One of Las Cruces’ greatest assists is New Mexico State University (NMSU). The university sits on a 900-acre campus and enrolls more than 15,000 students from 49 states and 89 foreign countries. NMSU is a NASA Space Grant College and home to the very first Honors College in New Mexico. A Hispanic-serving institution, NMSU serves a multi-cultural population of students and community members across the state at five campuses, a satellite learning center in Albuquerque, cooperative extension offices located in each of New Mexico’s 33 counties, and 12 agriculture research and science centers. Plus, distance education programs give students maximum flexibility. New Mexico State University is the state’s land-grant university, serving the educational needs of New Mexico’s diverse population through comprehensive programs of education, research, extension education, and public service.
Here are a few of the things that make New Mexico State University more than just a great university:
Guns Up! Cheer on the Aggies, fall through spring! NMSU is the top school in the Western Athletic conference (WAC), winning over 30 WAC titles in the last 4 years. They have seen success in men’s and women’s athletics from basketball and golf, to softball and baseball.
Las Cruces Symphony – a diverse musical repertoire, featuring six dynamic Classics Concert cycles, and starring guest solo artists from around the world.
Retablos – The New Mexico State University Art Gallery is home to over 1,700 nineteenth-century Mexican retablos, the largest collection in the United States. The retablo art form flourished in Mexico during the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Precedents for tin retablos can be traced to religious images placed in church altars and paintings on wood, copper, and canvas by European and Mexican artists created between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Also affecting this distinctly Mexican devotion are pre-Columbian precedents of small household gods and mold-made clay votive figurines. The nineteenth-century Mexican tin retablo combines Mexican and European influences to create a vital and unique art form.
Chile Pepper Institute – The Chile Pepper Institute is the only international, non-profit organization devoted to education and research related to Capsicum, or chile peppers. Established in 1992, the Institute builds on the research of chile peppers since the famous horticulturist Fabian Garcia (the father of the U.S. chile pepper industry) began standardizing chile pepper varieties in 1888. The Institute is located on the New Mexico State University campus, Las Cruces, NM in Gerald Thomas Hall, Room 265 (575-646-3028). In the Institute visitors will discover chile research posters, chile pepper books, art, and hundreds of high-demand and hard-to-find chile pepper seed varieties.
Theater Arts – Professional musical and theatrical productions year-round.
