May 15, 2020
Veena Parboteeah
Las Vegas, N.M. – Veena Parboteeah is the new dean of the School of Business, Media and Technology at New Mexico Highlands University after a national search.
Parboteeah comes to Highlands July 1 from Eastern New Mexico University, where she has served as assistant dean of the College of Business since May 2017 and is a tenured business faculty member.
Parboteeah said working in higher education is very rewarding.
“Following a student from the first day they come to college to when they walk across the stage with their diploma is my greatest passion,” Parboteeah said. “I wanted to stay in New Mexico and Highlands is a good fit for me given my administrative experience.”
“My familiarity with the New Mexico higher education system in terms of program development and transfer agreements prepares me for this position at Highlands,” Parboteeah said.
Parboteeah has identified a top goal for the School of Business, Media and Technology at Highlands.
“Given my extensive experience with online teaching, one of my top goals for the immediate future is to make more programs available through online instruction,” Parboteeah said.
“Dr. Parboteeah knows our student demographics in New Mexico and has extensive background in program development to meet the workforce needs,” said Roxanne Gonzales, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Highlands. “She has a very strong record as a faculty member, giving her insight into the faculty’s role. She’s also an experienced administrator.”
Gonzales said Parboteeah is very familiar with using different modalities for program delivery and knows how to serve a wide variety of students.
“I expect Dr. Parboteeah to have students at the core and heart of her decision making, and believe she’ll be collaborative with her university colleagues and the community. I think she’ll be great for Highlands,” Gonzales said.
In the last eight years, Parboteeah has held other administrative positions at Eastern New Mexico University in the College of Business including graduate coordinator and chair for student performance. She completed a fellowship in curriculum and program development at Eastern from August 2019 to May 2020.
Also while at Eastern, Parboteeah received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Advising during the 2014-2015 academic year.
“Through advising, you make certain the student is on track to succeed,” Parboteeah said.
Parboteeah earned her Ph.D. in business administration with an emphasis in management information systems from Washington State University in 2005. She has taught numerous courses at Eastern such as Information Systems for Managers, Database Management Systems, and Systems Analysis and Design.
“With emerging new modes of digital communication, higher education has entered a time of intense transformation that opens new possibilities for more creative, collaborative, dynamic and engaging learning. To respond to this situation, we have to integrate technology in academia so that students are digitally fluent and they can thus thrive in an information-rich world,” Parboteeah said.
Parboteeah’s research interests include human-computer interaction, online education and online impulse buying. She is widely published in academic journals such as the Review of Business Information Systems Journal, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, and Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business Management.
Parboteeah is a frequent presenter at academic conferences such as the New Mexico Higher Education Assessment and Retention Conference.
“My husband and I are excited to be moving to Las Vegas to become part of the Highlands family,” Parboteeah said.