Have you ever wondered who is on the board of MPPP? You may have met some of our hard-working board members at various events or in a professional context. We recently welcomed three new members and expect to bring on another two by January 2016. Each month we’ll feature one of our board members here.
 

Steven Jenison, M.D., is MPPP’s President of the Board of Directors. He is a retired public health physician and active paramedic, currently serving as Rescue Chief of the Dixon Volunteer Fire Department. He has lived in New Mexico for 25 years, first serving on the Faculty of the Department of Medicine at the UNM Health Sciences Center, and then as Medical Director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau of the New Mexico Department of Health. While at UNM, he was co-inventor of a rapid diagnostic blood test for hantavirus infection during the 1993 Sin Nombre hantavirus outbreak in the Four Corners Region. He currently serves as Medical Community Representative on the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool Board, Chair of the Medical Advisory Board to the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program, Member of the Executive Steering Committee of the New Mexico HPV/Pap Test Registry, and Member of the Advisory Council of the New Mexico Community AIDS Partnership. As part of his MPPP volunteer service, Steve is also a Field Recorder and Tour Docent. Wearing his MPPP Board President hat, Steve sends us this end-of-year wrap-up:
 
"Through the generous support of donors and volunteers, the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project has met and exceeded our ambitious goals for the year. Not only has our number of staff increased, but also the astounding volume of raw data collected through years of work by our survey and recording teams is finally being entered into a database that will allow a much deeper level of appreciation of the archaeological treasures of the Mesa Prieta.
We have expanded our public outreach efforts through increasing the number of, and attendance at, our Pláticas lecture series, increasing our public and private tours, updating our website, creating a Facebook page and publishing a regular newsletter. Our award-winning Summer Youth Intern Program (SYIP) was again a resounding success, inspiring 15 local young people and including a leadership role for Connor White, an SYIP alumnus who is now a Gates Millennium Scholar and Anthropology Major at the University of Oklahoma.
We are developing more stable income through aggressively pursuing new funding opportunities through foundations, businesses and governmental entities. Importantly, we are contributing actively to the cultural resources of the area through producing and sponsoring major events like Homage to Chavela – Nacha Mendez plays the Chavela Vargas Songbook at the Scottish Rite Temple, the Ancient Roots of Sound concert at La Misíon y Convento in Española and the Halloween Tour of Los Luceros. These events not only generate income for the Project and increase our visibility, but also demonstrate our commitment to partnering with other organizations and individuals in promoting the cultural environment of the region.
The Board of Directors has expanded to full membership and includes people with a broad range of talents and perspectives. In the coming year, we will strive to build upon these accomplishments, expand our capacity to analyze our treasure-trove of data and share this resource with other archaeologists and historians and share information more effectively with the public.
I hope you will join us, as a volunteer or donor, on this exciting journey as we establish our organization as a significant player in the rich cultural and historical landscape of northern New Mexico."

It’s been an exciting few months for the artists at the EVFAC – visiting the petroglyphs and translating that experience to their fiber medium. Now the public can visit the first stop on the exhibition’s travelling circuit at the Misión y Convento Gallery in Española. The exhibit runs until January 3 in Espanola, before moving to Santa Fe. Please join us on Saturday, December 12 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm to celebrate both our partnership and the artists’ work!