2003, Spring

magazine

lookagain

T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w M e x i c o | A l u m n i A s s o c i a t i o n

M I R A G E TA K E S O N A N EW L O O K , A N D L O O K S AT S T U D E N T S , A L UMN I , A N D N EW M E X I C A N S .

spring 2003

You went to college here.You graduated from here.Then you moved away andstarted your own company.

But somehow we alwaysknew you might want toreturn to New Mexico.

visit us at www.newmexicodevelopment.org to learn why business owners are looking to NEW MEXICO NEXT

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3

reflection

unm

We follow our

own footsteps

and those of others.

We circle and climb,

exploring memory

and possibility.

Looking into, looking back,

looking forward.

S T A I R W E L L O F H O D G I N H A L L B Y M A T T H E W D U N N

contents14Conversation: like, a fresh look at freshmenMODERAT ED B Y V B P R I C E , E D I T ED B Y MARY CONRADFreshman life on a big and unknown campus can intimidate even the hardy. Six UNM freshmen discuss their experiences and the programs designed to welcome new students to the fold.

18 Look where he’s going!BY LAUR I E ME L LA S - RAM I R E ZA look at John Probasco, UNM’s most recent Rhodes Scholar, who combines brains, poise, ambition, kindness, and appreciation for his parents to boot!

31 PerceptivityDesert mammalogist and museum maven Michael Mares receives a unique award fromthe University of Oklahoma where his work has educated many about the natural world.B Y D E B RA L E VY MAR T I N E L L I

6 LettersLook out! Mirage readers make their opinions known.

9 ConnectionsRecent accomplishments by UNM faculty and staff.

M I R A G E m a g a z i n e4

take a look

unm

Spring 2003, Volume 21, Number 3 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: F. Chris Garcia, President; Judy K. Jones, Vice President-Institutional Advancement; Karen A. Abraham, Director, Alumni Relations. EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE: Steve Ciepiela, President, Albuquerque; Steve Bacchus, President-Elect, Albuquerque; DebbieDoak, Treasurer, Albuquerque; Connie Beimer, Past President, Albuquerque; Roberto Ortega, Albuquerque;Coleman Travelstead, Albuquerque.

MIRAGE is published three times a year, in April, August, and December, by the University of New Mexico Alumni Association for the University’s alumni and friends.Address all correspondence to UNM Alumni Relations Office, Hodgin Hall, Albuquerque NM 87131-0016. Send all Album information to the attention of Margaret Weinrod.Send all changes of address to the attention of Records. Send all other correspondence to the attention of Mary Conrad. To comply with the ADA and the RehabilitationAct of 1973, UNM provides this publication in alternative formats. If you have special needs and require an auxiliary aid or service, please contact Mary Conrad. Phone: 800-258-6866 (800-ALUM-UNM) or 505-277-5808. E-mail to Mary Conrad: [email protected] or [email protected]. Web address: www.unmalumni.com

22

On the Cover:Hodgin Hall 2003 by Matthew Dunn

22 Con NombreBY M I CHAE L P ENN

A look at photographer Cavalliere

Ketchum, whose story first appeared in

the University of Wisconsin magazine

On, Wisconsin! Senior editor Michael

Penn covers the Wisconsin professor

and UNM alum who is combing

New Mexico’s villages to identify the

unnamed subjects of depression photos.

s

38Athletics: Four Years LaterBY S T E V E CARRLady Lobo Jordan Adams is moving on after four stellar years in the Pit.

40 See What You Can Do: Unwrapping SuccessTwo couples who benefited from scholarships to UNM now

help the next generation of students.B Y E L L EN K . A SHCRA F T

42 Looking Back: On and Off the Beaten PathA personal account of lifetime friends who fuel their friendship with wilderness adventures.B Y I S A B E L M I L L E R B EARMAN BUCHER

albumcompiled by Margaret Weinrod.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 5

alumni in the write

Harvena Richter, ’38 BA, has two newbooks: Frozen Light, The Crystal Poems, andThe Golden Fountains, sources of energyand life based on the psycho-energies ofConrad Richter. Harvena is a UNM lectureremerita living in Albuquerque.

Starr Jenkins, ’48 BA, ’73 PhD, of San LuisObispo, California, is author of a one-act, four-person play, Man of Steel: aSmokejumper Drama.

A. Gayle Hudgens, ’63 BA, has spent thelast 20 years working to accelerate the shiftto a sustainable society and has writtenCollaborative Spunk: The Feisty Guide forReviving People and Our Planet. Gayle livesin Austin, Texas.

Claire Wilson Brandenburg, ’67, of Taos,has illustrated a children’s book, Bigger Thana Button by Elsie Karr Kreischer.

Laura Sanchez, ’67 BA, ’72 MA, has co-authored with Alex Sanchez, emeritusfaculty, Adobe Houses for Today: FlexiblePlans for Your Adobe Home, published bySunstone Press in Santa Fe. Laura is a UNM-Valencia lecturer and lives in Los Lunas.

Robert E. Adler, ’68 BS, has published anew book, Science Firsts: From the Creationof Science to the Science of Creation (JohnWiley & Sons). He resides in Santa Rosa,New Mexico.

28

34

Look for afriend onevery page!

Keep us posted!Send your news to Margaret WeinrodThe University of New Mexico Alumni Association1 University of New MexicoMSC 01-1160Albuquerque NM 87131-0001.Better yet, e-mail your news to [email protected] (August) deadline: May 1Winter (December) deadline: September 1Spring (April) deadline: January 1

28 Insight: The InocenteBY RUDOL FO ANAYA

Receipt of one of the nation’s highest honors, the National

Medal of Arts, leads Rudolfo Anaya to ponder the ways of

the inocente.

34 On and Off the FieldOnce rival to Roger Maris’ heights, baseball great Sam

Suplizio was sidelined by an injury but came back to a

fabulous new career off the field.

B Y CARO LYN GONZA L E S

Mirage was the title

of the University of

New Mexico yearbook

until its last edition

in 1978. Since that

time, the title was

adopted by the alumni

magazine which

continues to publish

vignettes of

UNM graduates.

The University of New Mexico

Patriotism and theSecond Amendment(Summer, Fall, Winter 2002)

Born and raised in the Regular Army, thispatriot thumbed a ride to the recruiting

office downtown on 8 December 1941, wastold to go back to the U and take his examsearly and then return to the recruiter. On17 December, he swore to uphold theConstitution, and became a dog-faced soldier.

Now this 84-year-old patriot can lookback on four-plus years in the Army AirCorps, 11-plus years in the New Mexico Air National Guard (a founder member),two years in the Air Force, and nine-plusyears in the Air Force Reserve. His countryowes him nothing for that service, but hispatriotism was well rewarded.

As for the Second Amendment. I took a course at UNM in the Constitution and Iread the amendments very carefully. Muchas I love my collection of weapons, itbecame clear to me that the SecondAmendment was crafted at a time whenevery family felt the need for protection.They satisfied that need by forming localmilitia units and the militiamen bore thearms. When the National Guard wasformed, its headquarters in DC was calledthe Militia Bureau; today it is the NationalGuard Bureau.

Today we have a Regular Army, an AirForce, and a Navy with ample means toprotect us from external threats. Each statehas an Army National Guard and an AirForce National Guard with ample resourcesfor the use of the Governor to protect hiscitizens and to assist state, county, and cityofficials in times of great need.

Now, I can sit back, relax, and feel confident that I have no need to bear arms.I am not afraid of my government, nor am I afraid of the state. As can be read in theSecond Amendment, the need to bear armswas conditional; today the arms are capablycarried by our servicemen and women, sowe no longer need to have a long riflestanding by the front door.

Rhodes F. Arnold, Lt. Col. USAF(Ret.), ’48 BA

Metairie, Louisiana

Regarding Repatriation(Winter 2002)

The article on Marla Big Boy’s fight toprotect the Kennewick Man skeleton

omitted key information. The skeleton hasunusual physical features that suggest hewas more closely related to modern Asiansthan to modern Native Americans. Thisfinding has important implications for theprehistoric settlement of North America,and questions the very definition of “native”when describing cultures. Any claim to askeleton that is over 9,000 years old, basedon continuity of oral tradition and tribalaffiliation, defies anthropological evidenceand credibility. Over 9,000 years, many cultures have come and gone in NorthAmerica and are related to modern NativeAmericans to the extent Europeans arerelated to Neanderthals. Burial of the skeleton buries the potential for discoveringexciting insight into the early inhabitants of North America and reinforces modernracial boundaries rather than exploringshared racial common ground.

Michael McCarthy, ’96 BSColumbus, Ohio

It was with deep regret that I read the article regarding Marla Big Boy’s work in

repatriation of Native American remains.While I support in general the entire movementto repatriate remains, funerary offerings,and other related ethnographic/culturalmaterials as covered by thefederal guidelinesNAGPRA andARPA, the case of the so-calledKennewick Man(“Ancient One”) represents a ratherspecial and morerestrictive case, whichhas obviously beenargued and litigated and,in one judge’s opinion, is not covered by theselegal documents.

Your one-sided representation of the issues,

which have been raised in this particularcase, does not fairly explain or present tothe reader the many sides to this complexanthropological mystery…

A somewhat cursory review of the legaland scientific issues will reveal that:1) No bones were exhumed…2) The finding of the skeletal remains

was serendipitous, made by untrained participants of a local festival…

3) The initial investigation of the remains, handled by the local coroner’s office, centered on a potential homicide investigation…

4) The anthropological investigation initially centered on a premise that the remains were by analysis determined to be European in nature…

5) Only after additional specialized chemical and destructive analyses were the remains carbon-dated to approximately 10,000 years old…

6) All legal permits that were required wereobtained prior to the search for any additional remains and this search did not include any exhumation activities.So, the allegations presented in the

article of unauthorized exhumation andnon-permitted access are not substantiatedby a careful review of the facts. In addition,Big Boy’s assertion that there is “no biologicalbasis for racial determination” is not correct,as physical anthropologists, medical

professionals, andbiologists all canshow using wellestablished physicalparameters andmeasurements, therelative age, race,health, lifestyle of an individualbased uponexamination of the skull and otherbones… TheKennewickMan skeletalremains donot meet


letters

unm

the legal requirements of resembling any ofthe local indigenous peoples (as detailed byNAGPRA) of the Washington area. Theseremains are classified scientifically as maleCaucasian, thereby causing the tremendousenigma of who was Kennewick Man. Wasthis individual one of the First Americansor a transient to the area? The stone lance-point embedded in his hip only deepens the mystery of his life and death in modern day Washington.Steven D. Rospopo, ’73 BS/BA, ’97 BSME

Albuquerque

[The statement on page 34], “After theBattle of Little Big Horn in 1876, a

group of native survivors of Wounded Kneeformed a religious and spiritual movement... called the Ghost Dancers ... the armymassacred a group of 70 Ghost Dancers ...ground frozen ... buried in shallowgraves...,” is historically confused and atvariance with historical records. While it is true that some of the survivors of theLakota-Tsitsitas victory on the GreasyGrass (translation of the Lakota name forthe Little Big Horn River) in 1876 joinedthe Ghost Dance, it must be emphasizedthat the relevant Ghost Dance (there wasanother one) was in 1889-1890; theMassacre at Wounded Knee Creek tookplace in December 1890. And it is true thata blizzard roared through South Dakota thatnight and the bodies could not be buriedfor several days. But, it is anachronistic tostate that a group of “survivors of WoundedKnee ... were massacred”; no such eventhappened. The massacre was of some ofthe survivors of Greasy Grass (1876) atWounded Knee Creek (1890).

Moreover, I know of no evidence of“shallow graves” and “resurfacing remains”at Wounded Knee. Indeed, photographstaken at the time show, and contemporarydocuments speak, of only a single deepburial trench, the same one that is still onthe grounds of the Wounded Knee Church,some eight to ten feet deep…

Thomas Kavanagh, ’71 BA, ’86 PhDBloomington, Indiana

The garbled statement on page 34 is[inaccurate]: “After the battle of the

Little Big Horn in 1876, a group of nativesurvivors of Wounded Knee formed a religiousand spiritual movement to deal with genocide... called the Ghost Dancers.” The Siouxvictims of the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Kneedied because of circumstances associatedwith the Ghost Dance movement, initiated byWovoka (Jack Wilson, a member of the Utetribe in Nevada). The sentence inverts therelationship between movement and massacre.

The article further quotes Marla BigBoy, as follows: “The tribes (of NativeAmericans) consider themselves to be onepeople with a common ancestry.” I wouldnot want to be in her place, when asked to explain to others this insupportable nonsense, including presumably her own Oglala Lakota nation.

I am sure Marla Big Boy is a worthysubject for an alumni issue focusing onrights-advocacy. It may have been wiser,however, not to have stressed her connectionto litigation (Kennewick) with which shehas had no direct connection for four years.The case is indeed a fascinating intersectionof law and cultural questions. But, as presented, the reader receives only lop-sided rhetoric from the standpoint ofwhat today is the losing position, at that.

Howard J. De Nike, ’92 MA, ’95 PhDSan Francisco, California

With regards to Marla Big Boy’s article,it may be true that many in the past

have been insensitive to presumed NativeAmerican burials. Indians too have beeninsensitive to remains of humans. Custer’ssolders at Big Horn were violated and theirbelongings taken. Even NAGPRA is not atotal answer. Jemez people paid no attentionas to whether or not the burials excavatedat Pecos might have been Spanish Padres,local Mexican-Americans, visiting Apaches,or Comanches. Scientific analysis wouldhave answered the question and giveninformation on historical relationships andpossible knowledge of medical problemsand their solutions. Some Americans seemto want to keep us in the dark and ignorant.

Lloyd M. Pierson, ’43 BA, ’48 MAMoab, Utah

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 7

John L. Kessell, ’69 PhD (Durango,Colorado); Rick Hendricks, ’85 PhD (Las Cruces, New Mexico); Meredith Dodge,’85 PhD (Filchburg, Massachussetts); andLarry Miller, ’72 BA, ’95 MA (Albuquerque)have edited The Journals of don Diego deVargas, New Mexico, 1700-1704, the sixthand final volume of the de Vargas Journals,published by the UNM Press.

Herb Orrell, ’83 BUS, of Houston, Texas,has published a book, Unspeakable: TheTruth about Grief.

Jean Boyd Shannon, ’83 MA, publishedthree books in 2002: Carrying Water in aSieve, a collection of her poetry; Meditationfor the Earth, a chapbook of poems; andStars Scattered Like Seeds, a collection ofpoems and stories drawn from her early lifein Virginia. Jean lives in Albuquerque.

Mark Edward Mathis, ’85 BA, ofAlbuquerque, is the author of Feeding theMedia Beast, published by Purdue UniversityPress. It offers guidelines for an “easy recipefor great publicity” for novices in dealingwith the media.

Avrum Organick, ’96 MA, is author ofthree books. Blessings and Red Lake are fictionalized memoirs of the cross-culturallife he (of Jewish ancestry) and his Navajowife have led. Canyon Boy is a children’sbook based on the stories told by his father-in-law, Joseph Leo Gail, born andraised in Canyon de Chelly. Organick is a primary care physician at the Tsaile HealthCenter in Navajo, New Mexico.

Lois Ellen Frank, ’99 MA, has published anew cookbook, Foods of the SouthwestIndian Nations. She lives in Santa Fe.

Pete Vordenberg, ’00 BA, has publishedMomentum: Chasing the Olympic Dream,an inside look into life as an elite cross-country skier. Pete is a two-time Olympian,national champion, and current US teamcoach who lives in Bend, Oregon.

Mark Mathis, ’85

Profile Pronouncements(Winter 2002)

It has been my fortune to meet, know, chat with, and enjoy the company of both

F. Chris Garcia and Mari-Luci Jaramillo.Both exhibit a low-key approach to life,play, and work but one that is bolstered bydetermination, skill, and compassion.Receptive, always cordial, their professionalismand contributions to their communities represent the best of New Mexico. Theaccomplishments of Garcia and Jaramillosuggest that creative and positive “rolemodels” exist not only for younger generations, but all of us.

James A. Morris, ’74 PhDBaker City, Oregon

Iread with great interest that theUniversity of New Mexico has a Hispanic

President, F. Chris Garcia. The reason thisreally caught my attention is the fact thatyears ago, probably in the 1920s, theUniversity of New Mexico did not allowSpanish-speaking young people to enroll asstudents at UNM. It was Menaul School thathad the honor of breaking that barrier andof sending the first Hispanic students to theUniversity of New Mexico. There were three boys and of the three, I only remember onename, the Rev. José Inez Candelaria….

So you see, we are very proud to havePresident Garcia, a Hispanic, as presidentof the University of New Mexico. I wouldlike to make one comment, though: Garciamust have an accent on the “i”.

Lydia García Ras-Allard, ’49 BAEDCarien, Connecticut

Editor’s note: Within the limits of ourknowledge, Mirage uses diacritical markings in names in accordance withthe name-holder’s wishes. Dr. Garciadoes not use the accent in his name.Also, curious about UNM’s history ofadmitting Hispanics, I asked the university archivist to fill us in:

Ican find no evidence that “Spanish speak-ing” students, meaning students with

Hispanic surnames, were denied entry intoUNM prior to the 1920s. If the writer means students who spoke only Spanish and noEnglish, she is probably correct becauseUNM is not a bilingual teaching institution.

I do find abundant evidence thatHispanics were present at UNM prior to the1920s. Mariano Otero served on the firstBoard of Regents when UNM opened in1892. The first Hispanic professor, AtanasioMontoya Jr., was hired in the fall of 1897.His biography states that he was a studentat UNM for six years before becoming aprofessor. That would put him in the firstclass of students in the summer of 1892.

The yearbooks prior to 1920 list students with Hispanic surnames also. They were involved in athletics and theater,served as class presidents, and also wonscholarships and prizes.

When UNM was created by TerritorialAct in 1889, there was not a public highschool in New Mexico so not many peoplethought UNM would survive. Because of this,it was important that UNM admit anyonequalified—even women. The admission policyin the earliest catalogs states that potentialstudents must either take a qualifying examor have a certificate from their formerschool detailing their studies and grades.

