The faculty appeared split on whether to vote no confidence in President David Schmidly and Executive Vice President David Harris at its meeting in Popejoy Hall on Wednesday. The Faculty Governance Committee said it will announce the results of the vote by noon today.
Despite the hiring freeze at UNM, applicants are still being considered for director of Admissions, a position deemed "mission-critical" by the Provost's Office. However, at least three candidates who have been offered the position have turned it down. Vice President of Enrollment Management Carmen Alvarez Brown interviewed Richard Matthew Hulett last week, and he declined the position.
The Daily Lobo asks you: Are you going to today's faculty meeting?
UNM has invited former Mexican President Vicente Fox to deliver the 2009 commencement address. Some campus groups are taking issue with the choice, citing allegations of human-rights abuses during Fox's tenure as president. The selection of Fox as commencement speaker coincides with an agreement signed between UNM and Centro Fox, the former president's public policy and educational institute.
UNM is adding three degree programs for the next academic year. A bachelor of fine arts degree in film and digital media will begin accepting students this fall. A teaching certificate in biomedical sciences and a master's of science for physician assistants will also begin accepting applicants.
One of UNM's oldest programs is poised to mail rejection letters to all applicants seeking Ph.D.s from UNM. Hispanic Linguistics, one of three graduate programs overseen by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, is losing its only full-time linguistics professor to Penn State.
Daily Lobo: How long have you been biking? Stephen Webb: Probably for, like, the last two years. Seriously, like, the stuff that I'm doing, the stuff that I'm doing is called trials. DL: What does that mean? SW: It's kind of like an urban sport, an urban type of biking where the rider tries to use urban obstacles as his course, so there's a lot of technical stuff.
UNM department chairs are grappling with a large deficit that threatens to reduce the amount of overhead return they receive on grant money for years to come. The $4.4 million deficit was created under the direction of Terry Yates, former vice president for Research and Economic Development.
Student Heath and Counseling will hold a body image screening today as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. "Appearance is a big deal, and it is OK to feel good about your appearance and take time to look good and feel good," said Jessica Spurrier, health education manager.
Sammy Hayes could barely hold back tears when she spoke of her late husband, a former employee at Los Alamos National Laboratories. "When you watch somebody you love die, you want to take somebody out and wring their neck because you know in your heart they were exposed to stuff that causes three separate cancers," she said.
One of UNM's students is a nationally recognized rock climbing champion. Sophomore Page Brown was featured on the TV series "The Real Winning Edge" on My50-TV on Sunday. She was named national champion for females aged 18 to 19 in rock climbing in the summer of 2007.
Regents President Jamie Koch said in an interview Friday that he arrived at $94,000 as the average faculty salary by factoring in retirement benefits. Faculty members called for Koch to check his facts after he cited the figure in an open letter to the community Feb.
The Student Fee Review Board, which drafted its final recommendations on Friday, is stuck between a rock and a hard place: the depressed economy and shallow pockets of college students. As departments face the possibility of receiving less funding from the State, many have asked for increases in their SFRB funding.
How do you feel about the Health Department cracking down on Food Not Bombs serving meals without a permit? Cameron Eklund Senior Nutrition "I don't understand why they would care so much if it was free. If no one's making money, then I don't really see the point in cracking down on it.
Hundreds of students have decided to take a full load of courses and save money, even if they have to commute between two campuses to do it. Kathleen O'Keefe, UNM Financial Aid director, said the number of consortium agreements turned in by UNM students has increased from 632 last year to 745 this year.
President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill into law on Tuesday in what is being hailed as a landmark achievement. The 1,073-page bill package includes $308.3 billion in spending, $267 billion for social services, and $212 billion in tax breaks.
Albuquerque's Food Not Bombs chapter said UNMPD ordered the group to stop distributing food to students and community members on Friday, citing a city ordinance that prohibits serving without a license. But UNMPD spokeswoman Christine Chester said the department doesn't have a record of the incident.
Students can take anonymous mental health assessments on Student Health and Counseling's Web site. The series of self-assessments presents questions to students regarding bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress. They are available at Shac.
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