The Presidential Search Committee hammered out the final details Tuesday for the criteria for applicants for the UNM president position, including adding a new introduction to market the University's potential.
Using the statements from Rutgers University and the University of Michigan's criteria, search committee members were concerned that the UNM statement of qualifications did not include any information on how to market the University's uniqueness.
David Sanchez, a senior program manager for the Extended University and the committee staff member, pointed out that it would be in the University's best interest to add such a statement.
Sanchez said that while everyone in the committee knows UNM's possibilities, nobody applying for the presidential position is going to know those same things.
"We have got to let them know the potential of the University," he said.
Larry Willard, president of the Board of Regents, agreed with Sanchez, saying that while Rutgers criteria mentions that its president will be a leader in higher education, UNM's president is a leader in the state.
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Willard said that is a major "selling point" for the University and should be somewhere in the criteria.
"Somehow, someway, we have to get out the message that this isn't an ordinary deal," he said.
The committee agreed to modify the original advertisement and attach it to the qualifications. The qualifications, the same used in the 1997 and 1998 presidential searches, were passed with a few minor edits.
Some concern regarding the length of the statement was brought up by faculty committee member Amy Wohlert, chairwoman of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She had revised the statement into a shorter version, which she submitted for consideration.
Wohlert said the original statement was too long and her new version was "friendlier."
She added that the original statement "lacks a little bit of sophistication to put out such a laundry list." Wohlert said that she thinks if an applicant is looking at the statement, then they would want to respond to each point.
Reg. David Archuleta, the committee chairman, disagreed with Wohlert, saying that the longer list is actually beneficial since it helps separate the serious applicants from the less serious.
"I prefer going more than less at this point," Archuleta said.
The qualifications include several points that go over five categories: Intellectual/academic leadership; senior level administrative/management experience in a complex organization; leadership in a diverse environment; external relations leadership; and personal integrity and leadership. Each category expands the qualifications in several points.
Archuleta said that after the meeting, the committee will likely not need to meet again and can communicate through e-mail for any other business. The five candidates for the presidential position should be named by March 2003.
Those interested in reviewing the qualifications, the committee members, the schedule or anything relating to the presidential search can visit www.unm.edu/~pressrch/.
