University of New Mexico

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University of New Mexico
Motto	Lux Hominum Vita (Latin, "life, the light of men.")
Established	1889
Type	Public
Endowment	$385.7 million[1]
President	David J. Schmidly
Staff	1,838
Undergraduates	18,027
Postgraduates	6,065
Location	Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Campus	Urban, 600 acres (2.4 km²)
Athletics	16 varsity teams
Colors	Cherry and Silver
Mascot	Lobo
Website	www.unm.edu

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Founded in 1889, it offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in the arts, sciences, and engineering. Its Albuquerque campus currently encompasses over 600 acres (2.4 km²), and there are branch campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos, and in Valencia County. Coordinates: 35°05′02″N 106°37′07″W / 35.08389°N 106.61861°W / 35.08389; -106.61861

Campus

Mesa Vista Hall

The main (Albuquerque) campus is located between Central Avenue on the south, Girard Boulevard on the east, Lomas Boulevard on the north, and University Boulevard on the west. The North Campus, which includes the medical and law schools, is located on the north side of Lomas. The South campus is centered around the intersection of University Boulevard and Avenida César Chavez and includes most of UNM's athletic facilities.

Appearance and Developments

The UNM campus is noted for its unique Pueblo Revival architectural style, introduced when the university's third president, William G. Tight, plastered over the Victorian-style Hodgin Hall to create a monument to Pueblo Indian culture. Vilified for his primitivism, Tight soon found himself removed from office. History vindicated him, however, and his vision found new life under university architect John Gaw Meem. Meem, a famed Santa Fe architect, designed many university buildings in the pueblo style, including Zimmerman Library and Scholes Hall, and is credited with imbuing the campus with its distinctive Southwestern feel.

Many main campus buildings have recently been updated, such as a $5.8 million renovation of the historic Communication and Journalism building.^[2] In addition to its remodeling efforts, UNM has constructed several new buildings on its main campus including the $42 million Centennial Engineering Center^[3] and a 108,000-square-foot Architecture and Planning building.^[4]

Sustainability

The University of New Mexico developed an Office of Sustainability to address sustainability on campus and beyond. ^[5] In order to lessen its environmental impact, The University of New Mexico created the Energy Conservation Initiative and has reduced the campus energy usage by 13.4% in its first 10 months through monitoring and retrofitting cooling, heating, water, and lighting technologies. ^[6] Due to these efforts, the University of New Mexico’s grade on the College Sustainability Report Card 2009 improved from a “C” to a “B” according to the Sustainable Endowments Institute. ^[7]

Academics

The Duck Pond on the UNM campus

The University of New Mexico offers more than 215 degree and certificate programs, including 94 baccalaureate, 71 masters and 37 doctoral degrees.^[8]

The School of Engineering is ranked 14th in the Princeton Review Top 20 Graduate Engineering Programs.^[9] The Princeton Review also ranks the University of New Mexico at 14th in the nation for worst professors and 1st in the nation for least accessible professors.^[10]

For the 13th consecutive year, US News & World Report ranked the UNM School of Medicine in the top 15 primary care-oriented medical schools in the country.^[11] In its "America's Best Graduate Schools" issue for 2006, the UNM Health Sciences Center's curriculum received the following rankings: 5th in Rural Medicine, 3rd in Nursing Midwifery, 5th in Family Medicine, 6th in Primary Care, 5th in Community Health, 15th in Family Nurse Practitioner, and 23rd in Occupational Therapy. The University of New Mexico School of Law is currently ranked 68th in the country and has steadily climbed in the USNews rankings. The Clinical Law program in particular is one of the best in the country according to US News & World Report, coming in at #5 nationwide.^[12] Also according to US News ranking the school is the 5th best graduate school in photography.^[13]

The University of New Mexico Model United Nations team is one of the top ranked teams in the country. They have won Multiple Awards at several different competitions, most notably the Harvard World Model United Competition in Geneva, Switzerland and Puebla, Mexico. They have also competed and won awards at the St. Mary's University Model Organization of American States Conference.^[14]

Athletics

UNM Lobos logo

The school's athletic teams (known as the Lobos) compete in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobo mascots are named Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy. The official school colors are cherry and silver.

UNM maintains strong athletic rivalries with New Mexico State University. The UNM-NMSU rivalry is represented by the Rio Grande Rivalry, a series based on points awarded to the winners of head to head competitions between the two universities in every sport. A rotating trophy is granting to the winning university for a period of one year, until the award presentation the following year. The rivalry is celebrated at UNM by the Red Rally, a large bonfire that takes place the Thursday before the UNM-NMSU football game.

