Beginning with a heartfelt nod to everyone that had their lives disrupted by the impacts of COVID over the last year and a half, it is with a spirit of optimism and hope that I extend a hearty greetings from the Conroy Honors College. Building off the rich history of inclusive excellence led by Deans Eamon and Chaiken before me, it is a sincere privilege to now be leading the Honors community at NMSU. Although this past year was profoundly disruptive for all, I am confident that the adjustments we are making are carefully chosen and that we are even better positioned to serve the university and promote student success as we look to the future! The new leadership team charged with putting this into practice includes Dr. Anne Hubbell (Associate Dean), Dr. Andrea Orzoff (Office of the National Scholarships and International Education), and Dr. Tracey Miller-Tomlinson (Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity). Please see their individual columns to learn more about the initiatives they champion and how they can be a resource for you. What should be clear from all of the items in this newsletter is that we are moving forward with purpose. From the redesign of the Conroy Honors Scholar Program and a new Honors First Generation Proud campaign, to new initiatives promoting education abroad and student engagement with research and creative activities, we believe that Honors education should be transformative and that the Honors College can be a center for the curricular and co-curricular experiences that change students' lives for good - beyond earning good grades and completing required classes on a plan. Beyond traditional notions of social mobility, we are challenging students to aim higher and achieve more meaningfully! If you are a student that has not yet taken advantage of an Honors course or met with our staff to explore the meaning of Honors, please do reach out to let us know (honors@nmsu.edu) and we will reach right back to make sure we are available to listen and share ways that Honors can help you do more with your education both in and out of the classroom. If you are a staff or faculty member that shares our Honors values and wants to get more engaged with any of our initiatives, please do let anyone on our team know so we can include you in our work. Together, we can help elevate the success of NMSU students and help transform the world for good! Phame Camarena, PhD Dean, William Conroy Honors College
The Honors College Fall Review
The Conroy Honors College serves the university by elevating undergraduate student success. The Office of National Scholarships and International Education The Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Crimson Scholar Outreach University Honors Program Conroy Honors Scholar Program We transform students' lives so they will transform the world !
In This Issue:
A Message From the Dean:
William Conroy Honors College
BE BOLD. Shape the Future. | New Mexico State University
Page 2: Meet Drs. Hubble and Orzoff Page 3: Meet Dr. Miller-Tomlinson and Learn More About Honors Capstones Page 4: Honors is #FirstGenProud! and proud of Dr. Serrano Page 5: Global Citizenship and Education Abroad!
Fall 2021
Joshua Adams: (Dr. Linda Blizzard, Advisor) Joshua, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, completed his Nursing Degree and has already begun work as an ICU nurse in Missouri. For his capstone project, Joshua drafted a report about the challenges faced by overburdened nurses in everyday practice. His paper, Unfinished Nursing Care, was published in the NM Board of Nursing quarterly newsletter and shared with thousands of nursing professionals across the state. Josh is continuing with his graduate training but his capstone project has already helped reaffirm his desire to become a leader in the nursing profession.
Hello also from Tracey Miller-Tomlinson! As the newest Honors Faculty Fellow, I am delighted to introduce the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. One of NMSU’s many strengths is its distinctive union of research and teaching: NMSU faculty have long invited undergraduate students to collaborate on cutting-edge research and mentored undergraduate researchers and artists in student-led projects. The Center will help more students connect with scholarly mentors and also serve as a hub for undergraduate research opportunities and events across campus. A few highlights from undergraduate activities this fall: Undergraduates mentored by NMSU soil scientists April Ulery and Nicole Pietrasiak and biologist Adriana Romero-Olivares and their graduate assistants are helping NASA learn how earth plants might grow on the moon Students in Abdu Abdelkefir’s experiment station in Mechanical Engineering are testing how materials used in rockets withstand the vibration of launch and reentry An Honors capstone researcher is interviewing editors from mass market and university presses to learn what paths they took into their professions and how Covid-19 is affecting the publishing industry Student novelists will read from their capstone projects in the Honors Commons in celebration of Research and Creativity Week Coming up soon, Research and Creativity Week, Nov. 2-5, is a great opportunity to present research and creative work on campus—and to find out what other students are doing. Research faculty in a variety of fields will open their labs and offices to Honors students for tours that week. Stay tuned to the Crimson Scholar listserv for more information on these events! Student work specifically will be showcased in April at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium (URCAS). For more information on these opportunities, or to make an appointment to talk about your interests, please email me at tomlin@nmsu.edu and watch for the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts website to be announced soon!