Terry GugliottaUniversity Archivist

Water Wish (Winter 2002)

It was refreshing to hear from four well-informed and intelligent people

about the water situation in New Mexico. I realize they wish to be cooperative andnon-confrontational, but at least a mentionof the water wasted on golf courses wouldbe in order. Yes, I know, money into thestate, recycled water, etc.—but couldn't itbe recycled for a better use? Kathleen McNerney, ’67 BA, ’70 MA, ’77 PhD

Morgantown, West Virginia

Foul ID! (Winter 2002)

My mother, Dorothy Burnett, was excitedto see the basketball picture on page

10 of the Winter 2002 issue of Mirage. She and my brothers and I immediately recognized the 1937 Lobo hoopster as ourfather, Bill Burnett, who graduated from UNMin 1940. He was the leading scorer for theLobos over his playing career. The picturecaption incorrectly identifies the hoopsteras Sam Shortle. While Sam was also astarter on the team, this is not his picture!

Barbara Burnett Riggs

Editor’s note: We appreciate your correction.And here again is your dad’s photo, correctly captioned!

Mirage welcomes letters to the editor. If you

would like to comment on something you’ve read

in the magazine, please write us. Letters will be

published as space allows and may be edited for

clarity and brevity. Letters must be signed. It’s

helpful if you include your location and degrees.

Our address is: Mirage, UNM Alumni Relations,

Hodgin Hall, Albuquerque NM 87131-0016.

E-mail: [email protected]. To see the unedited

version of these letters, go to www.unmalumni.com.


unm

Hooping it Up: Lobo hoopster Bill Burnettposes for the camera in 1937.

UNM Archives

f u n d i n g c o n n e c t i o n sGreat Grant: The National Institute onDrug Abuse recently named UNM as one of 17 sites in a Clinical Trials Network toimprove community-based treatment ofdrug abuse and dependence. With start-upfunding of $1.7 million, and an estimated$10 million over a five-year period, this isone of the largest addiction research grantsin the state’s history.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-30nida.htm

Speaking of Funding: The US Departmentof Education Office of English LanguageAcquisition has awarded the UNMMulticultural Bilingual Education Centerand Division of Language Literacy andSociocultural Studies in the College ofEducation a five-year, $1.2 million grant toboost the number of educators skilled inteaching English as a second language.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-11-06ortiz.htm

hono r a b l e c o n n e c t i o n sEnergizing Experience: C. Jeff Brinker, professor of chemical and nuclear engineeringand chemistry at UNM, was one of sevenrecipients of the EO Lawrence Awardannounced by US Secretary of EnergySpencer Abraham. The award is given foroutstanding contributions in the field ofatomic energy, which has influenced manyfields of science including environmentalresearch, materials science, and nuclearmedicine.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-09-26brinker.htm

Tres bien! Assistant professor Tim Castillo,UNM School of Architecture and Planning,received an honorable mention by theParis-based organization groupe e2 in the“e2-contest,” an international competitionopen to young architects and students inarchitecture, landscape, and urban design.Castillo’s submission, PARK(ING), was alsoselected for an international exhibition. http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-09-30castillo.htm

Beam Me Up! Professor Arthur H. Guentherof UNM’s Center for High TechnologyMaterials was one of four speakers at aWhite House Conference on Optics andPhotonics where he received the OpticalSociety of America's David RichardsonMedal for his pioneering contributions and continued leadership in the study oflaser-induced damage of optical materials.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-21guenther.htm

Prost! UNM professor Peter Pabisch,German Studies, has been namedDistinguished Max Kade Research Professorand served as panelist and moderator at a conference at the University of Graz inAustria earlier this year. Pabisch, one ofonly five United States members of PEN, an international association of writers, is anauthority on dialectic German.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-11-13pabisch.htm

Award of the Ages: UNM English professorHelen Damico is this year’s recipient of theMedieval Academy of America’s annualaward for Outstanding Service to MedievalStudies. The award is the most prestigiousgiven by the Medieval Academy, the premierprofessional organization for medievalists in the United States and Canada.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-12-04damico.htm

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 9

Anne Van Arsdall, ’01 PhD, has publishedher dissertation, Medieval Herbal Remedies:The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-SaxonMedicine (Routledge Press), a translation ofan Anglo-Saxon medical reference used byhealers in Western Europe from the fifthcentury until well into the Renaissance. She works at Sandia Labs.

William Federici, ’39 BS, of Santa Fe, wasrecognized for his contributions to NewMexico during his long judicial career withthe Zia Award at Homecoming 2002. Federiciis a former justice and chief justice of theNew Mexico Supreme Court, former presidentof the New Mexico State Bar, and memberof the New Mexico State Bar Commissionfor many years.

Shepard Levine, '50 BAED, of Corvallis,Oregon, taught art at Oregon State Universityfrom 1954 to 1991. He still paints every dayand recently held a retrospective at the BentonCounty Museum in Philomath, Oregon.

Ramón Huerta, ’50 BAED, ’56 MA, ’80 EDSP,was honored during Homecoming 2002with the UNM Alumni Association’s ZiaAward in recognition of his contributions inthe field of education and participation incommunity and volunteer activities.

John E. Chausteur, ’52 BABA, retired fromthe US Air Force in 1970; traveled; went towork for Sears in 1973, and retired fromthere in 1986. He lives in Albuquerque.

Sam Suplizio, ’54 BSPE, has been inductedinto the American Baseball CoachesAssociation Hall of Fame. Sam lives in GrandJunction, Colorado. (See story this issue.)

Kent Hoffman, ’55 BABA, served two years in the Army and then with theAmerican Red Cross-Service to the ArmedForces branch for 40 years. He retired in San Antonio, Texas, in 1997.

John H. Morrison, ’55 BABA, of Evanston,Ilinois, has been elected an Honorary Life Member of the International BarAssociation. He chairs the IBA committeewhich assists lawyers and their bar associationsin developing countries on such matters as continuing legal education, practice management, rule of law, and independenceof the judiciary.

Bill Lee, ’56 BSPH, of Lovington, New Mexico, has received a bronze cowboy award from the Lea County Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center.

C. Robert Campbell, ’58 BSAE, hasreceived the 2002 Distinguished Alumniaward from the UNM School of Architectureand Planning. He was recently elected presidentof the National Council of ArchitecturalRegistration Boards and is a consultant toBDA Architecture, PC, in Albuquerque.

connections

unm

Helen Damico

Matthew

Dunn

Kudos! Robert Meyers, associate directorof the UNM Clinical Research Branch of theCenter on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse,and Addiction, has earned the 2002 DanAnderson Research Award from theHazelden Foundation. Meyers achieved thehonor for his community reinforcement andfamily training method for engaging unmo-tivated substance abusers into treatment.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-12-06meyers.htm

Top Lawyer: UNM Law professor James W.Ellis has been named “Lawyer of the Year”by the National Law Journal. Recipients arechosen for their “impact on the law and society.”http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-02-07ellis.htm

Fellow Psychologist: Luis A. Vargas, clinicalpsychologist and associate professor of psychiatry, has been elected by his peers as a Fellow of the American PsychologicalAssociation for 2003. Fellows are selectedfor their exceptional and outstanding contributions to the research, teaching, or practice of psychology.http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release&EntryID=1047

Fellow Engineer: Professor Norman R.Roderick, department of chemical andnuclear engineering, has been namedAmerican Institute of Electrical Engineersgrade of Fellow.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-01-02roderick.htm

Leah in the Lead: Leah L. Albers, a professorin the UNM College of Nursing, has beennamed a fellow in the American Academyof Nursing, joining an elite group of nursingleaders nationwide.http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release&EntryID=998

Joy Good Fellow! Joy Griffin, associateprofessor of physical performance anddevelopment in the College of Education,has been elected to the Association for theAdvancement of Applied Sports PsychologyCollege of Fellows. She is one of only 58individuals to receive the honor worldwide.Advancing to fellow status is the highesthonor the association bestows.

Yale on the Frontier: Virginia Scharff,director of the Center for the Southwest atUNM, will be the Frederick W. Beinecke

Senior Research Fellow at the Howard R.Lamar Center at Yale University in 2003-04.Her research will focus on the study offrontiers and borders.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-09-18scharff.htm

Preserving Policy: Paul Nathanson, directorof the UNM School of Law’s Institute ofPublic Law, has been elected chair of the board of directors for the NationalCommittee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-1-24nathanson.htm

Teaching Boost: Assistant architecture professor Geoffrey Adams is the recipientof the 2003 Association of CollegiateSchools of Architecture/American Instituteof Architecture Students New FacultyTeaching Award.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-01-29Adams.htm

Showcase Scientist: Biology professorMaggie Werner-Washburne has beenselected by the American Association forthe Advancement of Science as one of ninescientists to participate in a project toshowcase achievements of distinguished US Hispanic women scientists to wide audiences of scientists, educators, students,and policymakers in Latin America.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-02-04biology.htm

Advisor against Violence: PamelaGalbraith, behavioral health administratorwith the UNM Health Sciences Center, has recently been named to the USDepartment of Health and Human Services National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women.http://hscapp.unm.edu/calendar/output/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.release&EntryID=1046

Supremely Innovative: The Rozier E.Sanchez Judicial Education Center of New Mexico at the Institute of Public Law,UNM School of Law, has been recognizedfor its innovative web-based educationalprogramming with a national award presented recently at the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court inWashington DC.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-25jec.htm

s t u d e n t c o n n e c t i o n sLes Etudes: UNM College of Education doctoral student Anselmo Torres-Arizmendi has been selected from among480 candidates worldwide to study at theInternational Institute for EducationPlanning in Paris, France.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-07anselmo.htm

Scholars All: Ron Denny, Genevieve Eros,and Julian Lucero-Emmons each receivedFord Motor Company/American Indian CollegeFund Corporate scholarship awards ofapproximately $5,000 for the fall semester.Only 12 scholarships were awarded nationally to students attending non-tribalcolleges. The college fund also announcedthat UNM junior Sandy Marcelline Hensleyreceived a David and Lucille PackardFoundation grant of $10,000, one of only 10 awarded nationally.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-16HTeros.htm

n ew c o n n e c t i o n sReigning Regents: New Mexico GovernorBill Richardson has announced the appointments of four new regents to UNM’s seven-member board. They areJames H. Koch, president of DanielsInsurance of Santa Fe and outgoing chairman of the state Democratic Party;Donald Salazar, a Santa Fe attorney specializing in administrative and regulatorylaw; Maria Griego-Raby of Albuquerque,president and principal of ContractAssociates, Inc., a commercial and officefurniture company, and past president of the UNM Alumni Association; and,Andrea Cook, past-president of theAssociated Students of UNM who will serve as the student-regent.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-01-22regents.htm

M I R A G E m a g a z i n e1 0

unm

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3

New at NAS: Greg Cajete was recentlynamed director of Native American Studies(NAS) at UNM. He is an associate professorwith NAS and the College of Education. A native of Santa Clara Pueblo, Cajete will sculpt curriculum in an effort to createa bachelor’s degree at UNM in NativeAmerican Studies.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-10-08cajete.htm

Economic Advice: UNM President Chris Garcia has appointed professor ofentrepreneurship and strategy John Youngspecial advisor on economic development.Young will represent the President’s Officein economic development matters involvinggovernment and business organizations andhelp guide the university’s participation instatewide economic development.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/03-01-27young.htm

med i a c o n n e c t i o n sTop Notch Engineering: US News andWorld Reports ranks UNM’s engineeringprogram among the best programs atschools where the highest degree offered is a doctorate. The US News ranking relies on quantitative measures that education experts propose as reliable indicators of academic quality.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-09-19usnews.htm

Top Buy: For the seventh consecutive year,UNM has been named in the annual reporton America’s 100 Best College Buysdesignating the university as one ofAmerica’s best college educations for thecost. The report, compiled by InstitutionalResearch and Evaluation, Inc., included 1,026accredited US colleges and universities offering four-year undergraduate-degreeprograms that responded to the survey.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/Oct1bestbuy.htm

Top Escuela: The UNM School ofEngineering was ranked seventh onHispanic Engineer & InformationTechnology magazine’s top 21 schools forHispanics in the November/December issue.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-11-19hispanic.htm

As a Matter of Fact: The 2001-2002 UNMFact Book, a statistical book containing awide range of information and data aboutUNM, is now available online. Published bythe Office of Institutional Research, TheUNM Fact Book is helpful in researchingand discovering details about UNM, includingdata on students, faculty, and staff. It also contains information about degrees,program accreditation, research, finances,and UNM’s organizational structure.http://www.unm.edu/~oir/

m i s c e l l a n e o u s c o n n e c t i o n sThis Could Get Sticky! This fall, the UNMOffice of the Registrar began implementingWeb Grades, a new web-based, system thatallows faculty to post students’ grades onthe internet instead of submitting theirgrades on paper.http://www.unm.edu/news/Releases/02-11-06web.htm

Check Us Out! To learn more good information about UNM’s people, places and programs, click on the“Accomplishments” web page.http://www.unm.edu/news/AccomplishmentsIndex2002.htm

morealbum

1 1

Grace Fink, ’58 BSHP, has been honored asone of the “Extraordinary Women inJefferson County” by the West Chamberserving Jefferson County and EasyChairMagazine. Grace lives in Lakewood, Colorado.

Adolph Saenz, ’58 BBA, of Albuquerque,continues his work in the field of security as security consultant

Jim Hulsman, ’59 BSPH, has retired after42 years of coaching high school basketballin Albuquerque. Over 34 years, he ledAlbuquerque High to 660 wins and sevenstate championships.

James H. Koch, ’59 BSPH, has beenappointed by New Mexico Governor BillRichardson as a new UNM Regent. He livesin Santa Fe.

Louis L. Weller, ’59 BARC, has been electedto a four-year term on the UNM FoundationBoard of Directors. He is an architect inAlbuquerque.

W. Stewart Saul, ’60 BABA, has retiredfrom the life and health insurance businessto enjoy golfing in Garland, Texas.

Lewis B. Barger, ’61 BABA, retired in 1993after 28 years in contract administration ofgovernment/industrial contracts with variouscompanies. He held the positions of contractadministrator, manager and director of contracts,and vice president-contract administration.He lives in Leesburg, Florida.

Fred Begay, ’61 BS, ’63 MS, ’73 PhD,received the Alumni Association’s Zia Awardduring Homecoming 2002 in recognition ofhis activities in furthering Native Americaneducation, especially in the area of scienceand engineering. Fred is a nuclear physicistat Los Alamos National Lab.

Richard Gerding, ’61 BABA, ’64 JD, ofFarmington, has been elected to the UNMFoundation Board of Directors.

Jack Westman, ’61 BSCE, has received the“Ingeniero Veterano de Nuevo Mexico”award from the New Mexico Society ofProfessional Engineers. He is a partner in the Albuquerque firm of Bohannan-Westman-Huston, working in land development and construction.

Les Adler, ’63 BA, has been appointeddean of the School of Extended Educationat Sonoma State University, where he hastaught since 1970. He previously was professor of history and provost of theHutchins School of Liberal Studies. He lives in Cotati, California.

Greg Cajete

Matthew

Dunn


conversation

unm

During fall semester 2002, all six

participants had been members of a Freshman

Interest Group (FIG) taught by Yvonne Peña and Gary

Ballinger, entitled “The Next Great Generation.” The

FIGs are one aspect of a UNM initiative to improve the

“freshman experience,” helping freshmen to

weather the adjustment to university life.

Six UNM freshmen talk

about their first experiences

as university students.

Matthew

Dunn

a fresh look

at freshman life

El i

s eA t h e n s V a l e r i e S t e

i nh

au

s

VB Price: What’s the biggest difference in your experiencebetween high school and college life?

Dan Hedges: I think the biggest differenceis time management. High school is allstructured. At college you have class atdifferent times. Like, if you have timein between two different classes, a couple of hours, you should get somehomework done or do your laundry orall that stuff that you need to get done.

Elise Athens: I find that it’s the amountof work. In high school, I did barely theminimum and I got straight A’s and incollege I’m, like, working my butt off,trying to get A’s.

Valerie Steinhaus: Me, it’s the homework.In high school, they make you do thehomework. It’s required. Here, it’s, like,you do it if you want to do well and ifyou don’t do it, then you don’t do well.

Ashley Lynch: I think the biggest difference is with the teachers. In highschool, you have to go to class. Theyhave to teach class or there has to be asubstitute. I had a class last Friday, andthe teacher came in and said, “I justcan’t handle this today. I’ll give out thehomework. We’ll collect assignments onMonday,” and we left within ten minutes.

Jennifer Siow: For me, it’s more ethnically diverse than high school. I went to high school where, like, 90 percent of the students wereHispanic and, I’d say, five percent were Native American, and the rest,African American and Asian and others.It’s a good experience because, like, Iget to know more people and abouttheir culture and background.

Jonah Levine: One of the biggest differences is the people, actually. I live in the dorms and, like, I live withpeople from all over the country. So it’s like a lot of different perspectives.When I was in high school, I got only oneperspective, really. People seem morein touch with the world, things like politics, traveling. People are interestedin a lot more different things.

Ashley: I’ve actually had the oppositefrom Jonah and Jennifer. I came froman area that was as diverse as possible.Like, it was almost equal withHispanics, Blacks, Asians, and Whitepeople. I’ve had the opposite experiencewith politics, but, I was in DC so youcan’t get more involved than that.

VB Price: How tough was it to movefrom your high school to a communitywith 25,000 students in it—many ofthem older, quite a number of thema lot older than you are?

Elise: It’s very intimidating. It used tobe the same people every day and nowI have no idea who’s around me. Andthen there’s people that, they’re older,they know more, they think they’resmarter, but I’m not sure. It’s just different. You get used to it after a while.

Valerie: For me, it’s the opposite. Like,I love it! I get to meet more people. Ithink it’s kinda boring to see the samefaces every day. I’ve made so manyfriends from all over the world.

Dan: At first it was intimidatingbecause it’s hard to come from thatcomfort of having your solid group offriends and all of these people you’veknown your whole life. It was hard atfirst to meet people. It looks like

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 1 3

Ed Lewis, ’63 BA, ’65 MA, last fall receiveda Magazine Publishers of America IndividualLifetime Achievement Award. The HenryJohnson Fisher Award recognizes individualswho have made significant and long-standingcontributions to the magazine publishingindustry and society. Lewis is chairman andCEO of Essence Communications Partners,publisher of Essence Magazine.

Bob Canon, ’64 BS, of Sterling, Virginia, iswith SAI and works in Systems EngineerSupport Missile Defense Agency. He recentlyreceived a master’s degree from GeorgeWashington University.

Gary Ness, ’64 BSHP, ’66 MA, currently ofLynchburg, Virginia, is returning toAlbuquerque to become head footballcoach at Albuquerque High School.

Scott McCoy, ’65 BADA, has been a theatrearts professor at the University of Mississippifor 17 years. Having been director of thedepartment’s directing and graduate studiesfor 10 years, he has recently assumed thedepartment chair.

Fred M. Almy, ’67 BABA, has had a careerspanning 33 years in the petroleum industry,holding management positions in informationtechnology and accounting. Currently, heserves on advisory boards for informationsystems, including Information ManagementForum and Texas A&M Center forManagement Information Systems. He resides in The Woodlands, Texas.

Charles M. Atkinson, ’63 BAMU, ofColumbus, Ohio, has been awarded aFellowship by the National Endowment forthe Humanities for the 2003-04 academicyear. It will support the completion of anedition of the melodies for the Sanctus andAgnus Dei of the Roman Mass for theirTropes and Prosulas.

Ed Lewis, ’63

G U I D I N G L I G H T : Elise Athens (left) and Valerie Steinhaus found the

countless new faces on the UNM campus both intimidating and exciting.

Knowing they had the support of friends and mentors in their Freshman

Interest Group helped.

there’s so many people around you,but, once you settle in, it becomesmore, like, comfortable.

Ashley: I took to it okay. The city itselfis smaller, and having everybody insuch a small area was one thing, but I was fine with the transition.

Jennifer: I was fine with it because Iused to go to NMSU during the summersto summer programs. This past summer,I was here at AISB (American IndianSummer Bridge). I would stay with mysister and would attend classes here,so it was no big deal for me.

Jonah: When I came here at first, it waspretty scary. I remember my parentsdrove me down from Oregon and, like,it’s a totally different place. I’ve onlybeen here once before in my life andthat was a long time ago. When theyleft me, I was just sitting in my dorm,like, what do I do now, you know? Howdo I meet people? Eventually it justhappens. You start talking to peopleand you just start to fit in.

VB Price: Let me ask you anotherquestion about freshman retentionor the academic choices programthat you were involved with. Howdid the program help you adjust tothese kinds of pressures and stresses?

Jennifer: It was easier to meet people.Since they’re your age, you can relateto them. And since we had two classes—we had anthropology and the FIG(Freshman Interest Group) together,you always knew someone was there,like, who had the notes if you didn’t go.That was easier.

Dan: I think it helped because therewas this one class that was, like, intimate. We had discussions and yougot to hear everyone speaking in theclass. It was a nice break from being inall these classes with people you didn’teven know. With the FIG, we’re all thesame age. We’re all, like, in the sameposition at the school, at the time.

Jonah: It’s like having a small class. All the other classes I had were at least40 people. I didn’t feel like I could speakout, really, even if I had something tosay. It was really nice, wanting to beable to say something and feeling likeyou could.

Elise: I liked the FIG class because itbrought to the forefront issues thatwere facing us as college freshmen. Wegot more detailed information aboutstuff on campus. And it was easier torelate to the people in the class andhave open discussions.

VB Price: What has surprised you the most about UNM so far?

Ashley: I knew I was going to, like, adecent school, but I didn’t realize howprestigious this school was until thesecond day of orientation when my orientation leader was talking abouthow we’re top in so many differentdepartments. Some departments, I didn’t even know we had.


unm

Matthew

Dunn

Jonah Levin

e

Dan

Hedg e

s

P O R T I N A S T O R M : Jonah Levine (left)

and Dan Hedges came to UNM from distant states,

Oregon and Massachusetts, respectively. Both found

a welcome respite in their Freshman Interest Group,

part of a program developed by the university to

help freshmen adapt to their new situation.

VB Price: I don’t think the rest of New Mexico realizes either, unhappily. That’s part of your job as alumni-to-be, to help educateNew Mexico and everybody elseabout this school.

Valerie: The classes surprised me.There’s so much diversity in what youcan take, like Portugese. I was in Braziland, like, I had no idea they even hadPortugese here. I was so excited.

Jonah: Just the classes themselves—the way they are taught, the teachers,just, like, telling you all this stuff andyou need to take notes and listen. It’spretty different.

Dan: Actually, I was surprised at theclass size. I thought since it was such a huge school that all the classes weregoing to be huge lectures, but most ofmy classes, like my Spanish class, arereally small, which is good.

Jennifer: I guess professors surprisedme more than anything, because evenwith big classes, they’re still willing tohear your problems, like, if you’re havingdifferent things going on in your life,they’re still there and they still want to know what’s going on, to help you.

Elise: The surprising thing about itwas, like, all the programs that theyoffer on campus, like CAPS (Center forAcademic Program Support), becauseit helps a lot for people who don’t havetime to go see their professors or theirprofessors aren’t that willing to help them.

VB Price: Could you all run downwhere you came from and what your major is or possibly will be and what your high school was and stuff like that?

Dan: I’m from just outside Boston, asuburb, Needham, and my high schoolis really small. I graduated with about50 other kids. I’m thinking about

majoring in art or international studies.Maybe journalism. I really don’t know.

VB Price: What brought you here?

Dan: I just wanted a change. I’ve livedin the same place my whole life and Itraveled down here about three yearsago with my dad for a vacation, and Ijust decided, why not? Jonah: I’m originally from Portland,Oregon. I went to a high school thathad about 2,000 kids. I’m a biologymajor here right now. It might be subject to change. I want to do, maybe,something with art too. I’m interestedin photography so I think I might try tominor in, like, studio arts or something.I guess I came here because I didn’tknow anybody here and it seemed likea good school when I came down tovisit. It’s still good, I guess.

Elise: I’m from Gallup, New Mexico,originally. Two hours away, not a bigdifference. There were 500-plus in mygraduating class at Gallup High School.My major is tentatively computer science,just depending. I did think about goingto another school, but I have a twin sister in college at the same time, so,financially it’s a burden on my parents.If I go to another school, out of state, it makes it harder on them.

Valerie: I’m from Santa Fe and my highschool—Santa Fe High—had about2,000 people in it. I’m not sure about mymajor yet. I have a double major. Onehalf in Portuguese, one half in, I don’tknow, maybe something international.

Jennifer: I’m from Acoma and I went to school at Grants High School. Mygraduating class is probably, well, myfreshman class was about 300 and itbecame the smallest graduating classin Grants’ history with only a couplehundred because a lot of kids ended updropping out of school. I’m undecidedin my major because my parents and

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 1 5

Douglas Bruce Corwin, ’67 BAFA, writeshe lives happily with his wife and five childrenin the Napa Valley and works out of his home-office located in a beautiful garden growingdelicious heirloom vegetables and tomatoes.

Mark Johnson, ’67 BSHP, has been inductedinto the American Baseball CoachesAssociation Hall of Fame. He is head baseballcoach at Texas A&M in College Station.

Gary Repetto, ’67 BS, transferred last summerwith TRW (now Northrop Grumman) toAurora, Colorado, where he is the recruitingand hiring manager for the Data SystemsOperations Group of the Command, Control Intelligence Division.

Pearl Burns, ’68 BS, of Albuquerque, celebrated her 80th birthday last summer by climbing Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado, her 15th “Fourteener.”

Stephen Part, ’68 BA, ’84 MA, a socialstudies teacher at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, attended the prestigious2002 Supreme Court Summer Institute.Participants studied recent Supreme Courtcases and learned methodology for teachingabout court cases.

Anne Yegge, ’68 BA, ’71 BA, ofAlbuquerque, has been elected to the UNMFoundation Board of Directors.

Alex Beach, ’69 BSHE, was honored during Homecoming 2002 with the Alumni Association’s Zia Award, given inrecognition of her many volunteer activitiesand service to the Albuquerque communityand UNM. Alex is a past president of theAlumni Association.

Ron Curry, ’70 BA, of Albuquerque, hasbeen named secretary of the New MexicoEnvironment Department by New MexicoGovernor Bill Richardson.

Scott Sitzer, ’70 BA, is with the USDepartment of Energy’s Energy InformationAdministration. He was recently honoredwith a Meritorious Presidential Rank Awardfor his analysis and forecasting of US energymarkets. He resides in Arlington, Virginia.

Ronald C. Wiepz, ’70 BA, ’75 MBA, is currently on assignment in Hong Kong,working with a Chinese company onM&A/business development. He resides in Olympia, Washington.

Virginia Dugan, ’71 MA, ’75 AESP, ’95 JD, ‘96 DED, is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Marital PropertyCommittee/Family Law Section. She is ashareholder with the Albuquerque firm ofAtkinson & Kelsey, PA.

my family want me to pursue law, but Ifigured anthropology, and now I’m thinkingabout management or accounting.

Ashley: I’m from Alexandria, Virginiawhich is, like, 15 minutes outside ofDC. My class had, I think, about 500before dropouts. We ended up with 360after dropouts and failures. I came foran experience. I wanted to get awayfrom DC. I wanted to get away frompolitics. My family is from Ohio andIndiana, and I’m the only grandchild onmy mother’s side not to go to Indianafor school. I was going to make sure Iwas not going to Indiana! The onlyproblem with being out so far is, myfriends back home and even some ofmy family have a hard time keepingtrack of where I am. Texas and Mexicocome up a lot. I’m a media arts majorwith a minor in film.

VB Price: What an interesting bunchof people. Let me ask you this. If youhad a couple of UNM administratorshere at the table and you weren’t

worried about getting kicked out ofschool or anything like that—whichof course you would never be—whatwould you tell them about how toimprove or how to make the generalfreshman experience more reward-ing and less intimidating? Whatwould you say?

Jennifer: One of my friends had anFLC (Freshman Learning Community)class and they did a tremendousamount of homework. My class waseasy compared to that. We have fun,we laugh. Just make it fun. That’s whatI figure. Make it a good experiencebecause, if not, then most likely thefreshmen will drop out the next semester.

Valerie: My roommate was in a FIG lastyear and she hated it. She hated it andI loved it. Everyone I talked to hatedthe FIG class, so they need to structure them more like ours—not so muchhomework, just make it involved…

Dan: Have more instructors like ours.

Valerie: Just make them teach all theFIGs! And, maybe have the professorsbe more involved with the FIG class, because that helped us a lot. Like withthe tests. I didn’t really know how acollege test would be. For anthropology,the professor came in and helped us.Also, keep the, like, the English classes small.

Ashley: I don’t know, because we didhave such a good experience with ourFIG class. My roommate went home.She went to a campus closer to herhome. I don’t think she was, like, willingto be outgoing. She went home everyweekend. I don’t know what you coulddo with that. Yvonne Peña and Gary(Ballinger) were good teachers andProfessor (Louise) Lamphere cameover and helped us when it was timefor projects and tests. That helped us alot. Our FIG class did better than someof the other students, partly because wehad the teacher there studying with us.

Jonah: Try to, like, make the informationrelative to students so they want to


unm

Matthew

Dunn

As h

l ey

L y n c h

J en

ni f

e r S i o w

F A S T F R I E N D S : They couldn’t come from more

distinct backgrounds. Ashley Lynch, left, hales from

metropolitan Washington DC while Valerie Siow grew up

at Acoma Pueblo. The two became fast friends after

participating in the same Freshman Interest Group.

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 1 7

Daniel Lopez, ’71 BA, ’72 MA, ’83 PhD,has been honored by the New MexicoFoundation for Open Government with itsfirst William S. Dixon First AmendmentFreedom Award in Education. Earlier lastyear, he received the Alumni Association’sBernard S. Rodey Award. He was also arecipient of the New Mexico Public ServiceAward. He is president of New MexicoInstitute of Mining and Technology.

Irene Zenev, ’71 BA, exhibits curator forthe Benton County Museum in Philomath,Oregon, writes to say that in the course of inviting a local artist/teacher, ShepardLevine, to have a retrospective exhibit in the art gallery, she discovered he too is a UNM alum, class of 1950.

Ron Feingold, ’72 PhD, has been re-electedas president of the International Associationof Physical Education in Higher Education.He was also awarded the “Gold Cross,” the highest honor of the FederationInternationale d’Education Physique, the19th given in its 85-year history. Ron lives in Wantagh, New York.

Charles R. Hickam, ’72 BSEE, ’81 MD, hasjoined Radiology Associates of Albuquerque.

Jim Maddox, ’72 BUS, was named theREALTORS Association of New Mexico’s2002 REALTOR of the Year. He is presidentof Maddox & Co./REALTOR.

Herbert J. Hammond, ’73 BS, of Dallas,has been elected to The Best Lawyers inAmerica, a legal referral guide in the US.

Frank Ruvolo, ’73 BABA, is buyer at BakerUtility Supply in Albuquerque.

Ross Wirth, ’73 BS, of Claremore,Oklahoma, was recently named manager,organizational learning, at CITGO Petroleumin Tulsa.

Joe Abeyta, ’74 BA, ’75 MAPA, teachesthird grade at Carlos Gilbert ElementarySchool in Santa Fe.

Bruce A. Benham, ’74 BUS, chief technologyofficer at RE/MAX International, Inc., hasreceived the CIO of the Year Award 2001from the Center for Information Technologyat the University of Colorado at DenverSchool of Business. He lives in GreenwoodVillage, Colorado.

Sandra Jaramillo, ’74 BAED, is the newadministrator of the New Mexico StateRecords Center and Archives in Santa Fe.

Scott Evans, ’75 MSPE, ’82 EDSP, isAlbuquerque Public Schools athletic director.

iEasing the Freshman JittersIt’s tough being a freshman. Especially a freshman at a big university where the place,the people, the expectations are all new. Many can’t handle it, or they barely get by.

That’s why UNM, under the direction of University Studies Dean Peter White, hasbeen working diligently over the past five years to create a freshman experience thatwill ease the transition into college life. White and others hope to keep more kids inschool and help them raise their grades enough to qualify for New Mexico LotterySuccess Scholarships their second semester. On a voluntary basis, freshmen may chooseamong several Freshman Academic choices, including:

• Freshman Learning Communities (FLCs) A group of freshmen takes two classestogether. Faculty from various disciplines work together to introduce the students to the intellectual life of the university.

• Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) Freshmen enroll in a one-credit, theme-basedclass along with a regular, core-curriculum class. The weekly FIG meetings support academics and create bonds among students and teachers.

• Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) Students not only have classes together,but live together in the Student Residence Center.

According to White, all of the programs are “aimed at making this university into acloser and more personal community, where faculty, staff, and students feel identificationwith this place and one another.”

It appears to be working. Freshman retention to the third semester grew from 70.7 percent in 1997 to 75.8 percent in 2001, with larger increases among minorities.Freshmen who qualified for the lottery scholarship (minimum of 2.5 GPA and 12 creditsthe first semester) increased from 53.3 percent in 1997 to 70.2 percent in 2001.

Freshman enrollment in 2002 was 2,821. Of that number, 1,173, or 41.6 percent,participated in a Freshman Academic Choice.

learn it. Try to relate it to their lifesomehow. Like, how would this affectyou? Or how has this affected you?

Dan: Maybe they could keep all freshmen—even if they are not signed up for theFreshman Interest Group classes—moreinformed on what’s going on, wherecertain things are, what’s happening.

Ashley: I think it was good that FIGwas not mandatory. I have friends atschools back east and almost all ofthem have mandatory freshman classesand they hate going to them. I thinkthe fact that the FIG and the FLC arevoluntary makes them better.

VB Price: I hope you have a great semester. Thank you so much.

VB Price, ’62 BA (anthropology), has taught

classes in UNM’s Honors Program since

1986 and the UNM School of Architecture

and Planning since 1976. He co-edited the

book Anasazi Architecture and American

Design, and has edited New Mexico

Magazine, Century magazine, and

The New Mexico Independent. Barrett’s

latest book of poems is 7 Deadly Sins. He

writes a weekly column on politics and the

environment for the Albuquerque Tribune.


looking at John Probasco

unm

look

whe

re

he’s

goin

g!

Known for his

keen intellect

and balanced

perspective, John

Probasco attends

Oxford University

on a Rhode’s

scholarship before

returning to

medical school.

He attributes

his success to

his parents.

B Y L A U R I E M E L L A S - R A M I R E Z

Bobby Tamayo

sEach Probasco child thrived.

Exceptionally intelligent and personable,John has attained successes beyondthe family’s wildest expectations. The 1998 Alamogordo High Schoolvaledictorian received Regents’ andClauve scholarships from UNM andthen topped those high honors withinternationally prestigious Goldwater,Truman, and Rhodes prizes. It is anextreme rarity that any one studentwould receive all three awards.

Home for the holidays this pastDecember after his first semester atEngland’s Oxford University—theRhodes award provides two years ofstudy there—Probasco, 23, sings thepraises of his parents.

“I am a product of their upbringing,”he says, crediting them for his dedication,work ethic, and ability not to limit himself.

The Chance to Do Research

Early on at UNM, the biochemistrymajor learned the benefits of goodcommunication. During his Regents’Scholarship interview, Probasco sharedwith the committee that he wouldchoose to attend a university thatextended research opportunities to itsundergraduates. UNM has becomenoted for such practices—uncommonamong more elitist schools. Committee

member Diane Rawls of the UniversityHonors Program recalls Probasco’saspirations when a Health SciencesCenter research project came to herattention early his freshman year.

Rawls facilitated an introduction tocell biology and physiology chair DavidBear who had received a grant fromthe Muscular Dystrophy Association tostudy the largest cluster of Hispanics inthe United States with oculopharyngealmuscular dystrophy. Bear invitedProbasco to join the esteemed team ofresearchers whose findings were laterpublished in the Journal of theAmerican Medical Association.

Bear served as Probasco’s mentorthroughout his undergraduate careerand was so impressed with his workthat he has since welcomed two moreRegents’ Scholars into his lab. A studentof Probasco’s caliber comes aroundonce in lifetime, he says.

“John was engaged in the projectfrom the very beginning,” Bear says.“He was extremely motivated. Heabsorbed everything. He worked on afluorescent version of a mutated proteinand was able to characterize where itbelonged in the cell and how it behaved.John opened new doors for us that westill benefit from to this day.”

Fascinated with the workings of thehuman mind and the translation of basic

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 1 9

Frank Fine, ’75 MARC, has been appointedinterim executive director for the Stockton(California) Symphony.

