Alan's Monday Message for February 12th

This past Saturday was the Chinese lunar new year celebrating the year of the dragon. My week started with the usual executive and cabinet meetings. During the meetings, it was shared that there has been some angst expressed about the selection of Presidential finalists. As I shared with both groups, I trust the process and the people involved. I believe it is unfair to criticize without concrete facts or evidence. In addition, from my experience, there are always at least two or more sides to each story and unless you know all the sides of an issue, you should refrain from making uninformed speculations. As far as I know, the only people who know how many people applied for the job is the search committee and the search consultants (they are bound to confidentiality, because they had to sign a non-disclosure agreement). They are also the only ones who know how many women or underrepresented minorities applied and the quality of their qualifications as noted in the leadership profile. Let’s not cast aspersions on the process, because you don’t like the outcome. People at a university like NMSU need to be better than that and make evidence based judgments rather than spurious and frivolous speculations and accusations. The latter is a sign of a toxic organization and the former is a sign of an organization that acts with integrity and doesn’t jump to unfounded conclusions. As I have shared with some at NMSU, we must always strive to take the high road and assume best intentions.

Afterwards, I had another APR meeting with a direct report. After lunch, I had a 1:1 zoom meeting with Dean/Associate Provost Koodali followed by a Provost staff meeting. Following these meetings, I had a budget meeting with Kim Rumford, D’Anne Stuart, and Diana Molina-Barragan to determine potential sources for shoring up areas in academic affairs where lines were left unfunded. To end the day, I had another 1:1 meeting. I am exploring how we can re-start the data strategy committee under a co-leadership model. The data strategy committee is critical towards developing common data definitions and protocols for addressing data models.

On Tuesday, I had a number of 1:1 and small group meetings. Later in the day, I had more 1:1 meetings and I had a meeting to discuss general education courses. Being able to support our general education offerings through a stable funding and human resource model is important. While I could not commit any resources at this point, I shared with the group to contact me around mid-April to see where my budget stands. Following this, I worked on several APR senior management forms for my direct reports.

Wednesday morning started with several 1:1 meeting before I attended the operational learning meeting featuring Jon Boren and the Cooperative Extension Services in Gerald Thomas Auditorium. It was a very informative session. I want to thank Jon Boren for presenting the work of Cooperative Extension Services and responding to questions from the audience. After lunch, I had a budget meeting with the College of ACES and Dean Rolando Flores and his budget person, Tim Nesbitt. Following this meeting, I had a zoom meeting and in the evening, I attended the Deans monthly dinner at Paisano’s Café.

On Thursday morning, I had a 1:1 meeting prior to meeting with Chancellor Monica Torres and AGB search consultant for DACC regarding their national search for a new Vice President for Academic Affairs. After lunch, I attended another zoom meeting prior to driving to the Fulton Center to meet with Rick Chapa and his academic support staff. Rick gave me a tour of the academic support system for student athletes. I was impressed by the work of the athletic academic support staff and what they do. Following this, I attended Dr. Corey Ciocchetti’s talk entitled, “Be a Leader you will follow” in the Hardman Jacobs Learning Center Room 125. I shared with the audience why we are starting a process to improve our campus’s culture and climate. Dr. Ciocchetti shared some tangible thoughts on what each of us can do to create a better work and learning environment for all. What struck me the most was what Corey shared on the importance of character and how it impacts everything. In this day and age where character does not seem to matter and we are willing to excuse or gravitate to people who are self-centered and lack character, it was refreshing to hear this message and its importance to improving one’s environment. I want to thank everyone who attended in person and online. I appreciate your commitment to improving NMSU. This is what drives me to want to help make NMSU a better place for everyone to work and learn. We can do this. It won’t be easy or fast, however with persistence and a positive “can do” attitude, we can all make a difference at NMSU.

