About The University of New Mexico
Founded in 1889 as New Mexico’s flagship institution, The University of New Mexico now occupies nearly 800 acres near old Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque, a metropolitan area of more than 900,000 people. From the magnificent mesas to the west, past the banks of the historic Rio Grande to the Sandia Mountains to the east, Albuquerque is a blend of culture and cuisine, styles and stories, people, pursuits and panoramas.
Offering a distinctive campus environment with a Pueblo Revival architectural theme, the campus buildings echo nearby Pueblo Indian villages. The nationally recognized campus arboretum and the popular duck pond offer an outstanding botanical experience in the midst of one of New Mexico's great public open spaces.
The People
As a Minority Serving Institution, the University represents a cross-section of cultures and backgrounds. In Spring of 2023, more than 24,000 students attended the main, branch and HSC campuses and education centers.
UNM boasts an outstanding faculty that has included four National Academy of Sciences/Engineering Members, six National Academy of Inventors Fellows, 60+ Fulbright scholar program awardees, and several fellows of national and international associations and societies. Faculty publish in major refereed professional journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, American Historical Review, and Nature, and with top-tier academic presses such as University of Chicago Press and Cambridge University Press. As publicly oriented scholars, UNM professors share their expertise in local and national media outlets from The Albuquerque Journal to The New Yorker.
UNM is the largest academic employer in the state, including employees of University Hospitals. It has more than 200,000 alumni with Lobos in every state and more than 2,400 alumni outside the U.S.
UNM's libraries, museums, galleries and performance spaces are a rich cultural resource for the state. Home to the Lobos and contenders in the Mountain West Conference, UNM athletics draw fans from all over. The University Arena or “The Pit” is one of college basketball's most famous and recognizable buildings. In fact, The Pit was ranked 5th by the Travel Channel as one of the best college basketball venues.
The Places
The University has branch campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos and Valencia County, as well as the extension UNM Health Sciences Rio Rancho Campus. UNM offers bachelor and graduate degree completion programs throughout the state via Extended Learning and has education centers located at the four branch campus locations as well as in Santa Fe, Farmington, and at Kirtland Air Force Base. UNM's libraries, museums, galleries and performance spaces are a rich cultural resources for the state. Home to the Lobos and contenders in the Mountain West Conference, UNM athletics draw fans from all over. The University Arena or “The Pit” is one of college basketball's most famous and recognizable buildings. In fact, The Pit was ranked 5th by the Travel Channel as one of the best college basketball venues.
The Programs
UNM is a place where cutting-edge research and creative endeavors flourish. As a top tier research university, designated R1 by the Carnegie Foundation, UNM research injects millions of dollars into New Mexico’s economy, funds new advancements in health care, and augments teaching—giving students valuable hands-on training in state-of-the-art laboratories.
As an academic institution, UNM is ranked nationally as a “Top Public School”, “Best Global University”, and “Best National University.”
UNM Health Sciences Center is the state's largest integrated healthcare treatment, research and education organization. U.S. News and World Report ranked the UNM School of Medicine as Tier 1 nationally “2026 Best Medical Schools: Primary Care”, one of only 16 in the nation. UNM’s nursing-midwifery program ranks 7th nationally for “Best Midwifery Program” and UNM’s bachelor of science in nursing is also recognized as the best nursing program in New Mexico. UNM College of Pharmacy ranks 44th nationally for “Best Pharmacy Schools”.
UNM School of Law has been ranked 15th in "Best Clinical Training Law Programs", in the top 10% nationally for this recognition. The UNM School of Engineering has six top 100 national rankings for programs including Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering. At UNM College of Arts & Sciences11 programs rank in the top 100 in the nation—including Sociology, Biology, History and Earth Sciences.
Among the University's many outstanding research units are the Center for Advanced Research Computing, Comprehensive Cancer Center, COSMIAC, Center for High Technology Materials, Design Planning Assistance Center, Innovation Academy, Center for Quantum Information & Control, and the Mind Research Network—to name a few.