Gathered Aug. 24 in Colorado, from left, Butch Clark, III advisor Luke Danielson, Architect Cillian Barrett, NNMC President Hector Balderas, NNMC Major Gifts Officer Judith Pepper, NNMC Technical Trades Chair Joe Padilla and Butch Clark III. Courtesy/NNMC

NNMC News:

ESPAÑOLA — Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) President Hector Balderas, Technical Trades Chair Joe Padilla and Major Gifts Officer Judith Pepper recently visited Ralph (Butch) E. Clark, III, in Gunnison, Colo. During that visit, Clark agreed to support a new Carpentry Program in development with a $153,000 donation, which will fund a faculty position for the initial two years of the program.

Clark is a significant donor to the NNMC Technical Trades Department and workforce education for tradespeople. This contribution brings his total donations to $308,000. To honor Clark, Balderas offered to name the Technical Trades Program the “Ralph E. Clark, III Technical Trades Center for Excellence” and Clark accepted. A grand opening of the Center for Excellence is planned for summer, 2025.

During the visit, Balderas and the team met with Western Colorado University President Brad Baca and his team to discuss a collaborative Trades Boot Camp between the two colleges, to be held in Gunnison during spring 2025.

Clark has agreed to fund the boot camp, which Gunnison Architect Cillian Barrett will manage.

Objectives include:

• Reinforce students pursuing technical trades training and jobs;
• A fun skills-building experience with real-time construction and hands-on activities;
• Introduce our students to a new community in Gunnison and to Western Colorado University programs, students and campus student life; and
• Help students gain an appreciation of the importance of networking.

Northern’s new Carpentry Program is anticipated to launch in the Spring 2025 semester.

Strawbale house HFH house: From left, NNMC Technical Trades Chair Joe Padilla, Architect Cillian Barrett and NNMC President Hector Balderas in front of a straw bale house built by Barrett for Habitat for Humanity. This is the type of construction the pilot boot camp students will work on under the supervision of Barrett and NNMC faculty. Courtesy/NNMC

Habitat for Humanity Housing: Habitat for Humanity homes built by Cillian Barrett. This is the type of construction the pilot boot camp students will work on under the supervision of Barrett and NNMC faculty. Courtesy/NNMC

About NNMC:

Northern New Mexico College has served the rural communities of Northern New Mexico for over a century. Since opening in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito, NM, the College has provided affordable access to quality academic programs that meet the changing educational, economic and cultural needs of the region.

Northern is an open-admissions institution offering the most affordable bachelor’s programs in the Southwest. Now one of the state’s four regional comprehensive institutions, with its main campus in Española, Northern offers more than 50 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs in arts & human sciences, film & digital media, STEM programs, business, education, liberal arts, and nursing. The College has reintroduced technical trades in partnership with two local unions and five public school districts through its new co-located Branch Community College, the first of its kind in the state’s history.  Northern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and has earned prestigious program specific accreditations for its engineering, nursing, education, and business programs. Learn more at https://nnmc.edu/.