Dr. Miller-Tomlinson Director, Center for Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity
Hello! I’m Dr. Andrea Orzoff, director of the Office of National Scholarships and International Education (ONSIE), and an Honors Faculty Fellow. Although I’ve taught in Honors and worked with students on their fellowship applications for most of my time at NMSU, I’m excited to have this opportunity to lead ONSIE, and to work closely with Dean Camarena and Associate Dean Hubbell as we reimagine the Honors College. My highest priority for the 2021-2022 academic year is to expand ONSIE’s cross-campus reach. Too often NMSU students don’t know about the fellowship opportunities open to them during and after their undergraduate years. So I’m planning to reach out this year to different student populations on campus. I’m going to work with student organizations and programs, hold in-person office hours all over campus, and do a lot of publicity work with academic departments. I want to help NMSU students envision themselves as global leaders, and to help them understand that these awards can be an important first step. A related priority is to recruit more student applicants for these exciting fellowship programs! We had one Fulbright winner for the 2020-2021 academic year: Alma Chavez will be doing a master’s degree in forensic osteology at the University of Kent in England. This is even more of an achievement than it might appear, as Fulbrights to the UK are among the most difficult to obtain. I’m hoping to have even more potential Fulbrighters this year, and more applicants for other internationally-oriented fellowships, like the Boren awards and the Critical Language Scholarship. I’m also hoping to support applicants for domestic awards like the Udall Scholarship, which supports Native students and non-Native students working on Native-related areas of research and policy. Even when our students don’t win these awards, ONSIE coaching and support can help them envision their lives in new ways. I am excited to be teaching Honors’ one-credit Successful Fellowship Writing course, which isn’t just about the fellowships. We focus on each student’s interests, preferences, skills, hopes, and dreams. The work we do together provides students with usable essay drafts for fellowship and graduate-school applications, not to mention resumes and interview practice. The course also helps students think creatively about their education, their lives, and the world. We encourage these big open-ended questions in Honors, and it’s always exciting to see our students’ answers. As I reshape ONSIE (which may involve a name change – stay tuned!), I am thinking about the concept of “inclusive excellence.” Traditionally, both honors programs and fellowships offices have focused on measures of achievement that have been inaccessible to many students. First-generation and minority students, as well as students from underprivileged economic backgrounds, were often left out, no matter their innate talents. I think it’s important that the fellowships office at a public land-grant minority- and first-generation-serving institution reflect our mission, our values, and our students.
The Honors Capstone represents a significant academic accomplishment that caps off students' learning and academic achievement consistent with their discipline, professional needs, and mission of the Honors College. Here are some sample capstone projects from our 2022 Honors Program graduates.
Honors Capstone Projects
Dr. Anne Hubbell Associate Dean
Joshua Herrera: Effect of Alkali Metal Chloride Salt Solutions on the Structural and Mechanical Properties of ‘Pelletized’ Smectite and Illite-Smectite Clays (Dr. Antonio Lara, Advisor) Joshua is a 2021 Chemistry graduate. He found a capstone project and advisor through the NMSU MARC Program (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) and credits the program and mentors with providing the skills and confidence to complete this complex analysis. Joshua presented results from this project, both on campus and at professional conferences, helping to build a scholarly portfolio that helped earn admission and funding to UC Berkeley’s PhD program in Chemistry where his work will focus on inorganic and green applications. Joshua hopes to pay his training forward as a professor directing his own research lab involving undergraduate students in the future!
The Honors Capstone represents a significant academic accomplishment that caps off student learning and academic achievement consistent with the discipline, professional needs, and mission of the Honors College. Here are some of the Capstone Projects from our Spring 2021 Graduates:
Savanah Willingham: Spring 2021 Collection: Re-envisioning the Land of Enchantment (Dr. Insook Ahn, Advisor) Savanah is from Albuqurque, New Mexico and completed her degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising at NMSU. Although work on a film set, study abroad in Italy, and leadership experiences in the FAMD program were all important experiences in Savanah’s training, designing her own fashion collection was an especially important step in advancing her career in fashion. COVID restrictions meant that Savanah could not display her work in the annual campus fashion show, but Savanah did present her work at URCAS virtually and developed a video to showcase her line inspired by the colors and spirit of New Mexico. Check out her line at: https://sbwillingham98.wixsite.com/portfolio/spring-2021
Dr. Andrea Orzoff Director, Office of National Scholarships and International Education
Greetings. I am Dr. Anne Hubbell and my Ph.D. is in Communication (Michigan State University), with an emphasis in Organizational and Health Communication. My Health Communication teaching and research has focused on cancer and invisible disabilities in organizations and among under-represented populations and I also research and teach in Organizational Communication with a focus on developing ethical leadership and trust in organizations. I started as an Associate Dean in Honors in January 2021 and having taught Honors classes for 21 years, it has been a joy to serve in this new role. I serve the Honors College through advising Honors students to help them graduate with either an Honors Certificate or Graduate with a Distinction in Honors! For those who would like to learn about how students can graduate with a Distinction in Honors and to even declare their intent to do so, please check out this link: https://honors.nmsu.edu/for-students/index.html. Often students who have the Crimson Scholar designation do not realize that graduating with that Honors Distinction can give them an additional edge when applying for their career or further academic opportunities. We are here to help students get that designation through General Education, Viewing Wider World, and Contract Classes where we work with existing classes students take for their majors or minors. Also, students who participate in an Accelerated Master’s Program (MAP) can count any MAP class as an Honors class automatically. We also offer a Medical Shadowing class (https://honors.nmsu.edu/for-students/application-for-the-medical-shadowing-course.html) and an Internship Capstone course for students. I run these programs and work with students from all colleges in internships and we also just submitted a proposal for a pre-health minor with colleagues from across NMSU. This pre-health minor will help serve students who plan to go on for an advanced degree in a health-related program. There are many exciting things going on in Honors at NMSU and these are just a few examples! We look forward to sharing more information through newsletters! For any questions on advising or programs discussed here, please feel free to email me at ahubbell@nmsu.edu.
