DAILY LOBO new mexico
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June 18-24 2012
summer The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Incoming president talks diversity, challenges Because he wasn’t available to talk to a reporter in person, The Daily Lobo conducted an interview via email with UNM President Robert Frank, who took office June 1. We discussed topics like ethnic studies, Athletics and media relations: Daily Lobo: What is the biggest challenge you face and how do you plan to face it? UNM President Robert Frank: My biggest challenge is finding a way to allow UNM to thrive and grow as a university, and to find a way to help students become so involved in their own education that they are willing to put in the effort it takes to succeed and graduate. DL: What changes can students expect to see this coming semester and within the next school year? RF: Students will not see great change at UNM in the fall semester. I am taking this opportunity to learn about the University and the community. At least one change students can expect in the spring semester is the opening of the Math Emporium in Centennial Library. That will be a place students taking Math 120 and 121 can go to get help and to practice math problems. It is crucial that we find a way to help more students succeed in our basic math courses.
DL: ASUNM President Caroline Muraida stressed a need for better communication between the administration and the student body. How will you increase communication and include the student voice in future decisions? RF: I will follow President Schmidly’s efforts to make the budget process as transparent as possible and to include student input in a significant way. I am also in the process of listening to student input. Any student can fill out my survey right now and begin to talk about what they want to see work better at UNM. DL: Former President Schmidly banned media presence at meetings between his office and (un)Occupy protesters. How will you improve UNM’s relationship with the media? RF: UNM has an excellent relationship with the individual media that cover us on a regular basis. I expect that to continue. DL: This summer UNM published the salary book online, but only about a year and a half after the first of three GPSA recommendations. How are you going to increase transparency? RF: The second phase of financial information will be placed on UNM’s Sunshine Portal as soon as we can alter our internal operating systems to allow a way to share that information.
It can take a long time to alter information technology systems so we can share the information easily. DL: The Athletics department is $1.5 million in debt and students will pay an additional $50 in student fees to fund Athletics next year. How will you ensure that student fees won’t continue to increase so drastically for any department? RF: I will work with the regents and all parts of the University community as we move through the budget process this year. DL: Arizona law HB 2281 shut down ethnic studies programs at K-12 schools across Arizona in 2010. How will you protect ethnic studies and diversity at UNM? RF: I am listening now to input about the importance of our ethnic studies programs. This is part of the information I am thinking about as we consider the future of UNM and how to make the most of our important programs. DL: There’s been concern about a “bottleneck effect” with advisement, and students have said that advising they receive has been inadequate and misleading. How will you improve the advisement practices at UNM? RF: We are continuing to hire advisers as we improve the advisement process. This is an area in
Adria Malcolm / Daily Lobo UNM President Robert Frank will learn as much as possible about UNM through a student survey he created to better understand the University and those who attend it. Frank says one of his first goals is to improve students’ success in Math 120 and 121. which the provost is charting the course for improvement. DL: UNM’s six-year graduation rate is 45 percent, which is less than the national average of 55 percent. How do you plan to increase that rate? RF: The first major change students will see is the opening of the Math Emporium in spring 2013, but I am listening now to suggestions of ways to improve our graduation rate. Again, I invite all suggestions for improvement
and ask everyone to fill out a survey at: https://esurvey6.unm.edu/opinio/ s?s=newpres2012 (or follow the QR code).
~Svetlana Ozden
Regents raise cost Youth camp overcomes cuts of health insurance by Avicra Luckey
avicraluckey@gmail.com
by Svetlana Ozden sozden@unm.edu
Students who purchase health insurance from UNM will pay 22 percent more next year. At a June 12 Board of Regents meeting, regents approved the increase in health insurance costs. Health insurance premiums at UNM will increase by about $300, to about $1,700 annually, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The Journal also reported that about 2,000 students are covered by UNM’s insurance program.
