Tag: Jamison Wagner

The Vortex's modern spin on Shakespeare

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter| Photos courtesy of The Vortex Theater

1-2“Measure for Measure,” a William Shakespeare play, will be performed in modern dress from June 27 to July 4 at the Vortex Theatre, director Denise Schulz said.

According to the Vortex press release, this play has been considered to be strange, dated and a problem play at times, but it is full of con­temporary relevance and is guaranteed to entertain and engage.

“This is a play that is about hypocrisy. It is about people trying to tell other people how to live their lives, which is very much an issue in modern times” said Schulz.

A parallel to this play in modern times is how people are objecting to other people engaging in same-sex marriage. This play is saying that people are going overboard right now in making some deci­sions in how people should live, as well as attempting to make it into law, she said.

“I am working to not beat this idea over people’s heads but I think the prob­lem of trying to tell others how to live their lives has come up a lot in the last few years,” she said.

This play is a Shakespeare rendi­tion but is the Vortex performance will be based in the modern era. The attire will be modern dress but the play will not be set in a particular city, she said. The audience members will be able to watch it and draw their own conclusions, she said.

The play is a prob­lem play as it is comedy that is not comedy, but it is drama at its  finest, said Rhiannon Frazier, who plays Isabelle in the production

“We have had debates in the cast in the context of the play which is, ‘Would you sleep with a guy to save your brother’s life?’ The play poses some very interesting questions, that some of Shakespeare’s other plays do not pose because the questions do not have answers and the play itself does not answer those questions,” she said.

The play is a bit weird as many of the character’s motivations are a bit murky, said Grey Blanco, who plays Claudio in the production. Claudio only appears in two scenes, even though he is really affected by what happens in this play as Claudio sits in jail for so long between the two scenes that he is different by the time he shows up again in the second scene, he said.

“I think a lot of what is weird about this char­acter is the way he would behave in normal life is not the way he is behaving here because he is under arrest the whole time. So who Claudio is, is affected by him being in a trau­matic scene,” he said.

Plot-wise, this play can be slightly un-relat­able for modern audi­ences since people do not really know what moral standards were like in the past, he said.

“One of the challenges in this play is you have conventions of ye old past which do not adhere to todays’ norm,” he said.

Tickets are $18 or $12 for students with ID. For more information about this show or for tickets, go to vortexabq.org.

Roger, Rouge Leader

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter | Photos By: Rene Thompson

8.2

Michael Stackpole is one of the authors of the acclaimed X-Wing series in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and he took a few moments at the Albuquerque Comic Expo to answer some questions the Chronicle had about his involvement in the Star Wars fiction series.

Chronicle: How did you get involved as an author in the Star Wars universe?

Michael: I had a con­tract with Bantam Books and at the time Bantam was handling the Star Wars license. Bantam was using Star Wars books as a way to pro­mote all of their authors. So, my agent was talk­ing to me about getting one of the book series licenses. Bantam decided to buy the license to the Star Wars: X-Wing video game. And when Bantam looked down their list of authors and asked “Who do we know that knows computer games, can write military science fic­tion, has worked in some­one else’s universes, can work fast, can work all of these things?” Pretty much, I was the only one who filled out all of those boxes for Bantam. And so my agent called me on Valentine’s Day of that particular year, really
Chronicle: How did the concept for the X-Wing series and Rogue Squadron come about?early in the morning and said “Bantam offered you four Star Wars books” and I said “yes”. And there it was.

The characters are pretty unique for the most part.

Michael: The only two characters that car­ried over from the movies were Wedge Antilles and Admiral Ackbar. There were a few others on the periphery. To certain extent, that was really part of the design. What I was asked to do was to write military science fiction about a fighter squadron and they wanted a brand-new set of characters, because brand-new char­acters would give them two things. One new character to make toys out of, but two, would also give us the leeway to kill characters and have a higher level of drama. Any character could be taken out of play in those books and that really kept the tension up. They also wanted a mix of women and non-humans because they had never originally done that in the movies because they did not have the special effects budget to do it. So when you are writing, you get an unlim­ited special effects budget, so there you go.

Chronicle: How did Aaron Allston wind up later running with the X-Wing series in the Wraith Squadron books?

