Good Morning.

I’d like to use this week’s message to discuss an article that appeared last week in The Albuquerque Journal about an employee’s allegations that cronyism was involved in decisions to hire, promote and compensate UNM administrative staff.

When we received the complaint, we quickly decided that a thorough review of the facts was called for, if only to ensure the integrity of the University’s employment systems and avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Normally, this review would have been conducted by Internal Audit or Human Resources, but because both of those offices were mentioned in the complaint, I asked our lead labor lawyer to conduct a top-to-bottom review of each of the 101 separate job decisions for 21 employees cited.  These job actions included individual hiring decisions, promotions, pay raises and so on.

Our review has confirmed the integrity of the Human Resources and personnel process.  Counsel could find no evidence of a pattern of policy violation, misconduct nor misappropriation of funds.  The Office of Equal Opportunity had approved each of the hiring or promotion decisions within its jurisdiction.  In fact, the most serious lapse our Counsel could confirm consisted of five instances where the lack of written documentation to support the respective job action warranted further attention – and even in those cases, the underlying action was found to be amply justified by the facts, even though paperwork was missing from the files.

With respect to the compensation and pay raises for the 21 employees cited, in those instances where comparable market data exists, the UNM employees are actually paid at or below the market rate.

The particular employees mentioned in this complaint represent some of our most dedicated and conscientious workers, and I want to say publicly that we are lucky to have them.  Like all 22,000 of our employees, they are an ethnically diverse group whose hiring, promotion and compensation reflects their individual commitment to the mission of this University.

Here at UNM, we have set some ambitious goals for ourselves – student success, academic excellence, improving graduation and retention rates and putting our financial house back in order.  To accomplish these objectives, we need to get the right people on board, compensate them accordingly – and hold them accountable for their success.

I believe we have assembled exactly the people we need at the helm if we are to transform this University into the top tier of American Universities, and I hope all of us can move forward to do so.

Our review did, however, uncover a need for certain remedial measures to correct misfiling of employment and compensation decisions, as well as an examination of the need for greater flexibility in the rules pertaining to the hiring of executive staff.  I have the utmost confidence in our Human Resources department, and I’ve asked the Vice President of Human Resources to impress upon the entire University community and all our Departments the obligation to comply with University rules and regulations pertaining to the justification for job actions of this type, not just to the letter but in the spirit as well.  While Departments must have latitude to build their own teams, we are a public University, owned by the taxpayers, and must all be vigilant that applicable laws, rules, regulations and policies are complied with.

On a personal note, with Independence Day upon us, I wish each and every one of you a Happy Fourth of July. Janet and I will be taking a few days off, and I hope all of you are able to spend some quality time with your own families and friends.  Travel safely!

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

Summer is just a couple of days old, and we’ve been flirting with temperatures near the century mark for several days.   So it’s a perfect time to renew our commitment to saving energy, both here on campus and at home, if we’re going to keep our utility bills from soaring also.

A team of “Energy Conservation Educators” has been working with UNM departments to implement a summer savings effort that will involve students, faculty and staff alike. Summer presents great opportunities for achieving significant savings, so we’ve asked the Energy Educators to leave no stone unturned.  They’re reducing operation of daily cooling systems, making sure vacancies at Residential Life are set for maximum energy savings, and doing everything they can to
squeeze every bit of energy waste out of the system.

You may notice some minor temperature changes in classrooms, offices and dorms, but it’s hoped nothing too unusual.  Our goal is to achieve our energy conservation goal without creating discomfort or compromising the learning environment.  In particular, great care is being taken to accommodate those whose buildings are served by older, less responsive heating and cooling systems.

It will take all of us working together.  Even things as small as remembering to turn off unused lights, computers and appliances can make a big difference, especially when thousands of us are all doing our part. As with our four-day-workweek option, we’re receiving a lot of support for these initiatives, in part because we’re setting the stage for a more sustainable future and largely because we’re conserving precious financial resources as well – and protecting the financial health of this University in the process.

