New Mexico
Higher Education Department
Updates from the Cabinet Secretary of Higher
Education
December 10, 2008
Dear Colleagues:
Most of you who read this will have seen some of
the publicity surrounding the College of Santa Fe and the possibility of its
moving in some form or another into the state funding system. Though this isn’t
the primary issue I want to address today, I would like to clarify our role in
these discussions. Whether the College of Santa Fe joins the state funding
system is not a decision the Higher Education Department will make: our role
has been to set some discussions in motion, bring information about
possibilities and the cost of those possibilities to the table, and make sure
that all parties are treated fairly. If an institution chooses to propose
taking over the College of Santa Fe, that will be a decision that institution
will need to make, and if the New Mexico Legislature chooses to include funding
for that institution to operate CSF in the state funding formula, that will be
a decision made by the Legislature and ratified by the Governor. There are
arguments on both sides of this issue: I personally think the arguments for are
more cogent than the arguments against—if the financial resources needed can be
found—but this is a complex issue on which people can legitimately disagree.
However, and this is really what I want to focus
on here, the argument I have heard most insistently against this possibility is
one that doesn’t hold water in my view. It is that bringing another four-year
institution in the state funding system would hurt other institutions because
it would increase competition for students, especially here in Santa Fe. If you
have been advancing this point of view, this letter is really addressed to you.
What is the presupposition of this view? It is,
I believe, a zero-sum or win-lose model in which we have a fixed number of
students here in New Mexico, of potential customers for higher education if you
will, and therefore any new entrant into this set market will diminish the
share that belong to the others. The more students at the College of Santa Fe,
fewer students will attend Santa Fe Community College or Northern or perhaps
Highlands or UNM. According to this logic, each institution would be in a
stronger market position if it had fewer competitors. Following this to its logical extreme, the best situation for any
institution of higher education in the state would be if it were the only one. But
would the University of New Mexico, say, be a stronger institution if it had
absolutely no competition in the state? Clearly not, for then it would not receive
any in-state transfers from other universities and from the community colleges,
its graduate and professional schools would have no in-state applicants from other
universities, and it would have many fewer places for the graduates of those
programs to go work.
We aren’t in any general sense competing for
students, we are cooperating for
students, in that we are developing a set of possibilities that we hope succeed
in bringing students into higher education and encouraging them to continue
from one program to another and often from one institution to another. We are
also not competing for employees, whether those be faculty or staff, we are
cooperating for them: I suspect that I would not have worked at UNM for seven
years if I had not already worked at NMSU for the 20 years before that. I would
instead have gone to another state and therefore certainly would not be your
Secretary of Higher Education.
Furthermore, our most urgent need is to intensify
this cooperation for students. Over 55% of the population of Canada aged 25-34
now are earning at least one postsecondary college degree, while the
corresponding number for the United States is below 40%, ranking us 10th in the
world, and the corresponding number for New Mexico is below 30%, ranking us 47th
among the states. But these aggregate numbers miss a considerable range of
educational attainment in the state: although we have only one county, Los
Alamos, with a level of educational attainment above the national average, the
remainder range from Bernalillo at 36% to one county below 10%. The eight
counties in the state with levels of educational attainment below 20% are all
counties without a postsecondary institution in them, and the counties
clustered at the top (aside from the special case of Los Alamos) are those
counties with institutions of higher education in them. In other words,
proximity matters, and the best way to have an educated population in a given
county is to have institutions of higher education in them. My son’s comment
there would be “duh”—of course, that’s the best way to have an educated
population. But I think it is fair to say that we haven’t thought through the
policy implications of that fact.