To promote global citizenship and expand students’ view on the world, Honors is working to triple the number of Honors graduates that have participated in a NMSU sponsored education abroad program over the next three years! A key partner in this project is the Office of Education Abroad Programs led by Erica Nikolaisen. As a former NMSU student herself, Niklolaisen understands the challenges and opportunities students face in planning for study abroad programs. As an undergraduate, she completed an exchange program in England and was hired as a student employee in the Education Abroad office before becoming a full-time staff member while working on her master’s degree in Public Administration. Her graduate training also included an international experience as she completed an internship with a non-profit organization in Norway that also promoted international education. Since completing her master’s degree, Nikolaisen also gained experience at Texas Tech as a Study Abroad Advisor and Assistant Director in the Center of Global Engagement in the College of Business. She then went on to work at Penn State in the Global Programs for Education Abroad for 4 years before returning to NMSU last year to be the manager of the Education Abroad Program. She wholeheartedly explains “I’m working with students like me, like, I used to be one of those students. So, I just feel a lot more connected to the community here and to the university.” Nikolaisen is working to dispel myths that hold students back from study abroad opportunities including financial fears, language concerns, and the perception that they will not be able to make progress on their degree plans. She is quick to remind students that there are scholarships available, a diverse array of programs for students’ academic needs, and that “the majority of our programs offer coursework in English, so not speaking another language is not a barrier to participating in study abroad.” She advises students to also plan their study abroad as early as freshman year, which can help ensure that the classes needed or sought out are offered at the universities in their desired countries. Honors will be working with the Education Abroad Office to educate all Crimson Scholars about the existing programs and will even be creating new opportunities with partners from across the university to ensure that more students can see the value and potential for these transformative experiences that can help students understand themselves and their place in the world in new ways.
The Conroy Honors College is #FirstGenPROUD
Erica Nikolaisen, Program Manager
Dr. Elba Serrano is a professor at NMSU, who obtained a doctoral degree in neuroscience and biophysics from Stanford University. Recently, she was listed as one of the top 100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America. Dr. Serrano was the PI and Program Director of NMSU's Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) from 2008-2018 and the founding PI and Program Director for the NIH funded BP-ENDURE Building Research Achievement in Neuroscience (BRAiN) program from 2010-2015. She currently serves as the lead PI for the NSF HSI National STEM Resource Hub. Dr. Serrano talks about the hardships she faced as a first-generation student in college. “Mainly you don’t know the opportunities that are out there, and what’ll happen is an opportunity will present itself to you and you think it’s not for you, but for someone else.” As a student, she kept to herself and didn’t seek out the necessary tools to get through her college career, such as tutoring, because she didn’t know what resources were available to her. Because of this, she stresses the importance of institutions providing resources and opportunities for the needs of all students. She also reflects on how lonely her journey had been as a first-generation Hispanic student. She said that as she attended Stanford University, she had a hard time making connections with people who stood in a completely different social class and felt out of place. Regardless, one of her greatest motivators to go to college was her mother, who pushed her to get an education and be independent, without having to rely on another person in the real world. Above all, she also said that she's always wanted to be a scientist and was always guided by her love of learning. Even though she disliked a few classes here and there, she reminds us that we must keep pursuing our passions. Undoubtedly, she is a strong supporter of the Honors Program and its students, explaining that “this is a place where students can come and experience cross-disciplinary activities, where you can come across and meet people from all walks of life, all the majors, and come together to share your views about what the world can be; and also learn something.” Much of her support comes from being a first-generation college student herself, where she understands the difficulties that many students face going into college, not limited to only first-gen. Although many may feel belittled and incompetent for simply being first-generation college students, she reminds us that all students require at least some resources, and being first-gen does not necessarily mean that you need more resources than someone who isn't. She reassures all students, “I think being a student who completes [college], in and of itself, with all of the challenges all of you face ... is an achievement.” Dr. Serrano advises students to “find a community of allies and supporters; people who care about you and your success,” as well as connecting with faculty and finding mentors and advisors that you can reach out to. Not only that, but regularly attending class and sitting in the front row to connect with your professors better and avoid any distractions from people who would’ve potentially been sitting in front of you. Also, students’ experience in handling responsibilities in school, work, or personal life will help develop a good work ethic. This can help with better time management skills, ultimately improving your GPA. The best thing you can do for yourself as you continue with your education in college, Dr. Serrano says, is taking care of yourself to avoid overwhelming yourself and burning out.