Michael: What hap­pened after I had pub­lished the X-Wing books is that they had done far better than Bantam or anyone ever expected. I had talked to my editor about what I had wanted to with “I, Jedi”. So when Bantam went to Lucasfilm for another contract, my editor Tom Dupree sold them on “I, Jedi” as a hardback. So I was locked in to do that. They also wanted to do four more X-Wing books so Tom left one of those open for me and then he said, “Look, we are going to have someone else do a trilogy.” I had introduced him to Aaron Allston a couple of years before and so Tom said, “Hey, we are going to get your buddy Aaron to do this.” I was like “great” as I knew Aaron would wonderfully. So that is how Aaron got brought on board.

8.1

Chronicle: Are there any further plans to continue with the X-Wing series and Rogue Squadron at all? Michael: There was a new X-Wing book that came out recently, “Mercy Kill.” But literally since the merger with Disney in those eighteen months they have not figured out what they are doing with the book program. There is now sense of what we as authors are going to do now. So we are waiting for Uncle Walt to make the decision. So they go into the freezer and ask Uncle Walt and he says yes or no. It is like a Ouija board thing.

 

Chronicle: So if Disney does green-light the books, do you have a general idea of what you would want to do with the X-Wing series?

Michael: I do not know. The first thing that would have to happen is they would have to offer me a contract and we would have to see if it would work with my schedule and those things. That might or might not happen. If it did, they would generally have an idea of what they are look­ing at and I would just work with that. If they did say “Hey you can do any­thing else you want,”

I would figure something out and just push into one of the many holes in the uni­verse. Going out and doing something with the Fell family would be fun to play with.

For more information on Michael Stackpole and his works, visit his website at stormwolf.com

STEM UP gives Science, Technology, Engineering and Math students a leg up.

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By Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Undergraduate Pathway program, or STEM UP, is a collaborative effort between CNM and UNM to assist stu­dents in STEM majors, said Susana Sarmiento, Program Coordinator.

For CNM, those majors are: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Nutrition, she said.

The goal of STEM UP is to help students suc­cessfully get their associ­ate degrees in one of the STEM fields at CNM, and then to assist the transi­tion over to UNM so students can continue on and get their bachelor’s degree, she said.

STEM UP helps stu­dents by providing tutors and peer mentors for the STEM fields, she said.

The peer mentors are current CNM stu­dents enrolled in one of the STEM fields who are paired up with new stu­dents to mentor them through the degree pro­gram, she said.

“The mentors will help by guiding the students as they take the same classes with them. The mentors hold study sessions; the mentors help them with getting connected with resources for STEM stu­dents. Since the mentors are very much involved in the program and knowing what STEM UP is doing, they can help students find resources out in the community they might otherwise miss,” she said.

The mentors con­tact the students on a bi-weekly basis to check on progress, whether it is by email or by inviting the student to a workshop, or even just sitting down with the student for coffee between classes, she said.

“Since the mentors are students going through the same challenges as the members of the program, they can help the students by guiding them through the problems they may face,” she said.

Students in an eli­gible program of study who want to get involved can contact one of the program’s two academic advisors, Douglas Atler or Nina Gardea, she said.

“The advisors will then meet with them so they can fill out our application. They will be given a passport which says the student will meet with an advisor reg­ularly, meet with their peer mentor, meet with a tutor and attend dif­ferent workshops. What we do from there is sign off items as the student fulfills them so they can show active participation and be eligible for a last semester scholarship at CNM,” she said.

The program got started through some talks between CNM and UNM on wanting to collaborate more in getting students to UNM for their four-year degrees, she said.

“The grant oppor­tunity was offered by the U.S. Department of Education and we got that grant two years ago,” Sarmiento said.

When the program started, peer mentors did a lot of study groups, said Alex Cordova, Physics major and peer mentor. The program now offers individual tutoring but overall the study groups have been more beneficial for the students, he said.

“My experience as a peer mentor has been awesome so far. I have had a lot more one-on-ones with my mentees this semester and I think as word gets out about the program, more people will be interested in meet­ing with us as peer men­tors,” Cordova said.

Sarah Thompson, Physics major, said she is optimistic about the pro­gram’s ability to help her get through her degree programs and transfer to UNM when she is ready.

“I think I should prob­ably have been more involved in the last few semesters as this pro­gram will likely help me to save my Math degree,” Thompson said.

This program is also a great opportunity for getting Native American students not only through their degrees, but to help prepare the students the professional environment, said Dorothea Bluehorse, co-advisor for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

“I really do encourage that the student organiza­tions continue with their study sessions. The Math League, the Chemistry Club, I think those are really great opportunities for our students to engage and be proactive in extra-curricular activities and I am hoping to collabo­rate with STEM UP and the Math, Science and Engineering department to make things happen,” Bluehorse said.

