Students

Fall 2020 Entering MCRP Cohort

Aubrey Harris

Master of Civil Engineering, Minor in Community & Regional Planning

From Houston, TX

I'm from Houston, Texas and came to New Mexico by way of Morgantown, West Virginia. People in my community include my friends, my local businesses, my coworkers and colleagues, as well as many more people that I don't know, who live and work adjacent to me, as well as those in places far away that provide resources for my way of life.

I am pursuing a graduate minor in the Community Regional Planning program, to supplement my doctorate in Civil Engineering (water resources). The water resources field has many and varied public interests, so this program will give me tools to coordinate with different stakeholders for sustainable, regional projects.

I would like to help with the management of existing infrastructure and the design of habitat restoration projects to both meet the needs of irrigators and cities, and also benefit ecosystem processes that make our communities wonderful and resilient.

Julia Fay Bernal

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Tuf Sheur T'uei, NM

I am from Tuf Sheur T'uei otherwise known as Sandia Pueblo. I have grown up here as my ancestors had since time immemorial. I live in a close-knit community and our traditional core values include respect and helping on another. Almost all my family live within minutes if not seconds of each other and I've always felt pretty safe. 

I was first in the water resources program but felt that there wasn't much opportunity within that department to address the lack of indigenous feminist perspectives on water, nor the environmental, social and economical injustices that occur when it comes to water allocations. Being an indigenous femme organizer, I felt the pursuit to obtain a degree in planning would help shape my emphasis and theory on indigenous feminist planning, water and land management, and climate justice mitigation.    

Now I currently help run a grassroots organization in Albuquerque called Pueblo Action Alliance and we focus our work on addressing environmental and social injustices that occur on our ancestral territories. I would like to continue working in this field and help our Pueblo communities address these inequities and injustices and fully exercise our sovereignty from the setter-state. Indigenous people and their perspectives to water and land management as well as the right to plan for our own futures is vital to addressing climate justice. We have the innovation and the creativity to create systems and economies that meet the needs of our own people and end the capitalist exploitation of our cultural resources.

Jazmin Moreno

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Los Angeles, CA

I am proudly from Southeast Los Angeles, California. This is where I learned to advocate for my community, create networks and develop a genuine sense of what home should mean.                

After graduating high school, I began to indulge in my passion for photography and found the spaces around me to be the subject of all my work. I learned about urban planning and decided I wanted to be a part of what creates the spaces I used to photograph. Once I was involved in my community more, I made family out of friends and knew that community planning was an important part of my future.

After co-founding a wellness collective and a worker-owned cooperative in Southeast L.A. I knew that community engagement and community investment was what I wanted the root of my career to be. I intend to create a cooperative based on consulting and uplifting Black and Brown communities who are long overdue for social, environmental, and financial justice.

Richard Perce

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I am from all over the West.  I have lived in Colorado, California, Arizona, Montana and New Mexico.  I also lived in Curitba, Brasil over 30 years ago.  I have lived here in Albuquerque since 1991.  My parents grew up here, my Dad was North Valley and my Mom was South Valley, although neither of them were born in New Mexico.  As a family we have a history of coming and going from New Mexico.  We keep returning.  It feels like Home.       

I am nearly fifty years old and professionally, I have done many things.  From coffee roasting to landscape management and installation.  I have also managed busy coffee shops and taught efficient irrigation practices.  No matter what job it has been, there has always been an element of service and wanting to improve our city, often by helping to improve someone's day.  I believe an accumulation of small steps and practices make a larger difference than grand gestures do.  It has been a journey, often of listening.  Over time I have learned that I have the capacity to help others have their voices heard. So planning seemed like an avenue where I could learn to formalize and hone those skills. Throughout my career I have witnessed our society's enormous ability to silo issues and solutions, rarely focusing on a holistic approach. 

