Megan Kamerick

  Friday 9/21: This episode is all about the brain. Dr. Elaine Bearer is a neuropathologist at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Her work has includes studying biomarkers of trauma and abuse in children and whether the cause of Alzheimer's disease may come from infections. Dr. Bearer is also a composer and it was music that spurred her interest in studying the brain.

  Friday 8/17: Immigrant. Refugee. Asylum. These are words we’ve been hearing a lot this year. But what are the laws around refugees in the United States and internationally and is the U.S. following its legal obligations? On this episode of University Showcase, we talk with Professor Jennifer Moore. She's an expert on refugee law and teaches it at UNM.

Friday 7/20 8a: On University Showcase, the Diné Red Water Pond Road Community on the Navajo Nation has grappled for years with the contamination from tailings left from uranium mines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to relocate the community, but members do not want to leave their land and see a solution in moving to the top of a nearby mesa.

Sat. 06/30, 12p:  The United States is the only developed country in the world without some form of guaranteed paid family leave. This forces many Americans to choose between taking time off to care for a sick family member or continue to work in order to keep their job and health benefits.

June 16, 2018: New data shows suicide rate rising faster among women than men; Trailblazing basketball coach and player Anne Donovan dies; Tanzania removes tax from menstrual products; Haiti bans Oxfam for sexual misconduct; Domestic workers protest in Hong Kong; Federal officials deny they took breastfeeding infant away from woman at U.S. Mexico border; Gender wealth gap costs world $160 trillion; Lawsuit alleges lewd conduct by New Mexico State Police chief.

Friday 6/15 8a: The Prevention Research Center at the University of New Mexico does not show up in rural communities to proscribe solutions. Rather it works hand in hand with the people of those communities to create projects that address needs local needs and priorities. This often means adapting established reseaerch to the unique needs of rural New Mexico.

May 26, 2018: Women make history in primary races; Harvey Weinstein arrested; Morgan Freeman accused of sexual misconduct; Irish voters support repeal of restrictive abortion law; Women arrested in Saudi Arabia weeks before driving ban to be lifted; Brandi Chastain to get new plaque after first roundly criticized; USC president steps down amid scandal over school gynecologist; Former first lady of Mexico drops out of presidential race; Women in Muslim majority countries moving into STEM and entrepreneurship; CD1 race in New Mexico is close.

Veteran journalist Lydia Polgreen left the New York Times in late 2016 to become the editor-in-chief of HuffPost. Polgreen is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis and was in Santa Fe in May to give the commencement address at the school's campus there. She talks about growing up in Ghana and Kenya, her career at the Times, including her coverage in Africa and her vision for HuffPost as a place for stories of people who feel left out of power.  

  Friday 5/18 8a: During the spring semester, professors with the School of Architecture taught two classes where students did projects around Albuquerque, and in collaboration with community members.

  The story of the Rosenbergs still stirs controversy, nearly 70 years after they were put to death for conspiracy to commit espionage. The couple was charged with conspiring to provide technical information about building an atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, worked on the Manhattan Project in New Mexico and when he was arrested told officials Ethel’s husband, Julius, had recruited him to steal classified information.

  Friday 4/20 8a: The demand for people with project management skills -- which is basically the discipline of managing a specific project from beginning to end -- has grown around New Mexico and the country. One study found that in the next decade employers will need more than 80 million people working in project management-oriented roles.

Immigration and border security have dominated the headlines this week in New Mexico and across the nation. Latino USA’s Maria Hinojosa has been covering these issues for many years and she says this is one of the most horrible, beautiful times to be a journalist. The founder of The Futuro Media Group spoke with KUNM's Megan Kamerick. 

March 31, 2018: Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai makes emotional return to Pakistan five years after Taliban tried to kill her; Trump Administration reverses policies preventing immigration detention of pregnant women; UN holds Commission on Status of Women meeting; Judge rules massive suit against Goldman Sachs can proceed; Google loses argument on pay for women engineers; Uber settles discrimination claims; More states move to eliminate taxes on menstrual products; Boko Haram releases girls; High grades could hurt female college grads on job market; Putin's spokesman equates Weinstein accu

March 17, 2018: Longtime lawmaker Rep.

  3/16 Over the last year numerous protests have erupted around Confederate memorials throughout the South. Here in New Mexico we have also grappled with a history of colonialism and racism. That has played out at the annual Entrada during Santa Fe’s Fiestas, and at the University of New Mexico, where there have also been protests and calls for change around the university’s official seal and murals created in 1939 in the Zimmerman Library. The Three Peoples murals have been criticized for decades for what people have called racist and inaccurate depictions.