STEM UP

Academic Advisors:

Douglas Atler

datler1@cnm.edu

Located in the Academic Advisement Office in the Student Service Center, Main Campus.

 

Nina Gardea

ngardea@cnm.edu

Located in the L Building,

Room 200, Main Campus

Upcoming Events:

  • Fri. June 28: Workshop Financial Literacy 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. MS Building, Room MS 301
  • Wed. July 3: Montoya Campus 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
  • Fri. July 12: UNM Walkabout 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  • Wed. July 26: STEM UP at CNM Westside 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Dragons, and Jedi and elves, oh my! CNM Science Fiction & Fantasy Club

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By Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter | Photo by: Jamison Wagner

SF&F ClubThe Science Fiction and Fantasy Club is currently based out of the CNM Westside campus, but the club officers are discussing how to expand it to all cam­puses, said Lori Mehl, club adviser.

The club meets off campus at Kaboom Test Labs, a comic book store, every Monday at 3 p.m. to play Dungeons & Dragons. Students interested in joining should drop by one of the meetings, she said.

“We are really excited about the idea of getting a CNM Science Fiction and Fantasy Club at Main campus, one at Montoya and so on,” said Mehl.

In the fall semester, instead of Dungeons & Dragons, the club will be switching to various other events like board games and a SF slam around Halloween, where club members will be reading classic SF horror novels, said club treasurer and Liberal Arts major Christopher Martinson.

“Now in the future we are think­ing about doing a film festival, attending SF and Fantasy conven­tions for literature, movies and pop cul­ture,” said Mehl.

Playing Dungeons & Dragons has gotten students to put some of their classes to use, including classes in Anthropology, Political Science and Statistics and Probability, said Martinson.

“We like to incor­porate disciplines our members have an interest in. Some of the students in our club are involved in Anthropology and so they are helping to develop the charac­ters backstories and how their culture evolves. We have our art students working creating miniature figurines of the char­acters,” he said.

Mehl teaches a sci­ence fiction literature class at the Westside campus every spring, and shortly after the SF literature class got going three years ago, Mehl was approached by students who wanted to form a club for SF and Fantasy, Mehl said.

“The first semes­ter I taught the class, the students proposed we consider putting together a science fic­tion and fantasy club. I was very excited about this,” she said.

Some of the club members are work­ing on character por­traits of the group’s Dungeon & Dragon characters, said Martinson. A group portrait of the charac­ters should be done by fall, he said.

The club is also working on develop­ing a newsletter so people can stay up to date with club events, and have also commis­sioned a logo, banner and signage from one of the local student artists, he said.

“The artist is still working on the designs for us, and it will incorporate the CNM logo but still screams science fiction to people,” Martinson said.

The plans to expand the club to other campuses are still in the early stages and the club will likely need additional faculty sponsors at each campus, Mehl said.

If faculty or stu­dents want to help with starting a new SF and fantasy club at other campuses, they should contact club advisor Lori Mehl at lmehl@cnm. edu or Christopher Martinson, club treasurer at crmar­tinson@me.com for more information.

SF & Fantasy Club Meetings:

Summer semester every Monday at 3 p.m.

Located at: Kaboom Test Labs comic book store

10250 Cottonwood Park Road, Suite E Albuquerque NM 87114

Achievement coaches provide support for student success

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter | Photo By: Jamison Wagner

Academic advisorAchievement Coaches can offer solutions and assistance to students facing problems in getting their degrees, said Monika Monje, achievement coach for Math, Science and Engineering.

There are 20 achievement coaches in the CNM community. Some are with CNM Connect; others are specific to certain schools such as Communications, Humanities, Social Sciences or Math, Science and Engineering, said Rob Carriaga, Trio achievement coach and Communications instructor.

One of the services the achievement coaches normally provide is workshops to assist students in building skills in different areas, she said. Some of the more popular workshops help students with time management or with test anxiety, said Monje.

“We used to have more workshops but we are currently revamping them over the summer so we will have a smaller number. For example, we are combining our note-taking skills workshop with study skills. We are also merging our how to manage test-taking anxiety with our test-taking skills workshop,” she said.

Even if students cannot attend the workshops, coaches can work with them on a one-to-one basis in these areas, she said. The coaches can sit down with the student and help to solve scheduling issues, she said.

CNM Connect has the Advantage Scholarship and the book scholarship and any achievement coach can help a student get that, she said.

“As far as campus resources go, one of the things we can help with is scholarships. We can help with the getting the Rust Scholarship for a student by writing the letter for them to get that scholarship,” she said.

