This fall, men and women from varied careers and educational backgrounds are ready to plunge into an area of interdisciplinary discovery via New Mexico State University’s new Ph.D. in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics.
NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences will welcome the seven doctoral students into the program with an event from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at Domenici Hall, Room 109. The public is invited to attend the keynote speech, followed by a reception in the foyer.
“It’s not every day that we have a new Ph.D. program starting at NMSU,” said Neil Harvey, professor and head of the Department of Political Science, Public Law and Administration. “This one particularly is unique because it’s interdisciplinary. It involves 10 different departments across campus, two different colleges and many faculty who are involved in making it happen. We are also collaborating with researchers at the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso and in Ciudad Juárez. It’s not just about this border region, but in general we are interested in the nature of borders and transborder activities, connections and flows worldwide.”
The inaugural event will feature a keynote speech “Democracy Matters at the Border and Beyond” by Alejandro Lugo, NMSU 2019 Star of Arts and Sciences and NMSU anthropology alumnus, who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and spent many years as a professor at universities in Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona and Illinois. After two decades of training doctoral students in border studies and anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lugo led Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies for a few years.
“A Ph.D. program in transborder and global human dynamics at NMSU has the potential to study all of the border zones impacting people’s lives and specific nations within and across continents,” Lugo said.
Lugo worked closely with Harvey and other NMSU faculty and departments over the past year to develop the Ph.D. Harvey and Enrico Pontelli, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will join Lugo at the welcome event to talk about the new degree and the broad-ranging value of a Ph.D. in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics.
The 10 departments collaborating on the degree include anthropology, criminal justice, English, including the gender and sexuality studies program, geography and environmental studies, history, philosophy, languages and linguistics and political science, public law and administration in the College of Arts and Sciences and borderlands and ethnic studies and sociology in the College of Health, Education and Social Transformation. The NMSU library, the Center for Latin American and Border Studies, the American Indian Program and Latin American Programs are also involved in the Ph.D.
“This program brilliantly demonstrates how different disciplines can come together to shape an innovative opportunity for graduate students,” Pontelli said. “The development of this program is a remarkable example of creativity, collaboration and teamwork on the part of faculty and department heads.”
Normally a Ph.D. takes about five years. In this case, with a master’s degree, up to 30 credits could potentially count toward the Ph.D. so these students could be looking at three years to complete this Ph.D. Since the first cohort all have earned master’s degrees, their time will be spent mainly on field work, research and writing their dissertations.
“The point of doing a Ph.D. is for our students to be the creators of new knowledge through a structured program like this,” Harvey said. “The sooner you get into the field work and data collection and analysis, the better. There's plenty of opportunity for our students in this program to provide research for third sector non-profits. We have done research with our undergrad students in the summer. With Ph.D. students, we will have a longer commitment to the research itself, which can have a bigger impact.”
Megan White received her bachelor’s in elementary education and taught in public schools, but she also volunteered in the Peace Corps and earned a master’s degree in Latin American studies, focused on the impacts of migration on border communities.
“I am interested in continuing research in border and migration issues, possibly within the non-governmental organization sector, where I believe I can combine advocacy with research and community engagement,” White said. “I have also considered self-publishing and pursuing public-facing scholarship to make research findings more accessible and contribute to broader conversations about migration and border dynamics.”
Lourdes Olivas earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, a master's degree in curriculum and instruction and works in NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service in the Department of Extension Family and Consumer Sciences. She teaches programs on diabetes, nutrition and exercise.
“This is the perfect fit for me,” Olivas said. “With this Ph.D. program, I'm hoping that it can help me to become more of an advocate for policy changes but also continue my job at that grassroots level and hopefully be able to make a bigger impact.”
Amanda Glendening spent a year living in France after receiving a degree in romance languages, studying French and Spanish. A master’s degree in student personnel services brought her to NMSU. Glendening is an academic success coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences, and she teaches French at NMSU.
“I hope to be able to fuse all these interests together,” Glendening said. “But if I get pulled in a direction where I get to find some awesome advocacy opportunities or I would love to have opportunities to go to Mexico. Ultimately if I can become full-time faculty here, I would love to continue teaching.”
Esther Korsah is originally from Ghana and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies. Her focus has centered on using communication as a tool for public health, social change and advocacy for marginalized communities. Korsah’s research explores the intersection of communication, public health and social equity, particularly in transborder and marginalized communities.
“After completing my Ph.D., I plan to advance scholarship through teaching, mentoring, and collaborative research in higher education, while also working alongside policymakers, NGOs, and international organizations to translate research into actionable community change,” Korsah said. “My ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world solutions that improve quality of life across borders.”
Alejandro Flores grew up in Ciudad Juárez and received a bachelor’s in engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. That’s when he fell in love with architecture and began a career in project management at different universities including The Ohio State University and Auburn University. He returned to the region and now works for the City of Las Cruces.
“I got to experience what it’s like living in different places, all the different things that we deal with, but nothing compares to living on the border,” Flores said. “I find my passion is working in the city government, so I got my master's in public administration at NMSU. My focus area is in sustainability, human health, in food security and water. I believe these areas need attention in our region. My research will include finding new technologies and opportunities to apply these, as I continue to work with our city’s government to make policies that will bring change and improvements in these areas to our community and hopefully other cities along the border.”
Lugo is a cultural anthropologist who was born in Ciudad Juárez and was raised on both sides of the Juárez-El Paso border and the Las Cruces region. Lugo is the author of the award-winning book “Fragmented Lives, Assembled Parts: Culture, Capitalism, and Conquest at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” He received the Anthropology in Media Award from the American Anthropological Association in 2024.
“A lot of learning takes place when different disciplines interact,” Lugo said. “It’s extremely important that this transborder doctoral program rigorously brings together different geographical area studies and different disciplinary fields of study. Something exciting happens and you don’t know it until you bring them all together through a transborder perspective. In the process, each discipline and field of study inevitably becomes stronger. With the new program and Ph.D. in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics, NMSU will be at the cutting edge of 21st century higher education, both nationally and internationally.”
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CUTLINE: These students are in the first cohort in New Mexico State University's new Ph.D. in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics. Top from left: Esther Korsah, Alejandro Flores and Lourdes Olivas. Bottom from left: Megan White and Amanda Glendening. Not shown are Adán del Val and Saul Almeida-Moriel. (Courtesy photos)
CUTLINE: Three speakers will welcome the first cohort in NMSU's new Ph.D. in Transborder and Global Human Dynamics on Aug. 27. From left: Neil Harvey is a professor and head of NMSU's Department of Political Science, Public Law and Administration. Alejandro Lugo will deliver the keynote speech “Democracy Matters at the Border and Beyond." Enrico Pontelli is the dean of NMSU's College of Arts and Sciences. (NMSU photos)