- Date Of Death: February 16, 2017
- State: New Mexico
Dan D. Chávez, age 83, UNM professor and administrator, died at home on Thursday, February 16, 2017. He was born on the family farm in Pajarito, Bernalillo County, NM to Nicodemus Chávez and Petrita Peña. He is preceded in death by his parents and brothers Manuel, Eloy, and Paul. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Adeline Sánchez Chávez; son Daniel and long-time friend Khara Hindi; daughter Jennifer von Klein and husband Max; brothers Nick, Ben, Frank, Richard, and Alex; and sister Avelina Battaglia.
After attending Pajarito Elementary School, Dan enrolled in and graduated from the Northern NM Normal School in El Rito in 1951 as salutatorian, after serving as class president and lettering in football, baseball, and boxing. After high school graduation, he enrolled at UNM, where he was active in the marching band, student government, and the Aquinas Newman Center. After graduating in 1955 with a B.S. in Science Education, he volunteered in the U.S. Navy, completed officer candidate school, and was commissioned a naval officer.
After serving in the military, he taught science in the Albuquerque Public Schools, and enrolled in the Master’s Program in Educational Administration at UNM. After receiving his M.S. in 1960, he was appointed principal of the Bernalillo Junior High School. Subsequently, he worked for the NM State Department of Education as director of the NM Small Schools Project, a program to improve instruction in the small rural schools of NM. Among the many achievements of this project, he and the principals and teachers developed a new educational position – namely, the educational assistant, which was officially established by the NM State Board of Education.
Later, Dan received a University of Michigan Mott doctoral fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Educational Administration. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1968, he was appointed the associate director of the Division of Continuing Education at UNM. In 1970, he became director of the UNM College Enrichment Program (CEP).
Saturday, March 4th, 2017, 10:00am, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
Mt.
