To ENMU students, faculty, and staff, and our neighbors across New Mexico and West Texas

During a difficult summer in the U.S. and around the world, I hope you, your family, and your friends are well and beginning to turn your attention to the coming academic year. We believe education is the key to achieving success, both as individuals and as a society – and we look forward to returning to that important mission.

I am pleased to announce Eastern New Mexico University will be open for the fall semester. Our faculty are actively planning to use a combination of in-person and online teaching and learning strategies that deliver, to the extent possible, the learning experiences students are used to at ENMU. Our residence halls and dining areas will be open, following social distancing regulations. Classes begin August 18.

In the next week on our website, we will be sharing our plans to safely re-open the ENMU campus. The plans outline a phased transition to an in-person fall semester, adjusting classroom learning, research activities, student-athlete practices, and all of our normal campus services and activities to follow appropriate public health protocols. We will update this website regularly as our planning evolves with additional input and data. Now is the time for our students, faculty and staff to shift from hopeful planning to purposeful preparation.

The incidents of COVID-19 in the Portales community and Roosevelt County have been minimal up to this point, yet there are still hot spots in other regions of the U.S. and around the world. It is fair to anticipate further outbreaks and resurgences of the disease over the coming months.

I ask all our campus visitors and those returning to our campus community after being away to take personal responsibility for the health and safety of those you know and those you have yet to meet. Wear your mask, follow social distancing, and take care to monitor your symptoms.

Life on campus and in town will be different. Following public health guidelines may be frustrating, cumbersome and exhausting at times, but these protocols will protect us, and our friends, families and community from this pandemic. If we do this right, we will be a stronger community while preserving the on-campus experience for which ENMU is known.

ENMU has been your educational and community partner for more than 85 years, and we aren’t going anywhere. Together, we can do this!

Looking forward,

Patrice Caldwell
President