On April 24, the university welcomed him as its 32nd president. Valerio Ferme assumed his role as New Mexico State University’s president at the beginning of the 2025 spring semester but had yet to be inaugurated.
The morning began with the playing of the national anthem, followed by a blessing from New Mexico State Representative Martha Garcia in both Navajo and English, as is custom for NMSU. Members from different sectors of the university then took to the stage to say a few words, including the current president of the Associated Students of New Mexico State University, Ala Alhalholy.
“I want to say on behalf of the students and behalf of all Aggies here,” Alhalholy said. “As someone who came to NMSU when leadership was kind of in the air, it’s been really nice to have president Ferme come in and give us some structure and give us some hope for our university.”
She went on to discuss how Ferme had been an inspiration to students during the semester, and how she is excited to see where he takes the University.
The president of NMSU’s faculty senate, Vaal Tritania, expressed in his speech the value of shared governance, and how he saw it being carried throughout during the spring semester. He said every week the president would meet with the faculty to make sure they had a voice in the university’s discussions.
Tritania discussed the importance of balance and harmony amongst the different bodies of the school. He referred to the governing bodies of the school as a tripod, each having the responsibility of uplifting the students. Without equal balance, the tripod would not be able to fulfill its duty.
“Especially when external winders are trying to destabilize the tripod, we can stand firm,” Tritania said. “[The] greater the stability, [the] better the education we can provide, and [the] better we can contribute to the character building and career building of the graduates.”
Before Ferme was brought on stage, Elizabeth Finn, a long-time friend of Ferme, introduced him. She began by reciting a list of Ferme’s credentials, including his educational history, jobs, and personal accomplishments.
“Needless to say, the litany of paper credentials I just recited does not do justice to what lies in between,” Finn said. “Does not do justice to the intricacies. It does not do justice to the wisdom, learning, and commitments buried in that catalog of accomplishment. So let me dig a bit deeper.”
She brought attention to Ferme’s undergraduate degrees in biology and religious studies, two seemingly contradictory topics she stated. This point was used as a bridge to point out Ferme’s affinity for paradoxes.
“Dr. Ferme’s comfort in many worlds is one of the qualities that make him so brilliantly suited for leadership at NMSU, a university marked by excellence…” Finn said. “My point is Dr. Ferme is a polymed, he dismantles silos, he knows how closely entangled we are across all disciplines. This is true for our teaching, and research, and it’s true for our fates in higher education. The current environment is a good reminder of this.”
Finn ended her speech with two final points on why she believed Ferme is fit for the job of NMSU president.
“The first is his capacity for action and execution. Especially when it means better classroom experiences or partnerships that build new or unexpected alliances,” Finn said. “And the second is his advocacy. Dr. Ferme is an advocate for the people and institutions he loves. He and his husband, an award-winning teacher and scholar, Giorgio Cora, are raising four grandchildren. As that suggests, Professor Ferme is the fiercest of all advocates. He will fight for NMSU and everyone in NMSU…To serve students is to serve New Mexico, to serve students is to serve us all. You are in for a special experience.”
The conclusion of Finn’s speech marked the beginning of Ferme’s speech. He started off by thanking everyone in attendance, and recounted his original appreciation for the inauguration.
“You’re here in part because you too have been bitten by the desire to know,” Ferme said. “A desire that comes from within you or that was instilled in you by someone, a mentor, a family member, a teacher, a long time ago or even just a few days ago. The wanting to know what I will say, how I will lead and what direction I will take what I consider a very gritty land-grant institution. The oldest public university in the state, or as President Strokes said last night, the older sibling in this familiar relationship that is higher education in New Mexico.”
Ferme told of how he was drawn to the state of New Mexico and felt an initial connection to the state that kept him here. He discussed the importance of education, and how he believed in its ability to provide equity.
“Public education is a leveler of opportunity, that allows those who come to it with grit and determination to success and access vistas that might have been unimaginable at the beginning of [their] journey,” Ferme. “And I say that in a state with amazing, enchanting vistas, what an exciting transformation that can become.
He exemplified the importance of not only the acquisition of knowledge but challenging it to create a more well-rounded understanding of the world. Ferme said he believed this is essential for the university to serve the state, its citizens, and the individuals of the institution as a harbinger of knowledge.
Ferme stated he believes the university has done an adequate job of enriching the community but stressed the importance of doing more. It is essential to the university’s mission to take in those looking for guidance in their thirst for knowledge, he said.
“We must have courage in our convictions,” Ferme said. “The courage to respect and honor our mission as educators, to take in those who look at us for guidance in their thirst for knowledge. Especially the people of this state…We must have the humility to know we don’t know everything. And we cannot project the arrogance of knowledge that does not question itself and its premises, even as we reaffirm the prerogative to have freedom of inquiry and to be experts in our fields. Questioning our premises and the solidity of our knowledge is not an act of weakness, but of strength.”
Ferme went on to explain the mindset he wanted the university to go forward with.
“We must learn and relearn the pathway to empathy, meaning we must learn how to care for others in a way that takes us outside ourselves and places education with the cultures and context of those we encounter,” Ferme said. “As a university and as a university body, we need to recreate that bond.”
Ferme finished off by stating as humanity moves into a “techno age” it is important to understand the origins of true knowledge: grit and hard work. This knowledge will continue to be welcomed by the university he said and the people of it continue to grow and advance.
“As many have said today, we are NMSU, and we want you to be us,” Ferme said. “As I’ve said before, our acronym in Spanish is Nos Misesemos ser Unidos. Let’s find unity in our individual quests for knowledge, and let’s make this state a better state for us, for our families, and for the future of this state and country. Thank you and muchas gracias. Let’s go Aggies.”
