Press Release 2013 :: UNM Gallup

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: December 4, 2013

There is something simple and meaningful about Thanksgiving that appeals to a deep need in the human heart. To share a good meal in good company in a spirit of gratitude and joy, nourishes the soul as well as the body. While most of us delight in the pleasures of roast Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, we savor even more the ambiance of the day: gathering around a table laden with stories and laughter as well as food and drink..

Yet, for many of the Adult Education students at UNM-G, the simple beauty of Thanksgiving is merely a fantasy in pre-Christmas advertising. There is little money for the traditional feast, a number of family and friends are scattered across the vastness of New Mexico and Arizona, or perhaps have been lost to tragic circumstances--killed by a drunk driver or an abusive spouse or suicide. Sometimes a gathering is held, but too much to drink ignites an already difficult and dysfunctional situation, so the celebration ends abruptly with hostility and anger.

Such are the tales our Adult Education staff hear daily, so creating a warm, welcoming, peaceful and delicious Thanksgiving at the North Campus has become an important tradition for us, providing our students an opportunity to nourish body and soul Our celebration includes giving students and staff the opportunity to reflect on our time together and express the hearfelt gratitude we share for our relationship.

Our North Campus tradition not only includes the much anticipated meal of turkey with all of the fixins, but we arrange one of our classrooms as a dining room, complete with table clothes and centerpieces, and although we do use paper plates, napkins, and plastic utensils, we find these items in colors and designs appropriate to the season and set the tables with a warm elegance. Soft music plays in the background, and each table accomodates four to eight people.

This year the students received a formal invitation to our Thanksgiving Luncheon that was held on Tuesday, November 26. The invitation requested an RSVP and professional attire. Not only did the RSVP give us an idea of how many would be attending, but we wanted the students to learn about more formal events which require timely responses and certain styles of clothing.

The meal was generously sponsored by McGraw-Hill through their regional Assessment Consultant Gladys Recinos, who works closely with our program, and the local Cracker Barrel restaurant Assistant Manager, Jim Hutchinson.

Because many of our students are unable to afford a Thanksgiving feast in their homes, they eagerly asked if grandparents, children, and spouses could attend. We could not say no, and although our request for extra meals came at the last minute, Ms. Recinos and Mr. Hutchinson did not hesitate to include more food so that everyone could enjoy the meal.

Of course, there's more to a feast than the food, so with the assistance of our division--Community-based Education and Workforce Development-- we were given additional funding to purchase drinks and paper products. Louise Lopez from Community Education graciously arrived at Wal-Mart first thing Tuesday morning to help buy the juice and coffee, cups, plates and the like. Then a trip was made to Cracker Barrel. Mr. Hutchinson and staff loaded a pick-up with boxes and boxes of our well-packaged feast so we could transport it to North Campus.

After some last minute organizing details, a buffet was set up in the lobby: turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, carrots, corn muffins, biscuits, and pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies.

Students arrived dressed in their best clothes accompanied by grandmas and babies, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and in-laws of all ages. The rich aromas filled our little school with the "classic" scent of Thanksgiving. Smiles and expressions of delight filled the building with joy as everyone admired the abundant feast and the lovely dining room. Students helped their families to the tables and invited their single classmates to come join them. Our staff stationed at the buffet, served the students who proudly introduced their teachers to their families. We were also pleased that our colleagues Lousie Lopez and Denise Silva, our Division Chair, LD Lovett, and Ms. Recinos could join us.

We shared our gratitude for our students' good work and dedication, and recognized the struggles they overcome to attend classes (we have a number of students who hitch hike 30-60miles to get here!) Then as everyone began eating, the room filled with laughter and stories and languages---English and Navajo, Chinese and Spanish intermingling, weaving around us all a tapestry of friendship.

Gently and gradually, as folks finished eating, they were invited into our computer lab where art supplies were laid out, so they could design and create stained glass-like designs on brown paper bags to be used as luminarias that our program will be contributing to the "Holiday in New Mexico" event at the UNM-G main campus on December 12. All of this done with the creative guidance of our art teacher and ESL student, Vladimiro Pino, a wise teacher and talented artist from Peru.

As the day wound down, Ms. Recinos and LD lingered with students, listening to stories, appreciating the diverse ways the students came to our program and the interesting and varied ways they earn their livings.

Finally, it was time to clean up, and as we set to work, we were joined by a special older woman who had also been invited to the celebration. Miss Mary, as she is fondly known, mostly lives on the streets around North Campus and is an honory staff member. She sweeps the entry way, mops the floor, keeps the kitchen clean, and enjoys the companionship of our students and staff who often offer her lunch or a cup of coffee or a coat or a ride as she needs it.

