New Mexico Highlands University

About NMHU

First established as New Mexico Normal School, the institution became New Mexico Highlands University in 1941, as it expanded its role beyond teacher education.

Today, NMHU in Las Vegas offers graduate and undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, education, and social work. Located in the heart of Las Vegas, a small, friendly town with a population of about 18,000, Highlands’ main campus is close to recreational and wilderness areas, and within a few hours of major metropolitan centers.

Through distance education, Internet courses, and on-site faculty, NMHU also offers some degree completion and graduate programs in Farmington, Rio Rancho, Española, Santa Fe, and Roswell.

Although students from all over the world attend NMHU, the majority of its approximately 3,500 students are from New Mexico and are Hispanic. Highlands’ programs focus on its multi-ethnic student body, especially the Hispanic and Native American cultures distinctive of New Mexico.

The university continues the traditional role of an institution of higher learning in the liberal arts and sciences; it also offers comprehensive programs in business, teacher education, engineering, and social work. The university is committed to excellence in the transmission, discovery, preservation, and application of knowledge itself to maintain a progressive, forward-looking posture responsive to the changing social environment, as to shape the direction the institution will take with respect to anticipated demands and approaching opportunities.

As part of its mission to serve the individual student through personal attention, Highlands maintains an open enrollment, small classes, and low tuition. It is known nationwide for its research activities, student and faculty achievement, and opportunities for students to combine study with real-world experience. In addition, the required freshman seminar addresses retention by orienting new students to college life and university resources to ensure their success through graduation.

NMHU students and faculty alike consistently receive national and international recognition for many of their achievements, and have opportunities to network with other researchers and professionals in their areas of interest.

Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. NMHU also has specialty accreditations. The School of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The School of Business is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). The School of Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)

NMHU is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, NCAA Division II and fields eleven teams – five men’s and six women’s. They include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, softball, women’s track, volleyball and wrestling.


Mission

New Mexico Highlands University is a diverse comprehensive quality university serving the global community by integrating education, research, public service, and economic development, while celebrating our distinctive Northern New Mexico cultures and traditions. We achieve this through a university-wide commitment to quality student-centered education, recognition of the growing importance of the Spanish language to our nation’s interests, and an acknowledgement to our many responsibilities to residents of Northern New Mexico as the principal educational institution in the region.

As a student-centered, publicly supported, regionally based, comprehensive university offering programs in liberal arts, sciences and professional disciplines the University brings together students from distinctive cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic, geographic, religious, and educational backgrounds.

New Mexico Highland University is committed to programs that focus on its multi-ethnic student body with special emphasis on the rich heritage of Hispanic and Native American cultures that are distinctive to the State of New Mexico and particularly to Northern New Mexico.

The University clearly perceives that its success depends upon an appreciation of the region’s cultural and linguistic identities. By reinforcing cultural identity and encouraging the use of these assets, the University seeks to empower students and the region’s ethnic populations to achieve full involvement in the activities of society. The University emphasizes graduate and professional programs, and a balanced curriculum promotes undergraduate study that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, emphasizes excellence in teaching and individual attention to students, and prepares students for lifelong learning, for graduate and professional schools, and for present and future occupations. The University remains true to its legacy of emphasis on teacher preparation, interdisciplinary programs involving the Hispanic world, and programs that contribute to meeting social needs. In essence, there is an emphasis on developing broadly literate citizens and leaders, educated in analytical and critical thought and in the appreciation of the arts and sciences. In addition, through collaborative arrangements with other campuses, research agencies, government agencies, and the corporate world, the University aspires to develop and deliver new models for baccalaureate and graduate programs in additional programs such as engineering, forestry management, watershed management, bilingual programs in the professional schools, and programs that clearly acknowledge that a university that fully takes advantage of, and prepares its students for, creative application of technology to improve the quality of life, is a university that will prosper, grow, and be relevant. In support of its mission the university has adopted the following strategic goals:

STRATEGIC GOAL A: Develop a learner-centered environment that promotes the improvement of learning and personal development of students from first-year courses through degree completion.

STRATEGIC GOAL B: Enhance the long term strategy for university engagements in community and regional partnerships.

STRATEGIC GOAL C: Become the premier Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the country.

STRATEGIC GOAL D: Align New Mexico Highlands University technology with institutional priorities, be on the leading edge of technology developments in higher education, provide faculty, students, staff and administration, and the communities the University serves convenient access to information needed for learning, research, teaching, administration, and communication.

