Connected: NMSU LEADS 2025 Revised Strategic Planning Framework
Mission Connection:
The Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS) program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) embodies the university's commitment to comprehensive education, interdisciplinary research, creative activity, extension, and outreach. With a specialized focus on feminist, LGBTQIA+, and other socially transformative knowledges and practices, G&SS critically examines genders and social identities, sexualities, and human rights across various social, cultural, political, and historical contexts. This commitment not only fosters intellectual inquiry and social awareness but also encourages transformative learning experiences and leadership development. These core elements directly align with NMSU's land-grant and space-grant missions, reinforcing the program's dedication to inclusivity, critical thinking, social justice, and innovation, which are central to NMSU's educational and community objectives.
Alignment:
By 2025, G&SS aspires to elevate its role within NMSU by enhancing student success, fostering social mobility, and contributing to the achievement of Carnegie R1 research status, all while maintaining robust community engagement. Through an innovative interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes specialized focus areas, transformative learning experiences, and leadership development, G&SS actively aligns with and contributes to NMSU's core vision elements. This alignment reflects a commitment to academic excellence, social impact, inclusivity, and the cultivation of changemakers equipped to address the complex challenges related to women, gender and gender identities, sexualities, and human rights regionally, nationally, and globally in the 21st century.
Values Alignment with NMSU LEADS:
- Leadership: G&SS nurtures leadership by encouraging critical thinking and empowering students and faculty to shape future discourses in gender, sexuality, and social transformation.
- Excellence: Committed to academic and research and creative activity rigor, the program upholds the highest standards of scholarship and creative activity in its field.
- Access: G&SS expands access to diverse populations by offering unique and inclusive educational experiences and perspectives.
- Diversity & Inclusion: Embracing and exploring differences, G&SS values wide-ranging perspectives and promotes a culture of inclusivity.
- Student-Centered: The program prioritizes students' academic journeys, supporting individual growth and career preparedness.
Alignment with Specific Goals:
- GOAL 1 (Student Success & Social Mobility): G&SS emphasizes student success through a rich interdisciplinary curriculum, an inclusive learning environment, and opportunities for hands-on and online engagement. The program's dedication to diversity, innovation, retention, and impactful practices aligns with NMSU's commitment to social mobility.
- GOAL 2 (Elevate Research & Creativity): By engaging in scholarly work across the humanities, arts, and social sciences, G&SS enriches NMSU's research landscape. The program's focus on global challenges expands the university's intellectual and creative influence.
- GOAL 3 (Amplify Outreach & Extension): G&SS extends its reach beyond the campus through outreach initiatives that foster community development. This active engagement strengthens NMSU's leadership role in societal impact.
- GOAL 4 (Build a Robust University System): G&SS contributes to a robust university system by emphasizing equity, inclusion, and diversity. It supports NMSU's reputation as a diverse, minority-serving, and high-performing institution, reflecting the values that underpin the university's mission.
Scholarship and Creative Activity: Faculty Spotlight
Professor Cynthia Bejarano: A Regents Professor and the College of Arts and Sciences Stan Fulton Endowed Chair, Professor Bejarano's work and activism focus on critical borderlands issues, including migrant and immigrant rights, gender-based violence, farmworker advocacy, and border militarization. Her leadership in projects like the U.S. Department of Education’s College Assistance Migrant Program and anti-feminicide activism showcases G&SS's commitment to social justice.
Dr. M. C. Jonet & Dr. L. A. Williams (Co-Founders of Feminist Border Arts): Leaders in combining creative practices with research outputs, Dr. Jonet & Dr. Williams co-founded Feminist Border Arts (FBA), an innovative grassroots initiative that has achieved local and global success. Through FBA Film Festival curation and circulation, their original short films and videos, and digital and physical media projects, they have created a transformative space that fosters dialogue, collaboration, and inclusivity. This work makes a significant impact on new forms of academic rigor and expression, especially in digital scholarship and the digital humanities. By creating a venue for the review, exhibition, and circulation of short films and digital media in women's, gender, and sexuality studies—including digital storytelling and other forms of digital humanities and media-based scholarship—Feminist Border Arts has built a new kind of academic and creative venue as well as methods of engagement through creativity and public scholarship.
Dr. Dylan McCarthy Blackston: With a diverse academic background, Dr. Blackston's research and teaching span the fields of trans studies, trans ecologies, feminist studies, critical life and animal studies, sexuality studies, and visual culture studies. His work, including the co-edited collection "The Transgender Studies Reader Remix" (Routledge 2022) and his ongoing monograph "Trans*plantations of Life: How Capital Makes and Changes Kinds," deepens the understanding of connections between LGBTQ philanthropy, regenerative medicine, and trans-species life. Dr. Blackston's contributions exemplify G&SS's commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry and social justice.
G&SS program at NMSU stands is, in so many ways, an embodiment of the university's LEADS 2025 mission, vision, values, and goals. Its dedication to interdisciplinary education, groundbreaking research, community engagement, and inclusivity positions it as a vital component in NMSU's ongoing quest to shape the future and sustain its leadership in education and community development.
