Notes from May 16, 2008, Regents Meeting

by Thomas Guengerich

SOCORRO – The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents approved the Class of 2008 list of graduates, which included 303 students, at its Friday, May 16, meeting.

The state-funded four-year research university in Socorro held commencement ceremonies Saturday, which were streamed live via the university’s website for the first time.

New Mexico Tech President Dr. Daniel López reported that early student applications for 2008-2009 are ahead of the previous year. As of May 15, Tech has received 25 percent more applications of the same date in 2007. The university has recorded 2.5 percent more paid applications over 2007.

The Regents also approved the addition of a third regular graduation date for the university’s annual calendar. Vice President for Academic Affairs Peter Gerity said more employers, especially government entities, require graduates to have a degree in hand. A third graduation date in August – in addition to the traditional December and May graduation dates – would help Tech graduates secure employment in a timely manner.

Gerity and Graduate Dean David Johnson also proposed adding “emergency graduations” on a month-to-month basis at regularly scheduled Regents meetings throughout the year. Johnson said the effort would not preclude faculty from its traditional role in approving students for graduation.

The Board heard a variety of updates and reports from various departments and divisions on campus.

Vice President for Administration and Finance Lonnie Marquez reported on the ongoing efforts to coordinate an emergency response team, protocols and policies. He said the team has tested an emergency alert system that uses text-messaging to communicate with students. That system will be tested again during the summer semester.

Vice President for Student and University Relations Ricardo Maestas also reported that the university hosted a training session about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which was attended by more than 100 staff and faculty members.

Dr. Maestas also said he felt it was critical to provide training to staff about releasing student information, in light of recent tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois.

He said FERPA is designed to protect students’ privacy, but the law allows the university to release information for health and safety reasons. In a campus emergency, the university would be permitted, and in some cases required, to release information in order to protect the safety.

Former Vice President of Administration and Finance Denny Peterson, now a consultant for the university, reported on negotiations with Kirtland Air Force Base to enter an enhanced-use, sole-source lease. Peterson said the lease would be the first of its kind for the Air Force. The university and the Air Force are discussing the construction of an 180,000 square foot office building on the base. Tech would receive up to 10 percent of the available space at no cost to the university. The university would conduct distance education courses, training and other classes in its portion of the facility.

Peterson also reported that the university’s carbon sequestration research partnership with Savoy Energy LLC is nearing the start of Phase III. The company will inject 300 tons of carbon dioxide into wells in Utah and Wyoming. Tech received a multi-million dollar grant from the Department of Energy for this multi-year project.

In other business:

• López reported that the university has settled a 12-year-old dispute with Sandia National Laboratory regarding an abandoned oil field in southeast New Mexico. Sandia wanted the university to plug the wells, which would have cost a large sum of money, Lopez said. As a result of the settlement of the dispute Sandia will pay to plug the abandoned wells.
• López announced that the university’s management department has reached an agreement with a Japanese firm to conduct business research. The agreement includes a student exchange and visiting researchers.
• Regents approved emeritus status for physics professor Jean Eilek. She will continue to teach and work at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro.
• Regents also approved sabbatical for professor Robert Bowman.
• Vice President for Research and Economic Development Van Romero reported on the filming that is ongoing on campus for the upcoming six-part TV series, “Man Vs. Cartoon.” Pilgrim Productions, with assistance from Tech students, researchers and faculty, is trying to engineer stunts made famous by Wile E. Coyote. The show will air on TruTV this fall.
• The Board listened to a request read by Richard Epstein, asking the Regents to respond to questions about the proposed drop-zone on Tech land west of ‘M’ Mountain.
• Regents certified the university resolution issuing severance bonds for about $880,000, which includes $280,000 for the university’s DNA sequencer project, $300,000 for the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and $300,000 to furnish the Institute for Complex and Additive Systems Analysis.
• Regents learned that the university’s student health insurance policy is in strong financial condition. López reported that Tech’s insurance policy benefits greatly exceeds most universities.
• Regents approved the low bid for renovation of Jones Hall. The university’s estimated cost is $2.6 million.
• Regents ratified the university’s change of life insurance provider to Fort Dearborn Life, a subsidiary of BlueCross Blue Shield.
• Regents learned that the university’s expenditures for subscriptions to academic journals and magazines at the Joe Skeen Library will be $485,000 for the upcoming school year, a $12,000 decrease from this year, despite the rising cost of subscriptions. López said librarian Owen Ellard is aggressively culling the subscription list in close consultation with faculty members.

– NMT –