What students say about Northern

I completed the BAIS program with an emphasis in psychology in May, 2012. I went to NNMC originally because it was close to home, some of the classes were online and because being a single parent I qualified for financial aid. The reason I stayed at Northern is because I received encouragement and support from my professors, every single one of them. I never once had a professor that didn't encourage me or offer me assistance when I needed it. Dr. Schiano taught me how to write in MLA format, Professor Piccolo taught me how to read Scientific Journal Articles, the importance of peer review and how to write in APA format. The writing center was awesome, Professor Moore assisted me with my writing and explained to me why my errors were errors, so that I stopped myself from repeating the errors.

During all of this, and in the midst of all of my classes I was afforded the opportunity to reflect on myself and my own history and behavior within a therapeutic community, which allowed me to grow. I learned why the world is the way it is and am better able to make sense of it. I learned why people behave the way that they do and have developed more tolerance and foresight. I am stronger, smarter and more confident than I was when I began my studies. I am grateful that my path lead me to Northern New Mexico College where I met great people, and found myself.
—Jenny Urquhart

I chose Northern because it was local, and it was/is inexpensive. When I got there, I found:
1. small classes with professors who were more than willing and, because of the small class size, able to:
a) devote extra time to students with problems in specific topics
b) challenge all students to exceed curriculum requirements, and
c) work with students outside of class time in pursuit of a) and b)

2. as a non-traditional (read "older" and "non-New Mexico raised") student, my misgivings about "age-ist" and "culture-ist" attitudes among faculty and/or students were totally unfounded. Indeed, the opposite was true. I was welcomed, even encouraged, to share my experiences with both faculty and students, in and out of class, and learned a vast amount about the cultures and youth of the area in return. Additionally, as so many of my classes had a preponderance of female students, I was able to learn much more about cultural-gender issues than I ever imagined.

3. Professors, particularly in "conversation" classes, never held themselves to the the "expert" in the room. They were as willing to learn from the students as the students were to learn from them, and other students.

4. The standard and level of instruction, and faculty expectation, exceeds that of other schools I have attended. On leaving Northern with my Associates degree and moving to another school to pursue my Bachelors (this was before Northern granted Bachelors degrees), I was somewhat dismayed to discover that some classes that supposedly took my understanding to the next level contained little, if anything, new, and the quality/length/frequency of required student submissions fell well short of that expected of a Northern student.

A couple of examples which embrace most of the above spring to mind. Upon finding out that I spoke some German, one professor suggested that we take some time out of class to translate Marx's Communist Manifesto to see how close we came to well-known translations. Later, in reading an English translation of a Martin Heidegger piece in class, I asked about the possibility of referencing the original German. Not only was a copy of the original provided, but the professor and I discussed areas of the English translation that we either found problematical or ambiguous.

— With fond memories of your classes, Jim Kalogeros-Chattan