From the desk of Renay Scott
Feb. 11, 2022

It is an honor, as NMSU’s vice president for Student Success, to also serve as your acting provost. In these roles, I can view, from two unique perspectives, the impact of the work of NMSU faculty in our learning spaces and the work that staff perform in supporting students. By inhabiting both of these roles, I can better relate the perspectives of the students in the classroom with those that we support in Student Success.

Education, research and creativity, and service are the three pillars of NMSU’s land-grant mission, and these pillars are most effective when they support each other. In teaching, we share information with students. Their questions and insights generate further questions. Through service, we better understand how our disciplines affect people and communities beyond the university. Combined, teaching and service bring our work to a broader audience, and those audiences deepen our insights into the impacts of our scholarly work. When we use these insights in our labs and studios, we gain new insights and our creativity reaches new levels. All this feeds back into our teaching, both in the classroom and through service to our communities.

This interconnectedness of research and creative activity, teaching and service means that the experiences of NMSU students are distinct from students at many other universities.

In my dual roles as VPSS and acting provost, I have the unique opportunity to see the impact of the work we are all performing. I see this work through the perspective of an academic colleague and through the eyes of the students with whom I work and support as VPSS. From that vantage point, I assure you that you make a difference in the lives of your students. In the student life spaces at NMSU, your students tell us about their classroom experiences and how those experiences are not just interesting, but motivating and inspiring.

So, allow me to encourage all of you: Make your passion for your work, your discipline, your research and creativity, and your service evident to our students. Just as they learn from what you say, they also learn from how you say it, from the conviction that underlies your words, and from how you live those words. As your colleague, I promise that your efforts in teaching, research and creativity, and service are valued.

In closing, I hope many of you had the opportunity to visit with the talented pool of candidates for interim provost when they were on campus yesterday. I encourage you to provide feedback on these candidates, and the deadline for this feedback has been extended until noon today. Although I have enjoyed serving as NMSU’s provost, I am looking forward to welcoming an interim provost who can bring a singular focus to this important position.

  Take care, Aggies!