The NMSU Impact

On people. On the Las Cruces community. On New Mexico.

On the world.

NMSU Student

NMSU: Where Opportunity Becomes Impact

Students come to New Mexico State University from every background and every economic level.

Why? Because we know that there are talented, dedicated, driven people everywhere. And our mission is to provide them with the opportunity to CHANGE THEIR LIVES and CHANGE THE WORLD.

NMSU students and grads have an impact on their communities, the state, and the world.

That’s the power of opportunity.

An NSMU student using a surveying tool

“As a first-generation college student, it’s hard to navigate through college life…

but this is why I love getting involved in the NMSU community — to have access to resources that can help me discover my path more easily.”

Nayla Salinas, Class of 2025

Because Everyone Can Change the World

Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders…

The future doesn’t ask how many generations in your family have been to college. Opportunity doesn’t care about skin color. Education should be open to everyone.

We provide opportunities to everyone. NMSU is where people change their lives, their families, and their futures.

At New Mexico State University, we provide the door to opportunity. Our students walk through it.

…Who Build the Future

What do our students do with those opportunities? They change the world.

They teach. They heal others. They innovate and engineer. They inspire. They lead.

When people are given a chance, they can change the world. That’s the NMSU promise.

NMSU Student Colin Bell

Meet Colin Bell, ’24 Aggie Alum

“The more I applied myself and the more I got involved, the quicker I found what I wanted to do,” says Colin Bell ’24, who received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. Colin received two endowed scholarships established by NMSU alumni and interned at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in Atlanta, Georgia. “I want to help people feel confident that they’re managing their money wisely, whether they’re with a big bank or a small one. That’s something everyone can benefit from.”

How You Can Help Us Create Opportunities

When you give to NMSU, you support us in so many ways.

Here’s what you do.

Faculty Impact

Endowed Chairs

Endowed chairs are the most prestigious appointments within the university. A minimum investment of $1 million endows an academic chair. With highly focused areas of study, endowed chairs attract experts to campus as well as graduate students eager to work with these faculty members.

In addition to supplementing a professor’s university salary, money generated from the chair’s endowment supplements the salaries of other faculty members in their research group. It can also support a technician or researcher as well as administrative and operational support. A team like this is positioned to succeed and advance a field of study or interest.

Endowed Professorships

Endowed professorships require a minimum investment of $500,000. A named professorship speaks to the academic reputation of the faculty member who holds it and provides that professor with more resources to advocate for his or her program. Funds to support professorships help NMSU retain talented faculty who are in demand by other universities and the private sector.

College Impact

LEADS 2025

LEADS 2025 is NMSU’s strategic plan to become one of the nation’s top public schools by the year 2025. To fulfill these aspirations, facilities must be state-of-the-art and faculty among the best in their field. Exceptional programs and facilities attract and retain exceptional faculty, who, in turn, attract the best graduate and undergraduate students.

“College Impact” means your gift will benefit a specific NMSU college, department, or administrative unit. Your gifts can affect an entire college, and can include the promotion of academics, scholarships, construction, renovation, or equipping a lab.

Excellence & Discretionary Funds

You may restrict your gift to a specific program or department within a college or support a dean’s excellence fund, which allows the dean to use the funds for specific college priorities. These priorities continually evolve, so excellence funds are both generous and practical.

Discretionary gifts in an excellence fund are often used for immediate or unexpected needs, such as equipment acquisition, faculty teaching awards or professional development, student competitions or conference travel, emergency scholarship assistance, or special events.

Student Scholarships

Scholarships and fellowships change lives and enrich the student body. Scholarships drive the spirit and guide the minds of generations of Aggies so they can transform the world in productive and inventive ways. When you fund a scholarship or fellowship, you’re making a profound difference for individual students and for all the lives those students touch as graduates of New Mexico State University.

Some of the best high school students can’t afford today’s tuition, but scholarships open up a world of possibilities for them. Scholarships also free students from the necessity of part-time jobs, giving them more time to satisfy their intellectual curiosity or to participate in NMSU’s character-building organizations.

“Student Impact” means your gift will benefit NMSU students — either undergraduates or graduates — through direct assistance in the form of a scholarship or graduate fellowship.

An NMSU graduate is posing with the school mascot, Pistol Pete, during commencement.

Make an Impact by Supporting Opportunity

When you give to NMSU, you directly support the impact we have on lives and on the Las Cruces Community, as well as the entire world.

Talk to a Philanthropy Officer