by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
David Schmidly was sworn in Sunday as UNM's 19th president.
"If anyone is able to connect with the various constituents as large and diverse as at the University of New Mexico, it is David Schmidly," Faculty Senate President Jackie Hood said.
About 300 people attended the inauguration ceremony at Popejoy Hall, where Jamie Koch, president of the Board of Regents, presented Schmidly with the presidential medallion.
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"It's a milestone in our University's history," Koch said. "It's a time of promise and anticipation."
Schmidly succeeds Louis Caldera, who resigned in January 2006 under pressure from the Board of Regents.
Schmidly was president of the Oklahoma State University system before coming to UNM and president of Texas A&M before that.
Representatives of UNM organizations addressed Schmidly at the ceremony and told him they will work with him to improve the University.
"We look forward to connecting with you as we take UNM into the future," Staff Council President Vanessa Shields said.
Schmidly said he was hired to take a new approach to running the University.
"When Jamie Koch and the Board of Regents brought me to Albuquerque, they made it clear they weren't just hiring a chief executive," he said. "Let's begin to think of the University of New Mexico in a new way."
Schmidly said he plans to improve students' success by helping them to excel without compromising academic standards.
"Today, we face a formidable challenge: We must improve our retention and graduation rates," he said. "It does little good to make college affordable if we don't make a college degree achievable."
UNM will integrate athletics and academics to put the University's best foot forward, Schmidly said.
"Athletics is the University's front door," he said. "We will be a model for other schools to follow."
Schmidly said the UNM community needs to be more vocal and express its Lobo pride.
"We're good. We're darn good," he said. "You know it. I know it. Now, let's go out and tell the rest of the world."
