New Mexico State University, which began in 1888 as an agricultural college and preparatory school,  is well-respected among New Mexico colleges today. It is a research university and comprehensive institution dedicated to teaching, research, and service at the graduate and undergraduate level. It is the only land-grant institution that is also classified as Hispanic-serving by the federal government and ranked by the Carnegie Foundation in the top research category, Research-Extensive.

New Mexico State University is also home to the state's NASA Space Grant Program. With extension and research sites in every county, New Mexico State University is developing distance-education capabilities to extend its reach to all the citizens of the state. This research university is located in the southern New Mexico city of Las Cruces, which has a population of about 75,000. The region features desert mesas, the farmlands of the Rio Grande Valley, and the Organ Mountains, an extension of the Rocky Mountain chain.

New Mexico State University is the state's land-grant university, serving the educational needs of New Mexico's diverse population through comprehensive programs of education, research, extension education, and public service. In 1960, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts became New Mexico State University. Since that time, while sustaining excellence in those programs traditionally associated with land-grant institutions, New Mexico State University has become a comprehensive doctoral level university offering a wide variety of programs through the Graduate School and its colleges.