Students will soon attend NMSU’s Extension 101 class and participate in internships

 

POSTED ON Dec 27, 2018

 

Hugo Navarro Serrano earned his master’s degree in civil engineering at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in 1993. Now director of the Institute of Technical Education in Costa Rica, he is working with NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences to create opportunities for Extension education students.

Recently, faculty and staff from Costa Rica’s Institute of Technical Education visited New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ Agricultural Science Center in Los Lunas. (NMSU photo by Jane Moorman).

According to an NMSU statement, the two institutions of higher learning are collaborating in a graduate student dual enrollment program for master’s degrees in Extension education.

“We made an exploratory trip to a number of different universities,” said Jon Boren, assistant dean, and director of NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service.

“Our visit created a great opportunity for them to bring some of their professors and students in Extension programs to New Mexico to see how we develop, deliver and evaluate Extension programs,” Boren said.

During the first week of December, Serrano and a group of directors, faculty and students visited Las Cruces and traveled north along the Rio Grande corridor to learn about New Mexico’s Cooperative Extension Service.

The leadership teams for both colleges discussed a dual master’s degree program in Extension education.

“From this visit, we have signed an agreement that we are going to start with Extension 101 as the first official activity,” Serrano said.

“Our Cooperative Extension Service programs are well known in New Mexico and in other states in the country,” said Dean Rolando A. Flores. “This year we have made strides in sharing our successes with colleagues in Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and India. International collaboration is a two-way street, they learn and we learn too.”