Dear NMHU Community,

This week a team of us went to Chicago to attend the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) annual conference. The HLC is our regional accreditor; accreditors play an important role in ensuring that all universities meet the same criteria for accreditation, and, more practically, allow us to work with the Department of Education for funding like federal financial aid.

At that conference, the HLC focused on a number of trends and important issues. Here are some of the main ideas they presented:

1. Change of Leadership and Leadership Turnover: With more volatility in higher education, there needs to be more focus on administrative and campus leadership being trained so they are ready to handle the emergent challenges that will face higher education over the next decade.
2. Teaching, Learning, and Faculty: AI is only one of the many challenges facing us in the classroom, as well as the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to student academic preparation.
3. Financial Stability and Sustainability: For a long time, the HLC has been discussing the “demographic cliff,” or the decline in college-age students that will begin to impact enrollments and fiscal resources.
4. Crisis Management, Disaster Recovery, and Preparation: We’re well ahead on knowing about this trend, but the HLC made the point that every campus needs to be well prepared with an Emergency Operations plan for a wide variety of situations.
5. More Complex Legal Issues: With all the changes going on at the federal level, universities need to be prepared for an increasingly complex legal landscape; navigating new and ever more complex legal regulations will be a significant challenge for the rest of the 2020s.
6. Mental Health Issues: The HLC discussed that stress continues to be one of the biggest impediments to college success for both students, faculty, and staff, with high levels of burnout and a need for expanded access to mental health services.
7. Value of Higher Ed: One of the more interesting arguments is that, in our divided political landscape, universities can no longer assume that all members of American society believe that universities work for the common good. While we are lucky in New Mexico to have a supportive state legislature and governor, this is not the case across the country. Advocacy for the value of a degree is going to be a key theme at state and national levels.
8. System Reform: A New Political Environment: The HLC is very aware of changes at the national level and how they may impact accreditation. There may even be an executive order that impacts accreditation directly, one that may change how regional accreditors like the HLC operate. Obviously, the HLC and NMHU will closely monitor any such orders and analyze how they impact us both at the regional and local level.

The true value of a conference like HLC is that it places us in close contact with national trends that are facing all of higher education. We are already addressing many of these issues on the NMHU campus, whether that is tackling fiscal responsibility through our fiscal audit and our Budget Committee, working to address mental health through our ongoing expansion of CARES Counseling, continuing efforts with our Emergency Operations Committee (EOC), or close monitoring of the national situation with regard to federal grants, free speech, and accreditation changes. This is an uncertain time for Higher Education, but I am confident we have a good team in place at NMHU–the Board of Regents, the Cabinet, the Expanded Cabinet, and the Faculty, Staff, and Student Senates–to help us navigate these many challenges.

Some Recent Highlights:

At our April 3 Board of Regents meeting, Senator Pete Campos and Representative Anita Gonzales joined us for discussion and lunch. Many thanks to new Board Chairman Dr. Frank Sanchez for helping setting this up, and our deepest gratitude to Senator Campos and Representative Gonzales for their past and future support of NMHU and our students.

Last week, we had a “Just Checking In” event with Residence Life. At that event, as the team explains, “we’re once again reaching out for your support in going door-to-door at the residence halls to connect with residents, check in on them, and share important information about upcoming deadlines, events, and activities.” You can see that the turnout was great, and we held a drawing that was won by J.C. Williams! Congratulations, and thanks to our team in Residence Life for setting this up.

I was able to attend the Northern New Mexico Devotional Art Show at Ray Drew Gallery in the Donnelly Library after that Board of Regents Meeting–another well organized and wonderful event. Here’s interim Library Director April Kent checking out the art:

Upcoming Events:

