Onward and Upward

Today marks the end of a significant chapter in my life. I’m retiring from New Mexico State University (effective July 1) after 23 years of dedicated service. I tallied 15 years on the staff side of the house working in the marketing and communications office, and spent the last eight years on the faculty side in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. I’m officially retiring at the rank of associate professor.

Here I am with a few of my students in the Kokopelli newsroom last month on my last official day in the classroom. (Photo by Hugo Perez)

It’s been a crazy, fun, rewarding and painful ride at times, but I’m a better person today because of it and will forever treasure my years at State. I will especially miss my students, who have both inspired and challenged me in the best ways possible. I hope I inspired and challenged a few of them, too!

So what’s next? My partner and I will relocate temporarily to the Bay Area, and then settle in Chicago early next year. In the meantime, I will continue working on two book projects and launch a new LLC. Stay tuned!

I’ve also accepted part-time contract work as a program coordinator and consultant for the New Mexico Local News Fellowship and Internship program at the University of New Mexico. I have served on the program’s fellowship selection committee the past three years and I’m excited to now be playing a more active role in preparing the state’s best and brightest for what I hope will be fruitful and rewarding careers as reporters, producers and storytellers.

Anyway, I’ll be updating existing socials and launching new ones, too, so be on the lookout for an invite or two. Thank you, too, for all the offline well-wishes. ☮︎

DP

PS: Here's a photo of my completely emptied-out office earlier this afternoon just before I turned out the lights and closed the door for good. I’m feeling a weird mix of excitement, joy, nostalgia and sadness. Onward and upward!