HOUSE MEMORIAL 6

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2024

INTRODUCED BY

Ambrose Castellano

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING JANUARY 17, 2024 "NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

 

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university has been an important educational, cultural, social and economic asset in New Mexico, particularly northern New Mexico, since 1893; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university serves almost three thousand students each year and has more than five hundred employees at the school's main campus and centers; and

     WHEREAS, the vision of New Mexico highlands university is to be a premier university, transforming lives and communities now and for generations to come; and

     WHEREAS, the core values of New Mexico highlands university are excellence, diversity, accessibility and responsiveness; and

     WHEREAS, the priorities of New Mexico highlands university are academic excellence, academic integration and student success; strategic enrollment management; vibrant campus and university life; community partnerships; technological advancement and innovation; and enhanced communication and efficiency across the university; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university effectively serves students across the state and beyond its borders, online and on its campuses and centers in Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Farmington, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university educates many first-generation students, transforming their lives and the lives of their families and future generations; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university has many active alumni, representing every state, many countries and nineteen tribes and pueblos, and seeks to effectively reach out to all alumni through the establishment of a vibrant alumni association board of directors while offering engaging events for alumni and community members; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university was named one of the most diverse regional universities in the west, a top one hundred best regional university in the west and one of the top fifty public universities in the west by U.S. News & World Report in 2023; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university also ranked fifty-fifth among all universities in U.S. News & World Report's 2023 social mobility rankings and was recognized as one of the top one hundred colleges and universities for Hispanic students by the Hispanic Outlook on Education in 2021; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university continues to demonstrate diversity as an institutional value through a number of partnerships with other New Mexico higher education institutions, including working in tandem with New Mexico state university, eastern New Mexico university and New Mexico's developmental disabilities council; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university received one million dollars ($1,000,000) from the federal government to support the New Mexico reforestation center's seed bank and seed collection efforts, and New Mexico highlands university works closely with its partners to meet New Mexico's current and future reforestation needs; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is home to the Native American social work studies institute, which includes programs and initiatives serving Native American people, and continues to achieve success in the alternative teaching program while expanding the professional development school model in teacher education; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university recently developed several new degree programs that have resulted in the enrollment of more than three hundred new students, including master of arts in criminology; master of arts in cultural resource management; bachelor of science in wildlife biology and conservation; and bachelor of arts in general business; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university added new programs in biology, entrepreneurship, cultural resource management and criminal justice; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico highlands university school of education received ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to support a new institute for culturally and linguistically responsive learning and teaching; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico highlands university Facundo Valdez school of social work receives one million six hundred thousand dollars ($1,600,000) in federal funding annually through Title IV-E, earmarked for training social workers in New Mexico to work in child welfare; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is piloting a new student mental health initiative to support student wellness, with funding from the higher education department, to be used to assess the impact of a new model of care that uses health and wellness coaching to assist students in navigating college experiences; and

     WHEREAS, one hundred sixty-one New Mexico highlands university athletes, representing more than fifty percent of all New Mexico highlands university student athletes, earned a cumulative grade point average of three or higher, with ninety-three athletes earning a three-and-five-tenths grade point average or higher and twenty earning averages of four points, and student athletes contributed more than three thousand hours of community service; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico highlands university men's cross-country team qualified for the national collegiate athletic association national championship, and two-time all-American Andrew Amore finished fifth nationally and first in the Rocky mountain athletic conference championship; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university is a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution, with more than fifty percent enrolled Hispanic students, and strives to be a Native-American-serving institution, with nine percent enrolled Native American students; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university welcomes students from northern New Mexico, all of New Mexico, the United States and the world;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that January 17, 2024 be declared "New Mexico Highlands Day" in the house of representatives; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that New Mexico highlands university be commended for its service and dedication to the residents of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the president of New Mexico highlands university.

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