Presbyterian Española Hospital is excited to welcome Dr. Ruben Nuñez, a podiatrist who’s passionate about keeping people moving and helping them stay active. He was drawn to podiatry because it offers the best of both worlds—medicine and surgery. Some patients only need a quick fix, while others need long-term care, and he enjoys the variety that comes with both.

​Dr. Nuñez points out that podiatry is one of the oldest medical specialties, though it has changed a lot over the years. “Many people picture podiatrists just dealing with calluses or ingrown toenails,” he said. “But today, many of us are primarily surgical in our practice. What sets us apart is our foundation in biomechanics and understanding how whole-body conditions can show up in the feet and ankles.”

Dr. Nuñez attended medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia, completed his residency at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania, and pursued additional microsurgery training at Duke University. His experience includes wound care, trauma, reconstructive surgery and ankle replacements. He works with athletes at New Mexico Highlands University and is also passionate about limb salvage procedures.

For the past three years, Dr. Nuñez has lived and practiced in northern New Mexico, where he feels right at home. He was drawn to Presbyterian Española Hospital by the teamwork among providers and the pride the community takes in its hospital. His approach to care is patient centered.

“I believe that every person has a unique condition and will have a unique recovery. I take time to find the right treatment for the person and sometimes that doesn’t fit into the traditional algorithm. I enjoy taking time to listen to people and learning about the things that make them unique.”

Dr. Nuñez is accepting patients – call 505-367-0340 to make an appointment.

For Immediate Release
September 3, 2025

Press Contact: Amy Pena, Executive Office Director, [email protected] or 505-747-2140

Join Northern New Mexico College in Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Week

ESPAÑOLA, N.M. — Northern New Mexico College invites the community to a multi-day celebration of our Hispanic culture. Hispanic Heritage Week will run September 15 – 18, with events ranging from a salsa contest to a free movie screening.

“Our Hispanic community brings a rich cultural heritage, along with dreams and values that unite us as Americans,” said NNMC President Hector Balderas. “As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week at Northern New Mexico College, we take a moment to honor the strength of our communities and the vital contributions that enrich our shared journey.”

The highlight of Hispanic Heritage week will be a showing of “Singing Our Way to Freedom” followed by a Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show on Thursday, September 18.

“Singing Our Way to Freedom” chronicles the power of music in creating a new identity among young Chicana and Chicano students during the Civil Rights movement. As a young man in the 1970s, Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez joined the picket lines in California and became Cesar Chavez's favorite musician. His journey is a remarkable lens on a time when young Mexican Americans became Chicanos. Chunky employed humor and honesty, inspiring folks to stand up and speak truth to power.

The Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show will include local vendors, music by DJ Dave and a Hispanic Heritage Car Show. NNMC President Hector Balderas, JD, CFE and Senator Leo Jaramillo will be guest speakers for the event. Food Trucks on site will include Lazy Buffalo, LowCo Dawgs, Clarinda Sunshine Sups and Joyful Sweets.

The week of celebrations will include a Salsa Showdown and Salsa dance lesson on Monday, Sept. 15. On Tuesday, Sep. 16, festivities include Latin music karaoke, Loteria, piñatas, and prizes. Wednesday, Sept. 17, is focused on Constitution Day, with activities such as voter registration and a Kahoot trivia game on immigration rights. Various Student Life teams will provide music, food and prizes across these events. The community is welcome to join us for any of these activities.

These events are cosponsored by Northern New Mexico College and the Española Chamber of Commerce.

Hispanic Heritage Week Schedule
Where: Northern New Mexico College
921 N. Paseo de Oñate, Española, NM

September 15
Salsa Making Contest and Salsa Lessons
Where: Rotunda
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Let the best homemade salsa win.  Judging will be by Mike Dominguez, Head Coach, Men's Basketball, Mandy Montoya, Head Coach, Women's Basketball, Tilly Nichols, Española Chamber of Commerce.  The winner receives an NNMC SWAG Bag

September 16
Games: Loteria, Pinatas, Latin Music Karaoke Contest
When: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Rotunda

September 17
Constitution Day/Voter Registration
When: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Rotunda

September 18
Singing Our Way to Freedom
Free Screening and Q&A
When: 10 – 11:30 a.m.
Where: Nick Salazar Center for the Arts

Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show
When: 12 – 3 p.m.
Where: Joseph Montoya Administration Building Parking Lot
Guest Speakers:
12 p.m. – President Hector Balderas, JD, CFE
12:15 p.m. – Senator Leo Jaramillo
Music by DJ Dave
Local Vendors – Front Patio
Food Trucks: Including Lazy Buffalo, LowCo Dawgs, Clarinda Sunshine Sups, and Joyful Sweets

###

About Northern:

Northern New Mexico College has served the rural communities of Northern New Mexico for over a century. Since opening in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito, NM, the College has provided affordable access to quality academic programs that meet the changing educational, economic and cultural needs of the region.

