Creative, efficient transportation options for UNM students will be explored during the free Parent Connection Workshop Wednesday, July 1, from 6 to 7 p.m., at the main campus Student Services Building, rm. 260. 

Danielle Gilliam of UNM Transportation and Parking Services and Nick Manole of the City of Albuquerque Transit Department will share information about campus parking and alternative transportation options for students living on and off campus.

From renting zip cars to hopping on the state’s Railrunner, there are ways to get around the city and state on a student budget. Learn how students can buy a parking permit, bike to campus or take advantage of student bus passes and other public transportation.

Check‐in begins at 5:30 p.m. Parent Association members are on hand to visit with you about their campus experiences.

The series is sponsored by UNM’s Dean of Students’ Family Connection Program, Parent Relations Office, Parent Association and Extended University.

Workshops are taped and archived. For online viewing, visit unmlive.unm.edu or parent.unm.edu.

The workshops are held the first Wednesday of each month. From the Cornell Parking Structure (parking is $1.75 per hour), walk north on Cornell Mall. When you reach the north end of the Student Union Building go east to the Student Services Center, located behind Mesa Vista Hall. 

One of the goals of the new UNM Parent Association is to establish UNM Parent Clubs throughout New Mexico and across the country to allow parents to connect with other families of UNM students in their areas. 

Whether students attend the UNM main campus, a branch campus, or a bachelor and graduate education center around the state through the Distance Education programs, parents should know that their student has a great support network to help them succeed.

UNM Mom Marilee Petranovich, grants coordinator at UNM‐Gallup, is launching a Parent Club in the Gallup greater area. She is from Gallup but as the daughter of a Public Health Service dentist moved around the country during childhood.

“We lived everywhere from Baltimore, Maryland,to Mt. Edgecumbe, Alaska, and many places in between,” she shared.

Petranovich graduated from Gallup High School and then UNM main in 1984. She returned to Gallup when she and husband Steve, also a Gallup native, planned to marry. Steve, also a UNM graduate, is a private practice CPA.

“My husband and I like to joke that we ‘bleed Lobo red.’ Between both of us graduating from UNM, my work with UNM, Steve’s position on the Board of Directors for the UNM Foundation, as well as us having two happy UNM students, we have a very strong bond with this institution,” she shared. “We love to share this passion with other parents who already have students at the University, or who might be considering UNM as an option. Go Lobos!!”

The couple’s oldest son Sean graduated from UNM this year with dual degrees in economics and philosophy. He will continue on in the fall at the university pursuing master’s degrees in both fields. Daughter Kaitlin has completed freshman year as a member of the new combined BA/MD program. Youngest daughter Colleen will be a senior at Gallup High School in the fall. (more…)