The practical side of me says that makes sense: don't bite off more than you can chew.  But another, greater part of me, says:  Wait a minute, everything is related and you can't solve 'x' without addressing 'y', and 'z' and 'g' and...  I have been passionate about water and plants for over 30 years and I currently work for the Water Authority.  I feel like I am positioned to not only help address water resource issues, but also plant health and, in turn, community health.  So I see staying within the Water Authority, continuing to push against siloing everything we do.             

Jake Mirabal

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Where Red or Green is a common question, where four seasons can happen in one day, and where many cultures meet to create amazing experiences and great food.       

I am trying to pursue the MCRP degree because I want to influence my community and its infrastructure to be more collaborative and efficient in how it solves its problems, and planning is one of the ways that you can provide the most influence.       

Albuquerque is a place filled with lots of untapped potential. My dream is to create more opportunities for that potential to become fulfilled, so I am hoping to help the government entities become a space where their projects and work are more collaborative. Siloed work leads to lack of effectiveness, misused resources, and confusion for the community so I am hoping that this program will give me the tools that I need to help navigate these issues.

Njia Blair

Master of Architecture, Minor in Community & Regional Planning

From Detroit, MI

I am from Detroit, MI, USA. My community is the historically marginalized people in America.                 

My hometown, Detroit, is a victim of redlining. Its urban sprawl and decline can be directly associated with the automotive industry. This type of atrophy was frequent, as industrialized jobs were less available; in effect, the booming middle-classed society began to deteriorate. White people moved to the suburbs, where companies began to open new headquarters, and new cities sprang up with a fresh start. In effect, houses in the inner city became vacant, and fewer people could occupy those spaces. Crime went up due to joblessness and lack of resources. People moved out of state. Over time, with no care, many houses were abandoned. These neighborhoods became hubs for crimes and theft. In addition, redlining, backed by the government in the 1950s and 60s, designated where people could live due to their ethnicities. George Lipsitz, in The Racialization of Space and the Spatialization of Race, says that Race told us who could own homes that depreciated in value and created or did not create generational wealth. (Liptsitz 2007) This still holds true today in Detroit, Michigan, and has caused an equity gap.    

These conditions started in the 1960s and persist today. Private companies did help to industrialize and attract immigrants to Detroit, but once the industry left, things began to decay. Today, communities have taken it upon themselves to turn abandoned land lots into community gardens or buy abandoned houses and maintain them somehow. There are many suppositions for the future of Detroit. There needs to be a new community-driven city plan for places like Detroit, Michigan. I see this dilemma and hope that obtaining a Minor in CRP will help build a path towards reclamation, empowerment, and, most anticipated, change.

I am pursuing a Minor in Community and Regional Planning and a Master in Architecture because my mission is to help underrepresented people of urban cities contribute their ideas during revitalization phases, to take ownership of revitalization in their own communities, and to offer tangible ways to help them present their ideas to stakeholders through the practice and phases of art, architectural design, and real estate. This stems from witnessing the urban renewal growth cycle in Detroit as a resident within the city.

Walker Williamson

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I've lived in several different states but have spent most of my life in NM.Albuquerque is where I live and call home.

I have a wide range of interests and felt that MCRP was a good way to pursue multiple disciplines and serve the community at the same time. I'm still a little uncertain on the exact academic path, but I'm interested in the overlaps between anthropology, analysis, and sustainable design. Formulating a concrete set of goals and actions in this area is my first challenge.

I'd like to better understand the ethnoecological relationships in communities, and to work alongside them in adapting or preserving these relationships amidst hazards of ecological degradation and global capitalism. Although this could apply to modern urban centers, I'm more interested in traditional societies. So that's is the general spirit of work I'm interested in. Systems design is also something I foresee as an important tool, as well as work in both advocacy and direct action. Forming clear trajectories out of all this is yet again something I hope to accomplish in the program.

Fall 2019 Entering MCRP Cohort

Navida Johnson

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I was born in Phoenix, AZ and moved to Albuquerque, NM in 1987. I have learned how to adapt to change and place due to this experience.