02/16 Professor Heather Canavan had a practice of giving her students extra credit for using their knowledge to design products for real-world problems. She's also a breast cancer survivor and she used these experiences to launch Adaptive Biomedical Design with doctoral student Phong Nguyen in 2017.

The startup has brought together students and other potential inventors, including health care workers, to create inventions like a new way to prep for colonoscopies that incorporates boba tea.

February 10, 2018: Trump defends former aide accused of spousal abuse; Female candidates flock to midterm races; Sri Lanka requires 25 percent of candidates be women; British officials consider pardoning suffragettes; UN chief warns more women and girls will be subject to female genital mutilation with out accelerated action; Hashtag #MosqueMeTo draws attention to assault during Haj; Iranian protests target mandatory hijabs; Veteran producer connected to Weinstein scandals commits suicide; UN pushes for efforts to overcome biases against women and girls in STEM fields; Girl Scout sees big

Lara Dale was an actress in the 1980s when she got her first big break in a leading role. But that turned into a nightmare when she fled the set after gradually realizing she might be forced into an explicit sex scene. Dale, who now works as a Foley artist, is now a passionate advocate for protecting people on sets. She talks with Megan Kamerick about an initiative to promote sexual harassment training and a hotline through the Rape Crisis Center. 

January 20, 2018: Second year of Women's March takes place nationwide this weekend; Women, including Olympic gymnasts,  detail during sentencing how trainer's abuse impacted their lives; World Economic Forum in Davos will be chaired by women after years of criticism; Producers Guild of America releases anti-harassment guidelines; abortion supporters march in Poland; CVS bans digitally altered photos in beauty ads without notation; Sinn Fein led by woman for first time; first female bobsled team from Jamaica; McKinsey and Company find more diversity raises bottom line; new Albuquerque mayor

As women -- and men -- continue to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault by powerful men, there’s a related issue that hasn’t received as much attention: Bullying. The two often occur together. Workplace bullying is more common than many may realize.

December 30, 2017: Recy Taylor remembrance; poll finds most Americans think sexual harassment a serious problem, but breaks down on gender and political lines; those who spoke out on harassment in Hollywood named AP Entertainers of the Year; Middle Eastern countries move to liberalize laws regarding women; Israel detains 16-year-old Palestinian girl; Berlin plans safe zone for women during New Years celebrations; Indian artist collects clothing from women subjected to street harassment and assault; Tanzania dissolves premature marriages to underage girls; Denver opens co-working space gear

  New Mexico’s population growth has stagnated and much of our population outflow is made up of younger people seeking opportunities in places with better economies. A new symposium that takes place Dec.

Native Americans have long objected to their treatment by popular culture. They're often not represented at all, and when they are, they're cast as sidekicks or caricatures. So Native people are working to tell their own stories in films and comics.

Recently, many of these makers gathered for the second annual Indigenous Comic Con at Isleta Resort & Casino near Albuquerque.

  Meg Bashwiner is one of the creators of the podcast "Welcome To Night Vale." It's set in an odd fictional town that’s sort of an alternative public radio universe -  community updates feature local weather and news, but also announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers... and of course cultural events. It has grown to be one of the most popular podcasts in the world since its debut in 2012, with over 170 million downloads.  

It’s been quite the year for national politics and Lynn Sweet has had a ringside seat for all of it. Sweet is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times and has covered national politics since 1994. This is an excerpt of a speech she gave recently at Journalism & Women Symposium’s annual conference in Hot Springs Arkansas. Sweet talks about the challenges facing journalism right now and offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like covering the White House.

11/17 Professor Eliseo "Cheo" Torres, vice president of Student Affairs at the University of New Mexico, was inducted into the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Hall Of Champions. He has made Hispanic and first generation students a special focus during his 21 years at UNM.

Let's Talk New Mexico 11/16 8a: New Mexico is one of dozens of states and communities vying for Amazon’s second headquarters. Many places are promising hefty incentives to land the deal, just as we did unsuccessfully several years ago for a Tesla facility. Should New Mexico offer incentives to lure big companies that could jumpstart our economy? Email letstalk@kunm.org, use the hashtag #letstalkNM on Twitter or call in live during the show.

  New Mexico has a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas.  On this episode, we look at a program at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine that is working to address that by recruiting promising high school students who want to work in New Mexico to enter the Combined BA/MD Program. The students earn an undergraduate degree through the College of Arts and Sciences in a curriculum designed to prepare them for medical school.

Let’s Talk New Mexico 10/12 8a: This summer the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a long-awaited draft management plan for the Mexican gray wolf. It has come under intense criticism from many quarters.