UNM-Los Alamos honors 70 graduates in community ceremony

Seventy UNM-Los Alamos graduates were recognized at Duane Smith Auditorium on Friday, May 15, in a ceremony that brought together fall 2025 and spring 2026 completers and turned a campus milestone into a countywide one. Families, faculty, staff and local leaders filled the auditorium for a celebration that linked degrees to the next step in work, training and transfer.

The speaker lineup underscored that connection. Dr. Rebecca Estrada, the higher education and workforce development specialist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and John A. Hill, the lab’s associate laboratory director for weapons engineering, joined student speaker Dominique Sandoval. Their presence tied the ceremony to the region’s biggest employer and to the broader question of how Los Alamos County grows its own talent.

That pipeline matters in a place where science, engineering and government jobs shape the local economy. LANL says it has eight formal partnerships with regional colleges and high schools for workforce development programs, and the lab says it supports learning from elementary school through higher education because a skilled workforce is essential to both the laboratory and the region. UNM-Los Alamos fits that model by giving students a nearby path to credentials, transfer options and continuing education.

UNM-LA says it offers certificate programs, associate degree programs, community education and customized training courses, small business development seminars through its Small Business Development Center, Adult Basic Education including HSE and ESL, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering program. The campus describes its mission as “Preparation for Transfer…Pathways for Careers…Passion for Lifelong Learning!” and says its classes and degrees are designed to transfer within the University of New Mexico and to other four-year programs.

Sandoval’s role gave that mission a local face. UNM-LA has featured her as a Los Alamos resident and Los Alamos High School alum pursuing a master’s in business administration, and she said she planned to use the degree to start her own business. Her path reflected one of the strongest arguments for a local branch campus: students can gain advanced credentials without having to leave Los Alamos County first.

The ceremony also reflected the campus’s long place in the community. UNM-LA traces its founding to 1980, when a local referendum and state and legislative approval created the Los Alamos Branch Campus. It began in the Little Valley School on Orange Street before moving to 4000 University Drive, and it marked its 45th anniversary in 2025. Four and a half decades later, the campus remains part of the county’s workforce pipeline, helping keep opportunity close to home.