The challenge for us here in New Mexico is that
the founders of the colleges and universities in the state didn’t perfectly
anticipate the patterns of population growth in the state. The two largest
universities are in the two largest cities, Albuquerque and Las Cruces, but the
other institutions that offer bachelors and masters degrees are hardly in the
population centers of the state. What we have done in response is to create
community colleges all over the state, and New Mexico is 4th of the 50 states
in the percentage of its higher education enrollment that attends community
colleges. But this route to access and serving the state’s population, as
successful as it has been, has landed us in the curious position that after
Albuquerque and Las Cruces, the rest of the 10 largest communities in the
state—Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Roswell, Farmington, Hobbs, Clovis, Carlsbad,
Alamogordo—do not have four-year public institutions in their communities. And
I believe that this mismatch between where most of the universities and many of
the people are located is a factor in the generally low educational attainment
of the state. How we respond to this so that the citizens of those communities
gain such access is a major challenge for higher education policy and economic
development in the state.
Now let me reassure you: I am neither proposing
that Western, Eastern, Highlands or Tech move to larger communities nor that we
start four-year institutions in all of these towns. What we need to do instead
is to intensify the cooperation: we at NMHED are proposing models of program
sharing and course sharing that would allow and incent the institutions of
higher education around the state to cooperate in bringing degree programs to
other communities around the state. If Roswell has a need for a program offered
only by NMSU, then NMSU should be able to offer that program, not in competing
facilities that it somehow arranges and pays for, but in the physical
facilities already built and paid for by the citizens of the state and county
at Eastern New Mexico in Roswell. And ENMU-R should receive some of the formula
money from those enrollments as it will necessarily be playing a role in the
providing of the needed services for these programs. This will address the
concern about the duplication of educational facilities in the state that leads
to comments about too many educational institutions in the state, while at the
same time helping to bring educational programs to the citizens of the state
where they live.
And if the College of Santa Fe is part of this
picture, as a publicly funded institution in whatever institutional shape is
hammered out in the coming weeks and months, I hope that it can be a model for
such program sharing , providing the citizens of the state’s capital the
programs they need to fulfill their ambitions and dreams regardless of which
institution happens to ‘own’ those degrees. If in the process, the educational
attainment of Santa Fe County begins to catch up with Bernalillo (and the
educational attainment of native New Mexicans begins to catch up with the
residents of West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana [we’ll leave Massachusetts
and Finland for later]), then we will have begun to move in the right
direction. And as we do that, the enrollments will be there for all the
institutions, not by students moving from one institution to another, but by
our working together to expand the circle of involvement in higher education:
if our current rate of participation in higher education were to reach the national
average, we would be graduating 40% more students than we are now; if it were
to reach Canada’s level, we would be graduating 90% more. We don’t need to
compete for students: if we cooperate for them, we will have more than we can
handle.
Sincerely,
Reed Dasenbrock, Ph.D.
Cabinet Secretary
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2008 Important Dates in New Mexico Higher Education
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Date
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Event
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Location
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December
16
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Higher
Education Capital Projects to be Heard at State Board of Finance Meeting
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Santa Fe
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December
17-19
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Legislative
Education Study Committee (Common Student Identifier for Public and
Higher Education on the Agenda)
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Santa Fe
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December
19
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University of New Mexico Commencement
Ceremony with keynote speaker Congressman Joe Baca of California.
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Albuquerque
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December
25
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NMHED/State
Offices Closed for Christmas Day Holiday
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2009 t 2009 t 2009 t 2009 t 2009 t 2009
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January 1
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NMHED/State
Offices Closed for New Year’s Day Holiday
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January 7
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IT
Commission Meeting
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Santa Fe
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January
20
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2009 New
Mexico Legislative Session Begins
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Santa Fe
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Staff Announcements
NMHED is pleased to announce the appointment of
Elaine Sacoman as Executive Assistant to Len Malry, MPA, Director of Workforce
Education/Private and Proprietary Schools and Matthew J. Martinez, Ph.D.,
Director of Educational Equity and Access. Elaine is responsible for processing
private proprietary school transcript requests, licensure renewals,
registrations and instructor authorizations. Elaine will verify that the information
on new license applications and renewal requests is in compliance with state
laws and coordinate Private Postsecondary Advisory Committee and Articulation
Task Force meetings. She will assist with the support of the nursing program
articulation and dual credit initiative as well as the Film and Digital Arts Articulation
Committee plan. She will also update and maintain the Articulation Core Matrix
database and assisting with content development on programs and policies
affecting American Indian and Hispanic students. Elaine attended the University
of New Mexico and has more than 10 years of experience with state government as
a Business Operations Specialist and Program Manager. Elaine can be reached at
505-476-6548 or elaine.sacoman@state.nm.us.
