New Mexico State's athletic teams, the Aggies, compete at the NCAA Division I level in Conference USA.

It stated: "Said institution is hereby located at or near the town of Las Cruces in the County of Doña Ana, upon a tract of land of not less than one hundred (100) acres."

To the east of Interstate 25, the campus facilities consist of the President's residence, NMSU Golf Course, the "A" Mountain west slope, and the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.

[21] The Las Cruces campus is home to a nesting population of Swainson's hawks, a raptor species currently protected by federal law.

Pedestrians are advised to be careful when walking on Stewart Street, as the birds can be aggressive during nesting season.

[25] The Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University (BCOM), a private medical school, is located on NMSU's main campus.

[29] Branson Hall Library was built in 1951 and houses texts and resources related to engineering, business, agriculture, science, special collections, maps, government publications, and archives.

The Zuhl Collection combines the functions of an art gallery and natural history museum and showcases thousands of specimens of petrified wood, fossils, and minerals.

[35] NMSU offers a wide variety of programs across multiple disciplines, including agriculture, education, engineering, and the sciences.

[37] In addition to the main campus in Las Cruces, NMSU has community colleges in Alamogordo, Doña Ana County, and Grants, through which it offers academic, vocational/technical, and continuing education programs.

[38] In accord with its land-grant mission, the university provides informal, off-campus educational programs through the Cooperative Extension Service.

[56] Forbes listed NMSU as one of "America's Top Colleges in 2021", based on indicators such as alumni salary, debt, return on investment, and graduation rate.

[60] In 2016, NMSU was among the top 10 universities in awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanics, including for communications technologies/technicians and support services (seventh); agriculture, agriculture operations and related sciences (eighth); hospitality administration/management (ninth); engineering technologies and engineering-related fields (tenth); and education (tenth).

[61] In 2024, New Mexico State University was ranked 16 in the nation by Washington Monthly for its excellence in supporting women in STEM fields, particularly in Chemical Engineering.

[63] In 2010, the NMSU Physical Sciences Laboratory secured a study contract with Reaction Engines Limited, a British aerospace company that is developing technology for an airbreathing single stage to orbit, precooled air turboramjet based spaceplane.

Anchoring the southern end of New Mexico's Rio Grande Research Corridor, NMSU is the only university to reach the platinum, or highest, level of service to NASA's Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program.

[78] News22 is a student-run television newscast that airs live on KRWG-TV three days per week during the nine-month academic year.

In 2011, News22 added Noticias22 en Español, a Spanish language broadcast that airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Las Cruces, Silver City and El Paso, Texas.

On game days, various school organizations took turns in toting the ringing bell around Las Cruces before kick-off.

[83] In 1920, students of then New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts scouted for an appropriate place to display their school letter.

On the following day, April 1, students trudged up the mountain side with their five-gallon cans of whitewash and splashed it on the stones, turning them into a gleaming white "A".

The seniors mixed lime and water at the foot of the mountain and the freshmen and sophomores toted the mixture up to the juniors who splashed it on the "A."

The first "Wonder Dog" was Smoki, a border collie-Australian shepherd mix born in Capitan, New Mexico, and trained by Joel Sims, an NMSU alumnus.

She also debuted in a Hollywood film which co-starred Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid, entitled "Wyatt Earp", as a town dog.

[87] Every Friday, some students, faculties, staff, and alumni of NMSU wear crimson colors to show support for the university and the school's sports programs.

The official Ring Ceremony is sponsored by the Alumni Association, which is held every spring and fall Semester at the Aggie Memorial Tower.

With more than 6,000 luminarias, it begins at the Educational Services Building, extends towards the International Mall and then encircles the Corbett Center Student Union.

New Mexico State spent the past eighteen seasons as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

[94] As a result of the investigation, the head coach Greg Heiar was fired [95] and students were found guilty of a Title VI violation by the university and were removed.

[101] Notable alumni include Kevin Johnson, president and CEO of Starbucks Corporation;[102] Paul Wilbur Klipsch, founder of Klipsch Audio Technologies;[103] Jerome Shaw, EVP/COO of Volt Information Sciences, Inc;[104] Christine Aguilera, president of SkyMall;[105] Jorge Gardea-Torresdey, nanoparticle researcher and professor at the University of Texas at El Paso;[106] Alvy Ray Smith, co-founder of Pixar;[107] and Kathy Lueders, the first woman to head NASA's human spaceflight program as the Associate Administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate.