UNM alumnus
Supervisor of administrative support
Daily Lobo: What do you do at UNM?
George Garcia: I work with Long Term Ecological Research in the biology department.
DL: Why did you choose to work for UNM?
GG: I worked with LTER before I graduated. I worked there as a student, and then they just had a position open up for manager. I work here because the opportunity continued with my education and the supposed benefits that come along with UNM.
DL: What are these supposed benefits?
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
GG: There's the health, dental and vision. There's also the benefit of just working on the University. You can go to the gym - things like that. There are also retirement benefits. There are other places that have better benefits - they're just not as great as I thought they would be.
DL: What would you prefer to get from the University?
GG: The contrast in the benefits as in using the UNM health care system versus using Presbyterian or Loveless. We just got changed from United and then we just got changed from being able to use Loveless or Presbyterian again. They're actually high, but the contrast to that is that you're able to use UNM Hospital, and I just prefer not to go there.
DL: How come you didn't look for a job in another city?
GG: I'm from New Mexico. I lived on the East Coast, and I was with the Navy in Norfolk, Va. New Mexico is not as on-the-go as it is on the East Coast. They're very work-oriented, whereas I feel in New Mexico they're very family-oriented. So, here it's a little more laid back. It's the land of manana - I'll do it tomorrow.
DL: What do you think about what is going on in Iraq right now. Do we stay or do we go?
GG: There isn't an easy way to pull out. I recognize that, and I understand that, and I think we put ourselves into a position that will require that we put a bit more of an influence than we normally would have overseas. My heart goes out to the families of the soldiers that are out there, but we will have to stay there until we can exit without having a vacuum being left there.
DL: Which presidential candidate could accomplish that?
GG: The Democrats are essentially saying the same thing, in my opinion. There's going to have to be a gradual withdrawal.
DL: Is war good or bad for us economically?
GG: I would say that it does both. There is proof that it does pull us out of deficits and what not. It is a very big economy booster because of the amount of jobs that it provides.
