Accelerate New Mexico
College of Education and Human Sciences
Keeping New Mexico Moving, Learning, and Growing
New Mexico’s future depends on the educators, counselors, health professionals, and leaders who serve our schools, families, and communities. At the College of Education and Human Sciences (COEHS), we prepare these professionals through rigorous scholarship, innovative teaching, and meaningful partnerships that respond to the unique opportunities and challenges of our state. Grounded in educational excellence, health, wellness, opportunity, and belonging, COEHS equips graduates to keep New Mexico moving, learning, and growing.
Through Accelerate New Mexico, we are investing in the people, places, and ideas that make this work possible, including modern learning environments, innovative equipment, student scholarships, faculty excellence, and research that strengthens communities across our state.
Overview:
COEHS prepares the professionals who strengthen New Mexico's schools, communities, and workforce. Our graduates serve as teachers, educational leaders, counselors, exercise scientists, nutrition professionals, family specialists, and researchers who improve educational achievement, health, and well-being across the state.
As part of New Mexico's flagship research university, COEHS combines nationally recognized educator preparation with innovative research and community partnerships to address the state's most pressing challenges. The College is home to the Institute of American Indian Education, which advances teaching, leadership, and research that supports Indigenous communities throughout New Mexico, and the region's only pro bono counseling clinic, where future counselors provide essential mental health services while gaining hands-on clinical experience. COEHS also offers numerous licensure and certification programs that help meet critical workforce needs in education, health, and human services.
Every investment in COEHS strengthens the people and programs that keep New Mexico moving, learning, and growing.
List of Priorities:
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At COEHS, students learn by doing. They provide counseling services, conduct nutrition assessments, advance exercise science research, and develop the clinical skills that prepare them to serve New Mexico's schools, families, and communities. Modern clinics, laboratories, and instructional spaces give students the opportunity to learn in environments that reflect today's professional standards.
With your support, we can:
Modernize clinics, laboratories, and instructional spaces.
Replace specialized equipment essential for teaching and research.
Expand opportunities for student clinical experiences.
Advance research that improves education, health, and well-being across New Mexico.
Investment goal: $2 million in philanthropic support.
Why now? Demand for clinical experiences continues to grow.
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Sometimes the difference between graduating and leaving college is not tuition, it is an unexpected expense. A flat tire on the way to student teaching. A required background check for student teaching. Licensing fees to meet state requirements. Gas to travel to a clinical placement. These hidden costs can delay or derail a student's path to graduation. Flexible funding removes barriers so talented students can complete their degrees and begin serving New Mexico's schools and communities.
With your support, we can:
Help students overcome unexpected financial emergencies.
Cover required licensing, testing, and background check costs.
Reduce financial barriers to clinical placements and student teaching.
Keep future educators on track to graduation.
Investment goal: $1.5 million.
Why now? Hidden financial barriers keep talented students from graduating.
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Tomorrow's faculty, researchers, counselors, educational leaders, and health professionals begin as today's graduate students. At COEHS, master's and doctoral students strengthen the College through their teaching, research, and service while preparing to address New Mexico's most pressing educational and health challenges.
Philanthropic support allows COEHS to recruit exceptional doctoral students with first-year fellowship funding, giving them the time, mentorship, and professional preparation needed before they assume teaching and research assistantships. It also provides scholarships and financial assistance for master's and doctoral students pursuing careers in counseling, educational leadership, special education, and other critical fields where financial barriers can stand in the way of serving New Mexico.
With your support, we can:
Recruit outstanding doctoral students through first-year fellowship support.
Expand scholarships for master's and doctoral students with financial need.
Strengthen teaching and research across the College.
Prepare the next generation of faculty, researchers, counselors, educational leaders, and other professionals who will serve New Mexico.
Investment goal: $4 million in philanthropic support.
Why now? Graduate funding is essential to recruiting exceptional scholars.
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Improving educational outcomes begins with understanding what works.
The OUTCOMES Center for Educational Research and Policy brings together researchers, educators, school districts, and state partners to generate the evidence needed to strengthen education across New Mexico. As part of the state's flagship R1 university, the Center is already partnering with the New Mexico Public Education Department to examine how teacher preparation and licensure pathways influence teacher retention and student success. These collaborations will help inform education policy, strengthen teacher preparation, and identify practices that improve outcomes for students statewide.
Philanthropic investment will accelerate the Center's capacity to expand research partnerships, attract outstanding scholars, leverage additional external funding, and provide trusted, evidence-based guidance for educators and policymakers working to improve education throughout New Mexico.
With your support, we can:
Expand research partnerships with schools, districts, and state agencies.
Generate evidence that strengthens teacher preparation and student success.
Inform education policy through rigorous, nonpartisan research.
Position New Mexico as a national leader in educational improvement.
Investment goal: $3.25 million in philanthropic support.
Why now? The OUTCOMES Center for Educational Research and Policy is already building statewide research partnerships.
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The best ideas are discovered through research, collaboration, and a commitment to continuous learning.
Professional development funding enables faculty and graduate students to participate in national and international conferences, build research collaborations, pursue innovative scholarship, and bring new ideas back to New Mexico. These investments strengthen teaching, expand research opportunities, enhance the College's national reputation, and ensure that students benefit from the latest advances in education, counseling, health, and human sciences.
With your support, we can:
Support faculty and graduate student professional development.
Expand national and international research collaborations.
Accelerate innovative research and scholarship.
Bring new ideas and best practices back to New Mexico.
Investment goal: $2 million in philanthropic support.
Why now? Faculty innovation requires continued investment in people and ideas.
In summary
Together, we can keep New Mexico moving, learning, and growing.
Through Accelerate New Mexico, philanthropic investment in the College of Education and Human Sciences will prepare outstanding professionals, remove barriers for students, advance innovative research, and strengthen the educators, counselors, researchers, and leaders who serve communities throughout our state.
Together, we seek to raise $12.75 million to:
Equip tomorrow's professionals with outstanding learning environments — $2 million
Keep future educators on track to graduation — $1.5 million
Develop tomorrow's scholars, teachers, and leaders — $4 million
Generate research that improves educational outcomes — $3.25 million
Advance innovation through faculty and graduate research — $2 million
Every investment in COEHS is an investment in New Mexico's future.
Kristopher M. Goodrich, PhD
Dean / College of Education and Human Sciences
“Every day, College of Education and Human Sciences graduates make a difference in the lives of New Mexicans. They teach in our schools, strengthen families, support health and wellness, provide mental health services, conduct research, and lead in communities across our state. Through Accelerate New Mexico, we have an opportunity to invest in the students, faculty, facilities, and innovative programs that prepare these professionals and expand their impact. Together, we can ensure that New Mexico continues to move, learn, and grow for generations to come.”
Best
Named a Best Graduate School for Education (U.S. News & World Report, 2025)
100%
New Mexico principals surveyed would recommend hiring graduates from UNM
$425K+
In Scholarships Awarded in 2022
We realize that these are ambitious goals. But the university-wide momentum and energy of the Accelerate New Mexico campaign presents us with an historic opportunity to rise to the challenges of today to build a better tomorrow for COEHS.