The school coaches can also assist students who are trying to register for classes for a third or fourth time, as the students need special permission to do this and the coaches can help them get that, she said.

“We will also do follow-up appointments when a student has had to re-take a class to make sure the student will be able to pass and help them if they are having trouble,” she said.

Students wanting help from an achievement coach can set an appointment or drop by a coach’s office during walk-in hours, she said.

An achievement coach’s main goal is to help students succeed, said Carriaga.

“When working with students we help establish their needs, desires and goals pretty clear on what they want, but not necessarily clear on how to get it,” he said. Some students are

For example, if a student wanted to be a nurse and was having problems passing a nursing class needed for the degree, the stu­dent could meet with an achievement coach to discuss options, he said.

“My starting point is usually a ques­tion intended to find out what the student thinks is his or her strong points and compare them to the weak points so I can help the student work out what they need to do to pass,”” he said.

Visit cnm. e d u / d e p t s . / achievement-coach for a list of phone numbers.

Tutors available for nearly every subject

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

The tutoring service at the Student Resource Center gives students the opportunity to get help with various sub­jects, and Liberal Arts major Rudy Sanchez said he makes use of those services often. The Assistance Center for Education at Main campus is located on the top floor of the SRC. The locations of the tutoring centers at other campuses can be found at cnm.edu.

“I was here at the tutor­ing center for six to seven hours last time. If it was not for the tutoring center I would not be where I am at now,” said Sanchez.

Steve Valdez, Youth Counseling major, said the staff at the tutoring center has been very helpful to him and he plans to come back more as he continues his studies.

“I just started coming back to school so the tutoring center is going to be a big help for me. I am glad the center is here,” said Valdez.

Rhett Zyla, Chemistry tutor, said the tutoring center is a good resource for students as it offers free tutoring and they can get most of their questions answered by a tutor on staff.

“A student can come between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and get tutored on most of the subjects they need help with,” Zyla said.

Don McIver, Learning Center supervisor said the Assistance Centers for Education are at every campus and the resources are a bit different depending on what classes are available at each campus.

Some of the subjects on which ACE offers tutoring are: Writing, Adult Education, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and IT 1010, said McIver.

“We also have drop-in tutoring, tutoring by appointment, work­shops, study groups and computer labs for student use,” McIver said. At the Business Resource Center in Smith-Brasher Hall, tutoring is offered for Accounting, he said. Culinary Arts tutoring is offered at Smith-Brasher Hall at Main campus next to the Culinary Lab and the Applied Math tutor is located in the commons area at Ted Chavez Hall, he said.

“There are variations between campuses for the times that certain tutors are available. It is a staffing and business issue. Rio Rancho and South Valley are more limited compared to Main campus,” he said.

It is recommended that students call ahead before going to the tutoring cen­ters to make sure they will be able to receive assistance with their studies, he said.

Students can also visit the CNM website to learn more about what tutoring services are available and also check for open computers at differ­ent locations, he said.

“If you go to Lab Maps, it will show you all the computers ACE manages and if you click on it you can see what computers are open. If you are wor­ried about computer avail­ability you can click on the map and see if there are open computers,” he said.

“If a student is wor­ried about getting help with a subject they can call the front desk to check on the schedule to see if and when particu­lar tutors are there when they need them,” he said. For more information on what services are available at each tutoring center on CNM’s campuses and the contact information for the ACE centers, visit: cnm. edu/depts/tutoring.

Follow-up: Cadaver practice deceased

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

In response to a petition to keep cadaver practice, signed by more than 600 students, administration is clarifying its decision to discontinue the use of the cadavers, which is based on several different issues, said Richard Calabro, Dean for the School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering.

One of the issues is the cost involved. Ending the practice means the school will save roughly $25,000 a year, he said. Much of that money goes to paying contractors to cut open the cadavers for the students, he said.

“Students at this level do not yet have the skill to open up a cadaver so you can see the muscles and the blood vessels. In the old days we would have the faculty do it but as the demand grew it became too burdensome to ask that, so now we pay people to do it,” he said.

Another ongoing issue is finding people to cut open the cadavers, and CNM has found and hired someone for the summer term, but administration was worried that they would not be able to find someone for later semesters and that the cadavers would lie unused, he said.

CNM plans to use the savings from discontinuing use of the cadavers to replace them with high-quality, reusable models, he said. While the initial cost would be higher, this would be offset by the reusability and lack of health-related issues, he said.