Patricia Grant Higgins, ’75 BSHE, ’79BSNE, ’85 PhD, has received the 2002Distinguished Professional Service Awardfrom the Association of Women’s HealthObstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Patricia isretired from the UNM College of Nursingand lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Patricia Montoya, ’75 BSNU, ’83 MAPA, of Albuquerque, has been appointed byNew Mexico Governor Bill Richardson tohead the New Mexico Department of Health.

Eric M. Pillmore, ’75 BABA, has beenappointed Senior Vice President ofCorporate Governance at Tyco International,Ltd. He resides in Doyleston, Pennsylvania.

Suzanne M. Barker, ’76 JD, ofAlbuquerque, has been elected to the Boardof Directors of the UNM Foundation.

Alex Griego, ’76 BAA, has joined theDekker/Perich/Sabatini firm in Albuquerque.

Stephen M. White, ’76 BUS, is the SeniorNaval Science Instructor with the NavyJROTC program at Pike High School inSouth Bend. His unit recently received itsthird straight Distinguished Unit Award.

Anita Williams, ’76 BUS, CPA and CFE, hasbeen hired as a senior tax manager to headthe new state and local taxation practice atMeyners + Company in Albuquerque.

Anne Kass, ’75 BA, ’77 JD, has retired as astate district judge in Bernalillo County’sDomestic Relations Division after 18 years.

Steve Livingston, ’76 BABA, has been promoted to supervising senior/tax departmentat Meyners + Company in Albuquerque.

Tom Chavez, ’77 MA, ’81 PhD, after serving as director of the Palace of theGovernors in Santa Fe for 20 years, hasbecome director of the National HispanicCultural Center of New Mexico inAlbuquerque. Tom also received the Alumni Association’s Zia Award last fall in recognition of his many contributions to the State of New Mexico.

Frank Marquez, ’77 MAPA, of Corrales,has been appointed director of the New Mexico Economic DevelopmentDepartment’s administrative services division.

Enrique Martinez, ’77 MD, is the medicaldirector of Sierra Health Care Center in Las Cruces.

Gail Reese, ’77 BUS, is the City ofAlbuquerque’s new chief financial officer.

Stationed around the world as a US Air Force officer, Cal Probasco and

his wife, Maria, retired in Alamogordo, New Mexico, because it was a

“good place to raise a family,” recalls their eldest son, John, ’01 BS,

born in Brindisi, Italy.

Devoted to their three children—par for dad were midnight touches

on science fair projects and for mom, tireless soccer duty—the grand

plan was to produce college graduates.

O N W A R D O X F O R D : Rhodes Scholar John Probasco says there is

no limit to what you can do at Oxford—including a touch-football game

with Bill Clinton on the hallowed Oxford grounds.

science to clinical applications andpublic theory, Probasco interned forthree summers doing clinical researchat the National Institutes of Health inWashington DC. He focused on neurophysiology and explored behavioral disorders such as Tourette’ssyndrome, Parkinson’s disease, andobsessive-compulsive disorders.

Outside the LabAlthough he had his eye on medicine

from the start, Probasco didn’t limithimself to scientific endeavors.

“What strikes me most about John isthat he is extremely balanced,” Bear notes.

Aside from working several hours aweek in Bear’s lab, Probasco was activeon main campus in student senate andon the UNM Strategic Planning Task

Force and residence halls committees.In an effort to spend time with hisyounger brother, Mark, John helpedcoach a Rio Rancho boys’ soccer teamalongside UNM communication andjournalism department chair Brad Hall.For three years John was a homeworkclub tutor at Jefferson Middle School in Albuquerque.

“John is kind, considerate, and alwayswilling to lend a hand. He could be calledupon to talk to younger Regents’ Scholars.He was a great mentor,” Rawls says.

“I like working with kids. A physicianneeds the ability to interact with peoplein all walks of life,” Probasco says of hisshine for community service.

Scholars Take NoteIn 2000, academicians nationwide

began to take serious note of Probasco’swell roundedness, and he was awardedthe Goldwater Scholarship, an awarddesigned to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics,the natural sciences, or engineering.The following year he was named aTruman Scholar, a handsome awardthat will help fund his education at theUniversity of California, San Francisco,School of Medicine following his twoyears at Oxford.

In 2002, the oldest of the international study awards available to American students, the Rhodesscholarship, came calling. Probasco wasone of only 32 recipients worldwideselected. Prior recipients include former

US President Bill Clinton with whomProbasco had the honor of playingpigskin this past Thanksgiving during a game on hallowed Oxford groundsthat date back to the 13th century.

“He wore a blue track suit with“Commander in Chief” embroideredacross the back. The Secret Servicewas not thrilled,” Probasco quips. “Icalled home to say I can’t be home forturkey, but I just played two-handtouch football with Bill Clinton.”

Oxford offers personal, seminarstyle coursework, a style Probasco isfamiliar with thanks to his experiencewith the UNM Honors Program, hesays. As well, his upbringing suits him


unm

Making a gift to UNM’s

schools, colleges and programs

has never been easier!

Just log on to the UNM

Foundation web site at

www.unm.edu/foundation

to join the growing number

of alumni and friends who

show their support for UNM

by using our secure, three-

step on-line giving form.

UNM on-line giving—

simple, safe, secure.

UNM Foundation Inc.Two Woodward Center, 700 Lomas NE,Suite 108Albuquerque, NM 87131 505-277-45031-800-UNM-FUND (866-3863)www.unm.edu/foundation

Support your Alma Mater

on-lineit’s now as easy as 1-2-3!

Probasco received Regents’ and Clauve scholarships from UNM

and then topped those high honors with internationally prestigious

Goldwater, Truman, and Rhodes prizes. It is an extreme rarity that

any one student would receive all three awards.

perfectly for school convention. “You determine how well you learn

and there is no limit to what you cando at Oxford. There are no grades. Allthat is graded is the standing of yourdegree. You sit for exams at the end ofthe third year and that determines therank of your degree,” he says.

“John looks for opportunities andwhen presented with them he is willingto put in the work,” Rawls says. “He isfocused, but not single-minded. Somestudents don’t want to detour and spenda few years at Oxford. They don’t seethe advantages. But after John thoughtabout it, he did and from what he’ssaid, he’s having the time of his life.”

To fuel Probasco’s interest in thehuman mind and how it functions inrelation to the health of the body, he is pursuing an undergraduate programat Oxford in psychology, philosophy,and physiology, which includes coursework in ethics.

“Philosophy and psychology areinterrelated to who we are and how we behave,” he says.

Probasco chose the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, for medicalschool because it is strong in publichealth and science programs.

“Neurology will probably be thefield I work in, but I want to wait untilafter my rotations to decide,” he says.

Back HomeJohn is enchanted with the idea of

ultimately returning to New Mexico. “We live in a state that has health

care issues. It’s important to practicewhere there is a need. I intend to comehome and practice,” he says.

Fully supportive of any plan hemakes, mom dons an Oxford tee anddad an Oxford tie. Having moved to Rio Rancho, both remain on task nurturing college graduates for futureMirage features. Christine is pursuing a BS in psychology at UNM and Mark is attending middle school, with plansto come to UNM in 2006.

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 2 1

Mark R. Youtzy, ’77 BME, of Albuquerque,has been promoted to administrative liaisonto the office of the director of child supportenforcement division with the New MexicoHuman Services Department. In December,he received a New Mexico Child SupportEnforcement Division Star Award 2002.

Glenelle Gray Butler, ’78 ASDH, ’86BSDH, of Albuquerque, is one of six winnersof the 2002 Pfizer/ADHA Excellence inDental Hygiene Award in recognition of outstanding accomplishments that have an impact upon the practice and future of dental hygiene.

Robert Keim, ’78 BS, has been appointedthe associate dean for advanced studies atthe University of Southern California Schoolof Dentistry. He continues as director of theadvanced education in orthodontics programthere. He lives in Burbank.

Delores Etter, ’79 PhD, has been nominatedto serve on the National Science Board byUS President George W. Bush. She ispresently a professor of electrical engineeringat the US Naval Academy and lives inEdgewater, Maryland. She is currently amember of the National Academy ofEngineering and the Defense Science Board.

Commander John E. Inman, ’79 BS, hasassumed command of Navy RecruitingDistrict, Montgomery, Alabama.

Commander Joseph Jablonski, ’79 BSME,’93 MS, was employed at the DefenseThreat Reduction Agency at Kirtland AirForce Base as deputy for test operationswhen recalled to active duty in August 2001to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy. He isscheduled to return to Albuquerque in June.

Cynthia D. Borrego, ’80 BSED, ’83 MAPA,was recently sworn in to the board of thePublic Employees Retirement Association ofNew Mexico. She works as a senior plannerfor the City of Albuquerque PlanningDepartment.

Breda Bova, ’80 PhD, received the AlumniAssociation’s Zia Award during Homecoming2002 in recognition of her service to theuniversity and the Albuquerque community.She is assistant dean and professor of education at UNM.

Maria Griego-Raby, ’80 BABA, ’86 MBA,has been appointed a UNM Regent by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. She is president and principal of ContractAssociates, Inc., in Albuquerque, and is pastpresident of the UNM Alumni Association.

Since 1998, UNM can boast 13 recipients of the nation’s most prestigiousscholarships: two Rhodes and two Marshall scholars, four Truman,and five Goldwater scholars. Nearly all the recipients attended New Mexico high schools and many have been Regents’ Scholars.

F A M I L Y A F F A I R : Family is at the center of John’s support system.

Donned in Oxford gear, John’s father and mother, Cal and Maria Probasco

(left), and siblings, Mark and Christine (right), flank their son and brother.


looking at Cavalliere Ketchum

unm

With patient tenacity,

a UNM alum is

linking the subjects

of a famous photo

collection to their

descendents and,

at long last,

giving them names.

ConNombre

B Y M I C H A E L P E N N

L I T T L E R A S C A L S : John Collier’s 1943 photograph of two young New Mexican boyswas like a riddle to Cavalliere Ketchum. He studied the boys’ faces for years, wondering if he would ever discover who they were.

Farm

Security Administration, February 1943.

iThanks to the University ofWisconsin for allowing us to reprintsenior editor Michael Penn’s story,originally published in On Wisconsin!

In February 1943, the photographerJohn Collier Jr. tumbled off the chilly, high desert plain of northernNew Mexico and onto the doorstep of a Spanish-American rancher. Thehouse was warm, with sheepskins onthe floors, and Collier was invited in.During the next several hours, he tookpictures of the rancher and his family—photographs that eventually wouldbecome part of the archives of theFarm Security Administration (FSA), a Depression-era federal agency that,under the pretense of government public relations, assembled one of thebest-known collections of documentaryphotographs in existence. Along withsuch notable image-makers asDorothea Lange, Russell Lee, andWalker Evans, Collier traversed the country, making thousands ofmemorable photographs that wouldhelp to record the face of Americaemerging from economic hardship.

But the photographs Collier madethat day are as striking for what theydon’t reveal as for what they do. Hisphotograph of two of the rancher’s youngsons, for example, hints at a mysterythat lies beyond the scope of Collier’slens. In the image, the boys stand sideby side in matching embroideredsweaters. But while the older oneregards the camera eye to eye, with ameasured gaze, his little brother, whois perhaps nine, wears the impish grinof a boy who is hiding something.

The big secret, it turns out, are the boys themselves, unidentified by

caption or history. The label on thephotograph, which resides among170,000 images from the FSA projectin the Library of Congress, providesonly this information: “Córdova (vicinity),Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Sons of a Spanish sheepman.”

Leafing forward or backwardthrough the sheaves of black-and-whitephotographs in the archives bears outthousands of similar stories. FromAlabama sharecroppers to Oklahomamigrants to Wisconsin mill workers, the faces of the FSA collection areearnest, compelling, and, with very few exceptions, nameless.

Six Decades LaterNearly six decades after John

Collier snapped the picture of therancher’s sons, another photographerfollowed his path through the Sangrede Cristo Mountains north of Santa Fe.Driving a battered AMC Matador,Cavalliere Ketchum, ’70 MFA, navigatedalong the “high road”—a series ofsnaking, dusty lanes that ascend fromSanta Fe into the dazzling indigo of the New Mexico sky. His target was a remote collection of Spanish andIndian villages that are found only onthe most ambitious of maps. He, too,was looking for the face of America.But the America he sought was one faded into the sepia of an old photograph, one that he wasn’t surestill existed, and one that he had little idea how to find.

Ketchum, a professor of art andphotography at the University ofWisconsin-Madison for more than threedecades, didn’t go to the New Mexicanhighlands to re-create Collier’s work.He went to finish it. For nearly half ofhis 64 years, Ketchum has been in a

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 2 3

Lourdes Ann Martinez, ’80 JD, has beenappointed a federal magistrate. She hasbeen a state district judge since 1998 in Las Cruces.

Pamela W. Massey, ’80 MBA, has retiredfrom Los Alamos National Lab project leadership and is writing “a memoir about growing up female in the baby boom generation.”

Victoria Atkins, ’81 BUS, is interpretation/education lead at Lowry Pueblo in Canyonsof the Ancients in Dolores, Colorado.

Edward L. Chavez, ’81 JD, has beenappointed by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to serve on the New MexicoSupreme Court. He is a resident ofAlbuquerque.

Anita Douthat, ’81 MA, ’86 MFA, and Cal Kowal collaborated on a mixed mediainstallation, “Lost & Found,” this winter atthe Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati.

Michael Emerson, ’81 BSME, ofAlbuquerque, has been elected to the UNMFoundation Board of Directors.

Martha Binford, ’82 BA, ’00 MA, has been elected president of the AmericanSociety for Training and Development New Mexico chapter. The Belen resident is UNM’s Continuing Education trainingdevelopment and instructional technologycoordinator and instructor.

Greg Cajete, ’82 MA, of Santa ClaraPueblo, has been named to head UNM’sNative American Studies program.

Elsa Delapuente-Schubeck, ’82 MA, ’91 PhD,has retired from the Broward County SchoolSystem after 33 years of teaching in the US,Central and South America, and Spain. Shelives in Cooper City, Florida.

Joan Butler, ’83 BABA, works as a relocationcoordinator with Perot Systems in Irving, Texas.

Lawrence J. Fausti, ’83 MA, ’99 DED, hasreceived The Daily Points of Light Award forJanuary 21, 2003. The award is given to recognize those who exemplify the best of volunteerism, a sense of caring, andresponsibility for others that connect citizens and solve community problems. Heis assistant professor of reading at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Kim A. Griffith, ’83 JD, recently became ashareholder and director with the law firmof Sheehan, Sheehan & Stelzner, PA, inAlbuquerque. She practices in the areas ofcontract law, commercial transactions andlitigation, construction law, employmentlaw, and corporate business law.

slow, patient quest, retracing the stepsof Collier and other FSA photographersin an attempt to find and identify thepeople whom they captured on film.With each visit to New Mexico, he totesa thick file of Xeroxed photographs—the collection of history—ghosts whom Ketchum calls, in their lingo, sin nombre, without a name.

Wanting To Bring theTravelers Home

During the 1960s, as a graduatestudent at UNM, Ketchum had traveledinto many of the same villages the FSA photographers had documented,although he didn’t know it at the time. His dissertation combined hisphotography from the small Spanishvillages in the southern part of thestate with samplings of traditional stories and folk music—something the FSA very well might have done if it had been born in a multimedia age.

It was only years later, afterKetchum had come to UW-Madison,

that he applied for a grant to study at the Library of Congress, where he intended to pull images from the villages between Santa Fe and Taos.While examining the black-and-whiteprints in Washington, he had a startlingrealization. He recognized several people in the photographs.

Ketchum has a photographer’s eyefor detail, and an extraordinary visualmemory that can recall people andplaces he first saw years before. Thatgift launched his career within a career.

He took the photographs back toChamisal, a town high up among thecottonwoods and orchards 60 milesnorth of Santa Fe. “I asked around atpost offices and grocery stores,” hesays, “and finally someone said to me,‘Ay, that’s my cousin. Where did youget this? You should show it to him.’”

In Hispanic culture, to be sin nombreis a terrible consequence. It is to bemore than just without a name, butwithout connection or culture. It is tobe lost. In some communities, to take

in a wandering stranger is to make thatperson con nombre—to give him orher identity. At that moment, Ketchumrealized his mission. He wanted tobring all those lonely travelers home.

Detective WorkAlthough merely a remote corner of

the bigger puzzle, New Mexico seemeda logical place for Ketchum to beginassembling the pieces of history. Hereturned to the Library of Congressand culled 450 large black-and-whiteprints from a collection of 20,000 photographs taken across the AmericanSouthwest. He examined them closely,singling out 650 unique faces. Of those,eight were identified in captions.

Ketchum set to work on the rest,returning to New Mexico during summers, logging thousands of miles,and paying expenses out of his pocket.Given the scant clues offered by thephoto captions, the process was strictlygumshoe diligence. For most of thephotos, he had only the name of atown, leaving him little choice but todrive straight into it and begin askinganyone who would talk to him, “Do you know who this is?”

The world of the high road is onethat functions by its own rules, almostentirely independently from mainstreamways. Villages like Peñasco, Chamisal,Truchas, and others in some ways more closely reflect the era of Spanishexploration than modern times. Manyland rights are still governed bytreaties signed with the Spanish government after the Mexican War.Farmers still use the long ditches,known as acequias, that their ancestorschiseled into the mountains 400 yearsago to irrigate the same fields. Water or soil can be as important a currencyas dollars and cents, and English, ifspoken at all, is used only when

unm

T H E Y E A R S D I S A P P E A R :More than 60 years after Russell Lee had

taken the original photo of a mother and child in Chamisal, New Mexico,

1940, Cavalliere Ketchum traced down its seemingly nameless subjects.

He photographed Matilda Lovato, left, and her daughter, Elsie Rodarte, in

the same place as Lee had in Matilda’s home. The original FSA photograph

sits on the table to the right.


Cavalliere Ketchum

Spanish won’t suffice. It’s not the sortof place that strangers can roll into—waving old pictures of relatives—without some risk.

Ketchum invested years warmingup the long-established families of the mountains, winning their trust,establishing boundaries, and, eventually,learning their histories. He handed outcopies of the FSA photographs and madejudicious use of his own camera. Helearned that in northern New Mexico,you can often still trade goods forcuentos—stories of life and customs—and so he traded photographs for information.

As the years went by, he began to learn to whom the faces in the oldimages belonged. He was surprised todiscover that many of the people hewas looking for hadn’t moved much at all from where Collier had firstfound them.

