SOCORRO, N.M. – Joe Franklin, director of New Mexico Tech’s Information Technology Center, recently announced his retirement and will conclude his service to the university at the end of January. He has been on staff continuously since 1982 and served NMT for over 40 years. Dan Lunceford will step in as ITC’s acting director.

Franklin became the associate director of what was then known as the Information Services Division (ISD) in 2001, and then became director in 2008.

NMT President Dr. Stephen Wells said Franklin has been an exemplary Techie in all aspects and he will be missed by his friends and colleagues.

“Joe has always provided steady leadership and insight for NMT, not just in his area of expertise, but also with his institutional knowledge and deep connection to the local community and the institution,” Wells said. “We wish him well in his retirement.”

NMT Vice President for Administration and Finance, Dr. Cleve McDaniel, oversaw Franklin’s office for the past five years. 

“During my time here and well before my time Joe has been an exemplary employee,” McDaniel said. “Joe moved forward the IT function at New Mexico Tech in major ways. He will be missed by all of the Administration and Finance division and the entire campus.”

“I’ll miss the relationships I have with the people on campus the most,” Franklin said. “Over the years there have been a lot of good people that have supported me and our effort here. The people I have worked with have really been great.”

Franklin enrolled in Tech as a mining student in 1975, but soon switched to the young computer science department. He began working for the Business Office as a student programmer in 1977 when there was one staff member and three student workers. In 1978, Franklin and a friend won a programming contest at NMT and advanced to the Western region contest, which they also won.

 

(Joe Franklin is pictured at the left of the photo, along with his teammates and professor Al Stavely (on the right).)

They then competed in the national contest, finishing second behind MIT. They repeated the feat again in 1979, finishing second again in the nationals in Dayton.  

Franklin started full time at NMT as a programmer at the Petroleum Recovery and Research Center in 1982. He returned to the Business Office in 1984 as a programmer, working on systems such as payroll and student information. He was then promoted to Data Processing Manager in 1991. He oversaw the transition to the Banner system from 1999 to 2001 when he became the Associate Director of ISD. When Bob Tacker retired from NMT, Franklin was elevated to Director. Then, in 2014, ISD merged with the Tech Computer Center to become the Information Technology Center. NMT constructed a purpose-built data center in 2018, a project Franklin shepherded through to completion over several years. 

– NMT –