Faculty Senators received a questionnaire Wednesday asking for feedback regarding each of the five presidential finalists, including their professional qualifications, as well who they think should be the next UNM president.
The questionnaire comes after a faculty-only meeting Wednesday where several faculty members, many of them senators, expressed concern about disparities between presidential qualifications and the academic backgrounds of at least one of the finalists.
"Some of the faculty are concerned about the fact that some of the candidates don't really have a record of scholarly achievements," said Beverly Burris, Faculty Senate president.
About 30 faculty members attended the meeting with an estimated half of them being senators, Burris said.
Thomas Wadsworth, assistant professor of sociology and faculty senator, was not at the Wednesday meeting but said he had already received his questionnaire from Burris and that he planned on completing it.
"I think it is important that the regents have as much information as possible about faculty thoughts and reactions regarding the candidates," he said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
He said that if a strong consensus arises from the questionnaire, he hopes the Board of Regents will take it into consideration.
Wadsworth added he does not know if the results of the questionnaire will be made public or if they will only be shared with the Senate and the University's Board of Regents.
The questionnaire consists of three components. The first is a statement expressing concern regarding the job qualifications advertised by the University and any discrepancies with the five finalists' qualifications.
Some faculty members said they see at least one of the candidates as not meeting the job's qualifications.
Louis Caldera, former secretary of the Army and the current vice chancellor for University Advancement of the California State University System, does not have university classroom teaching experience. He has never been tenured or earned a Ph.D. - three concerns faculty members say they must meet so it makes sense that the incoming president be required to meet them too.
The second component of the questionnaire lists each candidate and asks senators to mark their approval or disapproval for each one.
The last component of the questionnaire asks who the next president of UNM should be.
During the Wednesday meeting, faculty members also expressed concern regarding the clarity of candidate Linda Bunnell Shade's academic vitae.
"It is simply not clear to us in her vitae that she has ever been tenured," said Anita Obermeier, faculty senator and assistant professor of English, who attended Tuesday's senate meeting and Wednesday's faculty-only gathering.
The qualifications of each candidate, including Carlos Santiago, were discussed in each of the two meetings.
"He [Santiago] was certainly one of the people who had received more or less favorable sentiments," Wadsworth said.
