Good morning!

Calling Attention to Global Climate Change – and Doing Our Part…

As a biologist, I believe that none of our problems is more serious than global climate change, and that no immediate challenge is more important than reducing carbon emissions. That’s why I’m so proud that UNM is active in becoming part of the solution.

From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, in every time zone, participants in “Earth Hour” turned off their lights and electric appliances as a way of calling attention to the problem. UNM was proud to participate, dimming non-essential lights during the designated hour. Under our UNM Energy Conservation Initiative, we’ve already drastically cut energy usage during evenings and on weekends, and I’m proud that so many students in the dorms and surrounding neighborhoods participated.

It’s vital that we each do our part to reduce carbon emissions, which is why I want to congratulate our Physical Plant Department on its work to reduce energy consumption on Main Campus. Just 10 months into our Energy Conservation Initiative, the preliminary numbers are very promising.

Already, we’ve reduced carbon dioxide emissions on Main Campus by 13,603 metric tons — the equivalent of removing 2,440 cars from the highways! Even as energy costs continue to rise, we’ve managed to avoid $2.4 million in utility spending, based on month-by-month analyzes of actual usages and expenditures. In the 10 months that the Initiative has been in place, Physical Plant reports:

- A 18.5% reduction in steam usage

- A 16.4% reduction in chilled water use

- A 3% reduction in electricity use overall

Congratulations and thank you to all involved.

Honoring Our Presidential Scholars…

On Wednesday evening, I was pleased to join 500 generous members of our community at the 33d Annual UNM Celebration Dinner honoring the Presidential Scholarship Program.

Today, there are 478 Presidential Scholars enrolled at UNM, each of them taking at least 15 hours each semester and maintaining a grade point average of 3.0 or better. This year’s Presidential Scholarship average is 3.67, and it’s been going up steadily. Each of the Presidential Scholars is a New Mexico high school graduate who has demonstrated excellence in academics, leadership and community service.

For a generation, the Presidential Scholarship has kept New Mexico’s best, brightest and most community-minded right here in New Mexico to complete their four-year college education – and I’m happy to report that the program has an 81% graduation rate.

I know I join the entire UNM community in commending this year’s Scholars – and I’m sure I speak for the Scholars themselves in thanking not only the generous donors who make the Presidential Scholarship program possible, but the faculty and Deans who’ve helped these students achieve such an admirable level of scholarship. Good work by all!

Congratulations to Mark Scott…

If you happen to see Mark Scott this week, give him a high-five for winning first place last week in the National Trombone Competition at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C. Mark is a Master’s candidate in the Music Department.

The competition involved selection of semi-finalists based on recordings sent from across the country, followed by two rounds of competition in Washington, the last one before a distinguished panel of international judges. Mark won over musicians from Yale and the University of Texas at Austin, among others.

Commencement Speaker…

I’m pleased that Antonio Flores, Ph.D., President of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), has agreed to serve as our Spring Commencement speaker on May 16 at Tingley Coliseum. HACU is the only national educational association that represents Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and was instrumental in gaining federal assistance for HSIs back in the 1990s.

Founded in 1986 with just 18 institutions, HACU now represents approximately 450 colleges and Universities committed to Hispanic higher education success here in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Although the member institutions here in the U. S. represent less than 10% of all higher education institutions nationwide, together they are home to more than two-thirds of all Hispanic college students.

The Week Ahead: 383 Employees with a Combined 7,555 Years of Service to UNM…

This Wednesday at the Annual Service Awards Ceremony in the SUB Ballrooms, we’ll be privileged to honor 383 dedicated employees who’ve given a combined 7,555 years of service to the University of New Mexico. The event recognizes faculty and staff service milestones – people who’ve served UNM for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years.

A special congratulations and warm thank you to Susan L. Dellinger, Administrative Assistant III in the School of Medicine Pathology Medical Lab Sciences; Daniel Finley, Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department; and Roman E. Renteria, Accountant II for College Enrichment and Outreach Programs Administration, each of whom will be celebrating 40 year years of service to the University of New Mexico.

