UNM President William Gordon has created a new position that will enhance recruitment and retention efforts of women and minorities in faculty and staff jobs on campus.
Robert Ibarra, former vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been selected as special assistant to the president for diversity initiatives.
"Even though this program deals with issues facing faculty, it is greatly beneficial for students as well, providing them role models and incentive to pursue similar paths in life," Ibarra said.
Ibarra will play a key role in helping UNM achieve its diversity goals, reporting directly to the UNM president. His first priority is to meet with various departments and examine their current activities and programs, judging their effectiveness for increasing on-campus diversity.
"I want to go beyond learning about statistics concerning minorities and see what initiatives are already in place, as well as see what groups are participating in enhancing diversity," Ibarra said.
Ibarra's strategy to increase diversity consists of three major elements - increasing the number of faculty and staff of minority descent, improving retention efforts for these employees and creating ways for a multicultural environment to thrive.
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Increasing diversity is an important issue to many on campus.
"There's just not enough adequate mentoring available to students," Krishna Kandath said. Kandath is the only non-white faculty member with a Ph.D. in the Communications Department.
"Cultural diversity is not important just because it brings equal numbers, but because it brings intellectual diversity that is crucial for any healthy society," Kandath said.
Although Ibarra's work is still in the developing stages, his presence is already gathering attention.
"I have already met with him and had the opportunity to express my concerns on retention of African-American students and faculty," said Professor William Carreathers, director of African-American Student Services. "This program will be very successful if Professor Ibarra is empowered to make decisions and trusted to make a difference."
Veronica Mendez-Cruz, director of El Centro De La Raza, an Hispanic student service organization on campus, said she believes Ibarra will do a good job.
"Being familiar with his work, I'm confident in Professor Ibarra's abilities in his new position." Mendez-Cruz said. "My hopes are that he will be an active participant in dealing with the different issues minorities face as students and faculty."
Ibarra was dean in residence for the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., in 1994-95, where he conducted funded research on Hispanics in graduate education and was a liaison to former President Bill Clinton's Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic-Americans.
He served as equal rights officer for the Wisconsin state personnel commission from 1984-85, and was an assistant and, later, associate professor of Anthropology at Ft. Lewis College, Durango, Colo. from 1976-84.
Ibarra earned his bachelor's degree in sociology and anthropology from Northern Illinois University in 1969 and his master's and Ph.D. in Social/Cultural Anthropology in 1972 and 1976, from UW-Madison.
"Everything is in place to make a difference, people are already doing great things and are ready to listen to new ideas," Ibarra said.
