna S. Fergusson Award for exceptional accomplishments and community service. Warren founded the university’s family medicine residency program, which has been ranked as one of the top 10 such programs in the nation by US News & World Report for 16 years. He travels worldwide to help communities set up their own family medicine programs using the UNM program as a model.

Linda K. Begaye, ’87 Kimberly R. Larsen, ’87 Edward Mezzohn Johnson, ’88, ’89 Renee Allee Black, ’89 Ingerid Guerdrum Clugston, ’89 Margaret Anne Crosse, ’89 Jeffrey David Jordan, ’89 Ann McClellan, ’89, ’90 Martha O. Mitcham, ’89 Peter Tyndal Noyes, ’89 Gail M. Szenasi, ’89 Thomas A. Tkach, ’89 Guhrie Mcrae Dodd, ’91 Perry Kohn, ’91, ’93, ’99 Beth Wohlers Tietjen, ’91 Helen M. Holt, ’92 Patricia Gomez Trujillo, ’92 Nicholas James Giordano, ’93 Robyn L. McCormick, ’93 Raymond J. Drolet, ’94 Marilyn Joyce Koch, ’94 Thomas John Casey, 96 Avrum B. Organick, ’96 Sloan Eric Rubin, ’96 Charles Joseph Russell, ’96 Matthew Scott Wood, ’96 Sonia T. Munoz-Perea, ’97, ’99 Stephanie Lynn Salas, ’97 Geneva Janet Stevenson, ’97 Daniel Wilson Ryles, ’98 Eddijo Monica Jaramillo, ’00, ’03 Carolyn Anne Klich, ’00 Harley E. Mortensen Jr., ’00 Katharine Osuna, ’00 Karyl Cuffee Pilgrim, ’01 George Sage-Allison, ’01, ’06 Jolene Angel Smith, ’01

Shawn Tyson Begay, ’06 Christopher Alan Sanchez, ’06 Glenio Scot Billie Jr, ’07 Paul A. Tenorio, ’07 Robert O. Anderson, friend William J. Banfield, former medical resident Max D. Bennett, professor emeritus Ralph DeMarr, professor emeritus Krzystztof Galicki, faculty Angel Gonzalez, professor emeritus Richard Alan Gray, former medical resident John R. Green, professor emeritus Edwin C. Hoyt, professor emeritus Edward J. Ladue, former medical resident B. Louise Murray-Reilly, former dean, professor emerita Pamela Minzner, former professor Elaine Robert, former faculty Benjamin Sacks, ’26, professor emeritus James A. Schneider, former medical resident Paul Schmidt, professor emeritus Terry Yates, vice provost for research & economic development

War In Memoriam Air Force 1st Lt. Tamara Long Archuleta, ‘99 BA, age 23, of Belen, co-pilot of an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, was killed when the helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on a mercy mission, March 23, 2003. Army Capt. Thomas J. Casey, ‘96 BA, age 32, Albuquerque, was killed January 3, 2008, while on patrol in Iraq. We salute these two young people who gave their lives in service to our country. Their names will be added to the list of alumni killed in the nation’s wars that hangs in the UNM Alumni Memorial Chapel. They will all be honored at a memorial service in the chapel on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at noon.

s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

looking around

unm

From the perspective of his hang glider, John Wiseman, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;89 MSEE, found the Sandia mountains suddenly formidableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and altogether awesome.

from 46

M I R A G E

m a g a z i n e

Sandia Peak is considered a world-class hang gliding site, something I had no idea of while living in New Mexico and attending UNM, before I became a solo hang glider. As I read about flying from Sandia Peak, I recalled my memories of it as a casual visitor—the view from the tram of the rocks below, the houses dotting the foothills, and the city stretching out towards the Rio Grande—and decided to return to Sandia to fly my hang glider from the mountain’s top. After almost two years of planning, my dream became reality. I teamed up with a couple of adventurous friends and we shipped our equipment from my home in eastern Pennsylvania to Albuquerque. We met up with some local pilots we had contacted via the Internet, and the next thing I knew I was purchasing a one-way tram ticket as the attendants loaded our gliders on top of the waiting tram car. The three of us quickly set up our gliders next to the Peak restaurant, attracting quite a crowd of onlookers. I mounted a camera on my glider, knowing I wanted to photograph portions of the flight. When it was my turn to launch, I hooked into my glider and maneuvered it down the rocks toward the edge of the cliff. The moment I sensed the wind was perfect, I ran as if my life depended on it—because it did from what I could see of the rocks and trees far below! After four or five fast steps in the rarified air, I became airborne and the

ground quickly dropped away, yielding views that made those from the tram seem almost ordinary. With no massive steel cables to hold me up and keep me steady, and no solid floor to block the view straight down, the rocky canyons below appeared much deeper and sharper. The immense rock spires seemed more menacing than they had from the hiking trails. And the sheer rock cliffs hundreds of feet tall proved to be much more intimidating sights from my spindly craft than they had from the safety of the mountaintop. But I was well prepared by the helpful local pilots. From them I knew what to do and where to fly. Hitching a ride on invisible thermal air currents, I rose up safely above the ridgeline, and relaxed enough to take in the spectacular scenery. I was now flying free as a bird,

with a bird’s eye view to match. As I soared more than 1000 feet above the Peak, I was treated to a panoramic view of everything the mountain and the surrounding area had to offer. In my house in Pennsylvania, I have two large photos on my living room walls to remind me of my times in New Mexico. One is a sunset picture of Albuquerque, taken from the observation deck of the Sandia Peak restaurant. While it is beautiful, it represents a view that has been experienced by many thousands of visitors to the mountain. The other was taken from my glider while soaring high above almost the same exact spot. Looking at it, I realize how lucky I am to be one of a very small number who have experienced New Mexico in this manner.

John Wiseman learned to fly a hang glider over a decade ago. He currently lives in eastern Pennsylvania, where he works as a manager for a local electronics company. He looks forward to the day he can spend more time back in the Land of Enchantment. Friends can contact him at john.r.wiseman@gmail.com.

peak into sky B Y

J O H N

W I S E M A N

L O O K I N G D O W N : John Wiseman soars over the west side of the Sandia Mountains. s p r i n g

2 0 0 8

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid The University of New Mexico Alumni Association

Permit No. 222

MSC 01-1160

Burl., Vt. 05401

1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM 87131-0001

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

he UNM Alumni Association has created a new award—the Aluminaria Award—to celebrate UNM alumni who make the world a better, brighter place. Their acts may be small but they are inspirational. We take pride in these alumni and want to thank them —the Aluminarios who make life shine. For example:

shining examples!

Brenda Bunker, ‘96 MA, for her work at ArtStreet, providing an open studio for homeless artists in Albuquerque. Marjorie McCament, ‘54 BSED, ‘71 MA, for her

Norman Johnson Photography

work as an after-school tutor at First Presbyterian Church of Albuquerque. Do you know a UNM alum whose good deeds go unsung? Someone who brightens your community? Who lights up the lives of others? Nominate this person for one of our UNM Aluminaria Awards.