• We’re about to enter graduation season–there’ll be a very busy slate of events for our graduates across the state. I’ll be at as many as I can attend. One of the earliest is our Friday, April 25th, Santa Fe Graduation Celebration and Social Work Induction, 5:30 PM at the Higher Education Center.
• We’ll be honoring our student leaders at the Student Leadership Gala on Thursday, April 24th, in the SUB Ballroom.
  Employees get their moment as well–we’re bringing back the Employee Recognition Breakfast on Wednesday, April 23rd, at 8:30 AM, in the SUB Ballroom. Many thanks to Carolina Martinez for taking the lead in organizing that event.
• Softball and baseball are in the middle of their seasons–see our Athletics website at https://nmhuathletics.com/news/2024/6/12/general-nmhu-athletics-dinner-auction-golf-tournament.aspx for the full schedule. Our Spring Football game is also getting close–mark your calendars for Saturday April 26th!
• This Friday and Saturday, the 3rd annual Zine Fest will take place in the SUB with exhibits, panels, workshops, and a zine market.
• On April 11th, Ilfeld will be hosting the Broadway Lion King, produced by the Robertson High School Theatrical Department and the NMHU Choral Program.
• On April 12th, production of the Taiko Project will take place at Ilfeld Auditorium at 6pm and is a free event.
• On April 13th: New Mexico Highlands University proudly presents the 27th Annual Festival de Hispanidad, a vibrant celebration of Hispanic heritage and culture on Sunday, April 13th! Festival starts at 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30 PM). Join us for an afternoon filled with music, performances, and poetry, all showcasing the incredible talents of northern New Mexico.
• Join us at Kennedy Gallery for This is Not a Chair…? A Chair-itable event April 24 – June 6th. Opening reception, live & silent auction, 4-6pm April 24th.

If you have an item or event you’d like to be featured here, please forward that to your respective Vice President.

Respectfully,

Dr. Neil Woolf
President
New Mexico Highlands University

I’ve been attending the legislative session pretty regularly in association with a team of NMHU personnel. There have been committee hearings and individual meetings with our public servants to advance Highlands. The session will continue through March 22. I attended the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, joined by incoming Regent-Select Gary Tripp, NMHU alum Sylvester Perez, and my wife Tisha. The breakfast signals a shared approach to solutions to better serve New Mexicans and serves as one of the launch points for the session.

Many members of our team work hard on our legislative agenda. Librarians Ruben Aragon and April Kent were down for Library Day at the Legislature, where our statewide library organizations, the New Mexico Council of Academic Libraries (NMCAL) and the New Mexico Library Association (NMLA), advocate for statewide library funding and important legislation.

On Thursday, Feb 13, I was honored to attend with Regent Sanchez, Dean Lekan, AVP Pacheco and Representative Gonzales the 30th Annual Hispano Round Table Banquet. The Hispano Round Table honors public servants who serve in the Legislature. I was grateful to speak on behalf of Highlands to the audience, joining Gov. Lujan Grisham, Speaker of the House Martinez, Senators Maestes and Nava, and Mayor of Albuquerque Keller in addressing attendees. 

 Here I am with Ralph Arellanes, Sr and his family who organize and host the event and with Representative Anita Gonzales. 

We are very excited to continue hosting meals at the president’s residence for student groups. Here’s a recent photo with students from PENSA and Chi Alpha.

Here we are at the Super Bowl watch party hosted by student and residence life. Great food offerings from Sodexo, and many of the Eagles fans had a great time.

And here we are attending a lecture on printmaking in the Kennedy Gallery from Dr. Bell. I now know about intaglio, lithographs, relief cuts, etching, etc. The NMHU Foundation has a wonderful collection of prints through the generosity of Dr. Bell and others. 

Dr. Jess Goldberg gave a well-attended book talk in the Donnelly library. While I wasn’t able to attend as I was down in Santa Fe at a legislative event, I heard good things. Dr. Goldberg passed on this info about the event, “On Thursday, Jan 30th, the Donnelly Library hosted a 90-minute discussion between myself and my English department colleagues Dr. Rebecca L. Schneider and Dr. Benjamin Villarreal about my new book, Abolition Time: Grammars of Law, Poetics of Justice, which was published by the University of Minnesota Press in December 2024. About 60-70 people attended if you add the in-person and Zoom audiences together, and there was a robust question and answer discussion with the attendees.”  Well done!

If you have an item or event you’d like to be featured here, please forward that to your respective Vice President.

Respectfully,

Dr. Neil Woolf
President
New Mexico Highlands University