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New ENMU professors incoming

PNT staff writer

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Every semester, Eastern New Mexico University adds new professors and instructors to their faculty. Many are students themselves, and teach while attaining a higher degree. Others may have worked in the field they teach, and come back to be instructors.

Classes start today.link New Professors

Here are five with talk with:

Jean-Marc Gandonou, assistant professor of economics

link Eric Norwood Jr.: Portales News-Tribune

Laura Dawson unpacks her office at Eastern New Mexico University. Dawson is a new assistant professor of counseling at Eastern New Mexico University this semester. Her first class will be Wednesday evening.

He begins his first semester in Portales after teaching for five years at Texas State University. Gandonou is a native of Benin, in West Africa, and was raised in France. Gandonou says he decided to come to Portales for a new opportunity.

“I taught agri(cultural) business at Texas State but I wanted to make the switch to economics,” said Gandonou, who holds a Ph.D. in economics.

“I expect my students to come to class everyday, come prepared by reading their material, and I expect them to study. All three are critical components of success,” said Gandonou.

Vivian Coates, instructor of nursing

Coates has been an adjunct instructor for Eastern since 2004, while also teaching at Clovis Community College since 2008. This will be her first full-time semester at Eastern. Coates is an instructor of nursing now, but she has already put in her work as a nurse, 40 years to be exact.

“I want to give back to nursing because nursing has been good to me,” said Coates.

Coates is originally from Tucumcari, and has been in the Clovis/Portales area since 1998. The courses she will be teaching this semester include nursing theory, pain Management, and global health.

Valerie Kyle, instructor of nursing

This is her second semester at ENMU, after starting in the spring. Kyle comes to Eastern from CCC, where she was an instructor of nursing for the past eight years. She is a native of France, but has been in the states for 20 years.

“All of my students are already registered nurses,” said Kyle. “I want my students to apply the new knowledge to their practice.”

Kyle is pursuing her Ph.D., and is working on her dissertation.

Laura Dawson, assistant professor of counseling.

Dawson is a former Portales High and ENMU student returning to the Portales area.

“I went to school in Portales until junior high, and I started college here at Eastern from 2000-2002,” said Dawson.

After getting bachelor and master’s degrees from Oklahoma State and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor respectively, she is pursuing a Ph.D. from Texas Tech. Dawson comes from a family of educators, as she will be the fourth teacher in her family.

“My mom teaches at Roswell High School,” said Dawson, who has no prior teaching experience besides her student teaching.

Magnolia Jurado, instructor of Spanish

She is originally from Acapulco, Mexico.

“When I moved here, I didn’t know English,” said Jurado., who moved to U.S. in 1994, settling in Clovis. After getting her GED and associate’s degree from CCC, Jurado enrolled at ENMU where she double majored and graduated in 2001.

After working for seven years as a federal probation officer, Jurado decided to take up teaching in the fall 2009 at New Mexico State.

Jurado says she is happy to come back to Portales.

“I still have friends here and I like small towns,” said Jurado.