On Friday, May 15, the University of New Mexico announced that Steve Goldstein would be the next president of the University, succeeding outgoing president Garnett S. Stokes, who retires in July.
The announcement came after the UNM Board of Regents unanimously agreed to select Goldstein as the next president, and all five candidates had spoken at public forums between April 20 and May 13.
“I am delighted to welcome Steve Goldstein to the Lobo family,” Stokes told UNM Newsroom. “He inherits a university that is stronger, more innovative and more consequential to the people of New Mexico than ever before, and I have every confidence that he will build on that momentum in ways that will continue to benefit our students and our state for years to come.”
Goldstein is the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at the University of California, Irvine, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biochemistry from Brandeis University and a PhD in immunology from Harvard University, according to UC Irvine.
Goldstein’s public forum took place on Tuesday, May 12 at the Student Union Building, where UNM staff, faculty and students asked him questions and heard his visions and goals on a variety of issues, including funding sources, athletics and how UNM could serve the people of New Mexico.
“UNM has many distinctive strengths,” Goldstein said during his forum. “Whether it’s using telehealth to expand care to patients in rural communities, or to translate theoretical physics into nuclear national security capabilities at Sandia (National Laboratories), UNM’s faculty, students and staff excel at leveraging the unique aspects of New Mexico to create solutions.”
Some of Goldstein’s major priorities include healthcare education and research and Lobo athletics. He highlighted that New Mexico faces “significant health care challenges,” including rural access disparities and workforce shortages, and pushed for “strengthening alignment between the academic health system and the broader university.”
Goldstein said he views Lobo athletics as one of New Mexico’s “most visible brands,” with the potential to bring “visibility and pride” to the University in a way that “standard marketing” cannot replicate.
“When UNM is on the national stage, whether it’s athletics or discoveries or cultural innovations or leaderships, it elevates the visibility of the entire university,” Goldstein said.
UNM faculty member Nahir Otaño Gracia asked Goldstein about his preparedness to “lead and support” New Mexico’s diverse communities, including indigenous populations in their ancestral homelands, a large Latinx population, and a growing queer population.
Goldstein mentioned in response that he formed the Office of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence when he was provost at Brandeis University.
“This is an incredibly challenging time for anyone in the world — but certainly in this country — who isn’t white and cis and all of that stuff,” Goldstein said. “How can you feel safe and comfortable when people are telling you your value is less?”
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Incoming Graduate and Professional Student Association President, Marisa Page asked Goldstein how he would ensure that UNM “genuinely honors” its land acknowledgment.
Goldstein said he believes policies that affect Indigenous students or lands need to be a “collaborative process of discussion,” to not be performative, and that the University should invest in its programs like Native American Studies, so that “we put our money where our mouth is.”
“If we are studying Indigenous peoples, we should be doing that with and for — not looking at — the Indigenous people,” Goldstein said.
When it comes to faculty and graduate worker unions, Goldstein said he thinks faculty unions, specifically, are “essential,” and that both unions and institutions share the same goal of “respected and well-numerated” employees with attention paid to work-life balance.
“That, unfortunately, does not always play out before there’s a strike,” Goldstein said.
When asked about the investing in arts and culture at the University, Goldstein said that despite the need for investments in programs like STEM, it doesn’t mean the University can “uninvest” in things that “make us excited to be alive.”
Goldstein said that he thinks UNM’s superpower is its diversity, when addressing a question related to how he would support a discrimination- and harassment-free environment.
According to UNM News, UNM stands as one of the top 30 schools for LGBTQ students in the nation, and Goldstein was asked during the forum about how he would continue this standing.
“I think we need to be outspoken, but I always want to be careful about that in this day and age,” Goldstein said. “President Stokes has been very good at being bipartisan in her presentation to the world, because that’s what’s right for the university, because people of all spectra politically care about this university and want to support it and they should be invited to do so.”
Leila Chapa is the social media and photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