Northern is an open-admissions institution offering the most affordable bachelor’s programs in the Southwest. Now one of the state’s four regional comprehensive institutions, with its main campus in Española, Northern offers more than 50 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs in arts & human sciences, film & digital media, STEM programs, business, education, liberal arts, and nursing. The College has reintroduced technical trades in partnership with two local unions and five public school districts through its new co-located Branch Community College, the first of its kind in the state’s history.  Northern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and has earned prestigious program specific accreditations for its engineering, nursing, education, and business programs. Learn more at https://nnmc.edu/.

By Karima Alavi
​
​1994: First Step in a 29-year Tradition:
 
From 1994-2023 a series of 34 professional development programs for educators took place at Dar al Islam in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Attendees of the free program included primary-level teachers to university professors, librarians, and state Social Studies Coordinators. The goal of this program was to enable educators to teach about Islam with confidence. The Dar al Islam Teachers’ Institute is the only summer teachers’ institute on Islam presented by Muslim faculty, while housing participants in a Mosque/Madrassa complex where teachers are surrounded by Muslims participating in their daily faith practice. The program was unique in the nation, possibly even in the world. 

Through lectures, free time spent on campus with faculty, and through dinner discussions, participants gained a deeper understanding of the basic tenets of Islam.

Questions addressed during the two-week residential Institute included:

• How did Islam become the second largest world faith?
• What should we know about Islam and Muslims in America today?
• What are the common links between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
• How does Islam view reform, diversity, and change?
• How can one most effectively teach about Islam in the classroom?
  
  

Using primary texts and classical interpretations, Islamic scholars covered subjects such as:

• Islamic faith & practice
• History
• Culture and civilization, including Islamic art—with teachers participating in art workshops
• Contemporary issues and world-view of Islam
• Existing resources & curriculum for social studies, religion or world history classes

​The first institute was initiated and directed in 1994 by Audrey Shabbas, Founder of AWAIR (Arab World and Islamic Resources). She was an early trailblazer in the field of publishing teaching resources for use by educators covering subjects such as Islamic history, art, and Arab culture in the classroom. The 1994 institute was funded by a one-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. After the first year, it was Dar al Islam funding that enabled the program to continue. Subsequent directors of the program were me, Rehana Shafi, and Susan Douglass who is considered by many to be the country’s most prolific developer of pre-college curriculum in the field of Islamic studies.
 
Institute Faculty and lecturers have come from across the U.S. and from abroad. One of the original professors was the British scholar, Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad who founded Cambridge University’s Muslim College. Known for his brilliant lectures, he also has a reputation for having a serious, no-nonsense demeaner which is precisely why he was used, with much humor, in one of the many remakes of Pharrell Williams’ video “I’m Happy.” Looking for something to cheer you up? Check out this video, “Happy British Muslims” on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVDIXqILqSM

​Other faculty have come from a variety of universities across the United States, including Georgetown, University of Virginia, Temple, Emory, UC Berkeley and many others. One of the earliest faculty members was Hamza Yusuf, an American Muslim who founded California’s Zaytuna College, a private liberal arts school that became the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in the United States.
 
Professor Sulayman Nyang, originally from Gambia, developed the African Voices display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and served on the board of America’s Islamic Heritage Museum that preserves and archives the history of American Muslims since the inception of the republic.

​Dar al Islam’s Outreach Beyond Abiquiu:
 
With the support of Dr. Mohammad Shafi, former chair of the Dar al Islam board, the Teachers’ Institute became known among American educators, school boards, and state Social Studies Coordinators. Soon Dar al Islam’s commitment to teachers led to outreach that went far beyond Abiquiu. Between myself and Susan Douglass, fellow institute faculty and director, we offered over 100 workshops at organizations such as the National Council for the Social Studies, the World History Association, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and many others. We covered such subjects as Sacred Architecture, Islamic Spain as a Cultural Crossroad, Trade and Commerce Along the Silk Road, Teaching About Imperialism, and Jesus and Mary within an Islamic Paradigm.

​A nationally known curriculum developer, when Susan Douglass isn’t teaching at Dar al Islam, or working in educational outreach at Georgetown University, her work has led her to serve in the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Initiative, and as an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on Islamic Education, where she reviewed commercial textbooks while reporting on the development of state and national academic standards. She has contributed to teaching resources for the National Center for History in the Schools, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, and the online curriculum World History for Us All, as well as The Indian Ocean in World History website, and the NEH/ALA project Bridging Cultures Bookshelf/Muslim Journeys. 

​Other alumni have remained in touch through Facebook, sharing photos of their classrooms (that often reflect what they learned in Abiquiu), or simply expressing their love of teaching and enthusiasm for tackling big questions in their curriculum such as “Who was that Ibn Battuta guy, and why should we care?”
 
Finally, if you would like to watch a video on the Dar al Islam Teachers’ Institute, go to 

“What makes Dar al Islam unique as a place of learning is, first and foremost, how beautiful it is. The architecture is beautiful, the natural environment is beautiful. A lot of things we speak about in our lectures, participants actually see in the architecture, in the designs, in the patterns.” 2023 Faculty, Oludamini Ogunnaike

“It gives me some confidence to know that I’ve been taught by the finest academic scholars in our country.” 2023 Teacher-participant, Luz Antonio