As Northern New Mexico College looks forward to potentially achieving university status by 2015, it's also looking back this weekend with a birthday party commemorating 100 years.

Both the El Rito campus (founded in 1909) and the Española campus (started in the late 1970s) are offering an array of activities including lectures, campus tours, food, entertainment and the screening of a 30-minute film.

The events, free and open to the public, start at 1:30 p.m. today in El Rito with a welcome address by interim President David Trujillo and other dignitaries, and continues until dark with a Star Party at El Rito campus' observatory.

In Española, the opening ceremony starts at 11 a.m. Saturday morning at the Nick L. Salazar Center for the Arts, and activities continue into late afternoon with food booths, music events, an open house and an art show at various sites on the campus.

President Emeritus Sigfredo Maestas, who is close to completing a history of the college, will give a keynote address today in El Rito and present a seminar Saturday in Española.

"The heart and soul of Northern New Mexico is El Rito, and the heart and soul of El Rito is Northern New Mexico College," said Jake Arnold, a member of the Northern New Mexico College Centennial Celebration Planning Committee.

The college was founded in 1909 by Venceslao Jaramillo, a New Mexican politician, merchant and sheepman, as The Spanish American Normal School. Its initial goal was to teach Spanish speakers to become teachers.

"It was basically an attempt at bilingual education; they taught reading, writing, 'rithmetic," Arnold said. "When it became a community college it transitioned into vocational training."

Over time, the college has undergone name changes and expanded its curriculum to Española — a progressive move that nonetheless cut into the student population at the more isolated El Rito campus.

"That's a reality," said board president Mike Branch. "The El Rito college was built in rural New Mexico but as the needs of the Northern New Mexico community changed, there was more demand in Española for a lot of the community college programs. So it has blossomed there, with a result that the El Rito campus hasn't been as occupied as we want it to be. That doesn't mean that will continue — we intend to bring in new students and programs."

Trujillo said the school is considering a number of options for the El Rito branch, including developing a "green program" or turning it into a charter school for girls with a focus on math and science. That campus is still renowned for its Spanish Colonial Woodworking program, Branch said, and unlike the Española campus, it has dormitories.

Branch said this birthday party also is intended to spotlight the success the school has attained in recently receiving legislative approval to run a four-year program offering 11 baccalaureate degrees. He and Arnold both said the school hopes to offer graduate degrees in five or six years.

About 2,100 students are enrolled at the college, which is seeking a new president to begin serving in January.

Visit www.nnmc.edu/ for a full schedule of weekend events.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.