Gabriella Gutierrez, who was recently named associate dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, said she will help the school continue to grow despite its limited resources.
Gutierrez, a licensed architect and three-year faculty member, replaced interim associate dean Ric Richardson, who is returning to teaching in addition to preparing for a sabbatical next spring.
"It's always interesting how people end up in administrative-type positions," Gutierrez said. "I've been teaching for 10 years for design studio and kind of taken initiative in my own responsibilities as a teacher to go beyond the limits of the course."
Gutierrez said the most difficult part of her new job is dealing with an overall lack of resources including a low budget, having three pending faculty retirements and working in separate buildings.
"We're a small program," she said. "I've been told we're the second smallest school or department in the University and our budget is very tiny compared to something like engineering or arts and sciences. We're doing quite a lot with very little."
She said the primary goal of the school is to provide the best possible professional education to its students. She said the faculty has worked to become more cohesive despite being split into three separate buildings and working within three different programs - planning, architecture and landscape.
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Gutierrez said the associate dean position has multiple levels, such as supporting the dean's office, making efforts to raise money for the new architecture and planning building, raising awareness about the school and taking care of many day-to-day operations.
She said she has accepted an offer to continue teaching the 200-level architecture class with two other colleagues and plans to stay busy with other duties.
"I'll do other things like serve on various committees, be involved with recruitment and try to get more people interested in architecture," Gutierrez said. "I have to keep thinking more broadly, there's also planning and landscape architecture so I have to be there to help get people interested in all of those disciplines."
Gutierrez said that despite a press release citing that she is UNM's second highest- ranking Hispanic woman behind Viola Florez, dean of the College of Education, she hadn't really thought of herself in that light. She said it came as a surprise to her when people actually called to ask her if it was true.
Roger Schluntz, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, said Gutierrez being a Hispanic woman was not discussed during the selection process, rather her ability to do the job.
"In discussions with the faculty and administrative staff we decided she would be able to fill several key roles based on her interests and previous work at the school," he said.
Schluntz said that it was his decision to find someone who best complimented his ability to run the school and Gutierrez fit the bill.
"I think with the administrative team that includes Gabriella that I think the school is really positioned to move to the next level of service to our statewide constituencies and to the students," he said.