I decided to be an MCRP student to learn how I can connect people with resources and information that will help them make personal decisions that will benefit their lives.

I want to offer tools and resources that will enable women to protect and provide for themselves and their children especially during times of divorce, domestic violence, and displacement (local or regional). Its important to me because I had to learn about this for myself and gained self-esteem taking action since I knew resources were available. Some women don’t know, so I want to be a bridge.

Trevor Ocean Bos

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Pomona, CA

I grew up in Southern California, mostly hailing from the Pomona area. We are a typical metropolitan area similar to many southwestern sprawl cities. The nice thing about being the eastern most city in Los Angeles County is that we had unparalleled access to Southern California’s wild and preserved eco systems, state and federal parks, and state and national forests. Conservation and ecology were cornerstones to my education in the California school system and quickly became part of daily life wherever I ended up in life.

The [MCRP] degree found me. I spent my youth and formative years in the military (15 years) and was medically retired from my last deployment to Afghanistan. The best part of my job was developing personal relationships with the communities is defended in conflict zones as an infantryman. I participated in the opening of girl’s schools in Afghanistan, hospitals in Iraq, and many other positive cultural construction projects in various conflict regions.  Being provided an opportunity to get a formal education, I wanted to bring back that sense of peace and usefulness to my life and my community here in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Planning was just part of that mindset and academic progression.

I would like to shape a built environment that brings justice and sustainability to the southwestern region and the larger United States in a form that empowers youth and respects the heritage of those that came before us.  In everything we do we have to understand that we will not know how our children, the future generations, will occupy those spaces and how they will function in that unknown future. We don’t get to decide who our children will love and how they will live in the world we are creating for them.So, we must plan for all people in our present and their future.  As a physical planner, this is possible when we work R, by, and through” the communities we plan and design for.   

Cordell Bock

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque is a diverse, culturally rich gem embedded in the desert.

I decided to pursue an MCRP degree for many reasons; sense of place, urban design, and community are all fascinating concepts to me. I wanted to bridge my undergraduate studies in Community + Regional Planning to incorporate all of these concepts into practice.

I would like to facilitate equitable, sustainable communities that are socially and environmentally just. These pressing issues are at the forefront of planning and require innovative solutions.

Zohreh Mehrabi

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Iran

I am from Iran, also called Persia, a Middle East country I speak Persian. Iran is the world's 18th most populous country. Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BCE. Iran's official New Year begins with “Nowruz”, an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated annually on the vernal equinox. Due to its variety of ethnic groups and the influences from the neighboring cultures, the cuisine of Iran is diverse, so I am here with a variety of experiences.

My bachelor’s degree is in Architecture, after working as an architectural designer, as a community researcher focused on social equity, environmental issues and urban sustainability in Iran, I am ready focus in developing my skills to envision a better built environment. I decided to study community and regional planning so I am happy to learn from and be a part of this resource.

I hope to use my skills in architecture and planning to make my visions a reality. A vision where the built environment supports equitable growth and development of communities as well as one that enables inhabitants to live work and play in spaces that elevate humanity. My main motivation for education is to contribute to a safer and more reliable world of infrastructures.

Maria Nicole Held

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Buffalo, NY

I am from Buffalo, NY the land of snow and ice.  While most people find the snow to be a reason to move away, I miss the sense of community that comes from helping people shovel their driveway and cleaning snow off the cars of strangers.  Buffalo is a growing, thriving community with great culture and history.

As I have traveled throughout my twenties, I have learned the power of well-designed towns, cities, and neighborhoods to bring people together. Danes in Copenhagen are consistently ranked as some of the happiest people in the world. I would assert that their attitudes on city design and the ability of Danish people to walk and bike to work and school and to cut their commute times down are one of a number of reasons Danes are happier. People in France tend to be more physically healthy than Americans and have a much larger selection of mobility choices. Wherever I go both in the U.S. and abroad, I am inspired by the ways that other societies organize their cities, communities, and regions.

