New Mexico
NMSU Board of Regents select five finalists for next university president
New Mexico State University is a step closer to selecting its next president who will serve as head of the university system.
In a virtual meeting held on Feb. 2, the Board of Regents selected five finalists for the position who all come from prior academic and university leadership backgrounds. The board commissioned a campus search committee along with a search firm to identify potential candidates in July 2023. None of the candidates are local or were picked from New Mexico.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the search committee for their efforts over the past few months. To bring us this slate of candidates for consideration,” Chair of the Regents Amu Devasthali said during the meeting.
“I would like to thank the search committee chair, Mr. Ben Woods, for his efforts to lead this large and diverse committee through one of the most important processes that our institution undertakes. The committee has shown through Aggie spirit by so selflessly committing themselves to serving the board through a careful review of the candidate pool and advising the board through this process,” Devasthali continued.
The board unanimously voted to approve the five candidates for consideration. Campus visits and public forums are expected in the coming weeks.
Here’s who made the list, a recap of why the university is searching for a new leader and when we could expect to see a final selection.
Who are the finalists for NMSU president?
Regents approved five candidates from Texas, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maine and Utah. They are listed, in particular order, as follows:
- Michael Galyean, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor in the Department of Veterinary Sciences and former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas Tech University
- Wayne Jones, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of New Hampshire
- Austin Lane, Chancellor of Southern Illinois University
- John Volin, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of the University of Maine
- Richard Williams, Former Presidentof Utah Tech University
More: New Mexico State University could have a new president by early 2024
Why is NMSU looking for a new president?
In the 2022-2023 academic year, the university’s leadership structure changed when Dan Arvizu, former system chancellor, and John Floros, former Las Cruces campus president, left amid their own professional and personal scandals.
Faculty senate and the student government passed resolutions of no confidence which prompted widespread calls for leadership change and accountability. Some of the claims stated in those resolutions were aimed at Floros and former Provost Carol Parker. The claims alleged both leaders had misappropriated funds, had dismissed faculty concerns over the merger of colleges and had condoned questionable hiring and promotion practices.
More: NMSU Regents search for new president
An internal audit found those claims to be unsubstantiated. However, Parker, in an on-going lawsuit against the university, is suing for damages to her reputation where she states in the complaint that Floros andArvizu instructed her to carry out duties that led to the no confidence votes and public outcry as a result.
Floros resigned in January 2022 going on sabbatical which left Arvizu as the sole university leader, but not for long.
Arvizu would also step down a year later during his own public leadership challenges. That year students from NMSU and the University of New Mexico were involved in a shooting incident in Albuquerque, a basketball hazing incident and continuous opposition from graduate student workers resulting in the creation of a union. Arvizu’s spouse was arrested in May 2022 for battery against him.
In a July 2023 meeting, Regents parted way with previous president/chancellor structure and commissioned its own search committee to hire one system-wide president. In the meantime, an interim president, Jay Gogue, who was previously NMSU’s president from 2000-2003, heads the university.
Regents also delegated some leadership duties to a new chancellor position responsible for leading NMSU’s community colleges. Doña Ana Community College President Monica Torres was chosen for that role.
When will NMSU’s next president be chosen?
A finalist will be chosen in the coming weeks after future public forums and campus visits are completed. A full timeline is provided on the president search website.
“We look forward to getting to know each of the candidates and learning how they fit our vision for the next leader of the NMSU system. I hope that you will join us for those candidate forums, whether in person or online, and share your thoughts as we make this incredibly important decision,” Devasthali said.
Ernesto Cisneros is a reporting fellow with the UNM/NM Local News Fund program. He covers education for the Sun-News and can be reached at ECisneros@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter at @_ernestcisneros.
Grant’s Thursday Evening Forecast
Showers and thunderstorms will continue in eastern New Mexico tonight into Friday. Breezy winds will bring an elevated fire danger in the western half of the state.
Thunderstorms are firing up Thursday afternoon along and east of New Mexico’s central mountain chain while gusty south winds over 30 mph are driving an elevated fire danger across western parts of the state. Storms will continue spreading across eastern New Mexico through this evening, bringing locally heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail, and gusty winds. The winds will weaken later tonight, but showers and thunderstorms will keep going across eastern New Mexico overnight into early Friday morning.
A few spotty storms will redevelop Friday afternoon across eastern New Mexico, with a couple near the Texas state line capable of turning strong to severe. At the same time, breezy southwest winds will ramp back up across western New Mexico, with gusts over 35 mph creating another round of elevated fire danger. Storms will push east out of New Mexico Friday evening while winds gradually ease overnight.
Quieter and drier weather takes over this weekend. Temperatures Saturday afternoon will cool a few degrees but still stay near average for late May. Breezy afternoon winds will continue Saturday before lighter winds and warmer temperatures return Sunday.
Moisture will start building back into eastern New Mexico Monday, bringing a slight chance for thunderstorms near the Texas state line. Monday will also be the hottest day of the warming trend statewide. More moisture spreads into the eastern half of the state Tuesday, increasing storm chances along and east of the Rio Grande Valley by afternoon. Even deeper moisture arrives statewide by Wednesday and Thursday, fueling more widespread showers and thunderstorms through the middle of next week.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Skies are partly to mostly clear with most similar or slightly milder than yesterday. Winds are a little breezy occasionally with the highest humidity values mostly from out east and to the north.
Air temperatures in the north are mostly starting off in the 30s to the low 50s. Elsewhere to the south, air temperatures are mostly ranging from around the high 30s to the low 60s.
Many areas from eastern New Mexico to the Pecos River Valley area will range from the high 60s to the 80s from north to south from high to low elevation. The northern higher elevations will mostly range from the high 40s to near 60°, while the northern valley floors to western and central areas will mostly range from the high 70s to the low 90s.
Southerly upper-level winds, in combination to the low-level moisture still lingering around the northern high elevations to out east, will lead to few thunderstorms capable of producing brief bouts of heavy rain, small hail, some lightning, & gusty conditions.
Ridging in the jet stream will then allow for clearer conditions, drier air, and for temperatures to rebound for the remainder of the week. However, slightly more thunderstorms will form for some eastern and mountainous areas late in the week, resulting in outflow-southeasterly winds to occasionally pick up.
Even hotter air returns late this weekend into early next week before thunderstorms are more likely to form next week.
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