by Leann Holt
Daily Lobo
More than 40 UNM staff members are now eligible for administrative management jobs that previously required degrees.
Earlier this month those staff members graduated from the University of Management Academy, a mastery certificate program developed to help employees compete for such jobs.
A restructuring of minimum job requirements last October eliminated the need for bachelor's degrees in some UNM positions, favoring instead more management skills, according to a University news release.
But some UNM administrators say the academy isn't necessarily a positive thing.
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"I am opposed to the Management Academy being sold as a substitute for education," said Marla Wonn, a biology department administrator. "I administer a department that is larger than some of the colleges on campus. It is crazy for such a position to be non-degreed."
Susan Carkeek, director of Human Resources, said the academy was created in response to "a resounding call from constituencies across the University to remove ... artificial job requirements for certain UNM positions."
Having a degree does not guarantee a person will be a competent manager, Carkeek said.
"A degree in music education does not necessarily translate into good management skills," she said. "We have employees with many years of experience training their own bosses for a job they could not apply for. Their experience wasn't valued."
Students spent about 18 days in the classroom and put in about 20 hours studying for a comprehensive exam over a nine-month period to earn their management mastery certificates. Anne Mayer, a human resources development manager, designed most of the academy's course work, which is specific to UNM policies.
"UNM is now recognizing that to be a good manager, people need specific management skills," Mayer said. "Those skills can be learned through the Management Academy. People without degrees who have management potential are not less qualified to learn those skills."
In December, 32 of 39 UNM department administrators and 25 department chairpersons sent a letter to Carkeek expressing their concerns about the elimination of degree requirements for management positions. Amy Jameson, a department administrator for communication and journalism, was one of the people who signed the letter.
"Someone without a degree could do my job," Jameson said. "But it flies in the face of what this organization is. The other day a student asked me why he needed a degree. I told him that a degree would help him get a better job. But I was thinking, 'It won't help you at UNM.'"
She said she also has concerns about non-degreed staff members being respected by the faculty.
Timothy Ward, who has a doctorate in civil engineering, is chairman of the civil engineering department. He and the chairpersons from the four other UNM engineering schools wrote their own letters to Carkeek protesting the degree requirement change.
But Ward hired one of the first Management Academy graduates, Yolanda Sanchez, as his department's administrator six weeks ago.
"Yolanda competed successfully against everyone else who had a degree," Ward said. "She has the best skills of any of the applicants and she knows a lot of people on campus."
