Notes from April 1998 Regents Meeting

SOCORRO -- The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents today approved a five-percent increase in tuition and fees for the 1998-99 school year at the state-supported research university. The five percent increase in tuition and fees will be implemented beginning with this summer's session at New Mexico Tech.

New Mexico residents who are full-time undergraduate students at the university will now pay $762 per semester--an increase of $37. Tuition for non-resident students will increase from $2,994 a semester to $3,143.

Graduate students at New Mexico Tech will also have to pay more, with resident graduate tuition increasing from $768 to $806 a semester and non-residents paying $3,323 per semester--an increase of $158.

New Mexico Tech President Daniel H. López recommended that the Board of Regents approve the tuition increase, noting that both the Tech Student and Graduate Student associations recently voted to support the tuition increase.

López further related that proportional adjustments will be made to students' financial aid packages at New Mexico Tech to help students compensate for the approved tuition increase.

"Most of the additional income created by this tuition increase will be used to offset the salary adjustments for faculty and staff," the Tech president told the regents.

López added that proposed raises in salaries and wages for next fiscal year include a 4.5 percent increase for all New Mexico Tech staff and an average 5.5 percent increase for faculty members.

In other business conducted at Monday's meeting, the Board of Regents approved tenure and promotions for three New Mexico Tech faculty members:

• Rafael A. Lara-Martinez to associate professor of foreign language;
• Ping Lu to associate professor of materials engineering; and
• Kenneth R. Minschwaner to associate professor of physics.

The Tech Board of Regents also approved promotions for four other Tech faculty members, granting them the status of full professorship:

• Alan M. Blyth to professor of physics;
• Charles P. Campbell to professor of English;
• Lynn H. Deming to professor of English; and
• William Rison to professor of electrical engineering.

In other faculty related matters, the New Mexico Tech Board of Regents also approved the appointment of Dr. Snezna Rogelj as an assistant professor of biology with Tech's biology department.

López also informed the regents that, as of April 9, applications for admission to New Mexico Tech by freshmen and transfer students were up to 911, an increase of 213 over the same period last year. Furthermore, paid deposits were up by 11, he added.

Herbert M. Fernandez, Tech's vice president for institutional development, related that much of the progress being made to increase enrollment at Tech is because " . . . more and more, it's being recognized that recruitment of students at Tech is a joint effort which involves all faculty, staff, and current students."

Fernandez also mentioned that Tech recently has stepped up its efforts to meet with high school counselors and teachers, increased its telemarketing efforts, and has begun planning for advertising and marketing strategies for the coming year.

The regents also were given a year-to-date financial summary and a comparative analysis for eight months of fiscal activity at the university.

W. Dennis "Denny" Peterson, Tech's vice president for administration and finance, told regents that Tech was "very close to meeting revenue projections" and that "expenditures were tracking within budget."

The regents also were informed that Richard C. Aster, associate professor of geophysics, and John G. Rothfork, professor of English, had been granted sabbatical leaves.

Other matters considered and actions taken by the Board of Regents at their meeting included:

• approval of a resolution for a severance tax bond issue of $250,000 for infrastructure projects on campus;
• approval of a new policy developed to comply with federal reporting requirements for scholarships; and
• approval of a motion to not create new slots for ex- officio members on the Board of Regents for any specific group.

-NMT-

George Zamora