Good morning.

Graduation  -

Congratulations again to the nearly 2,500 new graduates of the University of New Mexico. You persevered and your achievement is to be commended. Many of you and your families joined us Saturday morning for the general commencement ceremony at Tingley Coliseum – a grand celebration. Thanks to our faculty and staff for once again working with and guiding our graduates to this exciting point in their lives. Thanks to all of you who were charged with the mammoth task of organizing commencement and the convocations – great job!  Finally, our special thanks to Dr. Antonio R. Flores, the president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, who joined us for our commencement celebrations. 

Travel Restrictions Lifted -

Our summer session is a few weeks away, and there is good news for the faculty and students planning classes in Mexico. UNM is lifting restrictions on all university business or program-related travel to Mexico for faculty, staff and students effective June 1, 2009. As of May 14, 2009, the CDC continues to advise against non-essential travel to Mexico, though the WHO does not endorse any travel restrictions. Those faculty, staff, or students considering travel to Mexico are strongly encouraged to review the CDC website on travel recommendations and guidance at:

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/content/travel-health-warning/novel-h1n1-flu-mexico.aspx

Community Service Awards -

The Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Awards recognize the extraordinary dedication of faculty, staff and students to public service.  This year’s recipients, who were honored last week, include student Alice Loy who received the award for establishing Social Ventures Partners New Mexico, the state’s first social enterprise and investment organization; Dr. Teresa Córdova, Associate Professor and Director of the Community and Regional Planning Program, for her role as founder of the Resource Center for Raza Planning; and Jorge Garcia, program manager, Ibero-American Science and Technology Consortium, for his work in bridging the digital divide through organizing conferences and developing projects in New Mexico and throughout Latin America.

Doug Brown, former Regent and soon-to-be Dean of the Anderson School of Management, established these annual community service awards in 2005 to honor his wife Sarah Belle Brown and her dedication to community service.

Contributions to Federal Investigation Recognized -

The U.S. Postal Service and the FBI recognized UNM Police Sergeant Jeremy Parrish and Information Security Administrator Jeff Gassaway this past week for their contributions to a significant criminal investigation. The probe led to the arrest and guilty plea of a Tijeras, NM man who sent more than 65 letters containing white powder to individuals and institutions he claimed were responsible for his losing money. Congratulations to you both for your exceptional service.

It was an especially significant week for Sgt. Parrish.  He received his BA in Political Science from UNM on Saturday.

Down Time -

We’ve all put in a lot of time, energy and sweat equity during this long academic year. It’s time for a well-deserved rest. I hope all of you take the time to savor your accomplishments and plan for the next phase of the journey. Janet and I will be spending a few days enjoying the grandkids, and we hope you too rejuvenate and spend time with family and friends.

Have a great couple of weeks.

David J. Schmidly

Good morning.

This is a time of grand celebration at the University of New Mexico as another semester and academic year come to an end and scores of graduates close a significant chapter of their lives.  Good luck to all of you who are taking finals this week and congratulations to all of our graduates.

Commencement: 

This truly is the best time of the academic year.  I invite all of you to join UNM’s academic family for the ceremony that celebrates our graduates this Saturday, May 16, at 9 a.m. in Tingley Coliseum at Expo New Mexico (State Fairgrounds).  Tingley has been established as the venue while the Pit is being renovated.  Excitement levels will, however, be just as high and memories as meaningful. The Spring Commencement speaker is Antonio R. Flores, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

Precautions: 

With lingering concerns over the spread of the H1N1 flu, UNM graduates and their families are asked to take extra precautions so that Commencement remains a joyful experience. Most importantly, if you are sick, please stay home for your own sake and the sake of everyone else.  Medical professionals from our Health Sciences Center also advise people with chronic illness or those with a heightened risk of infection to check with their physicians before joining in a large public gathering like Commencement.

For the safety and convenience of our graduates, hand-washing stations will be available in the EXPO New Mexico Creative Arts Center where graduates will be lining up. Hand sanitizer will also be provided for graduates during the processional line-up.  

