Arts & Sciences Menu
Arts & Sciences
Office Hours | |
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Monday - Thursday | 7:00am - 8:30pm |
Friday | 8:00am - 5:00pm |
Saturday - Sunday | Closed |
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In Memoriam: Peter L. Eidenbach

Faculty and Staff
Staff
A & S staff members are committed to providing quality support for the diverse community we serve. The division values integrity in all interactions with students and the creation of opportunity from the educational process.
Work Study

Trent Babbit
Hours | |
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Monday | 9:00-12:00 / Lunch / 1:00-5:00 |
Tuesday | 9:00-12:00 / Lunch / 1:00-4:00 |
Wednesday | 9:00-12:00 / Lunch / 1:00-5:00 |
Full-time Faculty
The Arts & Sciences (A & S) division faculty are committed to providing quality learning opportunities for individuals in the diverse community we serve. The division values excellence and innovative instruction, integrity in all interactions with students and the creation of opportunity from the educational process.
Adjunct Faculty
Please see the following document for contact information for ALL A & S personnel.
Melanie Bussiere
My name is Melanie Bussiere, and I began my teaching career in NJ in 2003. I graduated from Rutgers University with BAs in History, Political Science and Journalism in 2000, and completed my MA in English at Seton Hall University in 2009. I have taught Freshman Composition at Union County College in NJ, as well as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the College of Southern Nevada before teaching at NMSU-A. I am also the Language Arts Department Chair at Tularosa High School and run their AP program in addition to being the head cheer leading coach.
Laurie Joslin
I joined the NMSUA family in 1993 when I returned to college to finish a degree that I began at University of Delaware in 1966. All of my awarded degrees are from NMSU/NNMSUA. I completed an Associates of Arts in 1995, a Bachelor of Science (Secondary Education Math) in 1998 and a Master of Arts (Math Education) in 2007. I taught public school for 16 years. During that time, I was also a part-time instructor at NMSUA, teaching one section of Developmental Algebra (CCDM 112-113) each semester for six years. I developed the present course that I teach, Math 210G after I retired from public school teaching. I have been an online course instructor for Math 201G for six years and taught it as a face-to-face course for one semester.
Freda Goodman
Freda McNair Goodman
M.M in Vocal Performance
New Mexico State University Alamogordo
Online Adjunct Music Faculty
Freda Goodman began studying voice at the age of sixteen, with a great desire to perform on stage someday. Upon graduation from Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama with a Bachelor of Music Degree in vocal performance, she received the Master of Music degree from Florida State University.
It was a dream come true when after participating in the prestigious Palm Beach Operatic Scholarship Competition, West Palm Beach, FL, Freda was offered a contract with the Vienna State Opera in Vienna, Austria. Six weeks later, she packed her suitcases and was off to Vienna, for what she thought would be one year, but instead turned into 15!
Freda performed as operatic soloist in Vienna at the Staatsoper and the Volksoper for five years, and then began a 10 year career at some of the leading German opera houses as soprano soloist, studying with prominent conductors and vocal coaches. Her most performed roles were the challenging coloratura roles, the Queen of the Night, from Mozart’s opera, Die Zauberflöte; Constanze and Blonchen from The Abduction from the Seraglio; Olympia from The Tales of Hoffman, and Rosina from The Barber of Seville.
Freda, her husband, Gary and daughter, Kari, returned to the United States in July 2000. Since then, Freda has been a part of the music faculty of Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC; Central Texas College, and presently teaches with New Mexico State University Alamogordo and NorthWest Arkansas Community College.
Teaching, whether it is online music appreciation with NMSUA or in the classroom at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, it is Freda’s desire to challenge her students and see to it that they finish the semester absolutely loving the class. Little do students know…they are already familiar with 100s of classical, jazz, and rock-n-roll tunes!
Colleen Bond
Colleen Bond has taught classes at NMSU-A since 2010. Her areas of teaching include English 111, College 101, and previously Developmental Reading and Writing. She has also taught for ENMU-R, DACC, and other out of state institutions. She is a certified online instructor. Prior to earning her B.A. in English at University of Maryland, Colleen served for six years as an Arabic Linguist in the United States Air Force. Her M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition was earned at New Mexico State University.
David MacWilliams
I joined NMSU-Alamogordo in July, 2018. I earned an Associate of Arts degree from Suffolk County Community College in 1982; a BA degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1984; a Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1992; a Ph.D. in British Romantic and Victorian literature in 2001; and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Ashland University in 2011.
I’ve taught the English language and American and British literature in Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and different universities in the US, including Vanderbilt University (ESL) and Adams State University in Colorado.
