David Stuart starts anew today after stepping down as associate provost for academic affairs.
Stuart became associate provost in 2000. His responsibilities included weekend, evening and summer school degree programs and a project to graduate people who dropped out of UNM.
Stuart, who served under seven provosts and five presidents, will focus his time and energy on teaching and working on a sequel to his book, The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Stuart is a professor in the School of Architecture & Planning and the Anthropology Department.
Stuart said he decided to write Guaymas partially because of longtime friend Tony Hillerman.
"You're always writing anthropology books," Stuart recalls Hillerman telling him. "When are you going to do the important thing?"
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An internalĖsearch for Stuart's successor is underway.
Stuart said he would advise his successor to make students his or her priority.
"Everything else is a distant second or third," he said. "Your primary clients first and foremost are students. You piss off deans, presidents and provosts, but take care of the students. It's so simple."
Stuart said he is most proud of the Graduation Project, the only one of its kind in the country.
It asks former UNM students who dropped out of college to return to pursue a degree at the University.
According to a study. Students said they dropped out primarily because of a lack of tuition money, an inability to enroll in classes they needed, confusing academic advisers and inadequate parking.
"You take students that are fundamentally good New Mexico students, and they get beat down," he said. "They run out of gas."
Thirty-nine have earned graduate degrees, he said.
"Three sets of regents have been with us every step of the way," he said. "I guess you could second-guess a lot of what they do - not this."
Stuart also started UNM's weekend and evening class program, which he said has been successful at graduating students who work.
Stuart's boss, Brian Foster, said Stuart possesses a rare combination of expert management skills and vision - two qualities that have enabled Stuart to successfully carry out complex administrative projects.
"He's one of the most talented administrators I've ever known," Foster said. "He's an incredibly disciplined and effective manager on the one hand, and on the other hand, a person with real imagination and integrity and commitment. He'll be missed."
