Collaboration needed for NMSU's economic development

New Mexico State University has “moved to a potluck and away from a buffet,” said Patricia Sullivan, associate dean of engineering in the College Engineering, as she and other NMSU leaders discussed how the university has become more collaborative with business and industry to create and enhance economic development for the community and the state.

Sullivan was joined in a panel discussion by other members of the NMSU economic development cabinet: Ken Van Winkle, associate vice chancellor for external relations and economic development; Kathryn Hansen, director and chief executive officer of Arrowhead Center; Scott Eschenbrenner, president and chief executive officer of Aggie Development, Inc.; and Patricia M. Knighten, director of innovation commercialization in the office of intellectual property at Arrowhead Center.

Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) President and CEO Davin Lopez hosted the panel, which was part of MVEDA’s Business in the NMBorderplex Forum lunch, held June 6 at Hotel Encanto.

“It’s all about partnerships,” said Eschenbrenner, who said NMSU’s Aggie Uptown development will soon add a Maverik convenience store at the corner of Las Alturas and University Avenue in the development’s 36 acres. A new Starbucks and an electronic vehicle charging station are going on 6.8-acres of land owned by the NMSU regents and leased by Aggie Development. The site fronts on Triviz Drive, adjacent and to the east of the existing Pan Am Plaza Shopping Center, he said. 

Sullivan said NMSU is also using its alumni networks and other resources to keep Aggie graduates “attached to their alma mater.”

Doña Ana Community College is focused not only on providing students the technical skills they need to compete in today’s workforce, it also is looking ahead to train them “for jobs of the future,” Van Winkle said.

NMSU’s economic development cabinet meets monthly, Van Winkle said, and has developed a “fairly specific” economic development plan for the university, with input from each of its colleges and metrics to measure its success. NMSU is in the plan’s implementation stage, he said.

Part of the plan includes helping businesses and NMSU faculty move their laboratory research into the marketplace, Hansen said. Providing mentoring and guidance along “the commercialization pathway” and helping products “make it to the real world (is) one of our missions,” she said.

Visit nmsu.edu/economic-development.