UNM's College of Education & Human Sciences welcomes large 'freshman class of faculty' this fall

The College of Education and Human Sciences (COEHS) is welcoming 19 new faces to their department this fall, the largest ‘freshman class of faculty’ the college has seen in recent years. 

“To have an incoming class of this size is Atypical and a real opportunity." Rebecca Sánchez, the associate dean for Equity, Inclusion and Faculty Affairs within COEHS, said. “In my recollection, we haven’t had a class this big in many years, if ever, and it’s significant. I think it shows a real commitment by the university and state of New Mexico to address education and human science fields.”

The new professionals bring a broad range of expertise to the college, Sánchez says every department, all five of them within the school, welcomed new faculty this semester. 

"Anything from bilingual education to teacher preparation, we have special educators coming in who serve in distinct ways within that field. Exercise science and counselor education has grown," Sánchez said. “We had seen different types of attrition due to retirement, or for several years New Mexico had a budget crunch, so because we had shrunk a bit, every department that got new faculty really had genuine needs.”

For the college and the communities they serve, Sánchez says this means COEHS has a greater wealth of expertise and talent to address the pressing issues associated with education and human science disciplines. 

“Our programming in this college is very much orientated to directly trying to improve society in different ways, so I feel like having this new group of faculty helps us be better prepared to meet some of the challenges of the demands and needs society is facing," she said. 

“The College and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome our incoming faculty class of 19. Our new faculty brings diverse skills and research interests that complement the experience and expertise of our continuing faculty," Dean Kris Goodrich said. "The State and University’s investment in the COEHS positions the College on a trajectory of growth that will dramatically increase our capacity to support New Mexico, especially in light of the Yazzie-Martinez case.”

The College of Education and Human Sciences now has 98 permanent faculty, with several visiting staff members hired or in the process of being hired. The new professionals make up nearly 20% of the total faculty in the college.