UNM-G North is a small campus tucked behind a vacant lot and an auto glass business. We are surrounded by a chain link fence, and the roar of trucks on I-40 and the rumble of trains form the sound track to our days. Yet this humble school, located in one of Gallup's poorest neighbors, has heart, inspires hope, and is home to some truly remarkable students for whom we are thankful indeed!

(Written by Laura Jijon, Director, ABE Program)

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: October 17, 2013

On Saturday, October 12, the Adult Education Staff at UNM-G North Campus hosted the first Annual Fall Festival. The event was designed to celebrate the collaboration between the Adult Education Program and a variety of community organizations and the ways they work together to assist students or simply strengthen a sense of neighborhood at the campus which is located on the corner of 7th and Maloney. ABE staff estimate that over 500 people visited the Festival throughout the day! The attached pictures attest to the good time had by all.

Gallup Service Mart, which offers sewing classes at North Campus, invited a number of local women who create lovely handmade items including quilts, scarves, aprons, bags, and much more to sell their beautiful creations! 4th World Movement, whose members teach art at UNM-G North and South Adult Education Centers and in the UNM-G classroom at the Adult Detention Center on Boardman, provided children's activities at their Story Garden. Gallup Pride, which holds meetings and events at North Campus, had a very popular food booth selling some of the best Navajo Tacos in Gallup. Youth Conservation Corps, which coordinates a gardening project at North Campus with Washington Elementary School, also provided music. In addition Gallup Farmers Market, Gallup Food Pantry, and the Boys and Girls Club offered fresh produce from their gardens. Speaking of home grown, the ever-creative Barbara Babcock, former advisor at UNM-G, had a small booth selling AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS butters, dips, and soups from recipes she has developed using garlic from her garden in Blue Water! And what would a fall festival be without hay bales--donated by Navajo Feed--and gigantic pumpkins--donated by NAPI.

Attracted by the delicious aromas of fry bread and chili, the sounds of harp music and children's laughter, and the bright colors of ribbons billowing from the trees or quilts unfolded between admiring women, our neighbors stopped by on their way to Wal-Mart or coming back from the flea market. Grandmothers sat at tables draped with autumn adorned cloths as they sipped coffee and ate cupcakes under the shade of the elegant tree in front of the building. Children ran excitedly to parents or aunties or uncles to proudly show off the autumn decorations they made at the crafts booth. Little boys tossed a football around in the gravel on the west side of the building. Groups of all sizes and ages posed happily at the "photo booth" constructed from bales of hay, pumpkins, and scarecrows on the east side of the building. Adult Education students met friends, bought and sold crafts, and delighted in an innocent, light hearted autumn afternoon.

In addition to celebrating collaboration with community groups and savoring the season, the Adult Education Program hosted this event to open their doors to the North side neighborhood, offering children an enticing glimpse at UNM-G, and to offer a friendly gathering that does not require alcohol or drugs to be fun and entertaining.

Special thanks go to Rulon Ashcroft and his Physical Plant Staff (Tommy Alatorre and Larry Tyler) for assisting with preparation and clean-up for the event. Adult Education Staff Laura Jijon, Dina Dominguez, Loretta Yazzie, Barbra Telynor, and Dawn Martinez should be commended for the wonderful work they've done, not only to organize this successful event, but to reach out to our community and show that UNM-G is a good neighbor.

If you did not have the opportunity to attend this year's Fall Festival, please plan to attend next year. The Adult Education Staff at North Campus wants to make this an annual event and keep an eye out for their Spring Fling!

(Written by Laura Jijon, Director, ABE Program and LD Lovett, Division Chair)

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: July 25, 2012

From left, College Store manager Rose Adakai, and staff Lin Comer, Jack Askin and Angie Hood.

Nearly a year after former Borders bookstore manager Rose Adakai took over the University of New Mexico-Gallup’s bookstore, the store is reporting a profit of $111,000. Adakai, who was appointed manager in September 2011, attributes the profit to improved inventory procedures and more attention to receiving and invoicing. Adakai was hired a few months after a 2011 audit of the store revealed a large loss.

“When I went through the software training, it took a lot of time to figure out how the system works, but from that training I was able to determine steps that weren’t being taken. We needed to do a better job with receiving and invoicing, making sure everyone knows how to do paperwork correctly,” she said. “Most of the loss was because of human error, and that was from lack of training for the staff. Now they know how the system works. That, combined with my background knowledge of running a bookstore, has helped turn things around.”

A representative from Nebraska Book Company, an enterprise that offers contract services for college bookstores nationwide, provided training.

