NMSU fosters economic development through strategic plan, collaboration

Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
Published: 03 August 2021 03 August 2021

Since New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu joined NMSU in 2018, he has made economic development one of the cornerstones of his vision for advancing the university.

With NMSU’s Arrowhead Center continually expanding its programs across New Mexico and the Borderplex, and the recent naming of a vice president of economic development, Arvizu is seeing a portion of his vision come to fruition.

“Economic development is incredibly important for our state,” Arvizu said. “It’s our land-grant mission to provide education, research and outreach programs to the communities we serve. When we are able to combine all three of those areas, we can unleash the full potential of our university and create enormous economic development opportunities for our entire region.”

As the state’s land-grant university, NMSU has a mission of providing education, research and outreach services to the region.

For many years, those outreach efforts have included economic development activities through Arrowhead Center, which focuses on student entrepreneurship; business creation and growth; intellectual property and tech commercialization; and regional economic development collaboratives.

“Arrowhead’s mission is to contribute to economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship, creating economic opportunities and enhancing the mission of the university,” said Kathy Hansen, director and CEO of Arrowhead Center.

However, that same mission extends beyond Arrowhead to several campus colleges and departments. In June, the NMSU College of Business launched the Center for Supply Chain Entrepreneurship, which aims to create an ecosystem to connect students and faculty to businesses and drive supply chain-focused entrepreneurial activity in New Mexico. The center will function as a marketplace for stakeholders and a clearinghouse for business-related problems and solutions.

The NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences is also at the forefront of economic activity with projects such as the Center of Excellence in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems. This food, energy and water nexus unites faculty from NMSU’s Engineering, Business, ACES and Arts and Sciences colleges to collaborate on research that facilitates and develops sustainable food and value-added agricultural business. One area of focus within the nexus is production, distribution and labor, and another focus includes identifying specific problems in manufacturing.

NMSU also recently announced a partnership between the colleges of Engineering and ACES and Doña Ana Community College to lead a new collaborative United State Department of Agriculture program, Training of Next Generation Workforce for Smart Food Science and Agricultural Technology in the Digital Era. The program will not only aim to improve food security through the use of innovative smart farming skills, but will partner with economic development organizations, state workforce development agencies and agricultural industries to develop workforce training.

Recently, Arvizu named Lenny Martinez, his former chief of staff, as vice president of economic development, in keeping with Arvizu’s vision of building a strong economic development strategy that will cover the state and region.

Economic development is one of the main goals of NMSU’s LEADS 2025 Strategic Plan. Arvizu said Martinez will take on a crosscut of all strategic initiatives and develop the university’s economic development strategy as a system.

In his role as chief of staff, Martinez had already taken on a number of economic development initiatives. However, in his new role as vice president of economic development, Martinez said he will emphasize collaboration not only with New Mexico entities, but with partners in north Texas and Mexico as well. As vice president of economic development, Martinez oversees NMSU’s Arrowhead Center, which offers its services throughout New Mexico, the Borderplex region, and beyond in Mexico.

“I don’t think we have a shortage of ideas; we have a shortage of connecting the right people at the right time,” Martinez said. “We have tremendous assets here at NMSU that can help border economic development, as well as explore resources in north and west Texas, New Mexico and Juárez.”

Martinez fills a position previously held by the late Kevin Boberg until 2018.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.