Currently, I work at the University of New Mexico as an Academic Advisor while pursuing my MCRP degree part-time.  I would be interested in taking my planning experience into Transportation or Community Planning.  However, I love my work at UNM and I can envision myself staying in education and working on planning in Community Colleges and Universities.

Veronique (Vero) Arguello

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Grants, NM

I am from Grants/Pueblo of Acoma. My community is a small area, yet has had a huge impact on my own and other's lives. We are an indigenous community who hold our traditions close of our people, language, and land.

I was initially interested in architecture. Of course, [architects] do make impacts on communities, but I wanted a chance to create spaces that are safe and inclusive. I then came across the BAEPD program and wanted to pursue planning. With the MCRP degree I'll be able to focus the general approaches of planning into a concentration, which will most likely be indigenous based. With this degree, I then hope to become a planner for my tribe back at home.

In my career, I want to help indigenous communities around the state of New Mexico and work with traditional knowledge of people. I would like to work on how to design around accessibility to spaces. Reservations are large rural areas, and most residents do not have reliable access to transportation that will get them to work, school, or events in the community. This limitation of transportation leaves individuals out of opportunities such as workshops, education, and their community. I want to design spaces or systems that can increase more access to these spaces and hope that this will increase the communities’ social capital.

Karl Redmon

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Sacramento, CA

I am from the Sacramento, California area (first 18 years). I have lived all over that region so I have seen its diversity. I grew up in the city, moved to the suburbs when I was about 10, and frequently visited rural farming and ranching communities where family lived. There is no real community within the greater metro that I identify with, however. I did pay attention to how different communities were interlinked and began picking up on different patterns of how these communities worked within and together.

I decided to pursue MCRP after completing my BAEPD degree at UNM a year ago. I wanted to continue my education. Over the last five years, I have formed many personal and professional relationships with fellow students, faculty, professional planners, community activists, developers, architects, and residents of Albuquerque interested in planning. Many people in these groups inspired me to keep going after seeing they work they were doing. I want to help them.

 I think of myself as code and development oriented. I like policy. Being on the end of planning that works with drilling down nuances in code is something that I have come to love. I know some brilliant people with a strong sense of social consciousness who enjoy hammering out the technicalities in code, and implementing that code later on. The process is fascinating. I feel fortunate to be a part of it in any capacity.     

Kylie Elisabeth Rosabal

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From South Florida

I am originally from a small suburb in South Florida between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. South Florida is a wonderful land of palm trees filled with people from many different countries. My family members who reside in South Florida proudly identify themselves as Cuban Americans. The best part of being from South Florida is being from a migrant family and feeling a sense of belonging and connection.

My main goal in pursuing an MCRP degree is to increase the number of brown women in planning. In order to plan for a just and progressive future, the voices of women, indigenous people and people of color need to be embraced and utilized for transformative change.

Over the evolution of my career, I want to focus on making social and environmental justice a pleasurable human experience for myself and those who I work and partner with. In doing this I want to challenge us as a community of planners and citizens to rethink the ground rules for activism.

Amy Jones

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Portland, OR

I am from Oregon, born in Roseburg and raised mostly in greater Portland. Roseburg is a sawmill town at the intersection of a major west coast interstate and a rural highway that acts as a gateway to outdoor recreation. The heated controversy surrounding the spotted owl summarizes Roseburg identity and was a major topic of my childhood summers in the town. Portland, as I knew it growing up, is the largest city in the state, holding an identity unique to itself that is both gritty and homey, with many neighborhoods having their own distinct character. Outlying cities of greater Portland melt into edges and lend a feeling of rural character to the edges of the city's urban growth boundary, as public transit makes it all feel as though it is one large connected city.

As a graduate of the BAEPD program, I knew that I had found my career in planning. Yet, in searching for employment after graduation, it was clear a Master's was needed. The CRP program at UNM was a given for me, yet I was interested in more.  Environmental sciences have also always appealed to me. As an undergrad, I worked with Professors Fleming and Rivera on an acequia research project and my interest in water was peaked. The dual degree in Water Resources and CRP is perfect for me.

With a background in acequia research and food systems, I am highly interested in the connections and nuances between water and community. How we use our water, the cultural practices and significance, small system management, and the people who dedicate themselves to our water and community connections. I am also interested in community driven solutions to water concerns, community watershed restoration, and the identities of those who work in these realms.

Aaron Nathaniel Moore

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

Born and raised in New Mexico, I have lived in Albuquerque and Taos.  My mom was an MCRP graduate, and the work she did seemed to be always changing, challenging, rewarding, and relevant.

I have also always had a strong affinity to Social Justice, having been raised Quaker and later working with American Friends Service Committee. I thought that getting this degree would help deepen my ability to promote Social Justice.

I would like to work around issues of insurgent histiographies, critical theory, and informality. Overplanning can have as many problems as underplanning, and even the most well-meaning planners can cause problems working with flawed theory.

Fall 2018 Entering MCRP Cohort

Ellen Loechner

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From South Elgin, IL

I am a Midwest native and grew up in the Chicago suburbs before moving to western Illinois to attend Augustana College. I lived and worked in the Upper Mississippi River Valley for 5 years before moving west. I am fortunate to have a strong network of mentors, friends and colleagues spread across the country (many with
Midwestern roots) that have provided endless guidance and inspiration as I have rolled around the West choosing a career path.

I have a background in wildlife biology and conservation, and the natural step in advancing my career was to attend graduate school. I found many programs o be too specialized and I had a hard time committing to a specific species or ecosystem. I finally found and decided on the MCRP program because of its interdisciplinary nature. This program gives me a chance to explore new and different skill-sets, weaving together my past experiences and skills. I am eager to practice and explore community participatory planning through the lens of resource conservation and restoration. I hope to better understand how, when and why conservation practices are implemented.

After school, I hope to work in landscape-level conservation planning. I would like to help create a functional and sustainable multi-use landscape that benefits wildlife, plants, and native species, as well as humans. I hope to facilitate collaboration, community building and creative problem solving while addressing conservation and environmental challenges.

Fall 2017 Entering MCRP Cohort 

Chelsey Begay

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From To'Hajiilee, NM

[I came to the Community and Regional Planning Department because of] the lack of planning knowledge in Native communities. I would like to be able to inform Indigenous communities about the fact that they should have a say in how their communities are developed.

Nathan Begay

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Gallup, NM

The built environment has always fascinated me as a child, and seeing how cities and small towns manifest their histories, cultures, and communities through its physical elements.

I am incredibly intersted in how the built environment can address the social inequities certain populations face. I hope to one day use my knowledge to connect with communities and have the ability to make a change within their community.

Ricardo Carbajal

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From New Mexico

I was attracted to the Community and Regional Planning program because there is diversity that I wasn't about to find in other programs. The Indigenous Planning Program was of particular interest to me, as it is a unique program regarding indigenous issues and rights.

I believe that the CR+P program here at UNM allows a student enough flexibility to pursue interests outside of traditional classroom environment. The faculty is all very helpful. The professors are all knowledgeable in planning, but also in helping to show different perspectives from different stakeholders who aren't necessarily represented in the traditional framework.

Norman J. Cooeyate

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Zuni, NM 

Born and raised on the Zuni Indian Reservation, I have always had a passion for the health, welfare and safety of my community. I received my BA in Native American Studies from UNM in 2017. Prior to returning to UNM, I managed the Diabetes Prevention Program in my community for 13 years before turning my interests to politics. As a Governor for my Pueblo (2007 - 2011), I advocated for improving basic living conditions within my Pueblo, and surrounding communities.

I currently work at UNM fulltime. I plan to utilize my education to support planning responsive to people and places, while creating community-based plans, programs and policies which support the unique cultural architectural designs, environment and resources of this state.

Amye Cutlip

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Paden City, WV

My interest to transition into a public service career brought me to the CRP program at UNM. When I finish the program, I want to focus on affordable housing in the non-profit sector.