Measuring Up 2008 Released
The Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education released its biannual report on higher education: Measuring Up 2008. New Mexico’s grades improved in four of five
categories, although affordability continues to be a major issue for every
state. The Department will provide details for New Mexico’s grades in the
December 15 issue of the Updates e-newsletter. For the full national report,
visit http://measuringup2008.highereducation.org/index.php.
Highlights of NMAEA 40th Conference
The New Mexico Adult Education Association 40th
Conference held last month at Santa Fe Community College was well received and
well attended. More than 250 attendees had the opportunity to attend 64
workshops ranging from data consistency, student leadership, legislator panel
discussion, politics in Adult Education, PowerPath, teaching to a multi-level
ESL classroom, Workforce Development, student goal setting, exploring algebra
concepts, and ABE to higher education, to name a few.
“The conference was the best I’ve ever attended;
there was something for everyone,” said Susie Morss of ENMU-Ruidoso.
Cheryl Keenan, Director of the U.S. Department
of Education’s Division of Adult Education and Literacy in the Office of
Vocational and Adult Education, was the keynote speaker. The focus of Ms. Keenan’s
keynote address was facilitating successful transitions, new service models for
adult education and improving instruction in reading and math.
“Currently, more than 39 million adults (18 % of
the adult population) lack a high school diploma. A college education is
becoming more and more of a necessity in today’s competitive economy,"
Keenan stated. “40% of all college students need to take at least one
remedial course, 32 states report a shortage of young adults in the
postsecondary pipeline, and colleges need to issue 16 million more degrees to
stay competitive.”
State Representative Rick Miera pledged his
support to help the more than 400,000 New Mexico adults in need of a high
school diploma or English literacy skills. Other notable speakers at the conference
included Representative Jim Trujillo, Representative Jimmie Hall, Santa Fe County
Commissioner Harry Montoya, Art Ellison, New Hampshire State Director of Adult
Education, Dr. Reed Dasenbrock, New Mexico Higher Education Cabinet Secretary, and
Dr. Pam Etre-Pérez, New Mexico State ABE Director.
“The speakers and presentations were
well-received and appreciated,” said Glenn Gomez of Northern New Mexico College.
Secretary Dasenbrock praised ABE professionals
for contributing to the goal of increasing the number of college graduates in
New Mexico emphasizing the importance of working with low skilled adults to
help meet the needs of a 21st century economy. Dr. Etre-Pérez facilitated a
NMAEA workshop with a panel of ABE experts on College and Career Transition
from three postsecondary institutions. Barbara Arguedas of SFCC, Sylvia Duran
of DACC, and Christine Abassary of UNM-Gallup responded to participant
questions on data, policy, and best practices in ABE Transition. For more
information, visit www.nmaea.org or www.hed.state.nm.us, and click on Adult Basic Education.
UNM-Taos
Student Wins GED Student of the Year
UNM-Taos General
Education Diploma (GED) graduate Geneva Vigil recently won the New Mexico GED
Student of the Year award by the New Mexico Adult Education Association. She
received the award in Santa Fe at a banquet that honored her, her family,
UNM-Taos staff, and more than 200 people in the Adult Basic Education field in
New Mexico.
“Geneva is currently
enrolled at UNM-Taos, where, despite personal challenges, she persists in her
education to serve as a role model to her three children,” said Judy Hofer,
Director of Adult Basic Education at UNM-Taos. “Geneva often speaks at UNM-Taos
orientation sessions for new students to inspire them. And inspiring she is.”
