President Frank’s Weekly Perspective — 7.30.12

President’s Weekly Per­spec­tive — 7.30.12

Good morn­ing.

The recent mon­soons pro­vided a wel­come respite in New Mexico’s hot, dry sum­mer – reviv­ing our thirsty envi­ron­ment and spurring a growth of green in the high desert. Like any ecosys­tem, there exists inter­de­pen­dency for con­tin­ued sur­vival, such as rain for growth. If we look at UNM as its own ecosys­tem, it depends upon a com­plex sys­tem of human, social, intel­lec­tual and finan­cial cap­i­tal to sur­vive and thrive as an insti­tu­tion. It is quickly appar­ent that what affects one part of the Uni­ver­sity, affects the whole in some way.

Grow­ing a Rain­for­est
I have been read­ing a book rec­om­mended to me by Lisa Kuut­tila, pres­i­dent and CEO of STC.UNM. It’s titled, “The Rain­for­est: The Secret to Build­ing the Next Sil­i­con Val­ley,” — The Rain For­est Book — and is a story in which authors and ven­ture cap­i­tal­ists Vic­tor Hwang and Greg Horowitz com­pare the rapid blos­som­ing of Sil­i­con Val­ley to the spon­ta­neous sprout­ing con­di­tions of the rain­for­est. This frag­ile, diver­gent envi­ron­ment does not con­trol or plan the emer­gence of new species, but rather cre­ates con­di­tions that allow the ecosys­tem to spawn robust life forms that com­pete suc­cess­fully in unimag­ined ways. Like­wise, Hwang and Horowitz argue that human con­nec­tiv­ity is key to build­ing com­mu­ni­ties that enhance the meld­ing of sci­ence and inno­va­tion to cre­ate new busi­ness and oppor­tu­nity. As we strive increase our rel­e­vance in the world of dis­cov­ery and inno­va­tion, I envi­sion UNM as such a place: a place where peo­ple from vastly dif­fer­ent back­grounds, cul­tures and places come together to build envi­ron­ments that sup­port inter­re­lated com­mu­ni­ties of intel­lec­tual and social progress.

Cel­e­brat­ing the Next Gen­er­a­tion of Sci­en­tific Dis­cov­ery
Last week, Pres­i­dent Obama rec­og­nized two indi­vid­u­als from the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico, Justin Hagerty and Fran­cis McCub­bin, who are mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in research — PECASE Award. These two sci­en­tists, includ­ing Hagerty, an alum­nus with three UNM degrees and cur­rently a research geol­o­gist with the U.S. Geo­log­i­cal Sur­vey, and McCub­bin, a senior research sci­en­tist in the Depart­ment of Earth and Plan­e­tary Sci­ences here at UNM, were among 96 researchers named as recip­i­ents of the 2011 Pres­i­den­tial Early Career Awards for Sci­en­tists and Engi­neers (PECASE). The PECASE is the high­est honor bestowed by the U.S. Gov­ern­ment upon these early pro­fes­sion­als in the for­ma­tive stage of their inde­pen­dent research. I echo the President’s acknowl­edge­ment of what these early accom­plish­ments can do to strengthen our eco­nomic growth through sci­ence and tech­nol­ogy advance­ments, and that through their research, these indi­vid­u­als will make a dif­fer­ence in our world.

New Pres­i­dents’ Per­spec­tives
I had the oppor­tu­nity last week to meet incom­ing and new pres­i­dents from a num­ber of uni­ver­si­ties, large and small, at the Amer­i­can Coun­cil on Edu­ca­tion (ACE) Insti­tute for New Pres­i­dents in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. It was invig­o­rat­ing and inspir­ing to see the enthu­si­asm and knowl­edge base we all bring to our respec­tive insti­tu­tions. One over­rid­ing com­mon­al­ity we all acknowl­edge is rec­og­niz­ing the par­a­digm shifts we are see­ing in higher edu­ca­tion, espe­cially with respect to how we finance and deliver that edu­ca­tion. We must pre­pare for and embrace change, because it is com­ing whether we are ready or not. Some of the tra­di­tional mod­els of long delib­er­a­tion that have been part of our insti­tu­tional oper­a­tion may not sur­vive in the rapidly mov­ing cul­ture that is now an indis­putable way of life. Our chal­lenge is to make those forces work for us, not against us – to mesh together the best of both tra­di­tion and tran­si­tion. The issue of how we are going to really rein­vent our­selves to meet this chal­lenge needs to be addressed through ideas that reach out­side our exist­ing bound­aries – after all, we are a com­mu­nity of crit­i­cal
thinkers.

Mechan­ics of Change
One mech­a­nism we are using to meet that chal­lenge of this par­a­digm shift is UNM2020. As the fall semes­ter begins and the cam­pus is once again in full aca­d­e­mic swing, there will be sev­eral oppor­tu­ni­ties for com­mu­nity input, both phys­i­cal ses­sions as well as vir­tual. This is a dynam­ic­model for strate­gic plan­ning. The data received from the sur­vey that ended in June in which many of you par­tic­i­pated, is cur­rently being ana­lyzed. Emerg­ing from the more than 1,200 responses received are sev­eral themes that will be used to focus my actions and deci­sions as Pres­i­dent. A resound­ing mes­sage through­out your responses is for me to be vis­i­ble, to be hon­est, to be open and approach­able. To that, I read­ily com­mit. Over the next month, broader input will be solicited through a com­mu­nity ques­tion­naire, which is cur­rently being devel­oped. Addi­tional details and links will be pro­vided as these instru­ments come online.

Com­mit­ted to a Bet­ter Lobo Expe­ri­ence
As the new semes­ter arrives, UNM will more than dou­ble the num­ber of stu­dents on cam­pus with the open­ing of Casas del Rios hous­ing join­ing Lobo Vil­lage, now in its sec­ond year. This type of rapid growth on cam­pus requires that we assess the issues that arise along the way, some stem­ming from hav­ing a non-traditional hous­ing model as part of res­i­dent life. It is an ongo­ing dynamic process for us to address con­cerns that arise stem­ming from alco­hol use, noise, and other dis­rup­tive actions, and then to be proac­tive in head­ing off poten­tial prob­lems. Stu­dents
liv­ing in this new envi­ron­ment have a respon­si­bil­ity to bal­ance their own pri­vacy with respect for their neigh­bors. The Uni­ver­sity and our part­ner in this new hous­ing ven­ture, Amer­i­can Col­lege Cam­puses, have a respon­si­bil­ity to ensure that we actively respond to all issues con­cern­ing the safety and secu­rity of our students.

Account­abil­ity Begins at the Top
The effects of the much pub­li­cized and perused Freeh report that was com­mis­sioned by the Penn State Board of Trustees in the wake of the recent scan­dal are far reach­ing. Another demon­stra­tion that what affects one part of the Uni­ver­sity, affects the whole in some way. It is a reminder to each of us, regard­less of our posi­tion, that we are account­able for our actions and obser­vances. This Uni­ver­sity must con­tinue to fos­ter a cul­ture of open­ness, respect and truth at every level. It is under these con­di­tions that the peo­ple of UNM can have the free­dom that allows for unre­stricted growth.

Have a great week and Go Lobos!

Bob