I’ve published and presented scholarship on the fiction of Jane Austen and Sir Hall Caine, and on contemporary creative nonfiction. My essays and short stories have been published in Creative Nonfiction, Apple Valley Review, the tiny journal, Mason’s Road, and elsewhere.
I was Chair of English, Theatre, and Communication at Adams State University for several years before coming to Alamogordo. I enjoy my work as a college administrator because it allows me to continue serving students while also serving a very talented group of faculty at NMSU-A.
Sara Irving
Sara Irving was head of the photography program at NMSU-A for over 18 years. Sara is now retired from full-time teaching and is an adjunct Professor Emeritus, teaching online courses in art history. Sara received her BFA in painting from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and her MFA in photography from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. Her photographic work is in documentary landscape photography.
Sonja De Vargas
Sonja de Vargas – Associate College Professor of German, serves as co-chair of the All-USA Academic Team Nominating Committee and attended the conference “New Directions in the Humanities, From Digital Humanities to a Humanities in the Digital” at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in June 2015. Also accompanied the 2016 Coca Cola New Century Scholar Tiantian Trimble to Chicago, Illinois in April 2016 in order to attend the Phi Theta Kappa Presidents Breakfast at the American Association of community College’s Annual Convention where Ms. Trimble was presented the New Century Scholar award.
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith – Associate College Professor of Biology, has placed 24 students in local natural resource internships with the goal that they gain hands-on experience and develop long term employment in these fields. This was made possible through two cooperative grants with the Forest Service and NMSU in Las Cruces. Dr. Smith received her PhD in Plant and Environmental Science in 2016 and a second Master of Science degree in 2014 in Wildlife Science. She received the Texas Parks and Wildlife License Plate Grant to research a Critically Imperiled species of mud turtle, Kinosternon hirtipes, along with grants from T&E and Sigma X. Dr. Smith takes students with her in the field to implement conservation projects in remote areas which includes many fun adventures for both her and her students. She was awarded Outstanding Division Member of the Year in the Math, Engineering, Science and Health division.
Erin O'Neill Armendarez
Erin O’Neill Armendarez – Associate Professor of English, served as New Mexico’s higher education policy analyst for the National Council of Teachers of English, publishing reports on their website every semester. In addition, she was elected to represent the southwestern region on the national Two Year College English Association Executive Committee 2015-2018. She writes and publishes reviews of scholarly books for Choice, read by over 22,000 academic librarians for the purpose of making appropriate acquisitions. In 2017, she published two chapters in an academic book entitled Overchoice: Too Much to Choose From, Too Little Time (eds. Christian Gilde and Fredrick M. Chilson, Cognella Press). In September of 2017, her chapter on rhetoric, narrative, and critical media literacy will appear in Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in a Post Truth America (the first volume published in Sense’s Critical Media Literacies series edited by William Reynolds).
Anne Ricksecker
Anne Ricksecker – Assistant Professor of Education, Early Childhood Education, serves as Assistant Vice President for Student Success and Director of Institutional Effectiveness along with teaching. She is also serving as the Alamogordo campus representative on the President’s Communication Council and the University Teaching Council, both NMSU system councils, as well as serving as the NMSU-A representative on the New Mexico Early Childhood Higher Education Task Force. In addition, Anne was selected in 2014-15 to participate in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Statewide Postsecondary Convening, the PARCC Postsecondary Educators’ Judgment Study, and the PARCC PLS Dry Run Committee Meeting. In 2017, she was invited to serve as a member of the Early Childhood (Birth to Pre-Kindergarten) Content Advisory Committee for the National Evaluation Series™ (NES) Framework and Item Review Conference.
Kim Lopez Gallagher
Kim Lopez Gallagher – Professor of History, Philosophy and Government – Since the last update of our website, Professor Lopez Gallagher has been busy. In 2016, Kim was promoted to the rank of full Professor. Kim served on the Faculty Assembly as Vice-Chair for two years. From 2015 to 2016, Kim co-chaired the Faculty Assembly’s Sub-Committee on Shared Governance which designed a new structure for NMSU-A faculty/staff committees. Kim also served on the NMSU Community College Promotion and Tenure Task Force which reviewed the NMSU Community College Promotion and Tenure Policy. Kim is a member of the NMSU-A Quality Assurance Team for Distance Learning and is a Quality Matters Master Reviewer. She has chaired Quality Matters reviews of many online courses at NMSU-A. Kim has presented at the Quality Matters national conference two years consecutively with the QA Team. In summer of 2016, Kim attended the Summer Classics program at St.John’s College in Santa Fe where she participated in an intensive seminar on the History of the United States of America During The Administrations of Thomas Jefferson by Henry Adams. Each September, Kim organizes Constitution Day at NMSU – A. At the last Zach Track Race in 2017, Kim finished first in her age group in the 5K.