Five Candidates Vie to Become President of NMSU and Plan Q and A in Las Cruces

The board of regents of New Mexico State University crafted a process that included significant public input, listening sessions, and a national search in its quest to find its next University president. The process has been very public, and the selection committee has narrowed the candidates to five. Those five candidates have been announced and are now making the rounds for closed door interviews with regents and public meet and greets to gain support for the final selection.

Criteria for the position:

The president serves as the chief executive officer of the university system and is charged with the responsibility of providing strategic direction and general supervision over all affairs of the university. The president is selected by, and reports to the Board of Regents.

Per NMSU, New Mexico State University’s next president should be a visible and engaged leader with a diverse set of skills. The successful candidate must demonstrate how they will preserve the university’s student-focused culture and promote academic excellence. They must display an established history of commitment to inclusion and belonging among underrepresented groups and the ability to support an inclusive campus community.

The president should have the skills and, preferably, experience to manage a culturally diverse, and complex academic and research institution. The successful candidate will also understand and embrace the university’s statewide responsibility as the land-grant institution and will be committed to developing and strengthening the university’s statewide campuses, Extension offices and experiment stations.

The president should value transparency and identify ways in which they will recognize and support students, staff, and faculty as essential members of the campus community and how they will engage in shared governance and shared responsibility.

The president must excel at building and fostering relationships, including developing strong public-private partnerships; establishing critical relationships with government, community leaders, and donors; and providing collaborative leadership alongside colleagues throughout the New Mexico Higher Education system.

The next president will also work to build and sustain meaningful relationships with New Mexico’s Indigenous Tribes.

In addition, the president must have the skills to develop and establish a high performing leadership team to carry out the vision and implement the strategic direction of the university. In creating clear and articulate expectations for meeting established goals and objectives, the president will unify the campus under a clear vision, setting a direction that inspires all campus constituents to contribute to its success.

The public will have the chance to hear directly from the five candidates, which were chosen by the Board of Regents at a February 2nd, 2024, special meeting, to see what their vision is for the university system moving forward.

The campus visits will be spread out from for the week of February 26th until March 1st, 2024. Morning and afternoon sessions will be offered and those who cannot attend in-person can tune in virtually for both sessions.

Following a candidate's forum on their given day, Regents will also have their chance to interview the candidates individually behind closed doors, according to a public notice. No official business will be conducted.

Feb. 26: Wayne Jones, 

• Faculty, staff, community forum: 10 to 10:50 a.m. NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall, Music Center
• Student forum: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Corbett Center Student Union Auditorium

Feb. 27: Richard Williams

• Faculty, staff, community forum: 10 to 10:50 a.m. NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall, Music Center
• Student forum: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Corbett Center Student Union Auditorium

Feb. 28: John Volin

• Faculty, staff, community forum: 10 to 10:50 a.m. NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall, Music Center
• Student forum: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Domenici Hall, Room 109

Feb. 29: Michael Galyean

• Faculty, staff, community forum: 10 to 10:50 a.m. NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall, Music Center
• Student forum: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Hardman Jacobs Undergraduate Learning Center, Room 125

March 1: Austin Lane

• Faculty, staff, community forum: 10 to 10:50 a.m. NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall, Music Center
• Student forum: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Hardman Jacobs Undergraduate Learning Center, Room 125

The candidates will be visiting NMSU Las Cruces and the details and resumes of each candidate can be found on the NMSU presidential search website at New Mexico State University | BE BOLD. Shape the Future. (nmsu.edu)

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