The program has had a lot of problems with mold growth on the cadavers, so even though the cadavers are preserved there are some fungi that can grow even in those conditions, he said.

“In the absence of being able to identify these molds that grow on the cadavers it is not a good risk to have instructors exposed to these molds for five to 10 hours a week or students being exposed for one to two hours a week. If we are not 100 percent sure what that mold is, then I am not too comfortable with the teachers and students having to deal with it,” he said.

CNM has already seen a decline in enrollment for Anatomy and Physiology I and II Labs since students know that it is no longer required for the Nursing program, he said.

The school is not willing to spend $25,000 a year for classes that will likely decline in demand, he said.

No single issue was the deciding factor; instead it was a combination of factors that made it unappealing to continue the use of actual cadavers, he said.

“After sharing this information with the faculty, I asked them to make compelling arguments for keeping this program. No arguments were made at this time,” he said.

In place of the cadavers, CNM will use models, diagrams and software programs for student learning, he said. This will also work better in situations where the cadavers in lab could be a problem for a syllabus designed for distance learning, he said.

It is important to note that cadaver use is not essential to learning in Anatomy and Physiology I and II and is very rare not only at the community college level, it is also rare at the university level, he said. The decision to discontinue the use of cadavers will not affect future student success, especially since no disciplines at this time call for the use of cadavers at the undergraduate level, he said.

Community garden sprouts unity

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

For Biology major Stefany Olivas, working at the International District Community Garden is a valuable opportunity to learn more about garden ecosystems and how they can affect the community for the better, she said.

The garden is located at 1410 Wellesley Drive SE and has been running for the last four years. The group Project-Feed-The- Hood likes to focus on non-GMO seeds, as well as organic and cultural foods, she said.

Olivas is a former Chronicle employee and said she has been an intern for the project for several months now. Her focus is the International District Community Garden, the surrounding community and also the schools, she said.

Eventually though, the goal is for the garden to be completely run by the community, she said.

“When we are at the community garden working with these people we can give them this fresh-picked food and it goes straight from the garden to their table, and that is how it should be,” she said.

The members grow foods in a large lot and when harvest comes around everyone who has helped tend the garden will get a piece, she said.

“A saying that we have is ‘he who puts in takes out.’ It’s kind of like, ‘you reap what you sow’ but with a more positive aspect,” she said.

Part of what the group is doing is creating a model for a sustainable farm to help support this project, she said.

The community engagement that the project creates by getting people involved also helps to get healthier foods for the local families and children, she said.

Along with supporting garden clubs, the project is also working on creating a curriculum that can be merged into the schools based on gardening, as well as personal and community health, she said.

Another issue the project is looking into is food deserts, how long it takes for someone to get to a grocery store where they can buy fresh produce, and also what it takes for a consumer to get fresh organic fruits and vegetables, she said.

“This kind of situation falls into food justice. What are the inequalities in our food system? How do we raise awareness about that? We are trying to make healthy food more accessible,” she said.

The group focuses on raising awareness about our food systems, she said.

“We support garden schools, we work at getting engaged with the community, and we get involved in creating overall total change to the food system. So it is very proactive. We want to work on the solution and not just talk about the problems all the time,” she said.

According to projectfeedthehood.org the group has helped three schools in Albuquerque with making gardens and has two farms in addition to the International District Community Garden location.

Olivas said this job is perfect for her because she gets to work with UNM Service Corps and Southwest Organizing Project in communities where she can put her studies to use.

As far as her Biology degree goes, Olivas said she wants to eventually pursue plant and soil sciences, then agriculture, but right now she wants to study garden ecosystems and how they can have an effect on the community and its health.

For more information on Project-Feed-The-Hood or to volunteer, go to projectfeedthehood.org.

Upcoming Events:

Come to Unity Yoga:

  • Thursday June 13 from 6:15 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Saturday June 15:

  • Work day and trellis building workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday June 22:

  • Volunteer Training Day from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Saturday June 29: 

  • Art, TBA
International District Community Garden
1410 Wellesley Drive SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106

A behind-the-scenes look at the changes in the Nursing Program

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

Editor’s Note: This story is a follow up clarification to the article in Volume 19 Issue 1, “Nursing program drops vital courses.” 

CNM is partnering with UNM and NMSU in rolling out the new curriculum for the Nursing program the spring semester, 2014 said Diane Evans-Prior, Nursing Program Director.

The new program is state-wide; there are fifteen other public schools in New Mexico rolling out this new curriculum, and CNM is the first to do so at the community college level, she said.

