President’s Report
During his administrative report at the Board of Regents meeting Friday, UNM President Robert Frank spoke about student financial assistance, progress on UNM 2020 goals and a revised budget process.
It is the University’s job to provide the possibility of an education to all students who desire one, regardless of their financial situations, Frank said.
“We have to help those kids who come here to us economically damaged move through, become educated and then contribute to New Mexico’s economy,” he said.
Frank said the University should look into the possibilities of the Legislative Lottery Scholarship covering summer classes as well.
UNM’s current graduation rate is 48.2 percent, Frank said. Though this is the highest graduation rate in the University’s history, Frank said he sees more work to be done. The current four-year graduation rate is 15.8 percent, he said.
The UNM 2020 target areas are being focused on and progress is being made, he said. He said 773 incoming students have had an ACT score of 26 or higher — an increase of 6 percent from the previous year. The number of international students at the University has risen by 5 percent to 1,115, and the number of UNM students studying abroad went up 9 percent to 661, Frank said.
Frank also suggested to the regents a revised budget process that would push deadlines forward for the sake of faster decision-making. He said the regents are not often as accessible as they should be and spoke of aiming to increase transparency and collaboration in the University’s budget system.
Update from the Provost
UNM Provost Chaouki Abdallah said summer enrollment has decreased for the University. This is nothing to be concerned about, he said, because enrollment at UNM mirrors summer enrollment trends across the state and nation.
The University has initiated its search for a vice president of research, Abdallah said.
Health Sciences Board
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Ava Lovell, senior executive officer of the UNM Health Sciences Center, said Sandoval Regional Medical Center has plans to increase clinical volume. This would include a 20 percent increase in total volume over the next six months, she said.
This will partly be able to be broken down into an increase of 540 overall clinical visits per month and of 85 surgeries per month, Lovell said. The total number of visits each month would then be 2,805 and surgeries performed would come to a total of 309.
Introduction of
Student Body Leaders
Rachel Williams, the new Associated Students of the University of New Mexico president, said she is excited for her upcoming term as president, and she will be working closely with the Graduate and Professional Students Association to continue the progress made by her predecessor, Isaac Romero.
“I have a pretty good understanding of what I am doing and I am confident in this coming year,” Williams said. “I really want to thank you for this opportunity again and stress that I am looking forward to a positive and open relationship between us, and I look forward to being your lifeline to the undergraduate students at the University of New Mexico this coming year.”
Texanna Martin, the newly elected GPSA president, cited the Student Fee Review Board as one of the projects she would be focusing on in conjunction with Williams and ASUNM.
Martin said she looks forward to the year and hopes to be able to continue to bolster and unite the graduate and professional students of the University.
Zach Pavlik is assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. Contact him at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or via Twitter @zachpavlik.