Campus News ttt Campus News ttt Campus News ttt Campus News ttt Campus News
Governor Announces
Appointments to New Mexico Highlands University Board of Regents
Governor Bill Richardson has announced the reappointment of
Jesus Lopez and the new appointment of Pete Aguilar to the New Mexico Highlands
University Board of Regents.
Jesus Lopez is a graduate of New Mexico Highlands University
and has served as an attorney in the city of Las Vegas for 30 years. Previously
he worked as a District Attorney and served 14 years as Chair of the West Las
Vegas Board of Education. Jesus Lopez was originally appointed by the
Governor on January 17, 2008 to fill an unexpired term. Lopez will now serve a
new six-year term through December 31, 2014.
Peter Aguilar holds three degrees from New Mexico Highlands
University including a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts technology and a master’s
degree in secondary education administration and industrial arts technology. He
owns an electrician business and has worked as an electrical contractor in
Santa Fe for nearly 40 years. Aguilar will replace Javier Gonzales when he
leaves on January 1, 2009, to serve on the New Mexico State University Board of
Regents. Peter Aguilar will fill Gonzales’ unexpired term and will serve
through December 31, 2010.
New e-Mentoring Program Offers Students Access to Professional
Expertise
New Mexico State University students will now be able to
receive advice and encouragement from professionals in industry, government and
university systems thanks to a new mentoring program launched last month at the
university. MentorNet is an e-mail based network allowing students one-on-one
mentoring with professionals across the nation. The program is open to
undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students and untenured faculty.
“The program is available to all NMSU students, but is
particularly useful to those studying in science and engineering fields because
MentorNet has recruited mentors from these areas to improve our science and
engineering workforce,” said Tracy Sterling, a professor in the Department of
Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science.
To join, students can go the program’s website and fill out
a mentor profile. They are then matched with a mentor who is best able to
address their interests. Faculty can join the program as mentors, using the
same process as students. Once matched, the mentor and the student maintain a
mentoring relationship by e-mail. The official program lasts for eight months. MentorNet
provides other services as well, including an e-forum with web-based discussion
groups for those interested in topics such as work and life balance, job
searching and graduate school, and a resume database for students. The program
was brought to NMSU because of the university’s interest in student retention
and career placement.
“A program such as MentorNet provides an additional tool for
students by expanding their access to the professionals in their fields of
study, so they can learn about opportunities and how to prepare for them,” Sterling
explained.
Dean Lowell Catlett, of the College of Agriculture and Home
Economics; Dean Pamela Jansma, of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Dean
Steven Castillo, of the College of Engineering, provided the funding to bring
MentorNet to NMSU.
“Deans Catlett, Jansma and Castillo have science and
engineering programs in their colleges and have an intense interest in
providing their students with additional resources to help them prepare for
their future,” Sterling said. For more information or to sign up, visit www.mentornet.net.
Announcements t Meetings t Events ttt Announcements t Meetings t Events
Native American Silent Art Auction
The Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, Inc. and Northern
New Mexico College will present the Native American Silent Art Auction for
Native American Scholarships on Thursday, December 18, from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm
at the Poeh Museum located 12 miles north of Santa Fe in Pojoaque. All art is donated
by local artists. Do holiday shopping and support higher education. All
proceeds benefit American Indian Scholarship Programs. Gifts are tax deductible
according to IRS guidelines. For more information, please contact Kimberly
Othole, ENIPC Higher Education, at 505-455-1800.
American Association of State Colleges and
Universities (AASCU) Policy Matters Series
Concealed Weapons on State College Campuses:In Pursuit of
Individual Liberty and Collective Security
Attacks on state college campuses involving concealed weapons in the
past two years have policymakers, campus officials, students and
families looking for solutions to prevent future occurrences. During this time,
legislation to ease weapons restrictions on campus has been introduced in
17 states, while legislation to tighten restrictions on campus
has been all but absent.
This briefing provides context to concealed weapons laws on
college campuses, reviews regulatory authority regarding campus concealed
weapons policy, summarizes recent legislative activity involving campus gun
laws, and provides a concise synopsis of the arguments for and against allowing
guns on campus.