The names of all our honorees can be found by clicking:

http://hr.unm.edu/documents/news/Service_Award_Ceremony_Program.pdf.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning and welcome back.

I hope your Spring Break was everything you wanted it to be and that you’re ready for the last push toward finals.

The major event on UNM’s horizon is the accreditation site visit, when 15 members of the Higher Learning Commission site team will be on campus April 6 – 8. Many of you will be called upon to meet with the team, but all of you should be prepared. Please take the time to review our institutional self-study, which is now on the web and available for reading at http://www.unm.edu/~accred.

Early this week, Provost Suzanne Ortega will be sending a memo to the faculty that details issues surrounding accreditation. Meanwhile, the calendar for the visit is being finalized. We’ll have more information for you in the coming days.

Here’s another notice for students and faculty: UNM is participating this spring in the highly acclaimed National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and for the first time, the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE). You’ll be asked for your individual participation via email. The survey takes 15-20 minutes and I strongly encourage you to take part. The higher the response rate, the more certain we’ll all be that the final data set truly reflects our perceptions and insights about UNM.

There is great news to report after last week’s Regents meeting. For the first time, UNM is going the self-insured route for health insurance and that means no increase in health insurance premiums this coming year. Not that many years ago, the increases were 20% and more. So this is great news for our faculty and staff, especially during these tough times. Thanks to the efforts of Human Resources VP Helen Gonzales and her team as well as the faculty and staff who worked to make this happen.

The long grueling Legislative session is finally over. It was agonizing for state lawmakers who had to balance dwindling resources against competing demands. As we look toward our own budget hearing on April 9, we find ourselves in the same predicament.

The state budget passed by the Legislature now awaits action by the Governor. It features a 4.7% reduction in UNM revenues or a loss of about $15.7 million for main campus, HSC, the branches and special projects. The Legislature also approved a 2.5% tuition credit. These are some of the issues we will have to deal with in building our FY 2010 budget.

The budget recommendations for colleges and units will be posted later today or tomorrow. We look forward to the comments from UNM constituency groups as we prepare budget scenarios to be considered by the Regents. There will be a lot of information for everyone to absorb in a very short time. I invite you to read my thoughts about the budget outlook on the President’s web page and also under “Messages” on the Budget Impact website.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

Here’s wishing our students and faculty a restful Spring Break before the final push to the end of the semester. Enjoy your week and please stay safe wherever your travels take you.

This week will be anything but restful for many of us who will be in Santa Fe for the final days of the legislative session. If you’ve been reading the papers and watching our legislative updates, you know that much has yet to be done and lawmakers will be facing long hours until they adjourn Saturday at noon.

The main job of the legislature is to get the state budget passed, which should happen early in the week. The Senate will be debating a budget of $5.5 billion that contains a provision that will require state and educational employees who contribute to the state pension funds to pay one and a half percent more toward that contribution for the next two years. And right now, the tuition credit stands at two and a half percent.

Whatever the Senate approves will have to go into conference committee with the House and changes could still occur there before it goes to the Governor, who has been quoted as saying the budget bill as it now stands is “unacceptable.” Lawmakers are also using federal stimulus money to offset some reductions in public education and Medicaid. Bottom line, we are not anywhere near a final resolution. We’ll keep you posted.

We have some great news regarding one of our graduate students in chemical engineering. Jamie Reed has been accepted to the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting this summer. According to its website, the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings “provide a globally recognized forum for the transfer of knowledge between generations of scientists. Lectures of Nobel Laureates reflect current scientific topics and present relevant fields of research of the future. In panel discussions, seminars and during the various events of the social programme young researchers nominated by a worldwide network of Academic Partners interact with Nobel Laureates.” Congratulations to Jamie and to Jamie’s PhD advisor, Dr. Heather Canavan.

Congratulations to the Lobo Ski Team for their third place finish at the NCAA National Skiing Championships. It’s the team’s third top-3 finish in the past six years. A couple of swift Lobo seniors grabbed attention at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Lee Emanuel took the national title in the men’s mile, Jarrin Solomon took fifth in the 400 meters and the team finished 16th overall … the first top-20 finish in 25 years. Though the Mountain West tournament was anything but kind to Lobo basketball, we congratulate our men and women for their hard fought seasons and look forward to post-season play.

