UNM’s Academic Affairs Hosts Fourth Lecture Related to Academic Planning Efforts

The fourth of sev­eral pub­lic lec­tures in con­nec­tion with the activ­i­ties of the Uni­ver­sity Coun­cil on Aca­d­e­mic Pri­or­i­ties (UCAP) titled, “Evo­lu­tion or Rev­o­lu­tion in America’s Uni­ver­si­ties” fea­turing Pres­i­dent Emer­i­tus, Larry R. Faulkner, of the Uni­ver­sity of Texas at Austin, Fri­day, April 6 at 3:30 p.m. in the Sci­ence, Math & Learn­ing Cen­ter audi­to­rium on main campus. A pub­lic recep­tion will follow. 

“His per­spec­tive on the evo­lu­tion and rev­o­lu­tion of uni­ver­si­ties in Amer­ica will add to the great con­ver­sa­tion the uni­ver­sity com­mu­nity has engaged in about the future of UNM.  I encour­age every­one within the uni­ver­sity com­mu­nity to attend Dr. Faulkner’s lec­ture and con­tinue the con­ver­sa­tion about our university’s future,” said Provost Chaouki Abdallah.

Larry Faulkner received a B.S. degree from South­ern Methodist Uni­ver­sity in 1966 and received his Ph.D. in chem­istry in 1969 from UT Austin. Faulkner became pres­i­dent of UT Austin in 1998 and served into 2006.  His other appoint­ments include serv­ing on the chem­istry fac­ul­ties at Har­vard Uni­ver­sity, the Uni­ver­sity of Illi­nois and the Uni­ver­sity of Texas.  At Illi­nois, he was also head of the Depart­ment of Chem­istry, dean of the Col­lege of Lib­eral Arts & Sci­ences, and provost and vice chan­cel­lor for Aca­d­e­mic Affairs.  From 2006 until just recently, he was pres­i­dent of Hous­ton Endowment.

While pres­i­dent at UT Austin, he over­saw a seven-year cap­i­tal cam­paign that raised over $1.6 bil­lion. He also appointed and sup­ported the work of the Com­mis­sion of 125, a cit­i­zens’ group that pro­vided guid­ance on the future of the Uni­ver­sity and its rela­tion­ship to the pub­lic. Other sig­nif­i­cant achieve­ments included the devel­op­ment of the Blan­ton Museum of Art, the acqui­si­tion of the Suida-Manning Col­lec­tion of Euro­pean Art and the Woodward-Bernstein Water­gate Archive, and the cre­ation of inno­v­a­tive schol­ar­ship pro­grams that helped to restore UT’s minor­ity stu­dent enrollment.

The Uni­ver­sity Coun­cil on Aca­d­e­mic Pri­or­i­ties (UCAP) is a group of fac­ulty, admin­is­tra­tors and stu­dents work­ing with the Provost to iden­tify the prin­ci­ple fea­tures of the con­text of higher edu­ca­tion in the coun­try, and for UNM to come up with pos­si­ble sets of alter­na­tive aca­d­e­mic direc­tions. The effort is con­ceived as a pre­lude to more for­mal aca­d­e­mic plan­ning that will set goals and make defin­i­tive plans.

For more infor­ma­tion on the lec­ture, con­tact Lau­ren Liwski at 277‑2611 or e-mail, lr4343@unm.edu.