by Ashleigh Sanchez
Daily Lobo
President David Schmidly's first year at UNM is going to be a busy one, Regent Jack Fortner said.
"We know these goals are lofty," Fortner said. "But I'm excited about this president and how he is approaching them."
The Board of Regents approved 12 goals and benchmarks for the president's first year in office at an Aug. 14 meeting.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The goals are available at the president's Web site at Unm.edu/president.
They address topics such as athletics, academic success, fundraising, diversity and economics, Schmidly said.
The goals also involve the proposed Rio Rancho campus, expanding the Health Sciences Center and improving relationships within the New Mexico Legislature.
Forter said that in his nine years as a member of the Board of Regents, he has never been so impressed with a UNM president.
"He's actually teaching us," he said. "He didn't balk at the goals we put in front of him. He was excited and even added three more of his own."
Schmidly said he added those goals because they are sorely needed at the University.
"(The goals) had not adequately dealt with research, so I added that," he said. "Also, we need to have a good relationship not only with the state government, but federal as well."
Schmidly also expanded the athletics goal.
"Their goal focused entirely on student success of athletes," he said. "We also need to concentrate at improving facilities, looking at ticket pricing and re-evaluating our NCAA compliance."
Athletics goals include renovating The Pit and studying the pricing of football and basketball tickets, he said.
The goals are not just for show, said Jamie Koch, president of the Board of Regents.
Schmidly will be evaluated on how well he meets them, Koch said.
"This is basically his report card," he said. "These goals are very, very serious."
Schmidly said he is working on the goals and has completed several of the tasks.
"We already established the vice president of diversity," he said. "We established an enrollment management program and a strategic-marketing
task force."
Accomplishing the goals will require teamwork and collaboration, he said.
Schmidly said he and the regents are realistic about meeting the benchmarks.
"I won't accomplish all of this in a year," he said. "But I expect to get started and to make progress."
The 12th goal addresses a
recurring problem for UNM presidents of the past: establishing a good relationship with the regents.
Schmidly said that wouldn't be a problem for him.
"(Our relationship) has been very productive," he said. "The regents are, by constitution, responsible for this institution. My job is to work with them. I find them to be very reasonable people. They love this University, and they're very student-oriented."