Andy Jones

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Taos, NM

Where I'm from, people drive miles and miles and then go back inside. I'd like to use my education to discourage such practices.

Sergio Lozoya

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

The veil of the city is lifted in planning, and as planners we have the potential to impact many lives.

When I finish the MCRP program at UNM, I am either going into project management at CNM (Central New Mexico Community College), or will be looking to get a position at a planning firm.

Erika Robers

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Albuquerque, NM

I have a dedication to social and environmental justice. After teaching, organizing and working for non-profits for the last 20 years, I realized that I wanted to contribute to environmental conservation through environmental planning.

UNM's Community and Regional Planning supports an ethic and framework of planning that is in line with my values. I was excited to find a planning program that serves the community and the land instead of being motivated by profit.

Hodgin Serrullo

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Nairobi, Kenya

I have an undergraduate degree in Construction Management. Coming from a socio-economic background of a developing nation, the rapid urbanization of rural areas, towns and cities has led to the need of planners in the building industry. Construction projects not only need to be business oriented but community based too. This inspired me to major in Physical Design in CRP.

Sara Twiss

Master of Community & Regional Planning

From Schurz, NV

I am a proud member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Humanities, my employment has been within my tribe's organization. I became active with my tribal community planning services. I presented my endeavors to summer youth workers, elementary students, and at tribal council sessions. Through the Emerging Indigenous Leaders Institute, I built my leadership skills committing to the protection and perpetuation of the rights, education, and lifeways of Indigenous Peoples. At the international level, I was a participant at the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues.

My passion has always been community driven and Indigenous nation-building, and this has led to me UNM Community and Regional Planning program with a focus on Indigenous Planning. After I complete my thesis study, I will expand my knowledge of the regional tribes of the southwest and continue to create community based learning projects to connect students and tribal entities in lifelong partnerships.

Fall 2016 Entering MCRP Cohort

Curtis Sanders

Master of Community & Regional Planning

I am a lifelong New Mexican, born and raised. I grew up in Las Cruces, which is a sleepy city of 100 thousand people. It's still very much a small town in a big town's body, and it still retains some of the rural charms of its past (and present). Las Cruses is also very multicultural city, with a vibrant and visible Mexican population, which greatly influenced my childhood and worldview growing up. I love coming from a community that's main language is spanglish. I love that mariachi was a music class in my high school. I love coming from a community where the Las Cruces High v. Mayfield football game will still put 30 thousand of Las Cruces's residents in the stands for at least one game a year. What I love most about Las Cruces, however, is that (outside of high school football) people really do get along. Las Cruces could easily fall victim to prejudices and tensions that occur in other border towns, but for the most part it doesn't. I always felt a sense of community in Las Cruces that was welcoming and proud of its multicultural heritage, and I think other communities could learn from that. I also spent much of my upbringing at my relatives' houses in Los Angeles and South Dakota. This showed me the full range of what a community could look like, from isolated rural farmhouses and total cultural homogeny, to a sprawling megalopolis with practically every culture of the world represented somewhere and all the issues that come with major urban life.

I came to UNM because … I loved the messages of sustainability, social justice, and design that were offered by the CRP program. My primary focus is community development, more specifically, the development and promotion of the arts. 

Katie Dix

Master of Community & Regional Planning

Historic Preservation & Regionalism Certificate

Despite the fact that natural resources have defined the economy, culture, and history of Baltimore, residents and planners have abused and overused them for nearly a century. Aside from environmental decline, the city faces many other challenges; poverty, crime, systematic racism, poor public transportation, and food insecurity plague the urban community. Some of these challenges are directly related to historic actions taken by the City’s Planning Department. I was born in this city and lived there my entire life before moving to Albuquerque to attend UNM for graduate school. It was difficult to leave the place I had always called home- especially because I loved the work that I was engaged in; but I was ready to return to academia, challenge my perceptions, and evolve into a visionary planner.