It concludes by incorporating the soon-to-be released 2009 AASCU
Public Policy Agenda policy statement supporting state laws and proposed
legislation that ban concealed weapons from college campuses or that provide
for institutional and system autonomy regarding concealed weapons
policy. The policy statement also discourages new legislation that would
overturn or weaken concealed weapons bans on state college and university
campuses. The briefing was authored
by Thomas
Harnisch, Research
Associate at AASCU. For more, call 202-293-7070
or visit
www.aascu.org.
Call for
Presentations: Great Teachers Summit, April 1-3; Deadline January 9
The
second annual Great Teachers for Our City Schools: A National Summit on
Recruiting, Preparing and Retaining Quality Urban Teachers provides an
opportunity for leaders of state and local P-16 partnerships, urban district
teachers and administrators, college and university faculty and administrators,
researchers, and education policy analysts from around the country to share
promising practices, discuss current knowledge, and strengthen our local and
national commitment to quality teachers and student achievement in urban and high-needs
schools. The summit will take place April 1-3 at the Curtis Hotel in Denver,
Colorado. The submission deadline is January 9, 2009.
The Call
for Concurrent Presentations seeks proposals that center on collaborative
initiatives, research or evaluation studies, policy development, survey
analysis or other effective urban-focused strategies involving
school-college-community partnerships within the following strands:
·
Teacher
Recruitment, including expanding the pipeline and pool of teachers of color,
incentive strategies, outreach to nontraditional and second-career communities,
P-16 pathways into the teaching profession, and other issues.
·
Teacher
Preparation, including urban preparation strategies (traditional, alternative
programs, urban residencies), curriculum redesign, field and clinical practice,
culturally responsive teaching practices, integration of teacher education/arts
and sciences, strategic relationships between mentor/master/cooperating
teachers and supervising faculty, development of community partners, and other
issues.
·
Teacher
Retention, including working conditions, induction support, mentoring programs,
incentive compensation strategies, cross-generational strategies and other
issues.
To
submit a proposal, visit http://www.mscd.edu/~utp/summit_09/Call_for_Presenters.doc.
Great
Teachers for Our City Schools: A National Summit on Recruiting, Preparing and
Retaining Quality Urban Teachers is sponsored by the Urban Teacher Partnership
(UTP) – Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver Public Schools, Mayor’s
Office for Education and Children and in collaboration with the Educational
Testing Service (ETS), the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO),
Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE), The College Board,
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) and the Center for
Teaching Quality (CTQ).
For
information on the Great Teachers for Our City Schools National Summit program,
registration and hotel reservations, visit http://www.mscd.edu/~utp/ or contact Isabella Muturi Sauve at
the Urban Teacher Partnership, Metropolitan State College of Denver, at
303-352-4956 or isauve@mscd.edu.
College Goal Sunday Event Helps Prospective Students File
FAFSA, February 21-22
Many high school students struggle with the idea of higher
education, asking themselves if it is even an option because of the costs. What
many may not know is that the federal government has billions of dollars
available in student aid, and all students need to do is apply. College Goal Sunday
is a nationwide nonprofit volunteer program that helps college-bound students
and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). New Mexico will be hosting
its third annual College Goal Sunday events with 23 sites throughout the state
February 21 and 22, 2009.
College Goal Sunday is free. Students will receive
one-on-one assistance from financial aid administrators, high school counselors
and community volunteers in filling out the form and answering questions about
financial aid. All prospective college students who need financial aid to
pursue college should attend, especially low-income and first generation
students and their families.
College
Goal Sunday New Mexico helps prospective students
electronically fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA),
the primary form in determining eligibility for most loans, grants and other
aid. It is strongly recommended that all students complete the FAFSA before
priority deadlines in order to maximize financial aid opportunities for
academic year 2009-2010. Students who participate in the event can enter into a
drawing for a $500 scholarship to be given away at each site location. The
scholarship is good for any college, university or technical school throughout
the United States that the student may be entering in Fall 2009.