At times, when Ketchum arrivedwith his photographs, people were asastonished to see their younger selvesas they might have been to see a long-dead relative. Matilda Lovato, forexample, nearly fainted when Ketchumintroduced himself with a photo of herand her daughter, Elsie, taken in 1940in their home in Chamisal. But soon,Lovato, who still lives in Chamisal, wasspilling stories and fond memories.

Rarely have the people Ketchum hasfound recalled the FSA photographsbeing taken, and none had copies ofthem. In those days, a camera wouldhave been a rich person’s toy, and certainly a foreign object on the highroad, where to live well was to survive.The photos from the government archivesare like pages from the family albumsthat they could never afford to keep.

Ketchum is now confident of theidentities of more than 150 people whoare not named in the FSA photographs.

“I feel my responsibility toward thesepeople is that they’re identified at theLibrary of Congress,” he says. “They’vebeen anonymous for too long.”

Time in PursuitLately, Ketchum’s search has had a

tinge of desperation. He’s running outof time. Not only is he getting within afew years of retirement, but the peoplehe’s looking for are pushing the envelopeof longevity. The young boys in thematching sweaters, for example, would by now be entering their 70’s.

“It really scares me,” he says. “Wecan still find these people, but we haveto do it in the next five to eight years.”

The clean mountain air seems tohave preserved many of the peopleKetchum has been seeking. He hasfound numerous FSA subjects—eventhose who were adults when Colliercame through—still alive and alert inthe towns that raised them. He haslocated a woman who is now 105, andothers who are in their 90’s.

But there is a sense of passing in New Mexico, and it’s not just thesubjects that Ketchum worries will perish. The culture itself seems to bewithering on the bone.

“Younger people are not staying,”Ketchum says. “They want more than the ability to make a subsistenceliving. The abuelitos and the abuelasare there, but in most cases, theirgrandchildren have moved on. I don’tknow what will happen to these villages once they’re gone.”

So Near Yet So FarAlicia Fedelina Chávez, a UW-Madison

professor of educational administrationand a native of the region, says sheknows firsthand the culture Ketchumis trying to record. [See sidebar.] Herfamily settled near Taos in the 1500s

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 2 5

Jeff Huser, ’83 MD, of Albuquerque, hasbeen enrolled in the second class of the USCmaster’s of medical management program.

Joseph M. Maestas, ’83 BSCE, has beenelected to the board of directors of theHispanic Elected Local Officials. He is anEspañola city councilor and lives in Santa Cruz.

Robert M. Turner, ’83 BABA, is humanresources director with Tetra Pak CartonChilled, Inc. He has an MS from ChapmanUniversity and a PhD from LaSalle University,both in human resources management anddevelopment. He lives in Maplewood,Minnesota.

Napoleon S. Ferraris, ’84 BUS, is directorof operations at the Military SealiftCommand Far East, Yokohama, Japan.

Laura Harris, ’84 BA, is now executivedirector at Americans for Indian Opportunity(AIO) on Santa Ana Pueblo. AIO is a nationalnon-profit advocacy organization that drawsupon traditional tribal values in its efforts topromote innovative problem-solving, developleadership, and create contemporary institutionsto solve problems.

D. Bradley Leech, ’84 BUS, was recentlynamed associate vice chancellor for developmentand alumni affairs at the University ofArkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Karen J. Schultz Site, ’84 BABA, is anassociate member of Moore Stephens Tiller, LLC, a regional CPA firm. She lives in Sugar Hill, Georgia.

Cristina Jaramillo, ’85 BA, ’90 MBA/JD,has been appointed to fill a vacancy on theMetropolitan Court in Albuquerque.

Jeff Apodaca, ’86 BA, is now vice presidentof integrated sales and marketing atUnivision in Los Angeles.

E. Carolyn Johnson, ’86 PhD, is an associateprofessor with the Washington StateUniversity graduate program in exercise science in Spokane.

JeffApodaca, ’86

and has tended sheep there ever since.When her aunts and uncles speak, youcan hear traces of the original dialecttheir ancestors brought with them fromSpain, untainted after four centuries.Her father, Gabriel, and uncle, Miguel,

were the basis for the movie And Now Miguel, a semifactual account of Miguel’s desire to become a man by joining his older brothers as theymoved the family’s sheep flock highinto the mountains. Later a Newbery

Award-winning children’s book, the story is well known throughout the Americas.

Jobs and education have takenChávez away from the area, but shesays she feels the responsibility to preserve and promote her heritagefrom afar. The former dean of studentsat UW-Madison, she studies diversity inhigher education, and says Ketchum’swork “reminds me why I choose tostudy culture. It’s so important to recognize how it defines people.”

“We should try to contribute something to the lives of the subjectswe study,” Chávez says. “I’m veryproud that Cavalliere is contributing by giving back these memories. Andwhat a wonderful gift he’s giving.”

The Missing PieceFor all his success in locating the

lost souls of the FSA files, Ketchumwas for years frustrated by what shouldhave been his simplest find. John Collier'sphotographs of the rancher’s sons had him stumped. On many fruitlesstrips along the high road, he began towonder if he would ever find that littleboy and decipher his knowing smile.

The problem, ironically, was thatsome of the photographs Collier tookwere identified. The photo of the boysindicated that they lived in Córdova, in Rio Arriba County. Another imagenamed their father as Blas Sánchez.Ketchum went to Córdova, a mountaintown well south on the high road, butno one knew the man. Strangely, noone even recognized the house or thelandscape. He searched the town’scemeteries, but not only did he notfind Blas Sánchez, he encountered very few Sánchezes at all, certainly not enough to suggest a large familyliving there.

aEpilogue: At Home, Con NombreAlicia Chávez came home for good this past fall when she accepted the position ofdirector of UNM-Taos. She once again feels con nombre herself, she says. “Although I have been very much with my family name of Chávez, I have in many ways felt sinnombre while I have been away from New Mexico and especially away from Taos. To be the ‘only one’ or one of very few who lives by the rhythms of Northern New Mexico has been very painful. Here I am known through my family as well as through my own work. That is such a comforting feeling.”

Chávez says her experience of Hispanic cultures all over the United States hasbeen one of connection. “A startling trait of Latino cultures is that of wanting to placepeople in the context of their families, and names are a very sacred part of this process.”

“Being placed in the context of a large extended family has its challenges,” shesays, “yet there is always the comfort of not being alone regardless of what you aregoing through. There is also the comfort of having those who have known you sinceyou were born, who share histories and tease you about your idiosyncrasies andremind you that first you are a sister and daughter and aunt... not a title.

“Hispano/Latino cultures often do take in wandering strangers and make themcon nombre... my family certainly does this all the time. It is the process almost ofmaking sure that each person is connected. Visitors to my hometown of Taos oftenremark that people took them in whether they wanted to be taken in or not! That isthe messy side of connection, yet in the long run I find that even those who wereuncomfortable with this connection at first, in the long run find being con nombreto be a precious part of their lives.”


unm

Matthew

Dunn

F A T E ’ S I N T E R V E N T I O N : Alicia Chávez considers her colleague’sdiscovery of her family in depression-era photographs “not simply acosmic coincidence, but a grand stroke of fate,” writes Michael Penn.

It was only in a speck of an outpostoff the high road known as Llano deSan Juan that Ketchum caught a break.A teacher there said the man in thephoto resembled her fourth cousin.“But, she said, ‘He doesn’t live inCórdova. He lives in Los Córdovas, wayup north,’” Ketchum says.

He got back in his Matador anddrove 70 miles across the mountains to Los Córdovas, seated near Taos onthe desert plateau below the range. It was there that a man looked at the photograph and pointed overKetchum’s shoulder toward a house.Although Ketchum didn’t know it, itwas the house in which Alicia Chávez’sfather grew up. The young boy withthe devilish smile was Gabriel, standingnext to his big brother, Blas Jr.

“You can see someone typing awayin Washington DC, saying, ‘Sánchez,Chávez, what's the difference?’” saysKetchum. The difference, it turns out,was the distance between anonymityand the father of a UW-Madison colleague. The short stroll to AliciaChávez's office—and to her father’sname—might have taken Ketchum afew minutes at lunch one day. Instead,it took 58 years.

Ketchum, who by this point in hiswork has grown used to coincidences,is flabbergasted by the bizarre circuitthat led back to Madison. After beingled to the Chávez house in Los Córdovas,Ketchum caught up with Alicia’s uncleMiguel, a former master craftsman whonow owns a vacation rental business inTaos and carves angels from cedar inhis free time. Miguel helped Ketchumidentify his relatives in the old images.Blas Chávez Sr. evidently was a favoritesubject of Collier’s, and with Miguel’shelp, Ketchum unearthed more thana dozen photographs of the Chávezfamily, taken during two separate

visits. Casually, Miguel asked Ketchum,“What university did you say you'refrom?”—and thus was fit that last elusive puzzle piece that reveals the image.

The Same Rascally Look“We don’t have photographs of our

family,” Alicia says later. “That was awealthy person’s thing to do.” Lookingat the photograph of her father as aboy, she smiles. “He has the same rascally look on his face as he doesnow. I think he must have been bornwith that look on his face.”

Some years after posing for Collier,Gabriel Chávez became a lieutenantcolonel in the US Air Force, serving in the air defense command. Afterretirement, he moved back to theranch, where he now tends sheep andtakes care of the many elderly peoplein his extended family and community.

After her grandmother’s death, four months after Alicia first saw thefamily pictures that she had not knownexisted, Alicia joined her father onemorning as he strode purposefully upfrom the valley and onto the plain, taking in the same vista captured byCollier’s camera. They walked silently,hoping to spot the family of coyotesthat frequents the land, and enjoyingthe solitude of the desert. The altitudeand the chill made the air as sharp asneedles. The sky was so blue, Aliciasays, that it hurt her eyes.

Gabriel told cuentos as theywalked, recalling his parents and theforays he made as a child into thelooming purple peaks. After a while, he fell silent, tending to his privatethoughts. Alicia didn’t pry or try to fill the open spaces with idle chatter.She was just happy to be home.

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 2 7

Angela Martinez, ’86 JD, has joined theUniversity of New Mexico Health SciencesCenter as general counsel.

Christen Coburn, ’87 AABA, has been promoted to senior vice president and trustofficer at Los Alamos National Bank.

Jack Newsom, ’87 MA, has joined HASCommercial Real Estate in Albuquerque assenior vice president of finance/developmentin the corporate real estate services andPrimeCare divisions.

Richard Rolston, ’87 MD, has been namedchief executive officer of Lovelace HealthSystems in Albuquerque.

Alison Stallcup, ’87 BSED, ’89 MA, and herhusband have a company in Englewood,Colorado, called “People Honoring People.”It focuses on honoring the sacred nature ofrelationships everyday, everywhere.

Camille Flores, ’88 BA, is now managingeditor of The Taos News.

Eileen Iles, ’88 BABA, ’92 MACT, hasmoved to Sugar Grove, Illinois, where she is senior manager with Crowe Chizek andCompany, LLP.

Abel Ponce Montez, ’88 BA, is now directorof student affairs at Fordham UniversitySchool of Law’s Lincoln Center campus inNew York City where he is responsible foracademic advisement and counseling andproviding other necessary services to fulfillthe school’s academic mission.

Rob Spaulding, ’88 BUS, and partner MarkCampbell are the new owners of MariaTeresa Restaurant in Albuquerque’s Old Town.

Lisa Dettweiler, ’89 BA, of Albuquerque, isthe new area vice president and generalmanager of Comcast Cable Communications,Inc., in New Mexico.

Linda L. Ellison, ’90 JD, has opened a lawoffice bearing her name in Albuquerque.She lives in Los Lunas.

Lorenzo Brizeno, ’91 BABA, is self-employedas an enterprise management consultant inRound Rock, Texas.

Kevin J. Fernlund, ’92 PhD, is assistantprofessor of history and secondary educationat the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Howard Geck, ’92 BUS, last year graduatedfrom the US Army Psychological OperationsOfficer Court, received an MA in organizationalmanagement from the University of Phoenix,and was promoted to the rank of major. He isresidential advisor for Lambda Chi Alpha at UNM.

w


insight

unm

Matthew

Dunn

The InocenteColleagues and fans gathered at a

reception last fall for UNM professor

emeritus Rudolfo Anaya who had

received a National Medal of Arts from

US President George W. Bush earlier in the

year. He spoke to them about his trip to

Washington in truly New Mexican terms.

B Y R U D O L F O A N A Y A

wWhat does it mean to be inocente,

and why do I feel that the writer mustbe inocente? For me, the inocente isconstantly in contact with the marvel,the beauty, and the mystery of life. Soit seems that with the passage of time I am each day more in awe of the creation. The simplest experiencestake on a marvelous aura that reveals a deeper reality. It is that reality I try to capture in my writings.

Where does it begin? It begins inchildhood, in dreams, in memories, infeeling that a divine spark animates theworld and the cosmos. To be inocentemeans one feels a transcendent powerworking in our ordinary lives. The worldis as much spiritual as it is material.

A large part of the life of a writerand of the inocente is lived in memoryand dreams. I remember the river ofmy childhood as if it were yesterday.There I heard voices, spirits moved atdusk—not only la Llorona, a spirit Ireally feared, but other powers. Powersof place. The river was alive and it

spoke. I tried to capture that experiencein Bless Me, Ultima and some readerswere surprised. How can the river bealive? they asked.

I thought everyone had heard thepresence of the river speak, its naturalsoul revealed. I heard the groans of the giant cottonwoods, those ancientgrandfathers. The sky at sunset spokevolumes, not only of the weather but of the history of the people. The stones of the hills were as animated as the animals that roamed there.

It’s fantasy, some said. It’s real, I replied.

Now, today, in this hall ofZimmerman Library, I feel not onlyyour presence but I am surrounded bythe lives of those who once walked onthis hill. The old people of the Tiguexpueblos, Mexican sheepherders whowalked here long before there werebuildings. Professors who taught hereand are gone, students who studiedhere. They hover nearby. I am here not only as I am today, but as I was as

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 2 9

Janice Eisenman Lincoln, ’92 MA, hasretired after 31 years of teaching in MontanaPublic Schools. She lives in Kalispell,Montana. The Council for ExceptionalChildren awarded her the ProfessionallyRecognized Special Educator certificate forspecial education teaching in 1993.

Brian R. Moore, ’92 BS, ’96 MD, is seniorassociate consultant physician in pediatricemergency medicine at the Mayo Clinic inRochester, Minnesota, as well as instructorof pediatrics at Mayo Medical School. Hisduties include those of pediatric medicaldirector for Gold Cross Ambulance in southeast Minnesota.

John B. Edward, ’93 MBA, has an insuranceand real estate services firm in Albuquerque.He also hosts a radio show on 1310 KBTK-AMradio on business, music, policy, economics,and not-for-profits.

Clara Ann Padilla-Silver, ’93 BUS, ’96 JD,has been elected president of Icon RealEstate Companies, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada.

Trevor D. Thielbar, ’93 BABA, of Richley,Florida, is co-owner of Pavement Services,Inc., which manufactures machines for road construction.

Beth Ulibarri, ’93 BABA, ’98 MBA, andhusband Rick are the owners of NewportFurnishings, an Albuquerque discount furniture store that sells upscale furnishings.

Thomas Hammill, ’94 MA, received a doctorate in clinical psychology from CCU in 1999. He lives in New York City.

Paul Owen, ’94 JD, has become a shareholder in the Albuquerque law firm of Montgomery & Andrews, PA.

Rohit Ranjan, ’94 MBA, works for Citicorpas country head-channel sales in Mumbi,India (formerly Bombay). Visiting Lobos areencouraged to get in touch at [email protected]

We have in our culture an oral tradition of a character called

el inocente. Estevan Arellano has written a wonderful portrayal

of the village inocente. Inocencia, que no escarda, ni siembra,

pero siempre se come el mejor elote. (Innocence, which neither

reaps nor sows but always eats the best corn.) We jokingly say of

the inocente “que le faltan tuercas” (he’s missing some hardware/

wingnuts). In the contemporary idiom, it is a person “whose elevator

doesn’t go all the way to the top floor.” The inocente experiences life

differently than ordinary people.

Beth Ulibarri, ’93

M E T T L E O F A M E D A L I S T : Rudolfo Anaya suggests following

the way of the inocente—who “talks to the good soul in all of us”—

as we deal with difficult times.

a young man who matriculated here. I left something of my self here.

You see, everywhere we go weleave part of our souls. I am sure eachone of you carries memories of thepast, places that were magical to you,people you loved. Part of your soul isthere with those people, in thoseplaces. The inocente understands that.The soul is not only in our bodies, it iseverywhere we have been.

Each morning I look at the risingsun and give thanks. I offer a blessingat sunrise: I bless all of life. My wifefixes breakfast and I am startled at

the beauty of our relationship and howthe very act of eating fills me withthanksgiving. The inocente is a personconstantly saying Wow! Look at that!¡Mira! Sun and clouds. Geese flyingsouth. Apples hanging on a tree.Flowers going to seed. ¡Mira!

Inocentes sense the divine sparkthat illuminates the simplest acts of theday. The inocente knows this intuitively,for that is how he lives, that is how heis most alive.

I look at your faces and see beauty:I see beneath the skin a psyche thatshines with innocence. I smile. Theysay the inocente goes around with asilly smile on his face. For me, thatsmile is a sign of wonder. Let us practice going around with silly smileson our faces. Let us slough away thepretense of what we should be and bewho we truly are. Inocentes on theroad of life, friends to each other.

In our jardín, under my ramada inthe back yard, Patricia and I sit in the

afternoon sun, and each blade of grassshines with its unique character. Everyflower sings its song. Clouds, like marvelous and gorgeous women, moveacross a transparent blue sky. I marvelat the beauty and diversity of life.

For this I got a medal? I was askedto tell you what it was like receivingthe National Medal of Arts. We flew toWashington DC for the ceremony.Patricia, our granddaughter Kristan,and I got on a plane and flew to thecapitol. Maybe I should write a storyabout our experiences. “An InocenteGoes to Washington.”

They got us together in a room, andwe met Johnny Cash. Yeah, I went upto him and said, “Hello, Mr. JohnnyCash. I’m Rudolfo Anaya fromAlburquerque and I want you to know Ilove your songs. New Mexicans love you.Here’s my wife and granddaughter.”

You see, that’s an inocente talking.He talks to the good soul in those hemeets. Some people say, “You didn’ttell Johnny Cash that, did you? ¡Quépendejo! Don’t you have manners?”

What are manners to the inocente?We deal with the soul in the person,the daimon that drives us, the essence.Forget the formalities, go for the spirit.Tear down the fences that separate us.That’s what the inocente teaches us.

And we met Kirk Douglas. And Isaid the same thing. “¿Cómo ’stá, donKirk? What an honor. I like that movieyou did with Burt Lancaster where atthe end you plow the train into Mexico.I also liked ‘Spartacus.’ Here’s my wifeand granddaughter. We love your movies.”

The inocente, even though he is inpain and he knows there is sufferingand poverty in the world, smiles. Hesees the quality of a correspondinggoodness in people. We all have thatinnocent quality. Inside. Deep in the soul.

And I told the President, “No nosestés fregando tanto. (Don’t irritate us so much.) Lighten up. Take care ofla gente pobre. Help the kids get an education.” Pues, I really didn’t saythat, but the inocente in me thought it. The way I looked at him, he knewwhat I was thinking.

I was very civil to the First Lady. Shetold me she had read Bless Me, Ultima.I said, “thank you,” and I thought tomyself, there’s hope. If we read goodbooks there’s hope for us humans.

I am always thinking. People fromthe past come to visit me. Those are thespirits of the ancestors. They are herewith us. I speak to them and they to me.

What are characters in our storiesbut spirits who want their stories told?Sometimes my characters are more realthan real people. And all my charactersare inocentes at heart. All are learningthat there are many secrets hidden inour souls. We have to bring them out.We have to not be afraid to speak toeach other as inocentes.

I know there are gente in the worldwho are muy cabrona. Somebodyalways trying to get the better of somebody else. Tyrants of all sortsmaking people suffer the worst atrocities. But if we inocentes gettogether, we can be stronger than thebad guys. Let us practice that virtue of innocence in our souls. Let it shine.Let the power of this place and all thespirits who inhabit this place make usstrong. I think this medal they gave me in Washington DC is for all of us.Especially for all the inocentes whohave enriched my life.


unm

To be inocente means one feels a transcendentpower working in our ordinary lives. The world isas much spiritual as it is material.

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3 1

Susan Wycoff, ’94 PhD, has been appointedto the editorial board of The InternationalFamily Journal, which advances the theory,research, and practice of counseling withcouples and families. She is associate professorand coordinator of the community counselingprogram at Cal State-Sacramento.

Bruce Allen, ’95 BUS, ’99 MBA, is a systems analyst with the PGA Tour inJacksonville, Florida.

J. Elena Arellano, ’95 BABA, ’99 MS,works as treasury and investment accountantfor PGA of America in Jupiter, Florida.

Donna Lane, ’95 BSED, ’98 MA, is now a development specialist at RCI, Inc., inAlbuquerque where she will do assessmentand intervention services for children showingcognitive, social, and physical delays.

Sarah Elizabeth Koetters Schwarz, ’95 MA,’02 PhD, after completing her doctorate, has moved to Radcliff, Kentucky, where she lives with her husband, Capt. Gregory E.Schwarz, US Army.

Amanda J. Shepard, ’95 BUS, enjoys working for the City of Portland (Oregon)Office of Neighborhood Involvement.

Walter P. Herring, ’95 BUS, has joined BalaTechnologies as director of voice and datacable design in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Suzanne Wall, ’95 BABA, ’97 MBA, is supplychain management business manager atLam Research Corporation. She lives in San Jose, California.

Marilyn Ruiz Dunphy, ’96 BSED, is spendingthe year on a Fulbright Teacher Exchange inthe United Kingdom.

Mary Daniel Hobson, ’96 MA, showed herartwork at three group exhibitions last fall inKetchum, Idaho, San Rafael, California, andPalo Alto, California.

Larry Morris, ’96 BABA, has been promoted to manager/tax department atMeyners + Company in Albuquerque.

Scott Treibly, ’96 BABA, is a tennis coachcurrently at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. His email address [email protected].

Grady Barrens, ’97 MBA, of Albuquerque,has joined Assure Financial as a financialrepresentative handling mutual funds, variable annuities, and other investments.

Laura J. Putz, ’97 BABA, has been promotedto tax supervisor at Pulakos & Alongi, Ltd.,in Albuquerque.

John Stringer, ’97 MAMU, lives “the dream”in Xalapa, Veracruz, where he performs withthe Xalapa Symphony Orchestra.

looking at Michael Mares

unmMichael Mares, an internationally

known expert on desert mammals,

makes his mark in the prairie.

M U S E U M M A S T E R :

Michael Mares’ stature at the Sam Noble Oklahoma

Museum of Natural History is mammoth. Mares

raised the funds for the University of Oklahoma

facility and was its premier director.

perceptivity

B Y D E B R A L E V Y M A R T I N E L L I

Bill Moakley

m


unm

Michael Mares, ’67 BS, has a passionfor his vocation. But he didn’t alwaysknow what that vocation would be.Even as a pre-med student at UNM inthe mid-1960s, Mares had no idea whathe would soon make his life’s work.

“I was pre-med because I didn’tknow what else to do,” says the interna-tionally known expert in the evolutionand adaptation of mammals to deserts.“I took an anatomy course from [profes-sor emeritus of biology] Jim Findley,and I thought it was terrific. Then Itook his mammalogy class. We didn’t

have the Discovery Channel then, and Ithought that one mouse was the same asanother. But that class, which includedfield trips, set my life on a path.”

Findley calls Mares part of a talentedgroup of graduate and undergraduatestudents who shared an enthusiasticinterest in field biology. “We respectedeach other and took a great deal of joyin pursuing questions in sciencetogether,” he says.

After graduating from UNM,Mares—who recently stepped downafter 20 years as director of theUniversity of Oklahoma’s Sam Noble

Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historybut continues to serve as the museum’scurator of mammals and to teach zoologyat OU—earned a master’s degree fromFort Hays Kansas State College and adoctorate from the University of Texas.At UT, he jumped at the chance to studymammals in Argentina for two years.

Museum MissionIn 1981, Mares accepted a joint

position at OU as associate professor ofzoology and curator of mammals at theuniversity’s natural history museum.

Two years later, he was appointedmuseum director and began efforts toestablish a new home for the museum’sextraordinary collections.

“The state of Oklahoma and thecity of Norman [where OU’s main campus is located] had gathered thesegreat collections but had no place tokeep them. The public owned more

than 5 million objects, but didn’t knowit. The collections—housed at the timein wooden barns with a burn time ofseven minutes—were the best-keptsecret in Oklahoma,” says Mares, whohimself never entered a museum untilhe went to the Smithsonian Institutionat age 21.

Mares’ vision was realized when the$44.5 million, 198,000 square foot SamNoble Oklahoma Museum of NaturalHistory opened its doors in May 2000.In less than three years, more than halfa million people from almost everystate and at least 30 foreign countrieshave visited the museum. While Maressays those numbers don’t sound likemuch for New York or Los Angeles,“they’re a lot for the middle of the prairie.”

Insight and MoreIn April 2002, Mares was recognized

with OU’s inaugural Otis Sullivant Awardfor Perceptivity. The award, which carries a $20,000 prize, is presented toa faculty or staff member who exhibitskeen perceptivity; manifests intuitiveness,instant comprehension, and empathy;is observant and interprets from experience; and whose insight benefitssociety and the broader community.

His colleague Laurie Vitt, professorof zoology and the museum’s associatedirector of collections and research,

The award is presented to a faculty or staff member who

exhibits keen perceptivity; manifests intuitiveness,

instant comprehension, and empathy; is observant and

interprets from experience; and whose insight benefits

society and the broader community.

D E S E R T D U D E :Michael Mares’

interest in mammalogy was piqued

while he was an undergraduate at

at UNM. Since then he has become

a world-renowned expert on

desert mammals.

describes some of the qualities thatmake Mares a perfect choice for thisaward: “A very small handful of peoplethroughout history have had the intuitionto determine future needs and directionsand make the kinds of decisions necessaryto make spectacular things happen. Dr. Mares is one of those. His intuitionand ability to make necessary decisionsin a timely manner, even in the face ofseemingly insurmountable odds, goesmuch deeper than the structure of themuseum that we are all so proud of today.”

While the creation of the museumis certainly one of Mares’ most notableachievements, the former FulbrightScholar, National Chicano Fellow, andFord Foundation Fellow is a widelyrespected professor, writer, andresearcher who has discovered anddescribed eight mammals and hadthree organisms named in his honor.His field experiences are detailed in hisrecent book published by HarvardPress, A Desert Calling: Life in aForbidding Landscape. He hasauthored 11 other books—includingEncyclopedia of Deserts, which provides information on the world’sdeserts to the general public, andMammalian Biology in SouthAmerica, considered a classic amongSouth American biologists—and nearly200 articles. He served as an adviserand consultant to the Interim WorkingGroup of the White House on Biodiversity,Ecology, and Ecosystems and the Inter-American Institute for GlobalChange Research, and as a member ofthe board of the Fulbright Commissionand the Commission on the Future ofthe Smithsonian Institution.

While Findley, Mares’ UNM mentor,says Mares’ published contributions tomammalogy are a matter of record—“As I glance at my bookshelf, a largevolume, The Bats of Argentina, byBarquez, Mares, and Braun, catches

my eye,” Findley says—he considersMares’ most important contribution toscience his role in bringing young LatinAmericans into the scientific mainstreamthrough encouragement and mentorship.

Desert DevotionMore than 30 years after taking his

first mammalogy course from Findley,Mares is more passionate than everabout his chosen field. He plans tospend even more time researching andwriting now that he has relinquishedhis post as museum director. Returntrips to South America and Africa areon tap, and he’s currently collaboratingon an interactive CD-ROM about themammals of Argentina—the first suchsurvey of the fauna of that country.

Not all of Mares’ writing, however, isscholarly. He’s working on a screenplay—“I can’t tell you what it’s about becausepeople are always looking for ideas”—and is writing a novel—“Nothing hasbeen published yet.” He does much ofhis writing during his frequent visits toAlbuquerque, where he has a townhousein Old Town, just steps from where his88-year-old father lives.

Findley praises Mares for stayingtrue to his New Mexico upbringing. “He has remained an Albuquerquehomeboy with his roots and valuesdeep in the culture and history of ourold town,” Findley says. “I think it isthat, more than anything else, that forme makes him an outstanding man.”

These days, Mares has more timeto spend with his wife, attorney LynnBrusin Mares, and their two sons, bothof whom live in Seattle. He and his wife have talked about moving toWashington, but Mares, who has livedthe past 22 years on the Oklahomaplains, isn’t sure he could tolerate thelack of sunshine in Seattle. Maybe we’llmove to eastern Washington,” he says.It’s a desert there.”

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3 3

Juan R. Buriel, ’98 BA, ’01 MA, is workingon a PhD in comparative literature at UC-Irvine.He lives in Santa Ana, California.

Juan C. Corpion, ’98 MBA, has moved toLos Alamos where he is a project leader. Hesays he has left general management andfound a niche in project management.

Kathryn M. Davis, ’98 MA, has a jointposition as curator of contemporary art atthe Hunter Museum of American Art inChattanooga, Tennessee, and as assistantprofessor of contemporary critical theory at the University of Tennessee.

Natalie A. Martsh, ’98 BA, of Santa Ana,California, is a social worker at Adult Day Services of Orange County inHuntington Beach.

Reyna Sandoval, ’98 BA, works at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing advertising and recruiting. She lives in Santa Fe.

Steven Allen, ’99 MBA, is an attorney with the Jontz Dawe Gulley & Crown firm in Albuquerque.

Lesla Andrews, ’99 BAA, is a staff accountantat the Pulakos & Alongi, Ltd., in Albuquerque.

Robert C. Guarino, ’99 BABA, is productionmanager with Android Industries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jennifer Riordan, ’99 BA, senior publicaffairs representative with the office of public affairs, UNM Health Sciences Center,has been named “Member of the Year” bythe New Mexico chapter of the AmericanMarketing Association.

Celia R. Baca, ’01 BABA, works in Chicagoat The San Jose Group, an advertising, marketing, and public relations companythat specializes in the Hispanic market.

Phyllis Chisholm, ’01 MA, of Tijeras, New Mexico, works on contract with the US Forest Service, a job she attributes to the master’s degree in geography shereceived in her early 70s.

Shana Gibson, ’01 BABA, of Albuquerque,is owner of ModernCowGirl.com, Inc, whichsells high-fashion women’s western wearand tack for horses.

Sarah M. Karni, ’01 JD, has joined theAlbuquerque law firm of Atkinson & Kelsey, PA.

Rayburn A. Massiah, ‘01 BA, has receivedhis commission as ensign after completingOfficer Candidate School in Pensacola,Florida.

gM I R A G E m a g a z i n e3 4

looking at Sam Suplizio

unm

SamSuplizioOn and Off the FieldB Y C A R O L Y N G O N Z A L E S

The Lobo-turned-Yankee-

turned-manager-turned-

commissioner is the go-to

man for Colorado baseball

courtesy Sam Suplizio

gDeGroot and Suplizio’s relationship

began before DeGroot came to UNM,when he offered Suplizio a footballscholarship to the University of WestVirginia. DeGroot took the UNM coach-ing job the summer of 1950, and quick-ly persuaded Suplizio and others to come to UNM,” Suplizio says.

For Suplizio, from DuBois,Pennsylvania, and a few of his easternteammates, coming to UNM was theirfirst time out West.

“It was the best move of my life.I’ve found a home in the Rockies,” saysSuplizio, who lives in Grand Junction,Colorado.

Suplizio played football, basketball,and baseball at UNM. He dropped basketball first and, aftersuffering a dislocated and separatedshoulder in football that threatened hisbaseball career, he dropped football,with DeGroot’s approval.

The Brightest StarIn baseball, Suplizio shone. “Sam was an outfielder and a hitter.

He hit over .400 in ’51 and ’52 andalmost .500 in ’53,” recalls Kailer.

The Yankees recognized Suplizo’stalent and signed him at the end of hisjunior year.

Suplizio’s father insisted that Samsign only if the Yankees would allowhim to report for spring training following finals and agree to pay forand allow Suplizio to return to UNM tocomplete his senior year and his degreein education, although he would beineligible to compete at the collegiatelevel. The Yankees agreed.

“I moved real fast in the system,”recalled Suplizio, who spent only twoyears in the minors at a time whenmost players averaged five. His firstyear he played in Binghampton, New York, in the Class A Eastern

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3 5

Olivia A. Ortega, ’01 BABA, is assistantstaff accountant at Neff + Ricci, LLP, inAlbuquerque. She is also on the board ofdirectors for First Financial Credit Union.

Catherine Porto, ’01 MAPA, of Los Alamos,is now president of the New Mexico HealthInformation Association. She is a registeredhealth information administrator and isemployed as the team leader, HealthInformation Administration, OccupationalMedicine, at the Los Alamos NationalLaboratory.

Matthew Barbour, ’02 BA, of Edgewood,New Mexico, is working on the excavationon the north side of the Palace of theGovernors in Santa Fe. The excavation is in preparation for the construction of anew wing of the Museum of New Mexico’shistory museum.

Kasey R. Daniel, ’02 JD, has become adirector and shareholder in the Albuquerquelaw firm of Keleher & McLeod, PA, whereshe represents clients in civil litigation,including nursing home litigation and medical malpractice.

Tina Frank, ’02 MBA, has been appointeddirector of sales and marketing for KeystoneResort and Convention Center, the largestconference and convention center in theRockies, based in Lakewood, Colorado.Previously, Tina was director of sales andmarketing at the Albuquerque HyattRegency.

Kelly Gomez, ’02 BUS, works at UNMHospital as a patient observation attendantwhere she provides one-on-one care topatients who are confused or suicidal or tochildren who don’t have families. She plansto attend graduate school and return to her hometown of Gallup, New Mexico.

Given the chance to make a serious gubernatorial run in Colorado,

Sam Suplizio, ’54 BS, bowed out because it would prevent him

from attending Major League Baseball’s spring training in Arizona.

Lovers of the game get it.

Suplizio began his career at UNM in 1951 playing quarterback

under football Coach Dudley “Dud” DeGroot. His second year on

the team, the Lobos went 7-2, and set a college football record

by shutting out five opponents, says JD Kailer, sports editor of the

Albuquerque Journal from 1950-59. “They had the best defensive

team in the country.”

Tina Frank, ’02

P R I Z E D Y A N K E E : As a Lobo, Sam Suplizio was drafted by

the Yankees in his junior year.

League, then one of the strongestminors leagues in all of baseball.

In 1955, he hit more home runsthan Roger Maris who was then in theIndians system in Reading, Pennsylvania.Suplizio beat Maris 24-21.

Suplizio had a terrific year in hisfirst full season, leading the All-Star teamwith more votes than Hall-of-FamersMaris and Bill Mazeroski. His secondseason, in 1956, was so good that heand Tony Kubek were called up to theYankees’ early camp in 1957.

The Press and Radio Guide listedSuplizio and Kubek on their best minorleague prospects roster. “We were invitedto early camp so we could get used toplaying with the great Yankee teambefore the ’57 season,” says Suplizio.

At the end of the ’56 season, CaseyStengel, then manager of the Yankees,called Suplizio, who was then playingin Birmingham, to New York to getused to playing in Yankee Stadium.Stengel was planning to move Mickey

Mantle to right field to accommodateSuplizio in centerfield as the teamchased the pennant. The move wasdesigned to give Suplizio the chance to play in Yankee Stadium while givingMantle’s ailing legs a rest.

Things couldn’t have looked betterfor the young rookie out of UNM. He had made the league All-Star teamsin ’55 and ’56 and he had been namedbest defensive player in the Yankeeorganization three years runningbecause of his skills in centerfield.

In 1956, with eight days left beforeheading to New York, he was playing ina game against Nashville.

“I was running toward second baseand saw the shortstop attempting adouble play. I was trying to break it upby tripping him and my right forearmcaught his kneecap,” recalls Suplizio.

In that instant, his career as amajor leaguer was over. Both bones in the forearm snapped. He suffered a compound fracture making a slidehe’d made hundreds of times.

“It all ended right there,” he says.

Changing TrajectoryFor the next few years, with a wife

and two children to support, he workedwhile trying hard to rehab the arm. “I worked in a lumberyard in GrandJunction, I loaded box cars and carriedbricks—anything I could do to buildthe arm up.”

