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Monday, August 13, 2018 | Vo l u m e 1 2 3 | I s s u e 1
UNM researchers study meteorite
UNM’s Distinguished Professor positions dominated by males By Derek Olsen
By Mikhaela Smith
@Derek_Olsen2117
@MikhaelaSmith18
A list of Distinguished Professors on the Provost’s website shows that since the 2004-2005 academic year, the University of New Mexico has promoted 92 professors to this rank. Out of those 92, 16 of them are women. Dr. Alex Lubin said the Office of the Provost is fully aware of this disparity and its employees are working to remedy it. Lubin is the associate provost for faculty development. He has been with UNM since 2002, when he was an assistant professor in the Department of American Studies. One of his responsibilities includes managing the Distinguished Professor process. The provost has the final say in the process, but no one in the office decides who the nominations are. “The structural issue here is that there is a disparity between how many female and male associate professors are promoted to full professors,” Lubin said. Lubin said since women typically spend longer than men at the associate professor position, there are more men to choose from. Lubin said that the distinguished
Researchers at the University of New Mexico, NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Arizona State University recently had their research titled Silica-rich volcanism in the Early Solar System Dated at 4.565 Ga published in Nature Communications after uncovering the oldest igneous meteorite on record. The meteorite, known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 11119, is 4.6 billion years old, making it 65 million years older than Earth and 2 million years younger than the earliest fragments of the solar system, according to UNM professor and Director of the Institute of Meteoritics Carl Agee. The rock was found by a nomad in Mauritania, Africa and sold to a meteorite dealer who sent a piece of it Agee. “It was a beautiful sample,” Agee said. “It was strikingly beautiful in color and it sparkled. So I thought, ‘Oh this is a gorgeous rock sample, but I kind of doubt if it’s a meteorite.’” Despite his initial doubts, Agee did an electron microprobe analysis of the sample, which suggested that it was in fact a meteorite.
Mikhaela Smith / Daily Lobo / @MikhaelaSmith18
professor process has no ties with Title IX; it’s up to the departments to nominate those who deserve this distinction. “It’s not exactly a Title IX issue,” Lubin said. “It’s not so much a discrimination issue as how bias plays a role in everyday life.” Lubin said he and his colleagues are working to raise the number of female distinguished professors, and it all starts with helping the associate professors. “We recognize this as an issue at UNM, and (in) society,” Lubin said. “We are mentoring female professors in the associated position and making sure the department heads
are well trained in gender bias.” These changes have received the appreciation of Barbara McCrady and Julia Fulghum. McCrady received her B.A. in biology from Purdue University and her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Rhode Island. She entered UNM as a distinguished professor in 2007. McCrady said she was surprised when she learned about the disparity. “UNM has been great at supporting women and has more women in leadership roles than
see
Professors page 7
Courtesy Photo / Carl Agee.
“Based on the initial results of that, it pointed me in the direction that it was indeed a meteorite,” he said. “It was exciting, because it was a meteorite that just looked like nothing else I have ever seen before.” Agee gave the sample to Poorna Srinivasan, a planetary geology graduate student, to study as part of her thesis. “I told her, ‘Well if this turns out to be a meteorite it will be a good one,’” he said. “It’s going to be very interesting.” With the help of NASA, Srinivasan found that the composition of
see
Meteorite page 5
AG says Board of Regents Violated OMA By Danielle Prokop @ProkopDani The New Mexico Attorney General’s office sent a letter to the University of New Mexico stating last month’s Board of Regents meeting to cut sports “violated” the state’s Open Meetings Act (OMA). In response, the University said it did nothing wrong. “Although this issue is moot in light of the upcoming meeting and agenda, the University would nevertheless like to address the alleged non-compliance because (1) it was never the University's intent to be vague or overly broad in the agenda item and (2) the University believes that the agenda item complied with the guidance provided by the AG Compliance Guide,” Associate University Counsel Patrick Hart wrote in a letter. The letter called for the Attorney General to “reconsider his conclusions and rescind” the prior letter. While the letter does not specify a date for the special meeting, it says it will be held in the next fifteen days, in compliance with the Attorney General’s Office directive. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, a Board of Regents meeting will be held in Ballroom C at 9 a.m. No revote was mentioned on the agenda for Tues-
Danielle Prokop / Daily Lobo / @ProkopDani
Lobo men’s soccer players scramble for the ball during summer practice, captured August 10, 2018. Men’s soccer was one of four sports defunded by the University of New Mexico last month.
day’s meeting. On Wednesday, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office wrote an opinion addressing two complaints filed in the wake of the contentious decision to cut four sports and drastically alter the rosters of two more. “Based on our review…we have
On the Daily Lobo website
determined that the Board violated OMA and failed to provide the public with meaningful notice of the Board’s intention to vote on matters pertaining to the defunding of four athletic programs,” the letter said. The letter leveled that the Board of Regents’ agenda item for the July
meeting “lacked specificity” mandated by OMA. “The term “Discussion and Action on Athletics” is broad enough to encompass virtually any conceivable action or discussion related to any aspect of UNM’s various athletics programs,” the letter continued.
The letter quotes the broad policy of the Open Meetings Act, which reads, “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government.” The University removed men’s soccer, the diving portion of women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s skiing and beach volleyball. The plan jointly presented by President Garnett Stokes and Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez said to alleviate financial pressure and address Title IX compliance within UNM Athletics. Eight of past ten fiscal years, the department has operated in a deficit, which ballooned to $4.7 million dollars in 2018. Reporter Geoff Grammer wrote in Wednesday’s Albuquerque Journal that UNM Athletics will narrowly operate in the black for fiscal year 2018, due to nearly $2 million in one-time donations. The Daily Lobo has not yet received a response from the University’s Board of Regents. The AG’s letter was addressed to UNM attorney Kevin Gick who is the governmental investigations liaison. The Attorney General’s Office said if the 15 day requirement for a new meeting is unmet it may “sub-
see Letter page
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