Defining Global Citizenship:
Honors Recognizes Dr. Serrano: A "Top 100 Inspiring Hispanic Scientist in America"
“Global citizenship is just becoming more globally minded, having more empathy, to people from backgrounds that are different from theirs.” “I think people start to develop that when they interact more with people from other countries.” - Erica Nikolaisen, Education Abroad Program Manager
Global Citizenship
As a first-generation college student launching off to my first year at the University, I could not have imagined how my experiences there would transform my life. After saying no to University Honors as a first-year student, I was recruited into the Honors Program at the end of my sophomore year by a caring professor. Dr. Baldwin helped me to see that I could make much more of my educational experience engaging with the full life of the university with Honors as my guide. In the end, it was the experiences facilitated by Honors that helped me find a treasured life path and gave me the resume of experience that prepared me for future professional success. So here I am some thirty years later paying it forward and advocating for the next cohort of first-generation college students in Honors at NMSU. - Dean Camarena ********************** If you are a first-generation college student and a Crimson Scholar or working on the University Honors Program, congratulations on your exceptional achievement. The William Conroy Honors College recognizes that high achieving first generation college students have extra strengths and potentials – not in spite of being first gen – but because of it. Within the NMSU Honors community, you are surrounded by fellow students, staff, and faculty that are also first generation and understand your experience. Being first generation and Honors is a cause for celebration. First gen Honors students will be wearing tee-shirts designed by first-generation Honors student Jessica Mercado on Nov 8 - National First Gen Celebration Day!
For more information search at https://oel.nmsu.edu/educationabroad/nmsu-students/ To explore with an Education Abroad Advisor, email the office at educationabroad@nmsu.edu. Students completing an NMSU Education Abroad experience can apply three credits to their University Honors Program requirements.
Costa Rica Spain Australia United Kingdom Japan Mexico Peru Italy South Korea Argentina Ecuador France Ireland
Top Countries for NMSU Study Abroad:
Education Abroad!
About the Conroy Honors Center The Conroy Honors College was built in 1907 as a meeting place for the Y.M.C.A. (Young Men’s Christian Association). A cornerstone for this building was laid on January 9, 1907, which still remains today. It was later bought by the University to be used by the Music department from 1929-1965. It was then used by the Air Force ROTC Program from 1965-1982. The building was then left vacant until reconstruction began in 2001, and later opened in 2002.
Feedback, ideas, questions? Contact Us William Conroy Honors College: 2745 S. Espina St. Las Cruces, NM 88001 (575) 646-2005 honors@nmsu.edu https://honors.nmsu.edu
The Conroy Honors College is also proud to announce the selection of the 2021 Conroy Honors Scholars! This diverse cohort of new, first-year, NMSU students was selected for both their record of academic achievement and their fit with the mission of the Honors College. These students are expected to serve as leaders and models for what the life of a fully-engaged, academic all-star, student can be at New Mexico State University. In addition to excellence in the classroom while completing the University Honors Program, Conroy Honors Scholars will also reflect Honors values as they: Work with faculty mentors on the research, scholarship, and creative work of the University Seek leadership opportunities in both the campus community and their professional fields Model social responsibility with service and advocacy for a cause that matters Develop intercultural competence, appreciation for diversity, and their capacities as global citizens For more on the 2021 cohort and the announcement for the 2022 competition, please go to: https://honors.nmsu.edu/for-students/conroy-scholars.html
William Conroy Honors College New Mexico State University 2745 S Espina St (575) 646-2005
The Honors College Fall Review is a project intiatiated by Haylee Viramontes as part of a Summer 2021 TRIO UB-Honors Internship. Haylee is the chief editor and designer with support provided by Zachary Wooten, Phame Camarena, Adriana Chavez, and the Honors College Staff. All photos are from NMSU media and personal submissions.
Welcome to the 2021 Crimson Scholars and University Honors Cohort