This year, the store closed the last week of June – the end of the fiscal year – so the staff could perform a thorough inventory.

“Usually the inventory was done in a couple of days, but we inventoried every item. Formerly, the staff did bulk counts, but after running my own store, I have learned you need to scan each item. Books come from different vendors, and you have to look at each book in a stack to make sure which ones are used and which are new. It really pays to take the extra time,” Adakai said.

She also watches the purchasing and inventory carefully. Sales and promotions each month have helped reduce inventory, while purchases have been planned to coincide with vendor promotions.

“For instance, you buy for fall at the beginning of the year, and in fall for next spring. The National Association of College Stores and the Albuquerque campus bookstore help us out with vendors, notifying us of vendors who will give us discounts. The challenge is also finding the right merchandise for our students and other customers,” she said.

The store was renovated last year, prior to Adakai’s hiring, and more diverse merchandise was added, as was a snack bar/refreshment area. These changes, along with the improved business practices and better training, have resulted in a more contented staff who, Adakai reports, are proud that things have turned around, and reflect that in improved customer service.

“The staff likes the changes,” Adakai says. “Our customers – the students and the customers who come here to order books and audiotapes – see it. They say the store is nice, the atmosphere welcoming, and comment on how customer service-oriented the staff is. It’s great to hear it.”

Adakai has also introduced more books for a general audience, and is evaluating what sells well as more locals learn that the UNMG store has more than textbooks. Children’s books, she says, sell particularly well.

“A lot of people don’t have access to the Internet and want to come here and order books and audio tapes. I plan to add bargain books for the holiday season this year. All of this money goes toward making a profit,” she said.

UNM-GALLUP NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: MARCH 27, 2013

Guest Column for Gallup Independent
Wynn Goering, Interim Executive Director, UNM-Gallup
3/23/2013

My friend Sandra Begay Campbell – civil engineer at Sandia National Laboratory, former University of New Mexico Regent, and UNM-Gallup’s most famous alumna – recently told me that from her first enrollment at UNM-Gallup, her goal was ultimately to transfer into UNM’s engineering program in Albuquerque. Today she gives back to her home community through her work as the head of Sandia’s Tribal Energy Program, a DOE sponsored project that fosters the development of renewable energy sources on tribal lands.

Erik Nourse, from Prewitt, was just looking for a way to make a living when he “stumbled upon” UNM-Gallup’s nursing program in the summer of 2010. He already has a job waiting for him at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital when he graduates this May.

Fidel Cuevas needed something even more basic – a high school diploma. He completed his GED at UNM-Gallup’s northside campus in 2009 and is now on his way to a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology at UNM.

These stories – and hundreds more like them – are what’s really at stake in all the current buzz about UNM-Gallup’s potential “d-i-v-o-r-c-e” from the University of New Mexico.

Universities play distinctive and powerful roles in developing the human capital of the regions they serve. Of course they must be the primary source of postsecondary “workforce training” needed by area businesses. But equally important, they foster the educational possibility on which a thriving community and its citizens depend.

Consider this example. When the “Taos Education Center” joined UNM in 1993, an average of 11 of its students transferred each year into a main campus baccalaureate degree program. Last year, that number was 73. About 25 Taos County high school graduates used to start their educational journeys at UNM as freshmen each fall; now that figure is 45 and includes a number of prestigious merit scholars.

At UNM-Gallup, with a longer history and larger student body, 100 - 120 transfers and 70-80 students from McKinley County high schools enroll in a University of New Mexico baccalaureate program each year. The latter include standouts like UNM Regent Heidi Overton, a member of the BAMD program and future Gallup physician.

That is the literal impact of a university presence in a rural New Mexico community. The numbers are significant because students who remain in state to pursue higher education, are far more likely to stay there to live and work. Conversely, communities that flourish are the ones that produce and retain local talent – to staff and run their businesses, provide their healthcare, and teach their students. Those that end up providing most of the labor and importing most of the management, do not. It’s that simple.

And that, finally, is what’s wrong with the current talk of institutional divorce and proposals regarding independence for UNM-Gallup. They’re a bit like arguing about who should get the furniture, before any serious consideration has been given to what would be best for the family and the children.

I believe the most pressing issue facing UNM-Gallup today is not the feasibility of its independence. Rather, it is this: how can we most efficiently and effectively prepare more Sandra Begay Campbells, Erik Nourses, Fidel Cuevases and Heidi Overtons, to serve the workforce and leadership needs of Gallup and its surrounding communities?

If we, as a community, could come up with some good strategies for that question, then, maybe, we could ask ourselves who should own the buildings.

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