STRATEGIC GOAL E: Achieve a competitive position with peer institutions in research and scholarship in targeted areas that promote the achievement of the university mission.

STRATEGIC GOAL F: Maintain the adequacy and quality of the physical campus environment.

STRATEGIC GOAL G: Develop effective and efficient academic and administrative processes, systems and structures that support continuous improvement

STRATEGIC GOAL H: Communicate the image and reputation of the University to the general public and to students with a focus on its high quality.


Academic Programs

Student academic success is the goal of Highlands University. Undergraduate and graduate programs are offered in the arts and sciences, business, education, and social work. Through offering diverse student-support services and activities, NMHU helps to ensure student academic success.

UNDERGRADUATE

The College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) includes the departments of Behavioral Sciences, Communication and Fine Arts, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Sciences. In addition, CAS offers a number of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programs in Computer Science for Elementary and Secondary Teachers, Cognitive Science, Criminal Justice, General Science for Secondary Teachers, Engineering, Forensic Science, Media Arts and Computer Science, Native American and Hispano Studies, Nursing, Public Affairs, and Southwest Studies. CAS also has a strong relationship with the Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute and the Ben Lujan Public Policy Institute.
The Mission of the College of Arts & Sciences

The mission of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico Highlands University is to provide the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs in the humanities and fine arts, life sciences, physical sciences, computer sciences and mathematics, engineering, and social sciences. In addition to serving the needs of its majors and minors in these disciplines, the college undertakes to instruct courses in the core curriculum as part of the university’s mission to provide a well-rounded education for all of its students.

Recognizing the integral relationship between teaching, research, and public service, the mission of the college is to excel in all three areas. Embracing the vision of the strategic plan, New Mexico Highlands University will stand out as the flagship school for education, serving students from all walks of life.

The goals of teaching in the college encompass not only imparting to its students the knowledge, verbal and cognitive skills, and values and attitudes that comprise the basis of a liberal education, but also instilling in them the ability and desire to think and work independently and creatively; to appreciate learning for its own sake; and, to recognize the lifelong benefits of a commitment to truth and excellence.

The purpose of research in the college is to amend and extend the bases of knowledge and create activity; to renew and enrich our teaching resources; exemplify in our own work superlative scholarly habits to give our students a model to which to aspire; and, to share our knowledge and the fruits of our labors with the scholarly community, our students, and the general public.

The college’s public service commitment signifies that in all of our scholastic endeavors, we will remember the purpose of our activities is to benefit the individual members of the region, state and world communities. Furthermore, recognizing that its involvement extends beyond the confines of the university, to confront perforce the urgent problems presented by geographical, political, racial, and gender boundaries, the college undertakes to work with an eye to resolution of problems in today’s complex and changing world by serving disinterestedly the global community.


GRADUATE

The College of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico Highlands University is to provide the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs in the humanities and fine arts, life sciences, physical sciences, computer sciences and mathematics, engineering, and social sciences. In addition to serving the needs of its majors and minors in these disciplines, the college undertakes to instruct courses in the core curriculum as part of the university’s mission to provide a well-rounded education for all of its students.

Recognizing the integral relationship between teaching, research, and public service, the mission of the college is to excel in all three areas. Embracing the vision of the strategic plan, New Mexico Highlands University will stand out as the flagship school for education, serving students from all walks of life.

The goals of teaching in the college encompass not only imparting to its students the knowledge, verbal and cognitive skills, and values and attitudes that comprise the basis of a liberal education, but also instilling in them the ability and desire to think and work independently and creatively; to appreciate learning for its own sake; and to recognize the lifelong benefits of a commitment to truth and excellence.

The purpose of research in the college is to amend and extend the bases of knowledge and create activity; to renew and enrich our teaching resources; exemplify in our own work superlative scholarly habits to give our students a model to which to aspire; and to share our knowledge and the fruits of our labors with the scholarly community, our students, and the general public.

The college’s public service commitment signifies that in all of our scholastic endeavors, we will remember the purpose of our activities is to benefit the individual members of the region, state and world communities. Furthermore, recognizing that its involvement extends beyond the confines of the university, to confront perforce the urgent problems presented by geographical, political, racial, and gender boundaries, the college undertakes to work with an eye to resolution of problems in today’s complex and changing world by serving disinterestedly the global community.

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