New Mexico State University alumni

Kenneth Wayne Brewer (November 28, 1941 – March 15, 2006) was an American poet and longtime scholar who resided in Utah, where he served as Poet Laureate. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he attended Butler University and Western New Mexico University in the 1960s, then earned a master's degree in English literature from New Mexico State University, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Utah, where he worked with Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Taylor, in 1973. Since that time he taught a wide variety of courses at Utah State University, concentrating on mentoring creative writers at the graduate level, while publishing prolifically and speaking extensively. He died after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Sarah Elizabeth Stewart (August 16, 1905 – November 27, 1976) was a Mexican-American researcher who pioneered the field of viral oncology research, and the first to show that cancer-causing viruses can spread from animal to animal. She and Bernice Eddy co-discovered the first polyoma virus, and SE (Stewart-Eddy) polyoma virus is named after them.

Barbara Funkhouser (March 1, 1930 – August 15, 2014) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and writer. Funkhouser was the first woman to serve as editor of the El Paso Times, a position she held from 1980 until 1986.

Blanca Margarita Magrassi Scagno (November 29, 1923 – October 9, 2015) was a Mexican women's rights activist, civil and pro-democracy activist, politician and leading figure within the National Action Party (PAN). Magrassi Scagno, the wife and political partner of Luis H. Álvarez, the former President of the National Action Party, served as a member of PAN's national executive committee from 1988 to 1990. She was considered a moral authority within PAN and Mexican politics.