His wrist calcified, preventing himfrom throwing and hitting.

The Dodgers bought Suplizio’s contract from the Yankees and hespent a year with their Texas Leagueteam in Victoria. His arm didn’tstrengthen or heal. At the end of the1957 season the Dodgers askedSuplizio if he would like to manage.

“I found myself in Thomasville,Georgia, getting my feet wet as a manager.At 23, I was managing players whowere 25 and 26. As I managed, I playeda bit, but I just couldn’t do it,” he says.


unm

“With a ball, bat, and glove you can take a youngman and turn him into a good citizen with baseballas the vehicle,” Suplizio says.

I N T H E B I G L E A G U E S :

Sam Suplizio would have been

tough competition for Mickey

Mantle, above, and Roger Maris,

below, had he not been injured

eight days before heading to the

Yankees. Eventually, Sam turned

his talents to coaching, with the

Brewers, Yankees, Reds, Orioles,

and Athletics.



Off-season, Suplizio worked at HomeLoan Investment Company, in GrandJunction, Colorado. “I took the job withthe understanding that I would be goneduring spring training,” he says.

He eventually owned the investmentcompany and bank and ran it for 45 yearsbefore selling it five years ago to somelocals. “They’re former baseball players,”he says. Of course.

Turning a “negative into a positive,”Suplizio put that college education towork on the baseball field coachingacross the minor and major leagues.He’s held positions with the MilwaukeeBrewers, New York Yankees, CincinnatiReds, Baltimore Orioles, andCalifornia—now Anaheim—Angels.

Suplizio coached the Brewersagainst the St. Louis Cardinals in the1982 World Series. Coaching the Cardswas Suplizio’s friend and formerYankee teammate Whitey Herzog. TheBrewers lost. “But we went sevengames,” Suplizio quickly notes.

Rocky Mountain LegacyBaseball in Colorado has thrived

under Suplizio’s watchful eye. As chair of the Colorado Baseball

Commission, Suplizio saw himself as“landlord for the taxpayers” whoinvested $250 million in the ColoradoRockies’ new stadium, Coors Field.

He then served on the DenverFootball Commission, building theDenver Broncos’ new stadium, InvescoField at Mile High. Suplizio stands out as the only individual to serve onboth commissions from the projects’inception through completion.

The Colorado Rockies played theirfirst season at the Broncos’ old stadium,Mile High. Suplizio said that it tookfour or five years to build the Rockiesclub from the ground up. “We insistedthat the new stadium, Coors Field, be

downtown. We received a letter fromthe Denver Police Department thankingus because the officers no longer hadto travel in pairs in the vicinity of thestadium. That’s how much it improvedthe area,” he says.

Suplizio even has his own field ofdreams in Grand Junction. The JuniorCollege (JUCO) World Series is playedeach year at Suplizio Field, a 9,000-seatstadium adjacent to Mesa State College.

Suplizio has also traveled to Spain,France, Italy, and Israel to teach thesport of baseball at the bequest ofMajor League Baseball.

“With a ball, bat, and glove you cantake a young man and turn him into agood citizen with baseball as the vehi-cle,” Suplizio says.

Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carewcoached in the Angels system whenSuplizio did. Still a good friend, heunderstands Suplizio’s love of the game.

“He loves the kids. He is genuinelyinterested in seeing them learn. All theplayers who worked with him appreciatedhis insight into the game,” Carew says.

Lifetime TreasuresIn 1997, some of Suplizio’s friends

took note of his ability to get thingsdone and decided that he should run against Roy Romer when he wasmaking a bid for a second term, raisingbetween $3 and $4 million in campaigncontributions. But Sam doesn’t regrethis decision not to run:

“Seeing two stadiums built and riding in the parade on opening day atCoors Field, establishing Major LeagueBaseball in the Mountain West TimeZone, the JUCO World Series, coachingin the ’82 World Series, and playing inold-timer games—these are more of atreasure than being governor everwould’ve been.”

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3 7

Patricia Lopez, ’02 BA, of Sherman Oaks,California, has a position as a “globaltrainee” at Warner Brothers Studios workingin the production department for the seniorvice president of production operations.

Matthew Watson, ’02 JD, is an associatewith the El Paso law firm of Scott, Hulse,Marshall, Feuille, Finger & Thurmond, PC,where he practices in the general liability litigation section. He passed the Texas barexam last fall.

Brian T. Wolf, ’02 BS, was commissioned to the rank of Navy ensign after completingAviation Officer Candidate School inPensacola, Florida.

marriagesJanie Gilmore, ’77 BAED,

and Michael Daniels

Linda Jean Fenow, ’86 BS, and Terry Frank Sumski

Michael Gallegos, ’86 BA, ’89 JD, and Amanda Highley

James Frank Sattler, ’88 BAA, ’95 MCRP, and Jill Alyssa Worley

Barbara Martinez, ’88 BABA, and Kevin Carson

Thomas Mucci, ’88 BA, ’97 MA, ’01 JD, and Carla Gutierrez

A.J. Salazar, ’89 BA, ’93 JD, and Liberty Hope Moruno

Ann Hooker Clark, ’92 JD, and Duncan L. Clarke

Ivy Schumer, ’92 BA, and Tate Duewall

Leonard Chris-Ruiz, ’94 BABA, and Denise Antoinette Garley

Chris Berkheimer, ’93 BA, ’00 JD, and Martina Kitzmueller

Michael Anthony Baca, ’95 BA, and M. Magda Martinez

Vicki Ventura, ’95 BSNU, ’00 MSNU, and David Blake

Dionne Watkins, ’95 BA, and Israel J. Ruiz

Stacy Beske, ’96 BS, and Andrew Radford

Richard F. Gomez, ’96 BABA, ’99 MBA, and Rosario Martinez

Aleta Dawn Best, ’97 BS, ’02 MD, and Robert Phillip DaSilva, ’02 PHAR

Tammye Cox, ’97 BS, and Shawn Quinn, ’98 BSPH

Robert A. Griego, ’97 MA, ’00 MCRP, and Debra E. Garcia

sShe was one of the best women’s basketball players ever to don the cherry and silver at the University ofNew Mexico. At 6-foot, 3-inches, JordanAdams was an intimidating force on thecourt for Head Coach Don Flanagan.The Overton, Nevada, native dominatedthe paint with her uncanny ability to get strong position and her knack forscoring down low, especially with adeadly hook shot anywhere within sixfeet of the basket. During her recentlycompleted senior season, Adams was alegitimate All-America candidate andwas publicized as such by the UNMAthletics Media Relations Department.

“She’s one of the most talented basketball players to play here,” saysHead Coach Don Flanagan. “Throughouther career she’s had some ups and downs,but I think it was mostly confidencecoming from a smaller high school toplay Division I basketball. She’s had thetalent, but sometimes I think she didn'tbelieve she had the talent. This pastyear she has matured a great deal.”


athletics

unm

Four Years LaterWatch Lady Lobo star Jordan Adamsas she meets the challenge.

B Y S T E V E C A R R

Laura Mann

C L O S E L O O K : Lobo center

Jordan Adams gets a good look at

the basket. With spring here, she’s

also taking a look at her future.

A four-time Mountain WestConference honoree, Adams led theLobos in scoring (averaging nearly 16points per game), rebounds (more than6.0 per game), and blocks (averaging alittle more than 2.0 per game). ButAdams’ success on the court didn’talways come easy. Everyday life and the challenges of playing the game ofbasketball can be tough on anyone, especially a student-athlete.

No Longer Just for Me“Learning to deal with different

pressures—mostly outside pressures—has been a really big battle for me sincehigh school,” says Adams. “Basketballused to be about a game just for me.That’s kind of bad to say, but that’s justhow I played it. It was just me and myteam on the floor and I didn’t care aboutanything else. And now, there seemed to be a lot more added to it.

“You have the whole crowd situation,people always watching you, a lot ofexpectations and dealing with all thosekind of pressures. The one thing that Ihave pulled out of, though, revertingback to high school, is that it’s about meand about the team and nobody else.This year I learned to take things thatbothered me and make them better by helping other people. For example,helping the freshmen get acquaintedwith the situation. It’s hard for them tocome into a college atmosphere. I wouldsay nice things to them and make themfeel comfortable. I found that helpingothers on the team helped me feel better. So I was basically helping myself at the same time.”

MotivationAdams is one of five children, four

girls and one boy. Playing basketball was her ticket to college.

“Coming from a family that didn’thave very much money, my biggestobstacle was to get to college,” saysAdams. “My only way to get there wasthrough basketball and my parents sacrificeda lot for that. I played one summer of AAU(Amateur Athletic Union) basketball and that was kind of my way into thewhole situation with college.

“My only real motivation was to justbe all I can be and to do whatever I cando personally and not try to be somebodyelse—in all aspects of my life. I’ve alwayswanted to be an individual and do myown thing.”

AdaptingAlong the way Adams learned quite

a few lessons, both on and off the court.She has always enjoyed solitude. But it is one area of her life where she had toadapt her personality to the situationshe faced. It’s a lesson she’ll be able to utilize when her basketball playingdays are over.

“There are so many lessons I’velearned,” Adams says. “In the past I’vebeen known as a solitary person and forkeeping to myself, but I’ve learned towork with people in different ways. Inpressure situations you’re always goingto be able to use that.”

Moving OnGraduating in May with a bachelor of

university studies with an emphasis onjournalism and athletic coaching, Adamswould like to move on to the WNBA, hermain focus after school.

“I think she is certainly capable ofplaying at the next level,” says Flanagan.“It depends on how important that goalis to her. I watched her play in the USATrials and she scored against all the toppost players in the nation. Offensivelyshe did very well, but defensively shehad problems guarding some of the better players. I do think her defensehas improved considerably this year.”

“I would love to do that (play in theWNBA),” says Adams. “If not, I think I’llgo overseas and play over there just forthe experience. After that, maybe somedayI’d like to teach or work in a newsroom.I’d like to teach journalism or maybephysical education. I just want to teachand I’d like to coach too. I love kids.”

If Adams turns out to be the samekind of teacher as she is basketball player,then a number of kids will benefit fromher life’s lessons.

For final 2003 Lady Lobo results, go to www.unmalumni.com.

morealbum

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 3 9

more marriages

Heather Herzog, ’98 BS, and Joshua SpiesJulio P. Marchiondo Jr., ’98 MBA,

and Nancy Moore

April Mokina, ’98 BS, ’01 MS, and Jose Alvarez, ’75 BUS

Lora L. Smalley, ’98 BA, and Miles Fisher

Antonia Trujillo, ’98 BSED, and Dalon Bynum

Meredith N. Ford, ’99 BA, and Mark A. Koski, ’00 BSPE

Daniel Puzak, ’99 BAA, ’02 MARC, and Lisa Martinez

Tina Waggoner, ’99 BS, and Dale Huber

Valerie Marie Barela, ’00 BABA, and Frank Anthony Sedillo, ’82 BABA, ’87 JD

Nancy M. Cimermanis, ’00 BUS, and Gary Brault

Jon Ryan Courtney, ’00 BA, and Katherine Evita Ortega, ’01 BA

Jennifer Kipping, ’00 BS, and David York

Samuel Abraham Morrah, ’00 BARC, and Melissa M. Stiles

Michelle Lee Negrette, ’00 MCRP, ’01 MLA,and Joshua Andrew Allison

Maggie Mae Richardson, ’00 BSNU, and Andrew Thomas Faber, ’96 BA

Leona Zamora, ’00 BS, and Kevin Gustafson

Venessa De Los Santos, ’01 BABA, and Isaac Jerome Finn, ’01 BABA

Elizabeth Marie Johnson, ’01 BSNU, and Robert Guild Brown, ’01 BABA

Shannon Nagel, ’01 BS, and Keith Keetso Jr., ’94 BSEE

Courtney A. Thompson, ’01 BA, and Eric W. Woods

Casey Creel, 02 BUS, and Elizabeth Anderson

Robert Nance, ’02 JD, and Kimberly Michelle Schiller

Annette Vasquez, ’02 BSNU, and David Aguilar, ’02 BSNU

Another Anderson Schools ofManagement alumni couple, Brett andKarla Newberry, both ’81 BABA, also seeseducation as a gift that brings success.“My wife and I feel education is criticalif you want to be successful in life becauseof technology and the complexity in oursociety now.” They give to UNM througha different avenue than the Sapiens:the President’s Fund for AcademicExcellence, which supports theUniversity’s Freshman LearningCommunities. Through this unrestrictedgift, they are encouraging UNM freshmento stay in school so that they canunwrap success as well.

Family ValuesFor these couples, education’s value

is clear. Both Sapiens come from familieswith humble beginnings. John’s fathermoved from Colorado to Bernalillo,New Mexico, after doing migrant farmwork alongside John’s grandparents,who were from Mexico. Veronica’s parents, from Las Vegas, New Mexico,raised her and her siblings in Grants,New Mexico, where her father workedin uranium mining. They saw a collegeeducation as a way to create betteropportunities for their children.Presidential Scholarships helpedVeronica attain an accounting degree,and John, a degree in finance.

Brett Newberry, whose degree is in accounting, says he attended UNMbecause of the atmosphere, the beautifulcampus, and the good academic reputation.“I have a lot of passion for UNM. It gaveme a good education and a lot of mysuccess is due to the university,” hesays. “My father was the first collegegraduate of his family. He instilled inme the importance of education if youwant to be successful economically,have security, and provide nice thingsfor your family.”

Karla agrees. “We’ve told our childrenthat their main job is to get good gradesand to stay in school,” she says ofdaughter Kristi, 17, and son Scott, 15.“We’ve really stressed to them thatthey will be going to college.”

Career PathsAfter college, Veronica Sapien

became a CPA and performed tax andaudit work for six years. After that, shewas a controller for an automotive group.Today, she works from home as seniorfinancial analyst for Marriott’s Senior


y

see what you can do

unm unwrapping success

Out of gratitude for

their own educations,

two alumni couples

give back.

B Y E L L E N K .

A S H C R A F T

“You can’t replace the gift of education,” asserts Veronica Sapien, ’93, BABA.

“To us, it’s helping people help themselves. The [ideal] future of every child is

to be educated and to have opportunities and doors opened because of that,

for whatever they want to do.” Veronica and her husband, John, ’92 BABA,

unwrapped that gift themselves through UNM’s Presidential Scholarship Program.

Today, they sponsor a Presidential Scholarship themselves.

Matthew

Dunn

Living Services Division, which operatesretirement homes in 120 communitiesnationwide. “I do a lot of consolidatedreporting for the company—analysis,looking for trends,” she says.

John began his career as a claimsadjuster with State Farm InsuranceCompanies for nine years, during whichtime he made visits throughout thecountry on a national catastrophe team.Two years ago, he followed the footstepsof his father, receiving the company’sblessing to take over his dad’s agency.“State Farm has grown out into financialproducts, and it is right in line with my degree,” he says happily.

Brett Newberry enjoys businessownership, too. He became a CPA and partner in his father’s accountingpractice; the firm recently opened anoffice in Farmington. Brett’s work focuseson income tax preparation, tax planning,estate tax planning, and gift planning.“I also spend a lot of time consulting to help businesses manage their operations more effectively,” he says.

After earning her accountingdegree, Karla was a CPA alongside herhusband at Newberry and Associatesfor a decade, before deciding to stayhome with their children. “When thekids were 2 and 4, we decided it would be good to have more hands-onexperience with them,” she says. “I still help out at tax season.”

Philanthropy and ServiceThe Newberrys learned about the

President’s Club from their friend andclient Arlene High, a UNM FoundationBoard member. The President’s Cluballows a donor to designate part of agift to any UNM school or programbut requires that part goes to thePresident’s Fund for Academic Excellence.“Through the President’s Club, I’m ableto support athletics, which I’m passionateabout, and the academic area I feel

strongly about as well,” Brett says.“We really like to give back to our

community, our church, and serve onschool boards and different committees,”says Karla. “We’ve tried to encouragethat with the kids. It’s great for them to learn that now.”

The Newberrys certainly set theexample. Among other activities, Karlahas helped with her daughter’s GirlScout Troop and has been treasurer of the swim team booster club. Brett’scurrent roles include Gallup KiwanisClub president and Gallup-McKinleyCounty Chamber of Commerce treasurer.He serves on a local hospital foundationboard, chairs its subcommittee forcharitable giving, and is treasurer for aprivate school. In addition, he is in theNew Mexico Amigos, a group of officialgoodwill ambassadors for the state.

Despite heavy work schedules, theSapiens have given time and talent toToys for Tots (they ride a Harley-Davidson together), the LeukemiaFoundation, the New Mexico Alliance,Christmas in April and South ValleyCharter High School. John has alsoapproached Bernalillo Public Schoolsabout “talking to the students on a regular basis about how money cangrow positively through investments ornegatively through credit card debt.”

As Friends of the PresidentialScholarship Program, the Sapiens help to bring in more sponsors for theprogram. Though they would like togive multiple scholarships, they currentlysponsor one, crediting State Farm’smatching gifts program for relievingsome of the financial burden. “We can’tafford to do 10 scholarships,” commentsJohn. “But we have the time and theskills to hopefully energize 10 peopleto give 10 scholarships.”

John notes that without their scholarships, he and Veronica “wouldnot be in the position we are today—we’d have student loans; we’d havedebt.” Veronica adds, “We wouldn’thave the opportunities that we’ve had.We really have been blessed to havethe things that have come our way.”

Indeed, education has been key to these couples, and their gifts arehelping others unwrap success, too.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 4 1

O N T H E R O A D : Veronica

and John Sapien hit the road for

students who have followed in

their tracks at UNM by sponsoring

a Presidential Scholarship and

encouraging others to do the same.

1

Steve CiepielaPresident, UNM Alumni Association,2002-2003

3 impressions from My Year’s Service• The Alumni Association makes a huge impact, touching 117,000 alumni plus students, faculty, parents, and legislators.

• Everything the Association does is high quality, from receptions to lobbying effortsto awards banquets to communications.

• The Association does all this with a small staff and a small budget—without charging dues.

Plus 1 word—Thanks! To all the people I’ve worked with this year, from staff toleadership to volunteers. UNM has anincredible amount going on—it’s exciting to be part of it again. I hope you’ll getinvolved also—it’s rewarding, informative,and great fun!

