New Mexico State University (NMSU), a land-grant institution founded in 1888, is a diverse university. There are programs focused on getting people into space, colleges instrumental in political development and agriculturalists that keep the food we love on our plates. The university offers 73 undergraduate degree programs in six colleges, including Agriculture and Home Economics, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering and Health and Social Services.

There are also diverse students. Some spend much of their time becoming well-known scholars; others spend much of their time becoming well-known philanthropists. More than 16,000 students are enrolled on the main campus, a total that includes over 12,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students from 50 states and 85 countries.

NMSU boasts of a graduate school that offers 51 master’s degree programs, 24 doctoral programs and two specialists in education programs. The university has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is the only Honors College in New Mexico. With more than 113,963 degrees conferred since the university’s founding, the university has been rated as one of America’s 100 Best College Buys for offering “the very highest quality education at the lowest cost”, been rated among the nation’s top 30 universities for Hispanic and Native American students by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education and the top U. S. Department of Defense contractor among Hispanic-serving institutions. With a strong focus on nanotechnology, natural resources, aerospace, information sciences and water desalination and a designation as a NASA Space Grant College, NMSU’s diversity is unstoppable.

But, who ultimately makes NMSU what it is? Surely students and community leaders, but at the heart of this educational pillar sits a professional and unique group of faculty and staff that makes the university what it is – a comprehensive land-grant institution dedicated to teaching, research and service. It is a group of unknowns who have a passion unseen by some, a group that makes a world of difference to so many.

In this edition of Las Cruces magazine, we highlight four of NMSU’s unknowns . . . four faculty who have impacted the students they teach, the colleagues they work with and the world that depends on their research.

Drs. Beth O’Leary, David Boje, Jeremy Smith and Sue Forster-Cox all make a difference through their work. Each are achieving notoriety through dedicated efforts in their labs, offices, classrooms and homes. One finds inspiration in Arabian horses while another finds comfort in the history and future of space. One inspires a splendid future within students and another inspires greatness in hands-on research.

It is because of them, and all those they work with, that we are proud of the institution we call NMSU.

• CLICK HERE to read more about Beth O'Leary:
  
  
• CLICK HERE to read more about Jeremy Smith:
  
  
• CLICK HERE to read more about Sue Forster-Cox:
  
  
• CLICK HERE to read more about David Boje: