Executive Board Members

Garland Bills

Garland Bills was delightfully employed at the University of New Mexico for 32 years, retiring from a joint appointment in the Departments of Linguistics and Spanish & Portuguese. Now living near Hillsboro, NM, he is devoted most productively to volunteer activities, primarily as a board member of the Hillsboro Historical Society, with principal responsibilities concerning the Black Range Museum in Hillsboro. His most recent publication is Sadie Orchard: Madam of New Mexico’s Black Range, published in 2019 by the HHS.

Cathy Faulkner, RN, MSN

After 43 years of fulltime nursing specializing in Pediatrics, she is now retired living just south of Hillsboro, NM. The last 20 years of her career were at the Center for Development and Disability, at the University of New Mexico, doing Case Management for Medically Fragile children. Current interests include hiking/walking, gardening, traveling and now awaiting deployment from the NM Medical Reserves to assist with the administration and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Ruben Leyva

Ruben Leyva, Gila Apache, is a M.B.A./Ph.D. Teaching Assistant in the Native American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico. Leyva’s research centers on his Apache roots, the rhetorics of Gila Apache identity, and storytelling. As Tribal Council Treasurer and a historian for the Chihene Nde Nation, he presented Beyond Recognition: Walking the OFA process as part of the Defining Wellbeing through the Story of Tribal Sovereignty at the 2024 American Indian Studies Association Conference at UNM. He desires to learn, educate, and develop the next generation of Indigenous leaders through mentorship. In 2024, he presented his Ancestral Gila Homelands Zoom lecture Apache Homelands and the Gila Wilderness. He presented at the 2024 Rhetoric Society of America Conference about the impacts of mining and Wilderness on Gila Apache communities. He also presented at other events in Grant and Catron Counties, where he educated community members on his family's history, including a 1626 encounter with a Spanish missionary who documented his people as Chi’laa (Chee-lah), pronounced Gila today. A few of Leyva’s ancestors existed on reservations after 1874. His family remained hidden in the borderland southwest and the Mogollon Uplands of Catron County. In 1888, Sonoran military officials attempted to broker a treaty with his family. Instead, his extended family took their chances, slowly adapting from a subsistence economy to a cash economy. In April of 2024, the petition Leyva co-authored for his tribe’s federal acknowledgment will be published online by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment. He is an author and a community member living in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Léa Briere

Léa is a graduate student at the University of New Mexico in the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies department. Originally from Rennes, France, Léa has always held a great interest in environmental and animal conservation. During her first master’s in Research in English in France, she worked on the impact of media on the public, such as the impact of Hollywood on the conservation of sharks. Now her research focuses on dystopian novels written by women and ecocriticism.  

 Léa is now the president of the Rhinocrashcon club at the University of New Mexico and is hoping to help create conversations around animal conservation at the University. During her different travels around the world, she fell in love with what Nature has to offer and hopes to do everything that she can to protect it. 

Jan Haley

Jan currently lives in Hillsboro, a small village in Southwest New Mexico, where she spends her time writing, pursuing art, hiking, and volunteering.

She has a Master of Education in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Public Administration. She taught psychology at Eastern New Mexico University for several years in the mid-seventies, and was the administrator of a program that recruited and supported the needs of older and minority women students. She worked as a teacher, counselor and administrator in Albuquerque Public Schools for 20 years, and later had a private practice focused on individual and family counseling. Her retirement has allowed her to devote time and energy to causes that she supports. She is on the Boards of Sierra County Animal Rescue, Sierra County Sun (an alternative, on-line news source) and has recently become a board member on SWEEC. Issues regarding education, environment, border policies and political activism, are her focus at this time.

Sean Williams

Sean Williams, PhD, is Professor of Technical Communication at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. His most recent projects investigate different ways that people understand their relationship to the environment—and water in particular--and the stories that they tell about those relationships. He calls this “environmental ethnography:” where he dives deeply into people’s lived experiences and how they communicate their values in the narratives they weave, the documents they write, the actions they take. Outside of his academic job, Sean is an avid backpacker, mountain biker, burgeoning high altitude mountaineer, and generally an off-trail explorer.

Eliseo “Cheo” Torres

Since he was a boy growing up on the border of Texas and Mexico, Eliseo Torres, known to everyone as “Cheo,” has been fascinated by the folk traditions and folkways of Mexico and of his Mexican American roots. Both of his parents were versed in aspects of herbal lore and healing, and as he matured he learned from them a love and respect for the history and folk knowledge of the ancient art of curanderismo, or Mexican folk healing.

Retired as an administrator at the University of New Mexico, he is now a faculty teaching Curanderismo traditional medicine courses year-round. Cheo regularly lectures and gives presentations on the history and lore of curanderismo to audiences ranging from scholars and students of Latin American culture to people hoping to become knowledgeable about alternative and traditional medicine, including lay people and medical professionals alike. He has published four books with the University of New Mexico Press and Kendall Hunt Publishing Company on his life and research on traditional medicine with emphasis on medicinal plants and rituals.

Maria Dillon

Maria Dillon was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of New Mexico. Maria retired from 3M in 2019 after a long career in Research and Development, Technical Marketing and Laboratory Management. She is an outdoors enthusiast who loves cycling, hiking, cross-country skiing and birdwatching. Maria is an avid gardener who has created beautiful gardens in the high desert, mountain west, gulf coast and middle west. Her gardens combine ornamentals, edibles and native plants that provide habitat and sustenance for birds, pollinators and humans.

Elenore Long

Elenore Long is specialist in the field of rhetoric and writing studies who examines and theorizes how displaced individuals engage with and respond to global, social, cultural and economic disruptions. With a focus on the rhetorical dimensions of public life, she builds local partnerships with people who are often cast to society’s margins and whose access to a polity cannot be assumed or taken for granted. Her critical, community-based, transdisciplinary research methodologies demonstrate what grassroots, use-inspired research and development look like in rhetoric and writing studies. This research is guided by questions such as, How do people call others to discover their interdependencies—the precise terms on which their own thriving is mixed up in the thriving of others, often across deep differences? Her most recent book is The Potentiality of Difference: Singular Rhythms of a Translational Humanities in Community Contexts, co-authored with Elizabeth Kimball and Jennifer Clifton and published by Intermezzo in 2021.

Janice Lucero

Janice Lucero, founder of Cotton Blossom Gardens and the Isleta Pueblo Voters Alliance advances her core values past, present, and future through her journey farming, community, and following one's heart.  In 2020, Janice, feeling burnt out from a 20-year IT career, inherited an acre of land from her grandparents. This marked a turning point, coinciding with the pandemic—a clear signal to return to the land.  Cotton Blossom Gardens, born from this transformative journey, has grown into a thriving farm, nourishing her family, community, and Janice herself. Beyond farming, Janice is committed to education, hosting youth tours and community events to highlight the vital connection between communities and the land.

Clay Meredith

Clay Meredith is the Species Survival Officer for Plants at the New Mexico BioPark Society. He focuses on conservation of rare plants in New Mexico and assessment of threats to medicinal plant species globally. He holds a master’s degree in Anthropology from Idaho State University and has a background in paleoecology and human impacts on Central American forest ecosystems in the early to middle Holocene. Clay is committed to engaging communities for plant conservation and building connections between conservation organizations and the broader public.

Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, Clay can be found most days digging new garden plots, scouring remote badlands for odd plants, or settling in with his partner Mary and their two exceptionally lazy dogs.

Jeffrey P. Shepherd, PhD

I was born in New York City but was raised in Florida and Nebraska, before I moved “out West” in 1995 to pursue a Master’s Degree at the University of Oregon.  After leaving Eugene, I went to Arizona State University, where I completed a dissertation and then a book on the Hualapai, with particular attention to their relationship with the Colorado River and Grand Canyon.  After starting at the University of Texas at El Paso, I received a contract from the NPS to write about the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Mountains.  That turned into a book focusing on the environmental history of the park and the Chihuahuan Desert.  I have received grants from the NPS to write about the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, and a grant from the NPS to conduct interviews with Native Peoples about cultural landscapes and identities along the Camino Real.  Among other projects, I am writing a biography of Wendell Chino, president of the Mescalero Apache; I am working with the Chihene Nde on their application for federal recognition, and I am on an advisory board reimagining the New Mexico Museum of History.  Since moving to Las Cruces, New Mexico, I have travelled across the state, visiting small towns, Native reservations, land grant communities, state and national parks, and myriad wonderful places such as the Gila Wilderness.  

Advisory Board Members

Diana DeBlanc

Diana DeBlanc is a born and bred New Mexican who received her DVM at Colorado State University in 1995. In 2001, she opened Performance Equine Veterinary Services while concurrently doing post-grad work in alternative therapies for animals. In 2017, she began following her true heart and became active in Rhino conservation and traveling to and from South Africa. When home, her grown daughter, 3 dogs and tortoise keep her sane.

Melissa Polaco

Melissa Polaco is a native of Chama Valley in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. She graduated from Highland University. Melissa is the district librarian/dual credit coordinator, and grant writer for the Dulce Independent Schools serving the Jicarilla Apache tribal community of Northern New Mexico. Her many grant supported projects include education initiatives in ecological citizenship, Native language recovery, and transcultural literacy. Melissa lives with her family in Tierra Amarilla on a heritage family land grant near the Brazos River. She is a passionate writer, a lifelong reader, an avid gardener, and active member of local community projects focused on restoring the traditional cultural values of her place and people. She has served as the librarian for the Chama Public Library, organizing and conducting summer reading and arts programs. Melissa enjoys yoga with her friends and neighbors in Chama and treasures the opportunity to travel whenever possible.

Jonathan Sisneros

Jonathan Sisneros is a Graduate Student in Rhetoric and Writing at the University of New Mexico. He studies composition, digital literacy, and environmental literacy. He also teaches Freshman Composition courses at the University of New Mexico. He currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in his free time loves spending time with his family, girlfriend, and their three Yorkies: Tucker, Misa, and Arya.

Athena Gordon

Athena Gordon is dedicated to being an ecological citizen in her work and her personal life. She teaches 7th grade English Language Arts Teacher at a small charter school in Albuquerque, NM. Athena enrolled in graduate courses in Rhetoric and Writing at the University of New Mexico in fall 2020, and she currently is the web manager of ECOLiteracy at UNM, a website devoted to highlighting ecoliteracy initiatives happening at UNM and in New Mexico. In her free time, Athena enjoys exploring the mountains and taking long hikes with her dog, Ella.

Krishna Patel

Krishna is a returning student, currently pursuing a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in English, preparing for the PhD/MD pathway. After working for many years in the film industry, he decided to continue his education to learn more about the human brain, or brains in general, because he believes that neural interfacing will bring about amazing changes in our lifetime. His goal is to apply his education in entrepreneurial and non-profit endeavors. Recently, he took Dr. Kells’ Scientific, Environmental, and Medical Writing course and it gave him the opportunity to collaborate with the class to develop a preliminary plan for Dr. Deblanc’s Rhino conservation initiative and set the foundation for participation in the wonderful work of SWEEC.

Isabel Strawn

Isabel is an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico and is scheduled to graduate with a B.S in Biochemistry with a math minor and B.A in English studies with a concentration in professional writing.

She was introduced to Environmental Rhetorical writing when she participated in Dr. Michelle Kells food and culture advanced expository writing course. As a result, she was able to complete a writing fellowship with the Black Range Environmental Writing group which inspired her to develop as a writer and environmental activist.

Isabel’s budding experience includes chartering an ASUNM club that focuses on biocentric fundamentals, designing a website for wildlife conservatorship and formatting a program that blends all academic backgrounds to agricultural derivatives. She looks forward to continuing this trajectory to help build a better tomorrow.

Abygail Gutierrez

Abygail Gutierrez is an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico. She is majoring in English, with a minor in Psychology, and will be graduating Fall 2021. She intends to pursue Rhetoric & Writing as her field of choice, with the hopes of becoming a professor. Her passion within rhetoric centers around immigrant identity and environmental justice, especially as it relates to climate refugees. She is currently a McNair scholar, working on research relating to immigrant identity formation surrounding Filipino-American leaders in the Labor Movement. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with her husband and two dogs. She is ecstatic to be participating in the necessary work that SWEEC will be performing.

Keith Sánchez 

Keith Sanchez is originally from Belen, New Mexico, but grew up throughout Latin America living in the many communities where his father’s work with the University of New Mexico’s LAPE (Latin American Programs in Education) brought their family.  Consequently, Keith spent the latter part of his youth amidst armed rebellion and civil war in El Salvador, Centro America.  Witnessing stark injustice, political violence, and unfathomable economic disparity, Keith was deeply impacted by inequitable social conditions and developed a deep sense of la solidaridad with Latin America’s freedom struggle.  He was propelled to pursue a life in education and the arts with a mission to, as Paulo Friere stated,  “teach students to think democratically and to continually question and make meaning from, and critically view, everything they learn.”  He is presently a Chicana/o Studies, English/Language Arts, Bilingual Ed. and Music Instructor at RFK Charter High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  His eighteen years of experience as an educator include working in the Albuquerque NM, Oakland and Long Beach CA, school systems in the arenas of Bilingual education, Special education, Music, and English Language Arts. Keith earned a BA in Secondary Education and endorsements in Bilingual Education, and Communicative Arts.  He is also presently the Founder, Director, and Chief Instructor of a non-profit community music program entitled the New Mexico Academy of Rock and Blues (NMARB).  As a grassroots arts program, NMARB focuses on providing scholarships for students with limited access to Arts Programs in the community due to socioeconomic factors.  Keith is also a career musician who has traveled the world as a performing artist. He was the lead singer, songwriter, lyricist and guitarist for underground political sensation Stoic Frame, garnering a #1 single on R&R’s national “rock en español” charts, with music featured on major network television such as MTV Latino, The Shield, Fuse Network and BET.  Through this unique lens of educational and applied community-based experiences, Keith has developed an Arts and Cultural Curriculum that forms the crux of his Chicana/o Studies Program in the heart of the historic South Valley Barrio in Albuquerque, Nuevo Mexico.  He is currently completing his MA in Chicana/Chicano Studies at the University of New Mexico.