One-Stop: 

Student success is the cornerstone of all that we do at the University of New Mexico, so these last couple of weeks have been especially gratifying for me and all of my colleagues who have worked so hard to make our vision for enrollment management a reality.  We wanted to transform the student experience so that navigating admissions, registration and financial aid, once a nightmare, became a seamless process.  The One-Stop Student Service Center in Mesa Vista on main campus has been operating for several weeks and is getting positive reviews from students who appreciate the easy, efficient and friendly service.  

This Thursday, please join me at the grand opening of the Student Support and Services Center in the old Lockheed Martin building on the corner of University Blvd and Avenida Cesar Chavez.  A second One-Stop is located there along with tutoring, the new Veterans’ Center and much more.  Here again, the keys are convenience and efficiency.

Voluntary Furloughs:

For several months, we’ve been talking about voluntary furloughs as a potential cost containment measure to help the University save money in these rough economic times.  Understandably, there have been a number of questions.  The Division of Human Resources, in collaboration with Faculty Contracts and Services Office and the Payroll Department, has developed a draft voluntary furlough program, and they invite your input. Detailed information about the program can be found at www.unm.edu/budgetimpact/. Please submit your comments to hrp@unm.edu by May 31, 2009.

UNM in Nature:

We recommend to you an article in the April 30 issue of Nature, which touted the confluence of energy research to be found in New Mexico. It paid special attention to research collaborations in which chemical and nuclear engineering professor Abhaya Datye and materials professor Stephen Hersee are taking part.  It’s good exposure about the great work being done at UNM and in the state.

Love Red, Live Green:

I’m pleased to announce that the UNM Sustainability website is up and running at http://sustainability.unm.edu.  While UNM has long been committed to energy conservation and savings, I am particularly proud that “Sustainability” is now one of our university’s Core Values.

I continue to be excited about the strides we are making to demonstrate that UNM is truly committed to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the well-being of future generations. I hope you will explore the richness of ideas and information contained on the website and I encourage you to continue to generate and share ideas of your own.

Have a good week.

David J. Schmidly

As we begin the last week of classes for the spring semester, there is certainly a lot going on.  I want to start with the topic that is on nearly everyone’s mind, and that is the unfolding H1N1 (Swine Flu) situation.

We have made the decision to immediately suspend all UNM business- and program-related travel to Mexico.  This decision is due to the increased risks associated with the current H1N1 influenza level five WHO advisory and the current CDC travel advisory.  This is a precautionary measure against potential exposure to the virus for our staff, faculty, and students. We have also advised all UNM faculty, staff and students who are in Mexico for University business or

programs to return from Mexico immediately to the United States.

I want to assure everyone that the Health Sciences Center and UNM Hospitals continue to diligently monitor new developments and information as it becomes available. We know that there are a lot of common sense precautions that all of us can take, including washing our hands frequently and staying home if we are feeling ill.

Everyone knows that we have some large events coming up, including graduation.  At this time, there are no plans to cancel any of our commencement-related activities.

The situation seems to be changing very rapidly, and I commit to you that we will communicate any new UNM-specific information as soon as it becomes available.  In the meantime, I want to refer everyone to the website that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has established to provide the most up-to-date national and international information.

That website is http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/general_info.htm.  I also encourage you to visit the UNM home page at http://www.unm.edu/.

At the same time we are dealing with the flu situation, many positive things are happening around campus.  I’m so pleased that the One-Stop Student Service Center in Mesa Vista Hall on main campus is already getting glowing reviews from students.  I’m hearing that students are really appreciating the easy, efficient, and friendly service they are

encountering in the Center.  Providing excellent service to students is a crucial element of our vision for enrollment management and student success here at UNM.  I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard on this initiative.

I’m also proud to announce that UNM’s animated institutional spot - “Be a Lobo. Be Yourself.” – has won the national Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence Gold Medal.  This is the highest award that CASE gives for televised commercial spots.  If you haven’t had the chance to do so previously, I invite you to take a look at the spot at http://beyourself.unm.edu/. Congratulations to the entire UNM Marketing Team for their creative

efforts.

Enjoy the last week of classes!

David J. Schmidly