We were all terribly saddened this past week to learn of the tragic death of one of our recent graduates, John Smeltzer, while traveling in Spain.  His death comes as a great shock to all who knew him as an extraordinary, involved student and an engaging young man. Our heartfelt condolences go to his mother, Mera Wolf, his family and his friends.  We understand many of you want to remember John. We’re told his family is still making arrangements for a memorial fund and will let everyone know when that is in place.

On a happier note, a pat on the back goes to our Lobo athletes who, with students from Highland High, are packing upwards of 1,000 backpacks with school supplies for APS elementary and mid school students.  They hope this partnership - the “Student to Student Backpacks for Student Success Program” - will become an annual event.  If you want to help, the 2008 APS School Supply Drive continues through July 25. School supplies can be dropped off at all metro-area Wal-Mart stores and at New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union locations.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

Staff Appreciation Week is in full swing, so if you’re a staff member who hasn’t had breakfast yet, you have until 9 a.m. this morning to get to the SUB, ballrooms B&C, for pancakes.  HR is sponsoring breakfast and UNM’s executive team is serving.  We’d love to see you there.  You can also take advantage of art shows, book fairs, concerts and ice cream socials this week, so get out of the office and enjoy.  Thanks to the Staff Council for hosting an enjoyable picnic at the zoo last Saturday night and for putting this whole week of activities together.  Here are the times and locations: http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/002955.html.

I’m hoping many of you will be able to take advantage of the chance to work a four-day compressed work week this summer.  It’s an experiment that can cut your gas consumption and commuting costs by 20%, give you more time with your families – and it’s hoped, improve your quality of life.  In any event, it’s a good way to give our treasured staff a greater measure of freedom and control over their lives.

Here’s a heads-up for many managers on campus:  The Internal Audit Department is developing a risk-based audit plan to address the largest elements of risk to the university.  They want managers in several specified areas to help develop this plan for the next fiscal year and beyond by providing insights on what you perceive to be the largest risks facing UNM.  So if you are among the managers who’ve received a risk assessment questionnaire from Internal Audit, please respond to it within the next two weeks and help our auditors develop next year’s audit plan.

I also have information about a great workshop for students.  The National Science Foundation has awarded UNM’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics a generous grant ($750,000 over three years) to give both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to immerse themselves in mathematics and get involved in mentored research projects.  The summer workshop begins right after the 4th of July.  To find out more, go to http://www.math.unm.edu/mctp/index.html.

The university is honored to host several interim committees of the New Mexico Legislature this month.  We held a reception for the Legislative Education Study
Committee a couple of weeks ago, and this week, UNM is hosting the meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee.  We welcome our legislators and thank all of them for their service to the state.

It’s warming up, so stay cool and have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

Summer school begins today, so things are hopping on campus once again.  Welcome to our students, to the faculty who will teach them and to the staff who hold our enterprise together.

And as we’re speaking of staff, the fifth annual Staff Appreciation Week kicks off this coming Saturday, June 14, with the Staff Picnic at the Rio Grande Zoo, starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are still available, but please purchase them as soon as you can at ticket offices at the Pit, UNM Bookstore, Basic Medical Sciences Building Cashiers office, and all branch campuses. The $5 price includes zoo entrance, food, music and a complimentary shuttle to the zoo leaving at 5:30 p.m. from UNM’s Q Lot, near the Children’s Campus. It’s going to be a grand evening.

A couple of weeks ago, I reported to UNM regents on our first year’s progress.  You can see the report on my webpage, http://www.unm.edu/president, under Current Items. I also want to share with you the rest of the list of first year accomplishments in which we can all take pride.

I’m proud of UNM’s expanded partnership with Central New Mexico Community College.  UNM and CNM will establish a statewide model for partnerships that provide a “gateway” for some and a seamless transition for all.  A focal point for the UNM/CNM partnership will be Rio Rancho, and thanks to the voters in that City of Vision, a successful gross receipts tax election has provided the foundation funds for the UNM campus in Rio Rancho.

