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New Mexico State University URC Minutes - March 5, 2004

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Present: Barbara Coppola, Steve Helmreich (James Cowie), Everett Egginton, Wynn Egginton, Inigo Garcia-Bryce, Dean Hawkins, Richard Hills, Brian Ormand (Michael Hites), Stephen Horan, Nirmala Khandan, Chuck Kozel, Ken Martin, Kevin McIlvoy, Bernard McNamara, Martha Mitchell, Marc Pruyn, Rudi Schoenmackers, Edmund Scribner, Rhonda Skaggs, Elizabeth Titus, Karl Wood

Absent: Benefit, Lisa Dalton, Linda Lacey, Enrico Pontelli, Rasler Smith

1. Minutes - Minutes for February 6, 2004 were approved as presented.

2. Presentation by Charles Blanchard, Executive Director High Tech Consortium of Southern New Mexico

Charles Blanchard provided information on the High Tech Consortium of Southern New Mexico and its endeavors to be a clearing house, of information for high-tech business development in the area. They also support the establishment of partnerships that promote high-tech industries, and the development and retention of qualified high-tech workforce in the region.

Mr. Blanchard suggested that council members might find the New Mexico First Town Hall meeting to be held at the Las Cruces Hilton on April 15th-17th to be of interest. To find out more information about this meeting you may call (505)241-4813. If you wish to contact Mr. Blanchard, you may call him at (505)524-4659 or email at info@hightechnm.org. The web site address for High Tech Consortium is www.hightechnm.org.

3. Forming Nominating Committee

Interim Chair Stephen Horan asked for volunteers to form the Nominating Committee to assist with the selection of the Executive Committee made up of Chair, Chair Elect, Immediate Past Chair, Faculty Representative, and Position Appointment. Dr. Horan explained that the council member selected for the chair position would have a 3 year commitment. The current Position Appointment is Elizabeth Titus and the Faculty Representative is Charles Kozel. Both the Faculty Representative and the Position Appointment may volunteer to be re-elected.

4. Update on Search for Vice Provost for Research

Stephen Horan and Ken Paap met with Dean Carruthers, Chair of Search Committee, and Interim President Flores with concerns regarding the search for the Vice Provost for Research. The main concern appeared to be the short time frame for resumes to be submitted. Dr. Flores assured Drs. Horan and Paap that the candidate pool would be both deep and diverse or it would be postponed to the Fall.

Another concern was consistency across colleges/departments with searches in both the organization of the search committees and their management. It was felt that this V.P. for Research search was not being conducted in a manner consistent with previous searches and that the Research Directors had not been notified of the posting or its deadline.

5. Committee Reports

Awards Committee – It was mentioned that only a few submissions for the URC Award for Exceptional Achievements in Creative Scholarly Activity had been submitted by the deadline. Consideration was made to extend the deadline.

Research Fair – Rudi Schoenmackers requested 2 or more volunteers from URC to assist with the Research Fair starting with summer meetings. Dr. Schoenmackers suggested that a couple additional volunteers would be needed in the Fall to assist with the actual conference.

Research Assessment – A subcommittee meeting has been held and the methodology is being created/modified to develop statistics on campus-wide research.

Speakers Committee – The subcommittee is trying to get campus involvement in bringing a high caliber speaker to campus that would be a value to not only campus but to the community as well. The subcommittee agreed to meet following the regular URC meeting.

6. Sandia/University Research Program (SURP)

Wynn Egginton gave an update on the SURP solicitation which provides opportunity for new faculty to do funded research in which they partner with someone that’s on the staff of Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Egginton stated that all 3 of last year’s submissions were funded with awards of up to $40,000. The Sandia deadline is July 1, 2004. The internal deadline is June 7, 2004. Sandia will be on campus on April 7th for a workshop. The maximum amount of time for faculty to have been on campus is 3 years.

7. Collaborative Efforts

Richard Hills gave an update on the following collaborative efforts:
• NMSU is working with Domenici’s staff to develop a water research center with a focus on arid lands in collaboration with UNM and NMT. NMSU will be the host for this center.
• The WRRI is developing an MOU for research and education related to desalinization work. This MOU would include UTEP, TX A&M, El Paso Public Service Board, Alamogordo, and possibly Horizon City.
• NMSU/Los Alamos National Labs just signed a MOU to increase collaboration between the two institutions.
• The Vice Provost for Research office will work with Larry Olsen in HSS to develop their next strategic focus theme: Border Issues. A steering committee from across campus is being organized to formalize this process.
• NMSU has been working with UNM to fund tasks under the task order agreement that the UNM/NMSU consortium signed with DTRA. Funding is anticipated for Agriculture, Engineering, and PSL, through this task order agreement in the very near future.

8. Informational Item Regarding the Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs

Everett Egginton updated URC on discussions with the University Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, University Autonoma de Chihuahua, y Colegio de la Frontera Norte, UTEP, and UNM on sponsoring an annual conference on ongoing research on the border. The conference will be an annual event with kick off in Spring of 2005

The meeting adjourned at 4:26 p.m. The National Speaker Subcommittee and Research Awards Subcommittee and the Executive Committee met following the regular meeting.

Minutes by Frances Schumacher