Eye on R1: NMSU takes steps to achieve top research university status

Larissa Lury, theatre arts associate professor, will use seed funding to support the development of a play inspired by the Mercury 13, a group of 13 women pilots who underwent medical testing to become astronauts during the early years of the space program. (Courtesy photo)

Luis Cifuentes, vice president of research at New Mexico State University, recently announced the funding of 21 proposals in the arts and humanities. The funding will help NMSU faculty seek additional external funding, while promoting the university’s work to achieve R1 status. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)

When one thinks of academic research, topics that immediately come to mind often involve science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

However, if New Mexico State University wants to earn R1 status, the highest level a research university can attain, research must also involve non-STEM fields, including the creative arts and humanities. Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education issues the R1 classification to Ph.D.-granting universities with very high research activity.

Recently, NMSU awarded seed funding to 21 proposals from the College of Arts and Sciences. Each proposal will be funded for up to $10,000, with the goal of giving faculty a boost to pursue additional external funding opportunities.

“Usually, more than 130 institutions make the R1 ranking, and every few years that ranking is renewed,” said NMSU Vice President of Research Luis Cifuentes. “We are close to being an R1, but we must increase expenditures in the creative arts and humanities. The ultimate goal is to be a comprehensive university with excellence in all fields.”

Jim Murphy, associate dean for research in the College of Arts and Sciences, described the arts and humanities seed funding as “substantial support” from NMSU for creative and research activities in those disciplines.

“The College of Arts and Sciences is home to outstanding faculty engaged in a wide array of scholarly creative and research activities,” Murphy said. “This seed funding program supports the current efforts and investigations of arts and humanities faculty, and offers the opportunity of better positioning them for success when they submit applications and proposals for funding from foundations and agencies to further their activities and investigations.”

Faculty who received seed funding include:

• Art department: Brita d’Agostino, Joshua Clark, Craig Cully, Motoko Furuhashi, Bree Lamb and Alexis Salas.
• Creative Media Institute: Ilana Lapid, Sherwin Lau and Ross Marks.
• English department: Kerry Banazek, Brandon Hobson, Kellie Sharp-Hoskins, Jean-Thomas Tremblay and Justine Wells.
• History department: Jamie Bronstein, Inigo Garcia-Bryce and Elizabeth Horodowich.
• Music department: Madelyn Moore.
• Theatre Arts: Lisa Hermanson and Larissa Lury.

Lury will use her funding to support the development of a play inspired by the Mercury 13, a group of 13 women pilots who underwent medical testing to become astronauts during the early years of the space program. The play is a commission from Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York and The Sloan Foundation. Lury is co-creating the play with playwright L M Feldman.

“What makes this play groundbreaking is not only the story being told, but the way in which it’s told,” Lury said. “The resources provided by the grant will enable the additional support that the play’s unique elements demand, and will link NMSU and our rich history in connection with space exploration to new shared imaginative possibilities for the future.”

Lury said the funding will help secure further funding to develop and produce the play, which due to its highly physical components, large cast, epic scope and collaborative way in which Lury and Feldman are developing it, requires significant resources.

“My hope is that attention for the production also highlights our program at NMSU, and the reputation we’ve already begun here for the development of new plays,” Lury said. “Since the development process for this project is also kind of a lab for innovative ways of storytelling and collaboration, I intend to bring back what I learn to classrooms and rehearsal rooms here at NMSU.” 

Murphy also said he hopes results of the funding will lead to a heightened awareness of what NMSU has to offer.

“Such funding success and expenditures in these discipline areas is very valuable to the individual faculty being supported, and has an add-on benefit of raising the national profile of NMSU and its faculty’s creative and research activities.”

Cifuentes said funding and expenditures are key elements of the R1 algorithm. A dollar of added non-STEM expenditures is almost equal to $8 of STEM expenditures, and NMSU has recently increased expenditures in the non-STEM areas.

“While this is about becoming an R1 university, we are also excited about making the investment in these areas of scholarship,” Cifuentes said. “We must promote success in all disciplines. It is the right moment to recognize the quality of work being done in the arts and humanities.”