A blessing, a vision: UNM marks the ground for its new Humanities & Social Sciences building

Recently, leaders, faculty, staff, and students at The University of New Mexico gathered to bless the land where the future Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) building will be constructed and to share what they hope students will find there.

The ceremony opened with a song and prayer for the land and the people who will use the building over the coming century, offered by Warlance Chee (Diné), a UNM American Studies alumnus and director of Saad K'idilyé, a Diné language learning nest.

President Garnett Stokes, who will end her eight-year term as UNM president this summer, said the HSS building "will invite creativity, innovation, and dialogue across disciplines that will extend beyond campus with public gathering spaces and a design that reflects the diverse cultural heritage of New Mexico."

Stokes described the future building as a "bold investment" in the values the humanities promote, specifically their ability to "help us understand our past, question our present, and imagine our future."

Interim Provost Barbara Rodriguez emphasized that "the future Humanities & Social Sciences building will stand at the heart of UNM campus as a visible and lasting expression of the essential role the humanities and social sciences play in [UNM's] mission and in the life of our state."

Members of the building's design team also attended the ceremony. Billie Tsien, principal architect whose New York firm Studio Tsien partnered with Albuquerque's SMPC Architects on the project, described the work as a responsibility and a privilege the design team takes seriously.

"As architects, we always deal with practical matters," she said. "But what is very clear here is that we're also thinking about matters that are much more spiritual." Tsien concluded her remarks with, "I think we will make a home that will be welcoming and hopefully that will make you feel proud."

The HSS building will house eight academic departments, four interdisciplinary institutes, and the Language Learning Center. First-floor classrooms will include dedicated spaces for American Sign Language and Navajo language instruction. A community kitchen, which faculty requested early in planning, will give faculty, students, and community members a place to prepare and share food. Additional spaces include a digital humanities lab, a podcasting studio, and a fourth-floor events and classroom space with views of the Sandias.

Closing the ceremony, Jennifer Malat, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, invited the audience to think back on their own first years in college: the readings and discussions that challenged them, the faculty and classmates they remember, and the parts of themselves they met for the very first time.

"How much of who you are now started back in those days?" she said. "The new Humanities & Social Sciences building is a space for that deep and life-changing transformation."

Malat described the building as a space for scholarship, discovery, and mentorship, with academic programs designed to prepare students for futures that have not yet been imagined. "We don't know what new professions or careers will exist in the next decades," she said, "but we do know that the ideas and the skills learned in this building, those will still be in demand."

Underground work on the site will begin in early summer, with construction starting in August. The HSS building is set to open in spring 2029.

"We are committed to opening doors that change lives," Malat said. "This is what the Humanities & Social Sciences building and this ground make possible."

**UNM is advancing a $10 million philanthropic effort to support the project and expand its impact. Community members interested in contributing can learn more here. Additional information is available at the official project page and through the College of Arts & Sciences website.