Dr. Neil Harvey and Dr. Alejandro Lugo discuss the new NMSU Ph.D. program in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics. A portion of their conversation is transcribed below. More information about the program can be found here.
KC Counts:
Dr. Harvey, let me start with you, and have you tell me a little bit about coming to the place where you decided this department needs a new Ph.D. program.
Dr. Neil Harvey:
Okay, well, several things fed into it. For some years, many faculty at NMSU have been doing research on U.S.-Mexico border issues from a variety of disciplines. The Center for Latin American and Border Studies, which was founded back in the late 1970s, had been a pioneer, I think, in that effort. And those of us who had some relationship with that center promoted the creation of a new program at the graduate level. And that was one of the factors in my own personal case that led to continuing that effort. It wasn't something that was straightforward. It required a lot of discussion and conversation. Another factor was the university in 2019 needed to produce new Ph.D.s for social sciences and humanities in order to meet some of the goals of an R1 university; and Dean Pontelli asked faculty and department heads to think about what might be a good interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the social sciences and humanities, what kind of themes would be attractive to many people. So looking back at what we've been doing through Latin American studies for some time and knowing a lot of people on campus, I thought, well, probably issues to do with the border, given our location, our connections to Mexico particularly, that would be great. And then the third factor is the connection with Dr. Lugo and his ongoing support to the anthropology department and to NMSU. Also in 2019, he came and was honored as a star of the arts and sciences in the college. And those conversations really took off, I think, about how to craft a program that would be multi-departmental, would be interdisciplinary in its approach, and would allow students to complete a Ph.D. without having to really leave the area. And that was really important for all of us, I think, to make that accessible to students who may be graduating with a master's here, students who may be working in the community, and now we're at that point where it's come to fruition, so it's very exciting.
KC Counts:
Well, let me say congratulations to you both. Dr. Lugo, so you've been involved in the conversations from the very start. What does it mean to you to be part of the decision-making right from the beginning in terms of what PhD students would be getting out of this program?
Dr. Alejandro Lugo:
Well, it's been an honor, and I am an NMSU alumni, and I graduated in 1985 in anthropology. But I was inspired by one of my mentors in the anthropology department then, Dr. Brad Blake. So when I told him that I wanted to be a professor of anthropology, he said, Alejandro, you're going to have to go away somewhere else because we don't offer a Ph.D. here at NMSU. From there, I did go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for my master's and my Ph.D. from Stanford University. And my area of expertise is the US-Mexico border and the anthropology of the borderlands. So, after two decades, I was then invited to go to ASU to help them establish a new Ph.D. degree in transborder studies, and I became the director of transborder studies at ASU. So I thought, well, why is it that we don't have a graduate degree, doctoral degree in border studies in my beautiful alma mater at NMSU? So yes, you can imagine. I want and I hope that our youth, our talented youth, do not have to leave the university to get a Ph.D. So that's why this means so, much to me. And one last item that I think is vitally important is that I taught at UTEP for a few years. And because I had been to two Ph.D. programs, Madison and Stanford, although I was happy to send our own students at UTEP to go and get their Ph.D.s in other universities, I knew that I had to train my own doctoral students because at that point in time they did not have a Ph.D. degree. So as you can see, both times I had to go away, and that's why I ended up at the University of Illinois where I trained many doctoral students. So this is such an important development in my alma mater at NMSU.
KC Counts:
You were born in Juarez.
Dr. Alejandro Lugo:
Yes.
KC Counts:
And so you lived a cross-border culture? Yeah, you were already an expert by the time...
Dr. Alejandro Lugo:
Yes, and I grew up both in Juarez and Las Cruces. And I also, I am a very proud Trojan, you know, Mayfield High, class of 81. So yes, I am from the border, andI ended up studying the border. So, you know, I'm here now to help as much as I can.
You can listen to the second portion of this conversation here:
