UNM president Robert Frank
Daily Lobo: What have you done to get acquainted with the University and your new position as president at UNM?
Robert Frank: It seems like a blur of meetings right now. When you come in, I grew up in New Mexico but I’ve been gone forever, so I don’t really know a lot of people here that I need to know. So it’s really just a process of getting to know the people here and what they’re trying to do and accomplish and how I can be helpful to them, and getting a clearer understanding of the challenges they see for their part of the University. It’s a huge place, and by the time you go from the north campus to the south campus and everything in between, there’s a ton to learn.
And then of course, UNM has very dynamic streams, if you will, out into northern and central New Mexico as well as the rest of the state. So it’s all of these different people and understanding what they need from the University. Basically it’s just a lot of hearing what people are interested in and hearing out what they need and how I can help them.
DL: How will you make yourself accessible to hearing the needs of the University?
RF: I want to be as accessible as any human can be. The way we’ve done it thus far is that we’ve tried to be very open to requests and not censor requests, if you will, we don’t judge whether we think that’s a useful appointment, we just try to meet with everybody that wants to spend time with me. At some point though, you reach the point where there are no more hours in the day and we’ll have to prioritize and we’re getting close to that right now.
But in terms of guaranteeing access as we go on, I’ll meet with student groups, I’ll talk to the leaders of student government about which student groups to meet with and I’ll try and keep a routine schedule so I’m interacting with students. I’ve certainly been talking to both graduate and undergraduate student leadership so far to hear what they’re interested in. With regards to the community, it’s the same kind of process of trying to find the people who can represent broad views and meet with them as often as possible. I’ve been talking with both the GPSA and ASUNM president, the former presidents and the current presidents on and off ever since I was appointed, and as school reconvenes I’ll meet with them more to hear their needs and concerns.
DL: What are some of the concerns that have been brought to your attention so far?
RF: Two things have come up most. One is obviously affordability and keeping college affordable and the challenges students face trying to work their way through college, which a lot of our students do pay for their college. And the second issue I’ve heard a lot about is student input into shared governance. Students want to preserve some of the processes that were created that let students have a voice in the budget.
DL: What have you struggled with most so far?
RF: I wouldn’t say I’m struggling with anything except there’s just so much; the University is so big and there are so many people involved, and there are so many complex tasks the University does — trying to get a good appreciation of it all has been the hardest part.
DL: What are you looking forward to for the upcoming school year?
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RF: I’m looking for all of the students coming back. It’s been nice. When the summer semester started, it was nice to see more students. I’m looking forward to the start of the fall term and becoming a fully vibrant and alive campus. And it’s really nice, every day I get to know a few more people and I’m looking forward to the point where I know most of the people I encounter.
ASUNM president Caroline Muraida
Daily Lobo: What are some of your goals for your term?
Caroline Muraida: I would say communication is the first and foremost goal, because whatever other objectives we seek to accomplish as an organization means so much more if we’re able to communicate them to the rest of the student body. Overall, I want each agency to develop, to grow and to strengthen, that’s internal. I want to be able to work with the senators collaboratively. Also, the SFRB (Student Fee Review Board) policy and working to lead the board as chair into a more stable state and guiding the new student regent. As far as my legislative initiatives at the state level, we have a longer legislative session this year. I’m really excited to be working with the Office of Government Relations and with our own agency for governmental affairs. We’ve got some big issues — it’s an election year, we have a new president at UNM and it’s an intense time for change and I’m really excited about that.
DL: What changes are you looking forward to?
CM: I think we grow from change even though it’s not always easy. I’m really looking forward to more open communication. It’s not something that’s going to change immediately. We have these 800 to 1,000 new students on campus next year and I’m excited to see how the school’s climate will change.
DL: What is the biggest struggle you’ve faced in preparing for the upcoming school year?
CM: I would say there are two. I have to acknowledge the temporal nature of this position. I have a year to do everything that’s required and fulfill my personal goals. I have to figure out how we’re going to grow our agencies and address legislative initiatives, and when that year is over I have to make sure there’s longevity to these projects so that I’m not leaving the next president with confusion.
I think this summer I’ve spent most of my time preparing every day. I can’t foresee what the school year will look like, but I can prepare myself by doing research on some of the bigger issues, like the Student Fee Review Board and looking at what student fees have looked like in the past at UNM and at other institutions around the nation.
GPSA president Marisa Silva
Daily Lobo: What have you done this summer to prepare yourself for the school year?
Marisa Silva: As soon as I took office, one of the first projects was to compile a list, with the aid of outgoing GPSA administration, of departments, universitywide committees, and the people serving on those committees, and meeting with those people to have formal introductions to establish relationships with them.
With a one-year term, I have to be very preemptive, to ensure I establish those relationships in such a short time frame. And that list is constantly modified as additional contacts are found. I’m still in the process of reading last year’s files, but as soon as I was elected, I did begin to participate in different committees, for example the Student Fee Review Board. I did attend those late meetings, along with ASUNM President Caroline Muraida, to promote continuity in this hallmark organization of UNM. I’ve attended both public and private institutions in New Mexico and there’s no level of student participation that mirrors UNM’s.
DL: What have you struggled with the most so far?
MS: I already began to address what I think is one of the biggest struggles of becoming a president, and that is getting to know the resources, the people, and all the departments, and to situate yourself in this environment, which is essentially a small town of about 25,000 or more people. To sort of situate myself in that environment and learn where things are located, what is available, what are the programs and studies, and really identifying all the key programs and players, I think is a great challenge but I’ve already been well underway. I think that I am still working to remedy any person who I have not yet met or any program or organization that I’m not yet familiar with. That’s been my homework this summer.
I’ve sort of undertaken, but haven’t completed yet, a meet-and-greet campaign to physically visit facilities and become as familiar as possible with even the day-to-day details of student life. For example, I had a tour of the Johnson Center, which I’ve visited many times as a student and as a community member, but I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with the administration official at the center and found out what the upcoming projects are and about the struggles and history in terms of current and past projects. But it’s underway and I feel I’ve already worked to become familiar and be the best conduit for students to access information and resources through this office.
DL: What is one of the weaknesses you’ve found so far at the University that needs to be addressed?
MS: I would say that a weakness that kind of affects the entire community, but is generally outside of our control, is fiscal restraints.
What I see is a tremendous amount of individuals who are working as faculty, administration and students, who all have amazing visions for this University and for the future, and have the capacity to fulfill that vision, but there are some budget constraints. We can’t generate revenue in a barely recovering economy, and so I think that’s a struggle for the University. How are we going to retain students during the recovery after a huge financial crisis? How are we going to retain and graduate all of this talent?
