The new Child Development Center director is adjusting to life in New Mexico with ease after living in two different parts of the country. Dr. Diane Edwards sought out a director position at ENMU after working in Florida and Massachusetts for grant-funded programs.

“I ran an early childhood teacher certification program in Massachusetts and then a teacher certification program in Florida.  I decided I wanted to be somewhere that had a lab school and supported early childhood as part of the institutional budget, so I chose to come to Eastern,” says Dr. Edwards.

She and her family were curious to experience life in New Mexico. 

Twenty-eight-year-old Dr. Michael Snipes, a new assistant professor of economics at Eastern New Mexico University, believes that Portales is an exciting town when compared to other parts of the country.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Wyoming and if you took Portales and stuck it in Wyoming it would be a sprawling metroplex,” said Dr. Snipes, originally from Killeen, Texas. The transition to Portales was relatively easy for him because, in his opinion, “Eastern New Mexico is more like West Texas than the rest of New Mexico.”

Dr. Snipes recently finished his doctoral work at the University of Colorado at Boulder on how the health of children affects divorce rates.  He says that any question can be applied to economics.  His specialty of labor economics studies how much people work, why they work, wage inequality, etc. 

“Eastern gave me the opportunity to teach labor economics, which a lot of other schools did not.  I get to teach it next semester,” said Dr. Snipes, who became a professor for the academic freedom (he actually loves research and writing papers).

Chenggang Wang, a junior piano performance major at Eastern New Mexico University, has won first place in the Young Artist’s Piano Competition for New Mexico. Wang, a native of Changji, Xiagjiang, China, is studying piano with Dr. John Olsen, professor of music.

Wang competed Nov. 1 at University of New Mexico’s Keller Recital Hall and performed Beethoven’s Sonata “Tempest,” three Etudes from Chopin, Schumann’s “Papillons” and Bach’s “Italian Concerto.” According to Wang, he spent over half a year practicing the pieces.

The next step for Wang is the Regional Young Artist’s Competition at the University of Arizona in Tucson from Jan. 9-11 where he will compete against the winners of six other states. This competition, sponsored by the Music Teacher’s National Association, requires pianists to perform a 45-minute program including a complete piano concerto from memory.

Wang is happy with the award but will be working hard in the coming months. “I was very happy and excited when I got the award and I will try to win in Arizona,” says Wang.

Wang is a participant in the 1-2-1 program at the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China which allows students to study one year in the Sichuan Conservatory, two at Eastern New Mexico University and their final year in China.

For more information,, contact Dr. Olsen at 562.2734.

Prof Says Teachers Must Instill Personal Responsibility
by James Jasmin
ENMU-Roswell

Editor's Note: The following article by ENMU-Roswell professor James Jasmin is an edited segment from a book manuscript (in progress) about service work.

"Regardless of what our individual philosophies might be, teachers are servants. As such, the weight of responsibility for student engagement falls on us." – James Jasmin

As an instructor of remedial and developmental courses for over 12 years, the teaching philosophy regarding classroom approaches has always been aimed at assisting and guiding students toward the concepts and topics of the text. This results in any number of pedagogical methods, activities and assignments. Yet one can never quite avoid those apathetic faces looking out from the desks, or the feeling that, perhaps, they pass the course without gaining the necessary skills essential to mainstream college courses.

As the years go by, my thoughts seem to turn more and more toward student engagement from a very different perspective. Regardless of what our individual philosophies might be, teachers are servants. As such, the weight of responsibility for student engagement falls on us.

The state of public education is in a crisis; in 2004 almost half (43%) of all students entering two-year public colleges needed remediation. A scant 1% of students felt that their high school academics were difficult. [full article]

Dr. LaChrystal Ricke’s interpersonal communication freshman class is raising money for the Nothing But Nets Campaign.  Donation jars are in the Campus Union Building from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.

According to the Nothing But Nets Web site, the organization is committed to preventing the spread of malaria in Africa by providing individuals and families with insecticide-treated bed nets. Bed nets can prevent malaria transmission by 50 percent. 

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