New adult-care hospital
The Board of Regents unanimously approved a $146 million adult-care hospital. In a presentation at the meeting, Chief Executive Officer of UNM Hospitals Steve McKernan said the six-story, 96-bed hospital will be 185,000 square feet and will be located on the west end of the Health Sciences Center. He said the hospital will open in July 2014 pending approval from the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the State Board of Finance. McKernan said the additions are necessary because space limitations often cause the hospital to turn away patients, and the average emergency room wait time for an inpatient bed is
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24 to 36 hours. “Frequently, we have to kick emergency room patients off the bed,” he said. “We’re in a situation where we can’t see patients as the statewide agreements … so many patients receive their care out-of-state.” In the presentation, McKernan said UNMH sees about 90,000 emergency patients a year and that the hospital runs at a 95 percent occupancy rate. He said the additional 96 beds will allow the hospital to use emergency hospital beds for emergency cases. According to the presentation, the hospital will include six operating rooms, radiology services, laboratory services, an inpatient pharmacy and respiratory therapy and support services. The project includes an additional 65,000 square foot building that will be built next door to the hospital to include an eye clinic and cardiovascular clinic. According to the presentation, contract negotiations have begun with Bradbury Stamm, a general building contractor company, as the construction manager at risk. The company will advise the University throughout the construction process and will allow the project to stay on schedule by reducing conflicts during construction.
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Despite losing federal funding six years ago, A Healthy U at the U, a summer youth sports camp at UNM, has been able to sustain itself while helping Albuquerque kids stay in shape. Project Director Gary Sanchez said that when federal funding was still available, the program received about $92,000 from the government and was able to take the camp members on field trips and buy more equipment and supplies. He said the program’s budget is now about $60,000. Sanchez said that when the program was government-funded, guidelines stipulated that 90 percent of the youth participants had to come from economically disadvantaged families. He said this meant that many children attended for free. He said that because of the funding cuts, the program now uses a sliding scale to determine how much the program will cost each participant. He said the sliding scale takes family size and income into account to determine how much participants pay. Sanchez said the amount can vary from $10 to $200 to participate in the program. He said although funding is unstable, about 220 kids are participating in the program this summer. Sanchez said the program began 40 years ago as part of the National Youth Sports Program. He said UNM participated initially with 200 other college campuses, but with the loss of funding, the program has had to cut activities and has been forced to fundraise for itself.
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Sanchez said the lack of funds is one of the hardest hits the program has taken. He said funding cuts forced the program to end bus programs to take children to and from campus. “Our numbers were very high, our average daily attendance was 385 kids,” he said. “As funding was cut, we had to make decisions and it slowly crept downwards on how much were able to fund each year, so the funding is considerably lower and we are not busing kids,” he said. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of obese children 6-11 years old increased from seven percent in 1980 to 20 percent in 2008. The CDC recommends healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and exercise as ways to prevent obesity in children as well as adults. Sanchez said that with childhood obesity rates climbing and “hostile eating environments,” in which Americans can eat whatever they want, whenever they want, programs like A Healthy U are important for Albuquerque children. Sanchez said that in the past, the program was based on physical activity and health education, but in more recent years they have added a science component to increase the diversity of the program. “We try to do a lot of different hands-on things,” he said. “We’ve had people from Sandia Labs the last two years come in and they’ve (talked) about nano science. We’ll also bring in a dentist to talk about the health of their teeth. This year we have people coming in and talking about ultraviolet rays and things with the skin.”
Highland High School teacher Meghan Pope will teach science at the camp this year. She said although there is no official curriculum, she teaches the children a wide array of science-related topics. “I just think it’s fun to expose the kids to all aspects of science,” she said. “We’ve done physics already, we’ve done a lot of health and anatomy, so we’re kind of just sparking their interests in all aspects of science.” Pope said the program provides more than just a way to keep kids busy during the summer — it creates activities that will teach children skills and information they can use for a lifetime. “What I want to do is be able to teach them something that they’re going to know for the rest of their lives,” she said. “I think that’s why this program is so important: because we’re teaching them how to be healthy and why it’s important to stay active.”
For more information on A Healthy U at the U please visit: coe.unm.edu click the Departments and Programs tab, click on The Department of Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences, then click the A Healthy U at the U tab on the left or call 277-5151.
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