Back in September of 1888, no one possibly could have known it, but the future of the Mexican food industry was cast when Fabian Garcia enrolled as one of the 64 students at the fledgling college that ultimately became NMSU.

Dr. Garcia was a member of New Mexico A&M's first graduating class and, after graduate school at Cornell, he became a College faculty member and then the long-time director of NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station. Along the way, he developed chile varieties suitable for farming, an achievement that opened the door for the Mexican food industry which today has taken the nation by storm. Remember that in 1990 chile-based salsa replaced catsup as the nation's number one condiment.

It's obvious that putting food on the table always has been part of NMSU's mission, and that mission took on new meaning in the university's centennial year of 1988. That's when we created the Hospitality and Tourism Services (HTS) program as part of the academic offerings at the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. Thus, in its first century of existence, NMSU completely established its key role in New Mexico's economy from the farm (or ranch) gate to the restaurant plate.

The success of our hotel and restaurant management program, as exhibited in the number of students and the accomplishments of the graduates, has become an inspiration of centennial proportions. Not only has the program opened doors of opportunity to students ready for a modern, fast-track career, it has introduced the College to some of New Mexico's outstanding business people, many of whom we mentioned in the pages of this issue of New Mexico Resources.

Our hotel and restaurant management program has an outstanding advisory board made up of individuals like master restauranteur Gordon Heiss, former New Mexico Department of Tourism Secretary Michael Cerletti, current Tourism Secretary John Garcia, New Mexico hospitality great Eddie Smithson, Eldorado Hotel general manager Randy Randall, and other prominent business people from New Mexico and elsewhere. All of these people and others have built an important bridge between NMSU's academic programs and the real-world needs of New Mexico and the hospitality and tourism industry.

These and others in New Mexico's hospitality industry have taught me some new tricks about adding value that translates into serious economic impact for our state. They have helped me focus on the value of a tremendous number of intangibles. A smile from a restaurant employee or a greeting from the hotel manager is a value that most of us never factor into an economic analysis, but it's value that professionals know creates wealth in their businesses across New Mexico. After spending time with the successful individuals who make up our HTS advisory board, I always come away with a renewed appreciation of the practical importance of the intangibles. They've shown me the importance of looking beyond the bottom line and how that makes the bottom line ever better.

In fact, Extension's Rural Economic Development Through Tourism program now teaches those same principles to business employees in our state's southern counties. It's been such a successful program that Janet Green, our former director, left the College to become deputy secretary of tourism for New Mexico. It's clear that understanding how to add value through intangibles is critically important to New Mexico's restaurant, hotel, and tourism industries.

These same principles are included in the curriculum of the people-oriented students studying in our HTS program. You can rest assured that at NMSU, we'll continue to teach the bottom-line, dollars-and-cents skills necessary to prosper in these industries. We'll also look beyond the bottom line. We won't forget the contributions of Dr. Fabian Garcia, nor will we forget our College's role in taking New Mexico agricultural products from the gate to the plate.