I wanted to learn all that I could about New Mexico this year.  As part of my statewide outreach tour, I have visited a dozen New Mexico communities and three pueblos.  I’ve also toured each of our four branch campuses.

We have worked hard to make our internal systems more efficient and responsive.  The Banner implementation continued with the successful launch of the HR/Payroll and Budget modules.  UNM also implemented a behavior-based energy savings program that promises savings approaching tens of millions of dollars in the next 10 years.

We are working hard to ramp up our communication and marketing efforts. In that vein, a communications audit is in final review and we’ve successfully completed the first phase of our media training, including a leadership seminar focused on “Creating a Culture of Transparency at UNM.”

Finally, as an institution that values its students, UNM must also value the parents whose guidance is a resource for us all.  In recognition of the important role that they play, we have formed the UNM Parent Association.

In this first year, together we have laid the foundation to build a student-centered, vision-aligned, performance-driven culture, capable of achieving our highest aspirations for UNM.  Together we will continue to travel on an exciting, challenging journey.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.  It hardly seems possible, but by the time you read this, it will be one full year since I officially began this job.  It’s been a great ride so far, both challenging and wonderfully rewarding.  Although I had hoped to be able to further reflect on our progress together so far, as I did last week, it’s become apparent that there’s another issue that is foremost on many of your minds – the changes in university policies dealing with public records. One measure of your concern is that more than 300 people attended last week’s Board of Regents meeting to hear what I believe was a healthy debate on the issue.

We must always be mindful that UNM owes the public a duty of transparency.  Needless to say, we must also obey both the letter and the spirit of the law. For too long, UNM has lacked clear policies governing the disclosure of public records, and it is long overdue that we adopt clear, understandable and uniform rules so we can meet our obligations of openness on the one hand, while protecting the rights of our employees on the other – particularly in this era of identity theft and frequent harassment of individuals and their families.

Although we’ll never adopt rules that are universally acceptable, it is vitally important that every member of the UNM community have the opportunity to raise issues, ask questions and make comments on how we proceed. It may very likely be that together we will identify aspects of the current law that should be changed, at which point we will ask the Legislature to further refine the law.

To bring you up to date on developments so far, on May 28 UNM Regents amended and approved proposed revisions to Regents’ Policies 2.17, 6.7, 6.8 and 7.2 – all of which relate to disclosure of public records.  These revised policies can be found at http://www.unm.edu/~ubppm, the far right column.

Pending further discussion, the Regents deferred decisions on university business policies and Section C70 of the Faculty Handbook, which implement these Regents’ policies. We will follow regular, established procedures for these discussions.  I’ve been talking to the leadership of the Faculty Senate and Academic
Freedom & Tenure Committee, and it’s clear that any proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook could not occur before the fall.  A faculty working group will be dealing with this issue over the summer, with hopes for significant progress by the beginning of the fall semester.

Meanwhile, proposed revisions to University Business Policies 2300, 3210 and 3710 (which can also be found on the far right column of http://www.unm.edu/~ubppm) have gone out for the regular 30-day review.  Your input is welcomed, and you will have until July 1 to submit your comments to UBPPM@unm.edu.

Each of your comments will be reviewed by a working committee that will include, among others, representatives from the Faculty Senate, AF&T, Staff Council, and Deans’ Council.  A second draft of revised policies, crafted with this committee’s input, will then be circulated for an additional 15 days of campus-wide review.  It is hoped we will have revised policies 15 working days before the August 12 meeting of the Regents.

This will not be an easy process, nor will it occur without further passionate debate. While I can’t promise that the end product will satisfy everyone, I can assure you that the views of every member of our community will be taken into account, and that ultimately, we will have in place public records policies that are clear and consistent – and that comply with New Mexico law.

Next week: my reflections on my first full year in office.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly