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Robert George Frank sat on a chair in his office in Scholes Hall on a cloudy Friday afternoon. He had just been asked what the best thing about leading UNM is. Perhaps puzzled, his forehead furrowed a little.
“Just one thing?” Frank joked. “I’ve never really thought about it. You get a really nice parking space?”
He then let out a contagious laugh.
Frank, 61, recently ended the first year of his term as the 21st president of the University on June 1. Frank, who snagged the seat from former president David Schmidly, said his position requires him to get involved in every aspect of the University.
And he loves it, he said.
“The best thing is just you get to know the people and have access to the entire University,” he said. “It sort of gives you a passport to the entire University. As a president, you’re part of everything, so it’s a really nice part of the world.”
A three-time UNM alumnus to be University president, Frank obtained his bachelor’s in psychology in 1974, his masters in the same field in 1977 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1979.
He then went on to teach clinical psychology at the University of Florida and to be appointed provost at Kent State University in July 2007.
He helped to establish schools of public health at both universities before moving back to UNM.
Frank lives in University House on campus with his wife Janet. He said his wife shares his heavy workload.
“Most of the time she does University stuff. She helps me,” he said. “The thing about being a president is that it’s not a one-person job. Almost everywhere I go, Janet’s with me. We have dinner parties and social events, and we’re both involved.”
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Frank has two sons. Daniel, 26, lives in California and works for Relativity Media. Brian, 23, just graduated college and is an intern at the Cleveland Clinic. Frank also has Labrador Retrievers named Lobo and Bailey.
But despite providing a sweet parking space, Frank said being the University’s president is very demanding. He said he finds it difficult to keep track of people in his job.
“The worst part about it is that everybody knows you and you don’t know everybody,” he said. “It’s so easy to make mistakes. You walk by somebody, and … they would think you don’t like them. But maybe you’re just in a bad mood because you stubbed your toe or something. If you don’t pay attention, you can hurt people’s feelings without wanting to.”
Frank said in his free time, he likes to read and ride his bike. He said he is a fan of dogs, “mindless movies and books” and old-time music.
“I listen to music my parents liked a lot when I was growing up,” he said. “My mom and dad just played music all the time. I listen to a lot of jazz, classics and things like that.”
On Wednesday, Frank and his wife will leave for London for a 10-day vacation. He said he is looking forward to it.
