By Lynn Janes

On May 23, 2025, the board of regents held a regular meeting at Western New Mexico University. The board consisted of Steven Neville, chair (online), Joseph "Dean" Reed (online), John Wertheim (online) and WNMU student Keana Huerta.

New business

Neville said he and Wertheim had found a firm to help with the interim president search. The firm contacted was AGB (association of governing boards) interim search service. Wertheim said they recommend using this firm. They had looked at a few options and this one had been recommended by a member of the University of New Mexico board of regents. This firm does a lot of searching around the country and is well known. They keep a database of people that have served as president in other institutions. In their process they can also take in resumes of any local people interested in the position. The regents have had a number express interest. This position will be for six months to a year.

This search service will not require an RFP (request for proposal) because the cost will not be enough to require it. The service will vet the applicants and send them to the regents. Reed and Huerta didn't have any additional questions and approved the use of the service, which will be a flat fee to the university of $35,000. They will be paid on a timetable based on milestones.

Reed asked once this firm has been hired whether will they be submitting the candidates to the board weekly or all at once. Neville said the firm had asked how they wanted them sent and they had decided to have them sent as they come and have been vetted. He thought they should be able to have someone identified in June.

For the permanent president search it would be far more expensive, and they have to put out an RFP. The service will also be far more extensive. The RFP had been submitted through the procurement office, and they had bids that meet the time limit. Jack Crocker, acting president, said they had five proposals. They had been given to the regents for review. It also had gone through a committee for review, and they recommended Anthem Executive. The price had been competitive, and they had extensive experience in this area and nationally.

Amy Baca, executive director of purchasing, had the full list of firms that had submitted proposals. Anthem Executive, Isaacson Miller, R.H. Perry and Associates, Academic Search, Whit Kiefer and one that had missed the deadline. She read them in the order of the score they had received in the committee. The one that did not make the deadline had not been considered.

Anthem Executive had done a number of searches for other institutions in New Mexico and their references had been credible. The board approved the recommendation for Anthem Executive.

Reed asked how soon they could start. Baca said they would start negations, but she thought they would be ready to go as soon as the board approved. They had worked with New Mexico and Baca will be identifying milestones that they can invoice by.

Wertheim said this will be a fairly long process. The public should be aware they will be doing what other institutions had done. The board will have a committee for this selection that will include people outside of the university. The selection will be an extensive process that will include community input.

Neville said they would need to put together a committee of 10 to 15 people composed of regents and community members. He said maybe the mayor, the chamber director, a county commissioner and other organization heads. He thought Crocker could help in that endeavor. These people could help narrow down the applicants and the regents could start interviews. The committee would include some faculty, staff and student government also. Neville added, "I want to involve the community because Western is a major part of the Silver City community."

Crocker had a revised list from the previous meeting for promotion, tenure and post tenure review. The board approved the revised list.

Presidents report

Crocker had an update on the cyber situation. Michael Acosta, chief information officer, said they had made significant progress with the infrastructure. Next, they will be focusing on the applications. He explained the process as the same as building a home. They had poured the foundation and set the frame. They had also done the roughed in plumbing and electrical. Next, will come the exterior and interior sheet rock. As soon as they can put in the windows and doors, it will be ready to roll out. The forensic investigation will end and will have some additional details.

A new agreement was met for a 24/7 monitoring of the entire campus and remote locations. Acosta felt they will be in good standing and moving forward at a good pace.

Neville addressed it had been pointed out to him the site had some old information. He assumed it had come from the restoration of an old data base. Acosta said that might be the case. He asked that information be provided to Crocker, and they would look into it.

The board decide the next meeting would that place July 31, 2025, unless a special meeting would be needed.

Board comments

Huerta thanked everyone that attended the meeting. She had a huge thank you to Acosta and his team for their work. She will be moving into the campus dorms and said she would be spending more time walking around and talking to everyone.

Reed also wanted to thank the IT team and Acosta. Their diligence and persistence have paid off. He like the analogy of framing a house Acosta had made. He thanked the RFP committee and the firms that had submitted an RFP. Reed said the graduation had been amazing. They had a lot of hurdles to make it happen but fortunately had good weather. He thanked the people responsible for posting on LinkedIn and Facebook the graduates faces, the pictures had been top notch. "It was really good PR for us and there are so many things going right at Western and I feel a great momentum shift." Positive changes have been happening with budgets, graduation, IT, etc. He thanked everyone for their hard work.

Wertheim said, "It was a very moving experience to get to know the university better and to understand how important the mission of the university is to the state of New Mexico. It has been a fun hike up the learning curve, learning all the great things Western has to offer to the state of New Mexico and the whole country."

Neville said he had some of the same comments as Wertheim. He appreciated all the hard work that had been done to mitigate the cyber-attack. He thanked Wertheim for the time going over all the score sheets for the RFP. "I think we selected a great group. We were confident and they had high marks from previous clients."

Meeting adjourned.