President Frank’s Weekly Perspective — 2.11.2013

Good morn­ing.

The Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico is a remark­able cam­pus that has often been called a city within the city, and inte­gral to its oper­a­tion is a com­mit­ted and ded­i­cated staff who cares deeply for the safety and pro­tec­tion of our stu­dents. The recent attacks on two female stu­dents on cam­pus are deeply dis­turb­ing to me. As the pres­i­dent of this uni­ver­sity and as one who also lives on cam­pus with my fam­ily, I am com­mit­ted to doing every­thing in my power to ensure that safety con­tin­ues to be a top pri­or­ity. I under­stand that the fre­quency of these inci­dents over the past two weeks may be a source of anx­i­ety and also may raise ques­tions about what we are doing to try to pre­vent such events from hap­pen­ing. Your safety is of the utmost impor­tance to the Uni­ver­sity, and there are things we are doing to respond. We are sig­nif­i­cantly increas­ing our UNM police and secu­rity pres­ence and patrols, and are in the process of devel­op­ing a Sex­ual Assault Response Team (SART) for UNM. Please visit Cam­pus Safety to keep apprised of updated ini­tia­tives and noti­fi­ca­tions, as well as find avail­able cam­pus resources.

A spe­cial thank you to all who par­tic­i­pated in the cam­pus safety forum last Fri­day. As was pas­sion­ately stated by GPSA pres­i­dent Marisa Silva, this is a com­mu­nity issue. To that end, it is essen­tial that every mem­ber of the cam­pus com­mu­nity take a per­sonal role in cam­pus safety. We can all be more aware of and sen­si­tive to our sur­round­ings and cir­cum­stances, and take com­mon sense steps to enhance our safety. We can also enhance our secu­rity and well-being by look­ing out for each other as we move about campus.

UNM is com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing the best pos­si­ble ser­vice at all times to this com­mu­nity. Your com­ments and con­cerns regard­ing any issue of pub­lic safety are always welcome.

Strength­en­ing the Town and Gown Bond
One of the aspects of serv­ing as Pres­i­dent of UNM that I am com­ing to deeply appre­ci­ate is the oppor­tu­nity to work with the lead­ers from across the cen­tral New Mex­ico com­mu­nity. UNM is a par­tic­u­larly inte­gral part of the City of Albu­querque, and one of the great joys of my role is get­ting to know and work with Mayor RJ Berry. Like me, he was a Lobo ath­lete and we are both proud alumni of UNM. He is inspir­ing in his com­mit­ment to UNM, his love for New Mex­ico, and his vision for Albu­querque. Every time we work together I come away with new ideas that have great poten­tial not only the city, but also for UNM.

Forg­ing a good part­ner­ship between “Town” and “Gown,” or city and uni­ver­sity, is not some­thing that hap­pens every day and yet it is very impor­tant for both to flour­ish, par­tic­u­larly in a state with all of the gifts and all of the chal­lenges we face in New Mex­ico. Of course the Mayor and I have dif­fer­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties but we also have many areas of shared vision and col­lab­o­ra­tion, includ­ing an eco­nomic devel­op­ment vision that we believe will be mutu­ally beneficial.

Mayor Berry has put forth a bold vision for Albu­querque and he is invit­ing on-line input from every­one who cares about this city at Weigh In ABQ: The Plan. I would like to encour­age all UNM staff, fac­ulty and espe­cially stu­dents to join in. Some of you may think that Albu­querque is just a stop on your life’s jour­ney, but even so, your per­spec­tives are impor­tant. And, speak­ing from my own expe­ri­ence, you may find that your roots here are much deeper than you sus­pect. You may leave the Land of Enchant­ment, but you may also find your way back to this spe­cial place. So please take a moment and give the Mayor your ideas at the Online Town Hall.

Spe­cial Thanks to Regent Don Chalmers
Another great com­mu­nity leader with whom I have had the priv­i­lege to work is Don Chalmers, who has stepped down from the Board of Regents. A lead­ing busi­ness­man and great com­mu­nity phil­an­thropist, Regent Chalmers has served UNM for the past seven years with quiet insight and thought­ful vision. Please join me in hon­or­ing his ser­vice to the Uni­ver­sity at a campus-wide recep­tion to be held at the Stu­dent Union Build­ing (SUB), Ball­room C on Mon­day, Feb. 18, from 3:30 — 5 p.m.

Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion Award Din­ner
Our Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion does tremen­dous work keep­ing Lobos all over the world con­nected with their alma mater though many dif­fer­ent events, includ­ing rec­og­niz­ing out­stand­ing alumni with annual awards. The 2013 James F. Zim­mer­man, Bernard S. Rodey, Erna S. Fer­gus­son and Fac­ulty Teach­ing Awards will be pre­sented at an awards din­ner on Thurs­day, Feb. 21 at Hotel Andaluz, 125 Sec­ond Street NW.

This year’s recip­i­ents are:

James F. Zim­mer­man: Derek Smith (’94 MS, ’97 PhD)
Bernard S. Rodey: James Ellis (’68 BBA)
Erna S. Fer­gus­son: Angie Vachio (’75 MA, ’02 HOND)
Fac­ulty Teach­ing: John Benavidez (’94 BBA, ’97 MBA)

The Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion invites you to help cel­e­brate these out­stand­ing Lobos. Cock­tails are at 5:45 p.m. and din­ner is at 6:30. To RSVP please go to the Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion web­site or call Alumni Rela­tions at (505) 277‑5808 by Feb. 15. My con­grat­u­la­tions to all the 2013 hon­orees for this well deserved recognition.

Schol­ar­ships Avail­able from Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion
The Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion also sup­ports Lobos who are still pur­su­ing their stud­ies by mak­ing a num­ber of schol­ar­ships avail­able to full-time under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate stu­dents. Appli­ca­tions are avail­able online through Thurs­day, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. at Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion Schol­ar­ships.

Be safe, have a great week, and Go Lobos!

Bob