3 3forThree key Alumni

Association leaders

pick three topics of

interest to them.


looking back

unm

friendsfor

lifeOn and Off the Beaten PathB Y I S A B E L M I L L E R B E A R M A N B U C H E R , ’ 6 0 B S , ’ 6 8 M A

court

esy

Isabel

Bea

rman B

uch

er

M O U N T A I N

W O M E N :

Trekking through

Washington's

Olympic Mountain

Range added

another dimension

to the longtime

friendship among

alumnae (l-r back)

Evelyn Rosenberg,

Isabel Bearman

Bucher, Anita

Solberg, (l-r front)

Diane Becker, and

Michaela Karni.

dDiane Klinge Becker, ’61 BADA, ’68BAFA, and I met in 1958, in a MitchellHall Spanish class. She was an Alpha Chiand I was a town girl who mostly crawledonto the 6 a.m. bus from Sandia Base,laden with Edith Buchanan’s everlastingEnglish compositions, her relentless corrections, and my deathless rewrites.There was no duck pond. Instead, theblack-topped parking space was linedwith sawed off telephone poles to markits boundaries. Diane and StephanieKimbrough Spinks suffered through frequent whiplash while I learned todrive, because I backed into every one ofthe poles, using my parents’ Flowmasterblack-and-red Buick like a battering ram.

Then, tuition was a big $50 a semester,and if you spent $25 on books, it wassomething to talk about. There wereabout 4,500 students. Diane and I metdaily at the old SUB, now a museum, forgood coffee and fresh cake doughnutsserved on thick restaurant white china.Often we sat with N. Scott Mommaday,Neil Frumkin, and some guy who waspositive that the radical organization forstudents called the SDS was the future of the world. Diane and I joined for twobucks because he was pretty cute, andwe wanted to date him. In subsequentyears, we wondered if the FBI would huntus down and rip the paper cards to bits in front of a tribunal dealing with heretics.

Now a team referred to as “Mutt andJeff,” Diane, a tall and blond Chicagoan,and I, short and dark, became fastfriends throughout all the rest of ouryears at UNM. We studied together, hitthe beer busts, soulful poetry sessions,and shoulder-to-shoulder parties over onPine Street, where the word “Beatnik”was gaining approval, along with JoanBaez’s voice. I took up playing andsinging with a five-dollar hockshop guitarand managed a two-chord “Michael Row

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 4 3

!life

2

3

Judy JonesUNM Vice President for Advancement

3 ways New Mexicans View UNM(from the university’s 2003 statewide survey)

• More than 70 percent rank their overall impression of UNM as either extremely good or good.

• Asked why they feel positive about UNM, the highest response (43 percent) is the quality education UNM offers.

• One-quarter of the respondents say we have enough parking and shuttle buses—who are these people?

Karen AbrahamExecutive Director, UNM AlumniAssociation

3 things I’d Like You to Do• Send us your e-mail address—register at unmalumni.com.

• Interact with us—send us your opinions, reconnect with your friends through our online community, respond to our surveys.

• Take pride in your alma mater—it’s a world-class university!

Your Boat Ashore.” We were assuredparty invites because of my huge talent.Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti andauthor Jack Kerouac got off the road,stopping in Albuquerque, joining the rest of the totally hip, fringe groups we floated into and out of. Diane and Iprogressed from semester to semester,and even once climbed up a ladder, flattening ourselves on the roof at a party in the Country Club when the cops raided it. Since it was winter, twofreezing anonymous hours later, cowardsthat we were, we snuck down, raced toour car and beat it.

We both graduated and got teachingjobs with APS: I landed a first grade andshe did junior high English/Drama. Shecame to live with me at my parents’home. Somewhere along the line, a young Sigma Chi named Tom Beckerentered the scene. He swept my budaway completely when he threw a stripedblanket over his shoulder, hunkereddown, and sold cheap Southwest trinketshe’d bought at the five-and-dime, acrossthe street from the burning of Zozobra.Well, he was, after all, a business majorgaining marketing experience. I had metcub reporter LeRoy Bearman, and wasnow tap dancing around this on again-off again relationship.

On a wonderful August day in 1962,Diane and I whizzed along the back roadsof the Sandias in my snazzy convertible’55 turquoise T-Bird, singing “Moon River”at the top of our carefree lungs. It wasthe last time we were together for years.She married a few weeks later and went

off to Central and South America; I left toteach school with the US Army in southernGermany. She, now the mother of threekids, two girls and a boy, moved back toAlbuquerque, and was here for me andmy two little daughters, when I lost LeRoyto a totally wrecked heart when he wasonly 41. She was there at my re-marriagefour years later taking the photos.

Somewhere along the line, we realized we loved putting one foot infront of the other, and on Thursdays took to the hiking trails surroundingAlbuquerque. We were soon joined bythree other sisters of the heart, all UNM

grads: artist/sculptor Evelyn EdelsonRosenberg, ’71 MA, author MichaelaJordan Karni, ’64 BA, and teacher AnitaFerebee Solberg, ’65 BSED. All risky personalities, we took our first backpacktrip into the Grand Canyon in Septemberof 1980. While training on La Luz trail,Diane got strep-infected heel blisters,and was benched for the trip, bawlingher eyes out. She’s never let us forgetthat in her book this was a clear case of abandonment. I borrowed ArtGardenswartz’s pack and learned themeaning of step-whop. Every time I tooka step, it whopped me in the back of the head.

Hopelessly hooked since, the five ofus, sans husbands, have done a backpacka year into some remote Americanwilderness. We’ve eaten Glacier dirt andDurango bugs. We’ve been stranded at13,000 feet when lightening made ourhair frizz and hail drummed knots on ourskulls. We’ve been lost for a half day, beenpaced by a huge black bear, crawled across

storm-swollen North Carolina streams, andcome back to find our sleeping bagsfloating inside our tents. The littleSanteetlah had risen, and we did whatany great mountain women would do—we bailed and checked into motel, driedout and went back in. We’ve spit on headgashes, pulled cactus out with our teeth,dug latrines, and massaged trail-wearyfeet. We’ve linked arms and sung to thegreat Olympians of Washington state,slept on canyon-solid rock, and laugheduntil we thought we’d burst.

At night, Diane, our fire wizard, canalways get flames started; Evelyn posesgreat weighty philosophical questions,Anita, the mother, the youngest and thestrongest hiker, gets supper startedbecause we’re all crawling into campbeyond exhausted. Mikey quotes poetryand reads topographic maps constantly,while I sing to the mountain. On week-longtrips, we solve problems, laugh, cry, fight,get things straight, and throw lifelinesout into that beauty, where everything isreal, as it is, a stunning perfection thatcomes from time, just like our long,enduring friendship.

At night, we sit close, cuddle stream-water cocoa, and reminisce. Wetake joy in our 11 grown kids, celebrateour long marriages, and talk about howmuch we cherish each other. Diane and I often look into each other’s eyes, andthink about the passage of 46 years thatseems like five minutes. But, for us both,we’re still those very same Mutt and JeffUNM teenagers, who hid out on a rooftop.Then, the wilderness takes us unto her,zips us into our tents and bags, turns out the light, and fills the starry nightwith a billion stars.

Note: In July, the Mountain Womenwill do their annual trip in a remoteplace outside Golden, British Columbia.They’ll jump off a helicopter, and runaround the woods for a week.


unm

On week-long trips, we solve problems, laugh, cry,fight, get things straight, and throw lifelines outinto that beauty, where everything is real, as it is,a stunning perfection that comes from time, justlike our long, enduring friendship.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 4 5

unm

Edward James Cristy, ‘20Olive Boone, ‘25Mary M. McDonald, ‘27Mary Gunn, ‘28Gaylord Myers, ‘28Fred M. Pyle, 29Gladys Dorris Barber, ‘30Dorothy Diver Partee, ‘30Rufus H. Carter Jr., ’31, ‘53John C. Thompson, ‘31Beth Gilbert Hagaman, ‘32Everett “Beans” Renfro, ‘32Will J. Arnott, ‘33Anna Marie Reardon Edwards Harris, ‘33

Tom O. Meeks, ‘34Frances N. Holland, ‘36Mary G. Klusman, ‘36Arthur P. Stanton, ‘37Mildred Mock Walker, ‘37Nellita Elizabeth Walker, ’37, ‘67Wadette Goze Abraham, ’38Mabel Downer Bennet Durning, ’38, ‘53

Milton L. Rose, ‘38Sabra Ware, ‘38Fred B. Evans Jr., ‘39Jose Adelaido Medina, ‘39Charles Wesley Trask, ‘39Ed Black, ‘40Ralph E. Frank, ‘40Robert Benjamin Troxel, ‘40Archie W. Allen, ‘41Kathryn Felicitas Trainor, ‘41Ralph E. Fisher, ‘42Dorothy Knode Gillespie, ‘42Stephen Smithson Koch, ‘42Petrita S. Marquez, ‘42Ruth Jurgensen Starks. ‘43Marx Brook, ‘44Jeannetta E. Wood, ‘44Robert E. Rutherford, ‘44Harold Rosenthal, ‘44Zachary Homer, ‘45Wilfred E. Torres, ’45, ‘47Frances K. Ward, ‘45Chad L. Wiley, ‘45Robert B. Rountree, ‘46Charles W. Sisty, ‘47Sabine Ulibarri, ’47, ‘49William Warder, ‘47Robert H. Brown, ‘48Paul Graham “Buzz” McHenry Jr., ’48, ‘75

Ergeal C. Brown, ’49, ‘51William R. Erdman, ‘49H. Frank Sowers, ‘49Sherman M. Stanage, ‘49Edward W. Taylor, ‘49Henry “Hank” Trewhitt, ‘49Eloy Gil Padilla, ‘50Mary Frances Blanchard Rohn, ‘50

Bettie Lou Snapp, ‘50John W. Thompson, ‘50Add L. Webster, ‘50Albert A. Williams, ‘50Mary E. Brooks, ’51, ‘60Lloyd R. Irish, ‘51Ross Kailey, ‘51Andrew Marchese, ‘51L.A. “Lee” Putnam Jr, ‘51Donald Earl Rhoades, ‘51Elvira Sattel, ‘51Hallie Goss Harber Smith, ‘51Roscoe Frank Thomas, ‘51Ione Vogel, ‘51

James B. Wade, ‘51Dean C. Watland, ‘51H. Barry Gordon, ‘52Robert P. Kelly, ‘52Al Lucas, ‘52Dorothy J. Pannell, ’52Rick Raphael, ‘52James Zartman, ‘52Richard Stanley Clark, ‘53G. Ward Fenley Jr., ’53, ‘55Roger Gilbert, ‘53Pete C. Hernandez, ‘53Richard A. Neff, ‘53James Charles Pulte, ‘53Ruth Cooper Streeter, ‘53Curtis Franklin Hardison, ‘54Theodore J. Nowicki, ‘54Jewell M. Richards, ‘54Enzo Uliana, ‘54Carter C. Mathies, ‘55Alvin Mulica, ‘55O. Howard Stockton, ‘55Robert Emmett White, ‘56Joe D. Womack, ‘56Lucille Joan Dague, ‘57Robert L. Gault, ‘57Frederick G. Smith, ‘57James Frank Thompson, ’57, ‘67William Macas, ‘58David Austin Reece, ‘58Paul A. Sweitzer, ‘58John Herman Muller, ‘59Priscilla D. Biggs, ‘60James Carol Shipp, ‘60Leslie Robert Thomas, ‘60Roger W. Horn, ‘61H. Elizabeth Link, ‘61Grace Elizabeth YoungRichardson, ‘61Loretta Sharon Wyatt, ’61, ‘64Betty Z. Cummings, ‘63Abelardo Villarreal, ’63, ‘65Lana Sue Murphy Garcia, ‘64Carol L. Kirby, ‘64Jarrod Taylor Simmons, ‘64Emiliano De La Fuente Jr., ‘65Jack W. Phillips, ‘66Jasmin J. Smith, ‘66Robert K. Cover, ‘67Walter Goetz, ‘67Esther J. Mailander, ‘67Jack Marvin Nelson, ’67, ‘68Jeanne Suzanne Ratchner, ‘67Jo Anne Bachand Rhudy, ‘68John Ward Jr., ‘68Robert Lee “White Eagle” Canard, ‘69

Benjamin Anthony Sanchez, ‘69Mark H. Shaw, ‘69William G. Sullivan, ‘69Lorraine V. Trujillo, ‘69David Carroll Bardé, ‘70James D. Copeland, ‘70Donald P. Garland, ‘70Beverly Ann Goldrick, ‘70Michael E. Johnson, ‘70Robert L. Daby, ‘71Donald Lee Greenstreet, ‘71James D. Johnson, ‘71Patrick J. Neal, ‘71James S. Patterson, ‘71Billy D. Stearnes, ‘71Jose Florio Vigil, ‘71Colleen Ann Miller, ‘72Sandra Brown Phillips, ‘72Floyd Rubi, ‘72Janet C. Triplett, ‘72

Ann Dudley Edwards, ‘73Edward D. Oglesby, ‘73Nancy B. Pigg, ‘73Lawrence Rodgers, ‘73Dale Sherrard, ‘73C.E. “Joe” Young, ‘73James Edward Bridge, ‘74Curtis C. Chang, ‘74Jeffry S. Deshong, ‘74Donal C. Phibbs, ‘74Joseph Kevin Valencia, ‘74Adrienne Pata, ‘75Suzanne Stillinger, ‘75George M. Chambers, ‘76James Robert Kelsey, ‘76Mae Beth Myers, ‘76William Leonard Sabo, ‘76Sara A. Balcomb, ‘77Tillie Ann Wagoner, ‘77Nancy Davis, ‘78John Gregory Hoffman, ‘78Jim C. Johnson Jr., ‘78Harry Mason, ‘78Sue Ann Reynolds, ’78, ‘81Karn M. Sigmond, ‘78William D. Petty, ‘79John A. Shankland, ‘79Dorothy Gay Grooms Morell, ‘80Valerie A. Sivinski, ‘80David Robert Pieyns, ‘81Elinor Coates, ‘82Dorothea A. Overstreet, ‘83Susan Williams, ‘83Greg H. Illanes, ‘84Sylvia Ann Shipley Abeyta, ‘85William L. Miller, ‘85Edward M. Thomas, ‘85Walter Carl Wohrer, ‘86C. Paul Kircher, ‘87Nicholas Constantine Nellos, ‘87Donald Eugene Lott, ’88 Winifred “Gene” Zeedyk, ‘88Patricia J. Butler, ‘89Lisa Marie Driskell, ‘89Danny Wayne Gresham, ‘89Judith Miller Stiteler, ‘89Robert Richard Viramontes, ‘89Barbara Jean Watchman, ’89, ’92, ‘95

Lois V. Williams, ‘89Donna Anders, ‘92Annette Sanchez Gabaldon, ’92, ‘97

Ramon Sanchez, ‘92Susan L. Stone, ‘92Sharon Charlene Collins, ‘93Vita Picone, 93Paula Renee Pringle, ‘93Erica P. Trujillo, ’93, ‘97Marshall J. Waite, ‘93Perri Abbott Yarbrough, ‘93Patricia Vardeman, ‘94Cristino B. Griego, ‘95William Scott Hays, ’97, ‘99Gary E. Chavez, ‘00Christopher Schultz, ‘00

Robert J. Kinney, retired facultyJohn Linsley, emeritus facultyHarold Shaw, Special Events Coordinator

Henry “Hank” Trewhitt,‘49Sabine Ulibarri, ’47, ’49, emeritus faculty

Gene C. Walton, friend

in mem

oriam

2003 UNM Alumni Educational

TravelAdventuresFollowing is our line-up of educational

travel opportunities coming up in 2003. We hope to see you on one of our trips in the near future!

May 14-22Alumni College in Scotland

August 2-14Russian Waterways

September 12-20Alumni College in Bordeaux

September 29-October 7Italian Lake District

November 30-December 8German Holiday Markets

Trips and dates are subject to change.For additional information, contact Charlene Chavez at

the UNM Alumni Relations Office, 505-277-5808 or 800-258-6866.

Carnavalon the Rio Grande

UNM Homecoming 2003September 30-October 4

Watch for more informationin the fall Mirage.


a longing look

unm

s p r i n g 2 0 0 3 4 7

ChapterCalendarApril5 New York Chapter Re-Energize/

Re-Organize Meeting

6 Washington DC Chapter Lobo Day Brunch

12 Los Angeles Chapter Lobo Day Event

26 Dallas Chapter Lobo Day Event

May3 Denver Chapter Re-Energize/

Re-Organize Meeting

tba Chicago Chapter Lobo Day Event

Junetba Los Angeles Chapter

Beach House Bistro Get-Together

Julytba Los Angeles Chapter Women’s

Pro Basketball—LA Sparks

tba Chicago Chapter Summer Celebration

tba Norcal Chapter Evening by the Bay

August2-3 Los Angeles Chapter

Deep-Sea Fishing Adventure

10 Los Angeles Chapter Hollywood Bowl Picnic & Concert

16 Seattle Chapter Island Getaway

September 7 Washington DC Chapter

Green Chile Roast & Picnic

7 Los Angeles Chapter Green Chile Roast & Picnic

20 Norcal Chapter Green Chile Roast & Picnic

October tba Lobos vs. SDSU Tailgate and Game

tba Las Vegas, Nevada, Chapter Green Chile Roast & Picnic

For additional information, visit our website athttp://www.unmalumni.com, call our office at 800-258-6866, or refer to event fliers sent to chapter areas before events. Alldates are subject to change.

The cerulean skies of our souls.

V I G A S , H O D G I N H A L L B Y M A T T H E W D U N N

unm

alu

mni.com

The University of New Mexico Alumni Association

1 University of New Mexico

MSC 01-1160

Albuquerque NM 87131-0001

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Nonprofit Org

US Postage Paid

Permit No. 222

Burl., Vt. 05401

UNM

what’s new?c o n n e c t

alumni

4 onl ine director y

4 class notes

4 chapter pages

4 career center ser vices

4 message boards

4 permanent e-mai l

4 events calendar

4 member ser vices

forfriends

!lifeW e ’ r e g o i n g

i n t e r a c t i v e !

The UNM Alumni Association

has a new look and new

services! Check out

www.unmalumni.com

to catch up with old friends,

order Lobo gear, update

your records, read Mirage,

or even find a job! Then

let us hear from you! The University of New Mexico

2003, Spring

Documents

Transcript of 2003, Spring