University of New Mexico Community Engagement Office

What happens when we stop making assumptions and start listening?
In this clip, Kiran Katira, Director of the Community Engagement Center at UNM, shares a powerful lesson from her early years as an educator and how listening to communities can transform understanding, relationships, and even policy.
Watch the full Staff Spotlight on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/Ug377zZ-XS0

As New Mexico continues facing growing water challenges, communities understanding their own watersheds and planning for the future has never been more important.
In this faculty spotlight, Lani Tsinnajinnie
reflects on sustainability, water resources, and helping communities build healthy futures on their own terms.
Watch the full faculty spotlight.
https://youtu.be/V1V2-_k2lVE?si=D4IIk4Js2ifcPZ0h
Office of Academic Affairs University of New Mexico, School of Architecture + Planning Native American Studies - UNM

What happens when we try to rebuild communities without truly understanding them first?

In this spotlight, reflects on community engagement, rural economies, identity, and the ways communities are often misunderstood through traditional systems and assumptions.

Drawing from his experiences growing up in Mora, New Mexico and working across the world, Manuel shares a powerful perspective on listening, place, and what it really means to engage with communities authentically.
https://youtu.be/bPumPwEWgK8
UNM Office of Academic Affairs

Sometimes the most important knowledge doesn’t come from models, technology, or data alone - it comes from the people living the experience every day.

In this Faculty Spotlight, Marygold Walsh-Dilley

reflects on research, food systems, climate change, rural and Indigenous communities, and the importance of community knowledge in understanding real-world challenges.

Through stories from her work in South America and beyond, she shares why listening to communities is essential to meaningful research and lasting impact.

At the Office of Community Engagement, these conversations remind us that community-engaged scholarship is not just about studying communities - it’s about learning with them.
Watch full spotlight- https://youtu.be/PaeKVj47z5M

Office of Academic AffairsUNM Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

“You don’t know what you don’t see until you step outside of a familiar space…”

For Esther, that shift came from moving beyond the classroom and into real community work - listening, collaborating, and learning from perspectives she hadn’t experienced before.

As a master’s student in Latin American Studies at UNM, her work spans participatory budgeting and food systems initiatives in Albuquerque’s International District, where community voices shape real solutions.

This clip is just one moment from her story.

Watch the full interview on YouTube, link in bio to hear how these experiences transformed her understanding of community engagement and personal growth.
https://youtu.be/sAN74CAbg4M
Office of Academic AffairsUNM Latin American & Iberian Institute

This didn’t happen overnight.
Behind UNM’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is the work of faculty, staff, and a dedicated team who came together to represent years of impact across our communities.
From classrooms to research to partnerships across New Mexico, this recognition reflects the commitment happening across the entire university.
A small team helped bring it all together - but this story belongs to everyone doing the work. UNM Office of Academic Affairs

What happens when elementary students step into a college classroom?
Students from the UNM Department of Spanish and Portuguese partnered with Coronado Dual Language K–8 to bring bilingual learning to life-through storytelling, performance, and real interaction.

It’s more than a class. It’s a pathway forward for bilingual students.
The University of New Mexico Department of Spanish and Portuguese