New president still has a lot to learn

sozden@unm.edu

UNM President Robert Frank began his first week as president June 4.

In President Frank’s Weekly Perspective, Frank said the first 120 days of his presidency will include a listening campaign aimed at improving all aspects of UNM by including the voice of UNM staff, students and faculty. He said the process is called UNM 2020, and he will turn to UNM to become better acquainted with the University.

“I will look to you to learn about the University’s history, culture, people, programs, areas of excellence and your vision for the future,” he said in his weekly address. “I will be learning about our existing areas of distinction as well as identifying opportunities that will help us enhance educational quality, drive research and build national visibility.”

In his weekly address, Frank said he will learn what sets the University apart from its peers and focus on quality education and research in order to increase national visibility. Frank said he plans to listen to students’ concerns and hopes to foster a community where students are encouraged to participate, but added that some decisions cannot wait.

“In a business as large and complex as UNM, we cannot simply stop everything to think about our future,” he said. “We will make decisions that require immediate attention. When possible, we will delay strategic decisions until our UNM 2020 vision is completed.”

According to the Office of the President website, Frank is the 21st president of UNM and his presidency began June 1. On the website, Frank said the opportunity to be president at UNM “is the most exciting opportunity (he) can imagine.”

Director of University Communication and Marketing Cinnamon Blair said former president David Schmidly will be on sabbatical for the next year and intends to work on three different books that he is writing during that time. Blair said Schmidly will return to UNM as a full-time biology professor after his sabbatical.

Frank was unavailable for comment as of Sunday.

~Avicra Luckey contributed to this report.