DATE: March 25, 2024

TO: NMSU Community

FROM: Jay Gouge, Interim President

SUBJECT: Interim Provost Appointment

As you may have seen in his message to campus earlier this morning, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Alan Shoho announced his retirement from New Mexico State University. The role of provost is a demanding position and I want to thank Provost Shoho for his service to NMSU and his academic leadership during his time here. We wish him the very best in his retirement.

I’m pleased to announce that Lakshmi Reddi, dean of our College of Engineering, has agreed to serve as interim provost and chief academic officer, effective immediately. In this role, he will oversee our deans and academic operations until a new, permanent president is in place for the NMSU system. This will allow the new permanent president to make the decision on who will be our next permanent provost.

During his time at NMSU, Dr. Reddi has distinguished himself an effective leader in the College of Engineering and will bring his expertise and extensive knowledge of our university’s academic operations to this temporary role. We appreciate his willingness to guide our academic operations at this time. Over the next few weeks, he will also work with other leaders in the College of Engineering to ensure a smooth transition.

As always, we are grateful for our outstanding faculty and staff for the work they do in support of the student-centered academic mission of this university system.

Interim Provost Reddi can be reached at provost@nmsu.edu.