To end the week, I participated in a demographic cliff subgroup meeting to advance discussions on reducing out of state tuition to attract more out of state students. Later in the morning, James McAteer and I led a special meeting among department chairs, associate deans, deans, and other leaders to share our plans for advancing our HLC accreditation and assessment efforts. In the afternoon, I met with Kim Rumford and James McAteer to review NMSU summer distribution. I subsequently had a 1:1 teleconference before ending my work week. On Saturday, I attended my lst women’s basketball game. The Aggie women beat UTEP, 66-59. It brought back great memories of when I coached a high school girls basketball team forty years ago.

Two Articles of Interest

This past week I read an interesting article on the financial challenges of higher education. In the past, it was thought to be contained to small private and regional public institutions, but as this article points out, no institution is immune to the adverse effects and most institutions MUST change the way they do business, otherwise, face the consequences. It showed how stalwart flagships like Rutgers, Nebraska-Lincoln, Penn State, West Virginia, and the University of Minnesota are experiencing major structural deficits and looming budget cuts. This should be a shot across the bow for NMSU and it only reinforces the importance of the demographic cliff groupwork and academic program reviews.

The second article was one I saw posted by NMSU Foundation Kendall Sorenson-Clark. It is entitled, “Stop Complaining about your Colleagues behind their backs.” I believe it represents one of the challenges I have seen rampant at NMSU and the article points out why people should try to resolve their difference in person F2F and try to assume positive intentions among colleagues. I realize at times this may be difficult, but as I share with people I advise, you should always strive to take the high road.

Announcements

Dean of Libraries Kevin Comerford announced that Jess Zubia is joining the library faculty as the new Outreach and Ethnic Studies Librarian, starting on February 16th. Assistant Professor Zubia is a Las Cruces native, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from NMSU. She earned her Master of Library Science degree at the University of Arizona and served at the NMSU library as a visiting faculty member from 2021 to 2023. Please welcome Jess to NMSU!

February is Black History month and here is a link to the story and description of events.

Looking ahead to the horizon of 2030, three pivotal realities loom large over New Mexico State University: the burgeoning influence of artificial intelligence, the evolving landscape of equity, inclusion, and diversity in political spheres, and the impending demographic shift. Moreover, the aspiration to ascend to the status of a Carnegie R1 designated university adds another layer of complexity to our path forward. How we navigate and integrate these realities into our strategic roadmap will define the trajectory of NMSU for generations to come. We ask for your active engagement in these events:

• Workshop, Innovation Unleashed: MSIs at the Heart of Data Science Evolution, by Dr. Justin Ballenger, Deputy Director of the AUC Data Science Initiative, Tuesday, February 27, 9:00 to 10:30am at Corbett Center Senate Chambers, Room 302. For faculty, post-docs and senior graduate students. Click here to register.
• Critical Dialogue, HSIs and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Opportunities, Ideas moderated by Dr. Enrico Pontelli, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Tuesday, February 27, 12:00 to 1:30pm at the Fulton Center. Free Lunch. Click here to register. 
• Critical Dialogue, Creating a Robust and Intersectional EID FFramework to Strengthen STEAM Grant Proposals moderated by Dr. Teresa Maria "Linda" Scholz, Vice President of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, Thursday, February 29, 12:00 to 1:30pm at the Fulton Center. Free Lunch. Click here to register. 
• Keynote on Demographic Cliff, New Mexico's Demographic Outlook: Stagnant Growth and an Aging Population, by New Mexico State Demographer, Robert Rhatigan, and Senior Research Scientist, Jacqueline Miller, Thursday, February 29, 2:30 to 4:00 pm at Hardman Jacobs Learning Center, Room 125. Click here to register. 
• Critical Dialogue, What Kind of R1 does NMSU Want to Be? moderated by Dr. Alan Shoho, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Friday, March 1, 12:00 to 1:30pm at the Fulton Center. Free Lunch. Click here to register. 

Quote of the Week

"He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived." – Chinese proverb

Wave celebrating the beginning of the 50th season of women's softball. Wave also picked the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl!