Connections to campus

With clear blue skies and an early morning departure, the open road awaited. A pair of vans bound for Eddy County left NMSU’s Gerald Thomas Hall to begin an ultimate 13-day, 33-county summer 2025 road trip.

From Campus to Community: NMSU Cooperative Extension Service Impact Tour was the brainchild of President Valerio Ferme. The tour provided Ferme and his administrative leadership team from across the Las Cruces campus, including academic deans, regents and staff, an opportunity to learn about each county in the state.

“The trips were insightful and eye-opening,” Ferme says. “We were humbled and honored to meet with our Cooperative Extension faculty and staff, volunteers, state government representatives and supporters. Everyone who greeted us went out of their way to welcome us and provided us with generous helpings of food. They also shared aspects of their work and revealed the challenges we have had in these counties with programming, recruiting and connection with main campus.”

When he was first informed of the tour, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Associate Dean and Extension Director Jon Boren says he was excited to have Ferme and his team engage with the Extension staff.

“Those efforts really do great things for morale and bring people together,” Boren says, “and what I hope comes out of it in the future is it continues to facilitate good cooperation between Extension and the other academic colleges.”

After the tour visited Hildago County in May 2025, Hildago County Extension Program Director Savannah Daniels ’18 ’22 contacted College of Health, Education and Social Transformation Dean Rick Marlatt about a community outreach opportunity in Lordsburg, New Mexico. In July 2025, a team from NMSU’s College of HEST attended the Hildago County Family Engagement and Resource Fair.

“We are all very passionate about our home county, and Extension and its partners truly want to create an environment to better the community,” Daniels says. “The president and the team he brought were very receptive and genuine when listening to our concerns and comments about how NMSU can better impact our community.”

During the tour, many of the comments and concerns focused on agricultural issues.

“Every community’s different, and they’re going to have different expectations,” Boren says. “I was a little surprised with some of the county stops on how transparent and forthcoming people were in sharing opportunities, but quite honestly, their challenges.

“I think that’s important, not only for the community, but also our staff, to be able to feel like they’re in a safe place, that they can share in some of those opportunities.”

“Our agents truly bleed NMSU,” Extension Program Operations Director Julie Hughes ’95 ’09 says. “They’re excited about some of the opportunities that are coming up.”

Additionally, discussions about youth programs such as 4-H and college recruitment were had. Those conversations reinforced the strategy developed in early 2025 to have Extension partner with the Undergraduate Admissions office to assist with recruitment throughout the state.

Admissions advising staff are assigned specific Extension offices so that each county has a representative from the NMSU Admissions office.

“We look forward to actively participating in Cooperative Extension Service and community events to ensure that children and families know New Mexico State University is committed to supporting their educational journey — and that we’re interested in recruiting students from an early age,” Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Tony Marin ’98 ’08 says.

“In the few short months after the tour, there has already been a shift in engagement from NMSU with Extension programming,” Daniels says. “Our 4-H State Conference was held in July on campus, and the colleges and admissions rolled out the red carpet for our members. It really made a lot of these kids feel like they were important and could have a place at NMSU.”

Following the epic 3,685-mile road trip, Ferme vows not to make the trip the highlight but the beginning of the odyssey.

“Like the Greek mythological story, which focuses on the journey of self-discovery, or re-discovery, of the hero, the ultimate goal of the journey is to grow and become stronger and more able to face future challenges. That is what I hope we do: become stronger as a university; and face the challenges as a team.”