Former names
|
Las Cruces College, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts |
---|---|
Type |
Public Land-grant Space-grant |
Established | 1888 |
Endowment | $214.8 million (2016) |
President | Garrey Carruthers |
Academic staff
|
1,219 |
Students | 18,497 |
Undergraduates | 14,698 |
Postgraduates | 3,799 |
Location | Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. |
Campus | Urban, 6,000 acres (24 km2) |
Colors | Crimson and White |
Athletics | NCAA Division I – WAC, Sun Belt (football) |
Nickname | Aggies |
Mascot | Pistol Pete |
Website | www |
University rankings | |
---|---|
National | |
Forbes | 419 |
U.S. News & World Report | 220 |
Washington Monthly | 254 |
Global | |
Times | 501-600 |
U.S. News & World Report | 652 |
New Mexico State University (commonly referred to as NMSU-Las Cruces, NMSU, New Mexico State, or NM State), is a major public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in the state of New Mexico. NMSU is the second largest four-year university in the state, in terms of total enrollment across all campuses as of 2011, with campuses in Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Doña Ana County, and Grants, with extension and research centers across New Mexico.
It was founded to teach agriculture in 1888 as the Las Cruces College, and the following year became New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. It received its present name in 1960. NMSU has 18,497 students enrolled as of Fall 2009, and has a faculty-to-student ratio of about 1 to 19. NMSU offers a wide range of programs and awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through its main campus and four community colleges. NMSU is the only research-extensive, land-grant, U.S.-Mexico border institution classified by the federal government as serving Hispanics.
In 1888 Hiram Hadley, an Earlham College-educated teacher from Indiana, started Las Cruces College. One decade later, the Territorial Assembly of New Mexico provided for the establishment of an agricultural college and agricultural experiment station with Bill No. 28, the Rodey Act of 1889. It stated: " Said institution is hereby located at or near the town of Las Cruces in the County of Doña Ana,upon a tract of land of not less than one hundred (100) acres, This land could be contiguous to the main Las Cruces irrigating ditch, south of said town." Designated as the land-grant college for New Mexico under the Morrill Act, it was named the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.