I want to express my gratitude to Regent Jamie Koch for his years of unpaid, selfless work for UNM. His leadership has transformed the face of our University, greatly expanding its services to the people of New Mexico. While the Regents will make a formal decision on their officers, let me also express my genuine eagerness to work with a gifted public servant like Raymond Sanchez, whom the Governor has recommended to the Board as its next President.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning!

Go Lobos! Congratulations to the Lobo men’s basketball team and Coach Steve Alford for their first conference championship since 1994. It’s a share of the Mountain West and a tribute to the tenacity of this team who won their last five games.

Congratulations also on the hard-fought season by our women’s basketball team. Both teams and a great number of Lobo fans are now heading to the MWC tournament this week in Las Vegas.

Accreditation Visit…

In less than a month, 15 members of a Higher Learning Commission Site Visit Team will arrive on our campus for a three-day visit. Their mission on April 6-8 will be to follow up on UNM’s HLC Self-Study, now online at http://www.unm.edu/~accred/, in order to determine the university’s accreditation status for the coming decade.

The site visit will be a strategic opportunity for us to show colleagues from West Virginia to Arizona the unique quality of what we do here at UNM. So I urge you to mark your calendars and be ready to assist and participate in this vital undertaking. I’ll share more details as the date approaches.

Employee Pension Contributions…

I know that many of you are concerned by the prospect of higher employee contributions to the Education Retirement Fund and wanted to use this opportunity to keep you posted on our progress in helping the Legislature find alternatives.

As many of you know, the House approved a 1.5% increase in employee pension contributions over the next two years for workers earning more than $20,000 annually.

Working closely with Staff Council, our Government Relations team has worked to find substitute funding options. I’m convinced that legislators are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to find alternative funding mechanisms, and I’ll keep you posted on developments as they occur.

Deferred Compensation Policy…

On another front, I wanted you to be aware of our efforts to develop a consistent policy on the award of deferred compensation. The absence of a written University policy on deferred compensation is simply unacceptable, which is why I’ve asked Helen Gonzales, vice president of Human Resources, to conduct a study of best practices in this regard among our peer institutions, which she will present to Regents at their April meeting.

Following Vice President Gonzales’ report, I plan to recommend a comprehensive proposal which will set forth the circumstances under which deferred compensation can be granted, the grounds for its use and the method by which future individual deferred compensation awards can be approved. Be assured that the proposal will be published for the review and comment of the entire University community before its submission to the Board of Regents. You can read the news release on this subject at http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/003688.html#more.

Postponement of President Vicente Fox Commencement Speech…

I regret that renovations to The Pit have forced us to postpone the Commencement speech by former Mexican President Vicente Fox, which we had originally scheduled this Spring.

Our review of security and logistical aspects of the alternative Commencement site at Tingley Coliseum indicated that it was not suitable for a visit by a former Head of State.

Spring Break Caution…

I love Mexico, having spent much time there – both professionally as I helped catalogue its biology, and on many personal trips enjoying its culture, natural beauty and wonderful people.

Nevertheless, with Spring Break approaching, I’d be remiss if I failed to pass on the following State Department alerts to students and faculty considering Mexico as a Spring Break destination:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3028.html

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/spring_break_mexico/spring_break_mexico_2812.html.

I hope you all have a fun-filled and well-deserved Spring Break, and that you’ll be careful, wherever you go.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

The entire process following last week’s faculty meeting has given me a far greater appreciation of the urgent need for dialogue with the University community and increased involvement of faculty, staff and students in the decision-making processes. I’m committed to making it happen, and I want to use this opportunity to discuss some of the specific issues that emerged on Wednesday.

Governance Issues…

While governance issues have been problematic at UNM for some time, there’s no doubt that the need for quick decisions in light of the economic meltdown has put shared governance under even greater stress not just here at UNM but across the country. In this regard, I commend to you the recent article by Robin Wilson in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Downturn Threatens the Faculty’s Role in Running Colleges,” http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i22/22a00102.htm. The problem has become so significant that the Association of Governing Boards is doing a study of best practices of faculty governance in this new era.

