UNM Provost Suzanne Ortega will not return to her post in the fall.
Ortega’s contract is up for renewal this summer, but she accepted a job offer back east instead of renewing her contract, University President David Schmidly said in his Monday morning e-mail.
“We’ll be able to share more about it as the details are finalized, but know that it is a wonderful opportunity, and no one is more deserving of it,” Schmidly wrote.
Ortega did not return calls or e-mails and couldn’t meet Tuesday.
Faculty Senate President Richard Wood will lead an internal search committee to help identify an interim Provost, Schmidly’s e-mail said.
Wood said the committee will meet today and ASUNM, GPSA and Staff Council representatives were invited to serve as committee members. He said he could not release committee members’ names until they agree to serve on the committee.
Ortega was appointed UNM’s executive vice president and provost in August 2008. In November 2010, Ortega was one of four finalists named a senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, but she was not selected.
In her last months at UNM, Ortega plans to focus on issues raised in academic self-studies, Schmidly’s e-mail said.