I came to UNM because … the mission of the school resonated with me: planning to not only enhance the resources and built environment of a community but also its culture. I appreciate the fact that this program is responsive to population needs and addresses concerns related to social justice and cultural sustainability. I intend to focus my work on community growth and cultural sustainability through effective land use. I also hope that my career allows me to explore complex connections to the landscape and restore significant structures so that may continue to contribute to the health of our cultural landscape.

Tara Kane Prendergast

Master of Community & Regional Planning

My heart will always belong to the mountains, but many places have shaped my growth. I was born and raised in rural western Colorado, spent my last two years of high school in Northern New Mexico, and lived on the East Coast for seven years. I’ve also spent a significant amount of time with my grandparents in Mexico, and have had the incredible privilege of living for months at a time in various places throughout the Global South.

I came to UNM because … Three things primarily attracted me to UNM’s MCRP program: the social justice focus, opportunity to study and work in indigenous communities, and the affordability of the school. I came to planning from working on community development and racial justice issues in the non-profit sector. My intention in returning to school was to further my skills while having the chance to synthesize and reflect on the work I had been doing “on the ground.” I intend to continue working on issues at the intersection of poverty, inequality, and, increasingly, climate change adaptation. I care about supporting communities in exercising their collective agency, building capacity, and strengthening resilience.

Muhammad A. Hussain

Master of Community & Regional Planning

I was born to a “Primary School Teacher” in the bordering District (OKARA) of the Punjab Pakistan. Being a son of a school teacher learning became my passion. The country where I live faces multiple socio-economic problems, including poverty, corruption, and terrorism. Pakistan is only a little bigger than Texas, but it has a population of two hundred million people. Our metropolitan cities are facing rapid population growth, rural-urban migration, resource scarcity, socioeconomic inequality and severe poverty. An effective and fair distribution of resources is required for raising the standards of living for people living under the poverty line. The economy is suffering because large numbers of young urban youth are unproductive and unemployed. They don’t have access to quality education, health care or employment opportunities. This is a leading cause of poverty and restlessness in communities throughout the country. Traffic jams, poor urban transport systems and infrastructure are also problems. A lack of basic infrastructure for education has contributed to unemployment and crimes.

I came to UNM because … I want to learn the skills of economic, political, social, legal and technical perspectives of housing, community development, and planning. Pakistan is suffering from illiteracy, poor health, natural disasters, urban slums, poor public services and futile economic development projects. I am interested in developing skills and knowledge to understand and become a part of managing these processes. My long-term goal is to work in community development in Pakistan. I want to devise a policy to protect open agricultural land and provide affordable housing for low-income communities in collaboration with the local authorities. I want to be a part of a comprehensive process to develop my community’s own vision for a better future and positive social change.

Jason Herman

Master of Community & Regional Planning

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, which I left for Florida after finishing high school. After eight years in Florida with a new family, I returned home to New Mexico to pursue a degree at UNM. I am a third generation Lobo with my grandfather getting his law degree at UNM in the 60s and my mother earning her Master’s in education in the 80s.

I came to UNM because ... I began at UNM in the BAEPD undergrad program and found the natural continuance of my education to be the MCRP program. Since having children my intention has been to raise them here in New Mexico leading me to look for ways to specialize in community and policy issues specific to the region. The MCRP and Water Resources dual degree program provided me with everything I was looking for and was a rewarding as well as challenging path. I hope to find work in the areas of policy and community collaboration so that I may guide and affect change within the community I live and work.

Sky Tallman

Master of Community & Regional Planning

I grew up in New Mexico and have lived in Germany, Austria, Japan, and New Zealand and I am fluent in German and Spanish. I spent the last six years teaching history at The MASTERS Program Early College High School in Santa Fe.

I came to UNM because … my planning interests include predictive modeling, retrofitting suburbia, economic development, affordable housing, zoning and land use. The choice to study urban planning came partly as a protest against the status quo and a conviction that through planning many critical aspects of the human condition can be improved.