Dear Colleagues,

I would like to welcome each of you back for the fall semester, and I hope the extended families of NMSU Engineering are all safe and healthy.  

There has been a lot of activity on campus over the summer getting the facilities ready to keep us safe. It has been a challenging time during the past six months adjusting to our new reality. We are fortunate in the College of Engineering to have colleagues who are caring and empathetic. I encourage all of you to continue to reach out to one another and show kindness as you go about the work of the college.  

We’re starting academic year 2020-21 with some good news—new research awards last year went up by 50 percent, perhaps the largest increase in the history of the college. And our initial enrollment numbers this fall appear to be holding steady so far; no negative impacts due to COVID. The first batch of students in our new Professional Master’s program in Information Technology have been enrolled. Six new faculty and an equal number of staff members have joined the NMSU Engineering family.  

I’m sure that you are aware of the budget difficulties facing NMSU. I want you to know that our leadership team is brainstorming to find the best way forward without negatively impacting our core mission of providing our students with the best engineering education possible. I would even venture to say that this will bring some new opportunities to enrich our programs, and make our program offerings more efficient and relevant. Our engineering leadership team is pondering some administrative efficiencies which could make our program offerings effective yet result in cost savings.   We will keep you posted. 

Thank you for enduring the rapid transition in the spring and summer to deal with the COVID19 challenges. I’m proud to work with all of you.

Sincerely,

Lakshmi N. Reddi

Dean, College of Engineering