National Group Picks UTEP Director as its New Leader

Last Updated on January 11, 2018 at 12:00 AM

Originally published February 16, 2018

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

The members of the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) recently announced that Denise Lujan, UTEP’s director of developmental math, would be its president-elect.

She will be installed during the group’s annual conference Feb. 21-24, 2018, in Washington, D.C. She will serve a two-year term, which will be followed immediately by another two-year term as president.

Lujan, who has worked in the Developmental Math section for 15 years and has been in charge since 2007, said her initial reaction to the vote was surprise.

“I don’t think I really was expecting (to win),” she said.

Lujan said she has three main goals for NADE, which was founded in 1977. It has approximately 5,000 members among its 27 U.S. chapters.

She wants to increase membership, keep the organization operationally sound, and enhance promotion of developmental education and the implementation of the processes, programs and instruction models that increase success of developmental students with state governing bodies and state/national organizations.

Lujan said her new role will benefit UTEP in two ways. It will shine a national spotlight on UTEP’s unique and successful developmental programs to help first-time college students. It also will showcase the University’s efforts to make them accessible, and will allow her to be a conduit to UTEP for the most innovative developmental programs being offered at other institutions. 

The incoming president-elect is a native of Memphis, Texas, about 80 miles southeast of Amarillo. Her mother worked in the title business while her father was a farmer. The first-generation college student earned her Master of Education degree in education administration from UTEP in 2008. She is a member of the NADE Board Emeritus, and previously served as secretary of the group’s executive board.

This is the latest accolade for Lujan, who in 2016 was named the Texas College of Reading and Learning Association Developmental Educator of the Year, and was accepted into the Kellogg Institute for Adult and Developmental Educators and Learning Skills Specialists.