New Mexico Highlands University

New Mexico Highlands University
Motto Artes, Scientiae, Humanitates
Type Public
Established 1893
President Sam Minner
Students 3,765[1]
Location Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA
Campus Suburban
Colors Purple & White
         
Athletics NCAA Division II – Rocky Mountain
Nickname Cowboys & Cowgirls
Website www.nmhu.edu

New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) is a public university located in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

History

Ivan Hilton Science Center

The university was first established as New Mexico Normal School in 1893, with the prominent archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett serving as its first president. The institution became New Mexico Normal University in 1902, and then New Mexico Highlands University in 1941, as it expanded its role beyond teacher education. Today, NMHU offers graduate and undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, education, and social work.

Located in Las Vegas, a city with a population of about 16,000, Highlands’ main campus is close to recreational and wilderness areas, and within an hour's drive of Santa Fe and 2 hours from Albuquerque.

The majority of the school's approximately 3,765 students are from New Mexico and are Latino. Highlands’ programs focus on its multi-ethnic student body, especially the Latino and American Indian cultures distinctive of New Mexico.

Accreditation

Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. NMHU also has specialty accreditations. The School of Education received full accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) in 2012. The School of Business is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). The School of Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is accredited by the Master's in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC).[2]

Academics

Rodgers Hall, Administration Offices of NMHU

Undergraduate & graduate degrees

Student life

There are approximately over 50 student organizations at NMHU.

Student Government

Student government at New Mexico Highlands University is composed of three branches: executive, legislative (senate), and judicial. Student senate is represented by undergraduate students in addition to individual graduate student representatives from their respective colleges and schools of the university. Each undergraduate senator is responsible for representing 100 students. The dean of students serves as the advisor to student government. Elections for student government take place in the Spring of each academic year. Executives (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer) and senators are elected by the entire student body. The president pro-tempore serves as the floor leader and is elected from within the ranks of the senate to the position each year. The parliamentarian is appointed by the president at the first student senate meeting of the academic year.

Executive officers

Name Position Took office Term
Completion
Julian Padilla President 2016 2017
Isaac Lopez Vice-President 2016 2017
Natasha Lujan Secretary 2016 2017
Steven Gonzales Treasurer 2016 2017
John Ramon Vigil President Pro-Tempore 2015 2017
Michael Tudor Parliamentarian 2016 2017

Athletics

NMHU's athletic teams are nicknamed the Cowboys and compete in the NCAA's Division II's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Ten varsity athletics programs are offered included- women's soccer, cross-country, track, volleyball,men's and woman's basketball, wrestling, baseball and college football.

Branch campuses

Donnelly Library

In the 1997-1998 academic year New Mexico Highlands University established an extended learning center in Rio Rancho which began offering upper division undergraduate and graduate courses in business, accounting, education, and social work. The center continues with classes in those areas and has added studies in criminal justice, public affairs administration, computer science and general and school counseling.

There are also many other branch campuses, including in Santa Fe, Farmington, Taos, Raton, Rio Rancho and Espanola.

In pop culture

The campus can be seen in the movie Red Dawn as the town of Las Vegas substituted for a fictional community of Calumet, Colorado. Also can be seen in the John Carpenter film "Vampires".

Notable alumni

References

Coordinates: 35°35′46″N 105°13′15″W / 35.59611°N 105.22083°W / 35.59611; -105.22083

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.