Luis Alfonso Rivera Campos (left), Rector of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, joins President Joseph Shepard of Western New Mexico University to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two institutions, July 16, 2024. The MOU will facilitate academic, scientific, and technological collaboration between the universitiesSILVER CITY, NM – Western New Mexico University President Dr. Joseph Shepard hosted a delegation of administrators from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two universities, July 16, 2024.

The memorandum provides a pathway for academic, scientific, and technological collaboration between the two institutions, including the opportunity for students at either university to earn dual degrees. The memorandum also provides for research projects and activities engaged in by faculty, staff, or researchers from either institution conducted at the other, and it encourages the joint development of seminars, conferences and workshops.

WNMU has dozens of MOUs with international universities, corporations and countries. Other MOUs have led to a number of international students studying at WNMU, WNMU students studying abroad, faculty exchanges with international universities, and collaborative, co-hosted events on the WNMU campus.

WNMU President Dr. Joseph Shepard said that the MOU with the Autonomous University of Chihuahua was especially meaningful coming at a time when the value of WNMU having an international presence has been called into question. "We are going through a period of time here at our university when we have people who are questioning why we do international relationships," he said. The importance of the relationship with Chihuahua, he said, lies in New Mexico's shared cultural history with Chihuahua, a shared culture that has been disrupted by a wall between countries. "What education does is that it breaks down those walls. … It celebrates what we have in common, and it also celebrates our differences."

Many WNMU students, Shepard continued, "do not have the wherewithal to go flying off to Europe or even Mexico—many of them have never even left this region—so we must bring Mexico to them."

Luis Alfonso Rivera Campos, Rector of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua said it was very important for his university to formalize international relationships in order to collaborate on its educational programs. "We have big plans to work purposefully and smoothly [with WNMU], especially in the areas of economics and business administration," he said in Spanish.