UNM breaks ground on new Humanities & Social Sciences building

University and state leaders came together on Thursday, Oct. 22, to break ground on the new Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) building.

The $130.5 million building is going up on the site of the original Humanities building, which opened in 1974 and was demolished in 2025 after a facility assessment determined that the building had come to the end of its usable life due to ongoing structural and flooding challenges.

The new HSS facility will house eight academic departments, four interdisciplinary institutes, and the Language Learning Center alongside modern and accessible classrooms. Nearly every UNM first-year student who starts on Main Campus will take a class in the new building while completing the humanities requirements for their degree.

UNM President Steve Goldstein called the groundbreaking "a statement about what we value and how we envision the future." "The buildings we raise tell our students, our neighbors, and the world who we are and what we hold dear," he said, describing the HSS building as a home to match the ambitions of the faculty it will house.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who leaves office at the end of the year, congratulated the university and called for continued state investment in UNM students and faculty. She closed with a call to action: "Let's keep building, shall we?"

For Provost Barbara Rodriguez, a UNM alumna, the old Humanities building was part of the daily rhythm of campus life. She said the new HSS building will give students from future healthcare workers to those in emerging fields like quantum science with "opportunities to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems," Rodriguez said.

Jennifer Malat, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said the goal was always bigger than new square footage. "These disciplines are not a luxury," she said. "They are how a society remembers, questions and imagines."

For many UNM students, Malat added, the subjects taught in the building are deeply personal. "The languages, cultures and histories they study are not abstract subjects. They are living traditions. Students here will learn languages spoken by their families and neighbors."

Faculty, staff and students helped shape the design by asking for spaces that would welcome the community to campus. The new HSS building will include an events space and a community kitchen where faculty, students, families and community members can prepare food and celebrate cultures.

Designed by Studio Tsien in partnership with Albuquerque's SMPC Architects, the building draws inspiration from New Mexican sites like Acoma Pueblo and Bandelier National Monument. Plans include a Digital Humanities lab, a recording studio and campus living room.

The building is expected to open in Spring 2029. For more information on the Humanities & Social Sciences building, visit artsci.unm.edu/hss.