NM Humanities Now! Transfer Initiative
Extending Humanities is designed to increase degree attainment rates in Humanities disciplines at five community college institutions by offering support for Humanities students transferring from Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) to the University of New Mexico (UNM) and from UNM branch campuses – UNM Gallup, UNM Los Alamos, UNM Taos, and UNM Valencia.
The NM Humanities Now! Transfer Initiative provides CNM, UNM, and UNM branch campuses collaborating activities, including curriculum development, academic outreach, programming activities, cross-campus advising services, undergraduate and graduate mentoring, and implementation of degree pathways across six institutions supporting community college and transfer students. This initiative connects students interested in the humanities with knowledgeable and experienced people and resources for a smooth transition into a four-year degree at UNM. We also offer free faculty talks, workshops, and presentations related to the humanities throughout the year. In addition, you get free admission to events regarding the Humanities and the transfer process, find opportunities to be involved with internships, faculty research, and Humanities career exploration, and gain exposure to well-known professionals in the Humanities.
Mission and Vision Statement
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the humanities and the arts contributions to human flourishing and the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end, the Foundation supports exemplary higher education institutions and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. UNM College of Arts and Sciences is proud to partner with CNM.
In 2019, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a generous grant to Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) and the University of New Mexico with the critical goal of increasing the number of students pursuing associate and bachelor’s degrees in the humanities and supporting the transfer of humanities students from CNM and other community colleges to UNM.
The grant has been used in different capacities, such as career fairs, outreach activities, and other events to stimulate students´ interest in the humanities. Our humanities departments have the honor and the responsibility to participate in this initiative.
Mellon Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there.
Why Humanities?
The Humanities are vital for exploring and explaining the diversity of the human condition. Understanding and appreciating the artistic, personal, and communal influences of human narratives, arts, aesthetics, languages, heritages, and expressions nurtures human curiosity and intellect. Students trained in Humanities-based disciplines such as American, Area and Ethnic Studies, Comparative Languages, English, Ethics, History, and Philosophy, among others, develop essential skills such as critical thinking, creative problem solving, interpreting and analyzing data, developing innovative ideas, communicating well-informed decisions and grappling with difficult circumstances. Increasingly, education, business, and diverse industry leaders are identifying a need to hire employees with skills developed through Humanities-engaged education.
Although the global pandemic limited increases in transfer numbers, significant advances were made in strengthening a shared culture of transfer that supports humanities degree pathways. The expansion of humanities learning opportunities at CNM and UNM branch campuses will help all partners better serve students, including non-traditional and first-generation students, who now circulate between CNM and UNM and UNM branch campuses.
Expected Outcomes and Benefits
Increase the number of students entering CNM and UNM branch campuses – both traditional and non-traditional – that declare Humanities Majors by providing them with academic and professional skills in the Humanities, leading to higher BA degree completion at UNM and lifelong learning.
Create clear Humanities degree pathways to UNM for CNM’s Humanities students and UNM branch students, including new courses in Humanities degree tracks, ensuring that every credit a CNM or UNM student earns towards a humanities degree will count in UNM Humanities BA degree programs, transfer academies, and collaborative curriculum development.
Engage and support students in CNM’s and UNM’s branch campuses’ Humanities programs to increase retention and graduation with AA degrees.
The partnership seeks to enact a cultural shift from where institutions and personnel operate from their immediate perceptions and interests regarding service communities to where institutions pass a shared culture of student success.
- Increase contact points and relationships among students, staff, faculty, and administration across both institutions, and improve the capacity of staff and faculty to serve as transfer champions to serve transfer students best.
- Identify systemic barriers to seamless transfer to develop and assess strategies for removing those barriers.
- Increase Humanities majors, transfer students, and degree holders in central New Mexico, streamline transfer articulations between institutions and remove the informational barriers hindering students’ advancement. This will improve inter-institutional communication regarding transfer student success by enhancing and innovating Humanities instruction and learning at both institutions.
Questions?
Email us: extendingnmhm@unm.eduCall us: (505) 277-5464
Testimonials
Other Mellon Programs
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
- The fundamental objective of MMUF is to address the problem of underrepresentation in the academy at the level of college and university faculties. This goal can be achieved both by increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who pursue PhDs and by supporting the pursuit of PhDs by students who may not come from traditional minority groups but have otherwise demonstrated a commitment to the goals of MMUF. The MMUF program is designed to encourage fellows to enter Ph.D. programs that prepare students for professorial careers; it is not intended to support students who intend to go on to medical school, law school, or other professional schools.
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