I’m hopeful that the upcoming AGB study will give UNM a better perspective on many of the governance and communication issues that we will address in the coming days. I believe we’re long overdue for a serious consideration of the many concerns we all have about administrative leadership and communication.

An Independent Review of our Finances…

As you may know, the faculty approved a resolution on Wednesday calling for an independent audit of the University’s finances. Some background on independent audits is in order. The University of New Mexico, by law, submits to such an independent audit each year, performed by an independent auditor certified by the State Auditor and approved by that office to perform the work.

The State Auditor, in turn, also reviews the draft audit and approves the final version for publication. The Federal Audit Clearinghouse submits this audit to the U.S. Department of Education, which reviews and relies upon the audit for federal funding formulas and the grant of research awards.

Our most recent audit, by the Seattle-based firm of Moss Adams, cost the University more than $900,000 and was published just a few weeks ago, on January 23. The complete document is available online, together with the independent audits for each of the three preceding years, at http://www.unm.edu/~conweb/finrep.html.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the thought that has gone into many of the questions that have been raised by the faculty (both in the meeting Wednesday and in my private conversations with faculty), and I believe that the sooner we clear the air about these issues, the sooner we’ll begin restoring trust here at UNM.

I also happen to believe that if we work together, we can accomplish an independent review of our finances to answer those concerns without spending a lot of money or time. I look forward to working with the Regents and with faculty representatives to find ways to do so in the days ahead.

Faculty Governance and Decision-Making…

We all understand the critical roles of the Provost, Deans and department chairs, and from my conversations with many of you, there’s no question that we’ve had a breakdown in trust and communication along that chain.

Provost Ortega and I have already had several productive conversations about the problem, and we’re both committed to making improvements. The Provost has in turn raised this issue with the Deans, seeking their ideas on how best to improve the communication flow back and forth to the department heads and faculty.

Besides encouraging the Deans to consider more frequent all-faculty meetings, she has already formed a number of working groups, most of them co-chaired by two Deans and involving department chairs, faculty, Faculty Senate representatives and student participants. The working groups are charged with coming up with specific and concrete recommendations within the next four to six weeks.

One working group is focused on budget planning and will be developing rules to guide us in resource allocations. Another is involved in issues of graduate enrollment and retention and has been asked to develop short-, mid- and long-term strategies to increase graduate enrollment and make improvements in the general UNM graduate experience.

I’m impressed with Dr. Ortega’s progress and will keep you posted on developments. We both welcome your suggestions.

Keeping You Informed About A Challenging Budget Ahead…

Our current budget was heavily focused on academics, including 43 new faculty positions, all of which we were able to preserve even through the mid-year budget rescission. I believe our next budget, for FY 2010, can make a similarly strong commitment to improving the academic future of this University, but we’ll need your help to do so.

Toward that end, University Marketing Director Cinnamon Blair is working to establish an interactive section on our website to keep each of you informed on developments concerning the 2009-2010 budget and give you plenty of opportunity to comment on developments.

The budget website will also include a Water Cooler area, where you can get confirmation or denial of the rumors that inevitably spread in a University with tens of thousands of employees and students.

A Chance to Help…

Nawid Farhad of the Afghan Student Association tells me that one of our physical therapy students is in need of a bone marrow transplant, and I hope you’ll join me in trying to find a suitable donor for her or for some other person in need.

To that end, the Afghan Student Association will host a Marrow Donor Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3 and 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the SUB Ballrooms B and C. All you need to do is submit to a cheek swab, and you’ll be listed in the registry of potential donors. The chances of a match are, as Nawid points out, almost as unlikely as winning the lottery, but it could mean all the difference to our own student or someone like her. Please join me in showing your support.

Listening…

I’ve learned much from the visits I’ve had these past few weeks with faculty leaders who were brought together by my Chief of Staff, Dr. Breda Bova, and I want to thank all who participated. Thelma Domenici put it very well when she said that there’s been a lot of talking at UNM, but not enough listening. Listening should begin at the top, and thanks to each of you for reminding me of that.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly