The University of New Mexico has teamed up with La Montanita Co-op to offer a new $1,000 scholarship beginning this September for students minoring in Sustainability Studies in the Department of Biology.

This unique $1,000 scholarship, provided by La Montanita Co-op, New Mexico’s largest community-owned natural foods market, is available to a full or part-time student selected by the dean, chair or program director.

"We are honored to join in a new partnership with the Co-op that serves our students in the short term and ultimately builds our community long-term,” said Bruce Milne, director of UNM Sustainability Studies Program. “We've seen many of our award-winning students go on to become very active in the New Mexico food system. We are thrilled to match the Co-op's generosity immediately thanks to an existing endowment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation."

Recipients of this scholarship must meet the following requirements:

  • Have graduated from a New Mexico high school
  • Be a New Mexico resident
  • Have and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA
  • Be Pell Grant eligible
  • Declare Food Systems as their area of concentration for their minor in the Sustainability Studies program.

The UNM Sustainability Studies program offers an undergraduate minor degree to students in any department or college on campus through interdisciplinary, hands-on, community-engaged learning that informs students' academic work, future careers and personal lives.

A minor in Sustainability Studies requires the successful completion of 21 credit hours including 12 hours of required core courses and nine remaining hours taken from three groups of electives. In the capstone independent study project, students apply lessons from the sustainability minor in the context of the major discipline or other arena. Students are advised by a faculty mentor who oversees the project.

Awardees shall be selected in accordance with the normal procedures and criteria used to select any and all scholarship award winners. Students can receive the award multiple years providing they meet the award’s criteria.

La Montanita Co-op opened its first store in 1976 at the corner of Central and Girard in Albuquerque. Since then, six stores have opened in Albuquerque, Gallup and Santa Fe. La Montanita Co-op is a neighborhood store where customers purchase produce from local farmers, as well as other unique items.