The Lobo basketball team is famous for its venue, University Arena, better known as "The Pit." The Pit may be best known as the site of the 1983 NCAA basketball championship, in which North Carolina State University, coached by Jim Valvano, upset the University of Houston. The Lobo football team plays at University Stadium, which is located across the street from the Pit.

The UNM football team has been to four bowl games in the past five years, visiting the Las Vegas Bowl in 2002 and 2003 and the Emerald Bowl in 2004. Placekicker Katie Hnida made history in the 2003 Las Vegas Bowl when she became the first woman to play in a NCAA Division I-A game, attempting but missing an extra point in the Lobos's 27–13 loss to UCLA. She later attempted and made two extra points in UNM's 72–8 victory over Texas State. New Mexico also lost its 2003 and 2004 bowl games, making its record in bowl games 2–8–1. The football team went to the first year of the New Mexico Bowl in 2006 and lost to San Jose State University, 20–12. In 2007 the Lobos finished the regular season 8–4 and were invited to the New Mexico Bowl for the second straight season. The Lobos shut out the favored Nevada Wolfpack 23-0 to win their first bowl game since the 1961 Aviation Bowl.

The UNM Women's Basketball team has won the Mountain West championship for four of the past five years, and have gone to the NCAA Tournament for the past six consecutive years.

Both University Stadium and University Arena commenced intensive renovation projects in the first quarter of 2009.

In November of 2009 the UNM Women's soccer team was defeated by the BYU Cougars in the Mountain West Conference tournament by a score of 1-0. During a recap of the game ESPN noted the UNM players exhibited dirty play and described the game as having Mixed Martial Arts qualities.^[15]

Media

UNM owns and operates KUNM-FM, one of two National Public Radio stations in Albuquerque. In 2008, KUNM-FM won 16 Associated Press awards, including Station of the Year.^[16] UNM also owns and operates the University of New Mexico Press, its publishing arm established in 1929.^[17] With Albuquerque Public Schools, UNM also operates KNME-TV, Albuquerque's public television station. In 2008, KNME-TV celebrated its 50 year anniversary. It currently broadcasts in High Definition Digital on two channels, English and Spanish.^[18] The Daily Lobo is UNM's student-run daily newspaper and is an award-winning publication serving the metro area.^[19]

Notable people

Faculty

• Thomas T. Castonguay, a chemical engineering professor whose students developed an early process for reclaiming used motor oil.^[20]
• Robert E. Haebel, a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor decorated with the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for combat during the Korean War and Vietnam War and promoted to United States Marine Corps Major General commanding the 3rd Marine Division. ^[21]
• Frank C. Hibben, an anthropology professor noted for locating artifacts of Paleo-Indians. ^[22]
• Tony F. Schneider, a professor of naval science awarded two Navy Crosses and three Distinguished Flying Crosses flying dive bombers during the Battle of Midway, Solomon Islands Campaign, Battle of Iwo Jima, Battle of Okinawa, and bombing raids over Japan.^[23]
• Jesse L. Riebsomer, a chemistry professor who received the 1958 Manufacturing Chemists Award for excellence in teaching.^[20]
• Terry Yates, a biology and pathology professor who is credited with discovering the source of the hantavirus in 1993^[24]

Alumni

Jerry D. Thompson, historian of the American Southwest^[25]

John Adair, pioneer of Navajo & Zuni cultural studies. In 1948, the university’s first doctoral candidate in anthropology.^[26][27]

Points of interest

• Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
• University of New Mexico Arboretum
• University Arena
• University Stadium
• UNM Cancer Research Building
• Estufa

Organizations

• Service action network

Gallery

Zimmerman Library

Communications & Journalism

Alumni Memorial Chapel

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: University of New Mexico

• University of New Mexico official website
• Interdisciplinary Film & Digital Media Program official website
• University of New Mexico School of Law official website
• GoLobos.com, official athletics site
• Anderson School of Management @ UNM
• ARTS Lab @ UNM Art, Research, Technology & Science Lab
• University of New Mexico Institute of Public Law IPL engages in research, analysis, teaching, training, writing and publishing to support the development of informed public policy and law.
• University of New Mexico Press official website
• Mascot-Colors-Traditions
• KUNM, University-affiliated radio station
• The Daily Lobo, UNM's student-run newspaper
• UNM's official Facebook page
• UNM Flickr
• UNM's YouTube Channel