Daily Lobo new mexico
Heading into spring
friday volume
see page 6
April 22, 2011
115
issue 142
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
schmidly to resign in june 2012 by Shaun Griswold shaun24@unm.edu
UNM president will step down after five years in office, may pursue teaching or research job
UNM President David Schmidly will not return to the University when his contract expires. Schmidly announced he will not renew his contract Thursday morning in a University wide e-mail. His fiveyear contract expires June 2012. “I just felt it was the right time to make the call,” he said in a Daily Lobo interview. “Why wait and wait and wait? I started thinking about it last fall, when I was so ill. There was some time in there I didn’t know if I would come back at all.”
“I faced some tough challenges and I persevered.” ~David Schmidly He reiterated that his health was not a factor in his decision. Schmidly, who is recovering from pancreatic cancer treatment that kept him absent during the entire fall 2010 semester, said he wants to spend more time with family and end his career as an educator. “My health is much better. It’s really heading in the right direction,” he said. “For 40 years, all I have done is higher education work. I got more books to write, more papers to write, and I like teaching. I always said I would not finish my career as a college president.” Schmidly said he is considering taking a faculty teaching position at UNM. Before he made the announcement to the University, Schmidly talked with Faculty Senate President Richard Wood. “He seemed quite at peace,” Wood said. “It sounds like he is ready to move on to another stage.” Schmidly said his decision will allow the University to find a replacement before he leaves. UNM won’t have to hire an interim president as a result of the transition. “I think this is a good decision for the president and the University,” Wood said. “This allows better than a year to find the next president and help move UNM forward.” The Board of Regents will select
see Schmidly page 5
Zach Gould / Daily Lobo UNM President David Schmidly reflects on his time as the University’s top administrator. Schmidly announced Thursday morning that he will not renew his contract when it expires in 2012.
Some highlights of President Schmidly’s UNM tenure: 2011
Jan. 30 Accused of rigging tumor $60 million bid to renovate May 3 Announces he
April 21 Announces he
the Pit
will leave UNM at end of five-year contract April 5 Suzanne Ortega leaves Provost position April 4 Carmen Alvarez Brown leaves Enrollment Management position
Jan. 4 Returns as UNM president
2010 Oct. 18 Appoints Dr. Paul Roth as acting president Aug. 22 Takes time off for
has tumor and will miss graduation April 12 UNM cuts vice president of Institutional Support Services March 11 Announces plan to reduce budget by more than $25 million
Feb. 9 Creates the “President’s Strategic Advisory Team” to draw input from the campus community on how to contain costs
Timeline continues on page 5
Environmental expo a blast with trash, bikes Students teach recycling skills, organize market by Kallie Red-Horse kallie69@unm.edu
Students played with garbage during UNM’s third annual Sustainability Expo. As part of the expo, UNM Recycling hosted a trash-sorting competition. The group dropped a pile of collected trash on a large tarp outside the SUB where students could compete in sorting out the recyclables for prizes. Sustainability student Melodie D’Amour said the competition taught students how to identify recyclable trash items. “We believe that one of the reasons that our program is not so effective here is that people are un-
clear of what they can recycle,” she said. “If we can bring that to light, it will motivate people to confidently be a part of the recycling community.” The expo also featured the Lobo Growers Market. Students organized the market as a project for a Sustainability Studies class. The market teaches students about sustainable methods of food production, student organizer Hiram Camp said. He said the market connects students to local producers. “It’s nice because we are the middle point of it — the epicenter,” he said. “There is information on the outside but once you walk through the middle you see all these products and people and all this food.” Other features of the expo included an alternative transportation fair and a UNM Police Department
Sasha Evangulova / Daily Lobo Margo Shuster rakes garbage in front of the SUB during the third annual Sustainability Expo. More than a dozen volunteers helped promote recycling at the event.
bicycle auction. Camp said the turnout for the market is encouraging. “The smell is delicious,” he said. “Food is something that is a necessity. If you don’t have food, you’re dead. We can drink dirty water for awhile, but if you don’t know how to grow your own food or you don’t know where it comes from, you’re out of luck.” Jessica Rowland, sustainability studies instructor, said she hopes the event will influence people to engage in community agriculture. “We really want to raise awareness about sustainability,” she said. “By having these events, we hope that students, staff, faculty and community members here on campus will learn more about sustainability issues, and why we should support local businesses and agriculture. It looks like it’s working.”