Conroy It has been my pleasure to serve New Mexico State University as executive vice president and as president during the past 15 years. I have continuously been impressed by the remarkable achievements of our faculty, staff and students on our main campus and at our four branch community colleges.  A university president accomplishes nothing by himself or herself. Good things happen because of the efforts of a lot of people, and I am proud of the good things we have accomplished as a team. In athletics, we have emphasized student-athletes excelling in the classroom as well as in their sports, and completing their degrees. These young athletes enrich the university experience for all of us. When they leave NMSU, we want them to take with them an education that will help them live fuller, more productive lives after their playing days are over. Support from the private sector - including individual alumni and friends, corporations and foundations - has increased, and this is essential for the continued development of high-quality programs at NMSU. The Cornerstone capital campaign has been completed, and we are laying the groundwork for the university's first major capital campaign.  We have improved our campus facilities. Alumni who haven't visited the campus in recent years would be impressed with the beautiful new agriculture building, renovation of Garcia Residence Hall, expansion of the Student Health Center, improvements to the Pan American Center and additions to the Dona Ana Branch Community College. A statewide bond issue to be on the ballot this fall includes $5 million for a new Health and Social Services Building.  We have successfully attained reaccreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for the maximum 10-year period, and our athletics program has been certified by the NCAA. NMSU has been recognized nationally for the quality of its undergraduate programs and affordable prices.  We tend to think of the big accomplishments, but it strikes me that it's the little things, the day-to-day efforts on the part of everybody associated with the university, that really make a difference. As president I have had the opportunity to attend many alumni events, and I have come to realize that one of the best measures of our university is our alumni - what they have done with their lives professionally and personally speaks well of their alma mater. I have watched our students excel, and marveled at events like the annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium. At award presentations for faculty and staff, just listening to the accomplishments of so many people helps me to appreciate the contribution each of them has made to NMSU and the citizens it serves.  Graduation time, approaching as this is written, is always a thrill for me. Many of our students are first-generation college students, and a lot of their family members turn out - grandparents, uncles, cousins, nieces. It gives one a wonderful feeling about what we do at New Mexico State.  True to our land grant roots, our mission has been, is, and will continue to be to serve all our citizens through programs of excellence in teaching, research and service. The great success we have had in achieving this mission would not have been possible without the wonderful support of our alumni and friends.  This is an exciting time for NMSU, as we look forward to the arrival of our new president, Dr. Jay Gogue, and his wife Susie. Dr. Gogue's achievements, his extensive administrative experience in land grant universities, and his exceptional leadership ability and personal qualities all testify to the wisdom of our Board of Regents in selecting him to be the 20th president of NMSU.

Jay Gogue selected as NMSU's 20th president
 

Gogue

New Mexico State University is ready "to move to the next level" says Jay Gogue, chosen by the Board of Regents in May to become NMSU's 20th president. Gogue, provost at Utah State University since 1995, was scheduled to begin his new responsibilities July 1. He succeeds President William B. Conroy, whose term as president ended June 30. The vote by the five-member Board of Regents was unanimous. Several of the regents described the choice among five finalists as a difficult one, but said Gogue's experience was a deciding factor. Gogue (the name rhymes with "rouge") said in an interview shortly after the regents made their selection that he and his wife Susie were "very, very excited" about coming to New Mexico.

"New Mexico State is at a point in its history, with a tremendous past, for us to move to the next level - whatever we as a campus community define," he said. "We're poised to make that next step and I'd like to be part of that."

Gogue and four other finalists met with faculty, staff, students and others during a series of interviews and forums in April and May. Gogue said he sensed "a deep concern to make New Mexico State all that it can be" as he met with various groups.

"People care deeply about it," he said. "It's meant a lot to their lives, and it means a lot to the future of the state of New Mexico."

As provost at Utah State, Gogue was responsible for all academic and nonacademic units on the main campus and branch locations. He was vice president for research at Clemson University in South Carolina from 1988 to 1995, and also served as vice president and vice provost for agriculture and natural resources at Clemson. He joined the Clemson faculty in 1986.

Besides higher education, Gogue's background includes extensive experience as a scientist and administrator with the National Park Service. From 1977 to 1986, he was chief scientist for the Park Service, leading scientific programs involving professionals from the biological, physical and behavioral sciences. From 1979 to 1986, he also served as chief of the Park Service's Division of Interpretation, Park Protection and Natural Resource Management, responsible for educational centers, law enforcement activities and natural resource management at 50 national parks.

Gogue, a native of Georgia, received a doctorate in horticulture from Michigan State University in 1973 and bachelor's and master's degrees in 'horticulture from Auburn University in 1969 and 1970.

The other finalists for the presidency were Rodolfo Arevalo, provost at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburgh, Texas; Jill Beck, dean of the School of Arts at the University of California-Irvine; John Burns, '63, '66, provost at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas; and Eugene Garcia, dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California at Berkeley.

Board of Regents President Adelmo "Del" Archuleta of Albuquerque said the vote on a new president was not the end of a process but the beginning. "I call for all of us to unite behind the new president, as we did behind the present president, to move this university forward," he said.

Karl Hill

To find out more about NMSU's 20th president, go to http://www.nmdu.edu/~ucomm/president on the Web.

We're on the Web

Did you know that Aggie Panorama is on the World Wide Web? Go to www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Panorama, or from NMSU's home page at www.nmsu.edu click on News/Events. Then, under Online Publications, click on Aggie Panorama. You also can access the newsletter from the Alumni Web page at www.nmsu.edu/alumni.html.

Corrections

The spring 2000 issue of Aggie Panorama contained an error and an oversight. The New Mexico 1999 endangered properties list incorrectly located Shakespeare Ghost Town. The ghost town is in Hidalgo County. A photo of Las Cruces's Klein Park mural failed to identify the muralist, Arnold Puentes, '81. (For more on Puentes, see this issue's Aggie Whirl). Panorama regrets the errors.