Organizers are seeking volunteers from the financial aid
community to assist with the events, either working with students and their
families to fill out the application and answer financial aid questions or
greeting prospective students and their families. For details on College
Goal Sunday locations or to register as a volunteer, visit www.collegegoalsundaynm.org or
contact the New Mexico College Goal Sunday Statewide Coordinator Catherine
Salcido at 575-646-6420 or cathegar@nmsu.edu.
Resources t Resources t Resources t Resources t Resources t Resources t Resources
New Mexico’s Department of Workforce Solutions offers
interesting information relating to career paths, occupation plans, and wages.
Visit http://www.dws.state.nm.us/careersolutions/index.html
Each of the four areas on the home page can take an
individual on a helpful path to career guidance. But for those interested in
interesting numbers, check out wages, statistics, growth trends, and
educational needs here: http://www.dws.state.nm.us/careersolutions/CSS-OccWage.html.
Also, look at the easy-to-use career path guides that can
help individuals plan a way to what their dream job may be. All can be
extremely helpful and are very well done.
http://www.dws.state.nm.us/careersolutions/CSS-OccsEd.html
The report from a joint project of the National Governor’s Association and
ACT, Inc., “NGA/ACT Pilot Project: Increasing Course Rigor” summarizes the
results of the 17-month pilot program designed to increase student learning by
improving the quality of core college preparatory courses in three states. In
addition to stressing the need for increased communication and collaboration between
state leadership, district administrators, and classroom teachers, the project
found that the development, promotion, and alignment of rigorous course content
can lead to innovative teaching strategies and enable students to achieve at
higher levels. The report can be downloaded at http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/increasing_rigor.pdf.
Lumina Foundation Awards SHEEO $977,700 to
Deliver State Policy Resources
The State Higher Education
Executive Officers (SHEEO) announced that Lumina Foundation for Education has
awarded it a $977,700 grant for its project Moving
the Agenda for Access and Excellence in Higher Education: Essential Information
for State Policy Leadership and Support. Over the next three years, SHEEO
will work with state higher education coordinating and governing boards to
develop more effective analytical tools for addressing postsecondary access,
success, and cost effectiveness issues through the State Policy Resource
Connection (SPRC). Eventually the SPRC system will provide access to a
warehouse of data from a variety of sources that can be analyzed by state
higher education leaders, researchers, and policymakers.
“The objective is to put into place
a versatile intelligence system providing the data resources and tools
necessary to “power” better informed, more strategically focused state policy
initiatives in higher education,” stated SHEEO’s president, Paul Lingenfelter.
“States will be able to focus on the knowledge contained in available data
rather than the technical aspects associated with collecting and joining
separate data sets.”
As envisioned, SPRC will provide
data resources and analytic tools in core areas such as student preparation for
and success in college, workforce needs and educational outcomes, higher
education finance, and postsecondary contributions to research and innovation.
Institutional, sector, and state comparisons will be possible. The policy tools
and other resources developed through this project will be available to all 50
states. Over the coming year, SHEEO will appoint and convene an advisory group
to guide the system development. SHEEO will fully implement website resources
that will enable state users to directly access the data and analytic tools.
SPRC will enable SHEEO and its
members to develop individually tailored state-specific reports as well as
summary national profiles and periodic reports to examine state and national
trends and progress in higher education. This approach will allow states to see
their own efforts in comparison to and as part of the larger national agenda
for higher education. For more information about SHEEO, visit www.sheeo.org.
For more details on the Lumina Foundation, visit www.luminafoundation.org.
Issues of the e-newsletter Updates from the Cabinet Secretary of Higher Education
are posted online. To receive the
newsletter, visit www.hed.state.nm.us and complete the form under Cabinet Secretary. To submit
items for the newsletter, send copy to laura.mulry@state.nm.us.
Deadline is Wednesdays at noon. Thank you. 
