Presidential Search

Job Description

The Position

Title:

President

Salary:

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Duties:

The President serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the University and reports to the Board of Regents. The President works to build upon the University's distinctive mission and strengths while ensuring both student access and academic excellence. The President takes an active leadership role in developing academic programs and priorities, in concert with the faculty. The President oversees the implementation of the annual financial plan of the University and is the primary spokesperson. The President will take an active leadership role in building coalitions and raising funds to expand the institution's resource base. The President will have the leadership and administrative skills and experience required to effectively manage the personnel and facilities of a complex multi-campus university in a multicultural environment.

The President works with internal and external constituents to attain the University's vision of being an accessible, responsive, and inclusive land-grant university that is engaged with the many constituencies it serves in delivering excellent programs of teaching, research, and outreach that improve the lives and opportunities of the citizens of the state, region, and world.

The Organization

Profile:

New Mexico State University was founded in 1888 as Las Cruces College an agricultural college and preparatory school. The Territorial Legislature of 1889 established the land-grant Agricultural College and Experiment Station, which officially opened on January 21, 1890. During its first full academic year, the college became known as the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, the first degree granting institution in the Territory. Under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862 and subsequent federal legislation, the special mission of land-grant institutions has been to provide a liberal and practical education for students and to sustain programs of research, extension education, and public service.

In 1960, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts became New Mexico State University. Since that time, while sustaining excellence in those programs traditionally associated with land-grant institutions, New Mexico State has become a comprehensive doctoral level university offering a wide variety of programs through the Graduate School and the colleges: Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, and Health and Social Services. Dedicated to teaching, research, and service at the undergraduate and graduate levels, NMSU is a NASA Space Grant College, a Hispanic-serving institution and is home to the only Honors College in New Mexico. The statewide system provides learning opportunities to a diverse population of students and community members at five campuses, a satellite learning center in Albuquerque, cooperative extension offices located in each of New Mexico's 33 counties, 13 research and science centers and through distance education.

NMSU is proud to be a comprehensive University and home to a dynamic and multicultural population of more than 30,000 students. NMSU ranks in the top 100 institutions in the country in terms of Federal Research Expenditures and is among only 4 percent of colleges and universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Research University-High Research Activity. Rated as one of America's 100 Best College Buys for more than ten consecutive years, NMSU provides rich learning and living opportunities to students throughout the world. We strive to offer an environment where our students can Live, Learn and Thrive.

Mission Statement:

New Mexico State University is the state's land-grant university, serving the educational needs of New Mexico's diverse population through comprehensive programs of education, research, extension education, and public service.

Location:

Las Cruces is southern New Mexico's largest city. A city of more than 85,000, Las Cruces is located in the Mesilla Valley with 9,000 foot peaks of the Organ Mountains to the east and the Rio Grande to the west. Las Cruces is 45 minutes from El Paso, 1 hour from White Sands National Monument, and 3 hours from Albuquerque.

Budget:

The 2008-2009 adopted operating budgets for all campuses is $626.9 million with operating funds of $560.3 million and capital outlay of $66.6 million.
A breakdown shows individual campuses and their budgets:
Las Cruces -$528.4 million
Alamogordo - $18.0 million
Carlsbad - $15.7 million
Dona Ana -$57.6 million
Grants- $7.2 million

Enrollment:

Total fall 2008 enrollment for the NMSU system was 31,318 The Las Cruces campus enrollment was 17,200; Alamogordo, 3,038; Carlsbad, 1,652; Dona Ana, 8,336; and Grants, 1,092. Enrollment by race/ethnicity for the NMSU system (academic year 2007-08) was approximately 45 percent Hispanic, 40 percent white, 7 percent international, 3 percent African-American, 3 percent American Indian/Alaskan native, 1 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1 percent unknown. The makeup of the student body by gender is 58 percent female and 42 percent male. The average age of degree-seeking students is 25.8, with some 83 percent hailing from New Mexico and the remainder from nearly every state in the union plus 63 nations. (For more detailed information, visit Institutional Research, Planning and Outcomes Assessment at irpoa.nmsu.edu.)

Faculty & Staff:

There are more than 1,200 faculty members, and almost 4,000 staff. About 1,100 of the faculty and 3,400 staff members are located on the Las Cruces campus. In a 10-year span, faculty claimed full half of the New Mexico Professor of the Year honors awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Athletics:

NMSU is a member of the Western Athletic Conference, the university sponsors 16 intercollegiate sports, 6 for men and 10 for women. The Pan American Center seats 12,590. The Aggie Memorial Stadium seats 30,000.

Accreditation:

New Mexico State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Accreditation was received in 2009 and is approved thru 2019.

Qualifications

Minimum Experience:

Ten years of senior and/or executive level experience is preferred.
Essential qualifications for the President include successful experience in a complex university, industry, or government environment with a distinguished record of leadership, management, and resource development.

Education:

It is preferred that applicants and nominees possess an earned doctorate, appropriate terminal degree, or academic credentials sufficient to engender respect from the academy and the community at large.

Knowledge and Characteristics:

NMSU's President will be an experienced and successful visionary leader with significant academic accomplishments sufficient to command the professional respect of the academic communities of New Mexico and to provide educational/administrative leadership for New Mexico State University.

Additional desirable qualities include significant, relevant, and successful experience in a comparable administrative leadership position(s), preferably in higher education. Candidates should possess an understanding of the diverse missions of public higher education institutions and commitment to those missions.

Applicants should demonstrate outstanding abilities in establishing effective communication and sound relationships with and among diverse stakeholders including board, donors, faculty, students, alumni, the public, and government.

The President should also possess the following skills and characteristics:

• Strong personal integrity and enthusiasm required to meet the vigorous demands placed on a university president.

• An understanding of the land-grant mission and a commitment to land-grant principles.

• Demonstrated record of successful fundraising.

• A recognition of the needs of all students, and a strong commitment to student experiences, i.e., student services, athletics and the arts.

• The vision to continue leading the institution into national and international prominence.

• An understanding and appreciation for the role of community colleges in meeting the needs of the region and state.

• A commitment to shared governance