The changes have been in the works since 2009 and are ready to be implemented, she said.

“The college has to adapt to changing trends in education, to what our community partners are looking for in an entry-level Nursing practitioner,” she said.

Nursing has changed from what it was ten years ago or even five years ago and the curriculum has to adapt and evolve to reflect those changes in Nursing itself, she said.

“The major change is not that we are eliminating requirements or lowering standards, but we are increasing accessibility to the program itself,” she said.

The current curriculum requires a lengthy number of required classes and the classes did not get removed, but are now integrated into the program itself to be done in later terms, she said.

“Students would drop classes and retake them, one, two, three times because their grade is not good enough. What is this doing for progression? By the time students finally start the program, the minimum number of semesters is eight. The reality? Twelve to fifteen. Students should be getting a master’s degree at the end of that, not an associate degree,” she said.

This is not unique to CNM and the model for the program is echoed throughout the country, she said. The new curriculum is intended to make the Nursing program a lot more accessible, she said. Students can now finish the requirements in two semesters, or one, but that is more difficult, she said.

The basic proficiencies have not changed, nor has the required percentage for the HESI exam, she said. If anything, standards have increased a bit since the GPA requirement was raised from 2.5 to 2.75, she said.

Now if the students have enough credits and have met the other requirements, they can register for the new classes, she said. As a result, it will be more like the other programs CNM offers, she said.

Students can now start the basic core courses and take Anatomy & Physiology II and Developmental Psychology concurrently with their Nursing classes, she said.

The core courses in the Nursing program historically have not been enough to make full-time so our students have had difficulty meeting their financial aid requirements, she said.

“The really exciting thing is that we are fully partnered with UNM and NMSU now so all of our classes that are applicable to a Bachelor’s of Nursing will transfer completely,” she said. That is a total of 96 credit hours that CNM offers that will transfer for a B.S.N. that requires about 120 credit hours, she said.

“Students can get those credits at CNM and may enroll at UNM, which means students will be able to graduate with both an associate and a bachelor’s,” she said.

“We will offer this with the first group in 2014, but there are a few fine details to finish,” she said.

Students petition to keep cadaver practice

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By: Jamison Wagner, Staff Reporter

Health major students are currently petitioning to keep the practice of cadavers from being dropped by spring of 2014, said Dr. Anne Michels, full-time Biology instructor.

The instructors were informed in February of this year that the school will be discontinuing practice on human cadavers, she said.

The classes that will be affected are Anatomy and Physiology I and II along with their labs; these classes are taken by Nursing majors as well as many other healthcare majors, she said.

Students will be looking at plastic models and computer images instead, which will be less realistic compared to an actual human body, she said.

“I know that a lot of the students and quite a few instructors would like to keep the cadaver practice going. But, neither group was really given a say in this decision even though it affects us,” she said.

The administration has not given the instructors much information as to why this is being cut, she said.

“Apparently the cost is why the administration is cutting the practice, but this is not by any means one of the most expensive Biology labs, not even close,” she said.

From where the instructors stand, the administration did not look at any other options, she said.

“It seems to me that somebody just picked it, said it was expensive and did not even show that it is expensive,” she said.

While the cadaver program is a significant expense, it is not the most expensive, so this seems arbitrary to the instructors, she said.

The students have written a petition requesting that the cadaver practice be continued and so far in 11 days they have collected almost 700 signatures, she said.

A similar event happened at UNM a few years ago; many students signed a petition to keep cadavers in the undergraduate anatomy labs but the cadavers were eliminated anyways, she said. CNM is now the only college in the Albuquerque area where undergraduates are able to study cadavers, she said.

The Chronicle did attempt to reach out to the administration but they were not available for comment at the time of this article being published.

If students not currently involved in the petition effort want to help fight this, they should e-mail President Winograd, Vice President Gunthorpe, Dean Calabro and Associate Dean Martin, Michel said.

President Winograd: winograd@cnm.edu

Vice-President Sydney Gunthorpe: sydney@cnm.edu

Dean Richard Calabro: rcalabro@ cnm.edu

Associate Dean Linda Martin: lmartin@cnm.edu

“We the students are requesting cadavers remain an instructional tool at CNM.

This very valuable tool is a rare experience that allows students to visualize anatomical parts of a real human. Models and two-dimensional images cannot compare to being able to see and touch organs that a human cadaver provides. In addition, many of the cadavers provide the opportunity to see disease and the attempts to treat disease. We are thankful for your consideration in this matter.”