This is the report of a team visit and comprehensive evaluation of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for continued accreditation at the doctoral degree-granting level, conducted for the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools on January 25-27, 1999. The organization of the report is as follows. Contained in this introductory section are a summary of the accreditation history, a statement on the structure and scope of the visit, and an evaluation of the self-study and self-study report. Section II of the report affirms that the institution meets the General Institutional Requirements, satisfies the Criteria for Accreditation, and is in compliance with the Higher Education Reauthorization Act. Section III identifies institutional strengths and challenges. Section IV contains advice in the form of suggestions for institutional improvement. Section V contains the rationale and recommendations. A Worksheet for the Statement of Affiliation Status will be appended to the final team report.

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a comprehensive, urban, public university governed by the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico, offering degrees through the doctoral level. It was founded in 1889, enrolled its first class in the fall of 1892, and awarded its first graduate degrees in 1917. The university was first accredited by the North Central Association in 1922. The most recent accreditation visits occurred in 1989 when a comprehensive evaluation visit resulted in reaccreditation for ten years and in 1992 when a focused visit was made as recommended by the 1989 visiting team.

The team chairperson and the NCA staff liaison conducted a pre-visit on November 5, 1998 to plan an evaluation visit to the main campus and one or more branch campuses. An early part of the team visit was made to UNM-Gallup, on January 22 by three team members. All team members convened in Albuquerque on Sunday, January 24, 1999, for initial planning and work sessions and a dinner hosted by the interim president of UNM for the team and representative UNM staff members. On Monday morning two team members traveled to the UNM-Valencia. Other team members began the visit by meeting with the interim president and members of his executive cabinet including the interim provost, interim vice president for institutional advancement, vice president for student affairs, interim vice president for business and finance designate, and the retiring vice president for business and finance.

During the visit, team members also met in groups or individually with members and past members of the Board of Regents, administrators holding institution-wide responsibilities, deans, representatives of governance bodies and committees, department chairs, and other individuals including administrators, faculty, students, staff, and members of the community. Team members who had visited the UNM-Gallup and the UNM-Valencia campuses met at the main campus in Albuquerque with representatives of the UNM-Taos Education Center and the UNM-Los Alamos Campus. The team held separate open meetings for students, faculty, staff and members of the community. Team members also met with elected student, faculty, and staff leaders. Team members shared information and conclusions on Monday night and reached their conclusions regarding recommendations in meetings on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, team members reviewed data, drafted contributions to the team report, and completed their work on the statement of the recommendations, strengths, challenges, and advice to constitute the nucleus of the team report. This statement was reported to the president and his executive cabinet during the exit meeting.

The team expresses appreciation to the self-study coordinators and their assistants for assistance provided before and during the pre-visit and visit and for the arrangements made for the visit. The team members noted the cooperative spirit which characterized meetings between team members and the campus constituencies and Board of Regents members with whom they met during the visit.

Almost two months preceding the visit, the team members received extensive materials constituting the UNM self-study report, including separate self-study reports from the main campus and four branch campuses and catalogs, handbooks, and financial statements. Writing the institution self-study reports appears to have been a very extensive effort that included participation by many main campus and branch campus constituencies. Units of the institution (including four branch campuses) provided drafts covering their operations. Voluminous self-study texts contained descriptions of most units and operations as well as some analysis and evidence of unit and organizational effectiveness. Responses to concerns in previous team reports were reported. The self-study steering committee voiced positive feelings about their work and its enhancement of their self-awareness and knowledge of the institution. They also identified a significant consensus across campus units regarding the institution's strengths and weaknesses. Concerns and Problems identified in the self-study were reiterated by committee members in terms of a need for the following: regular, formalized evaluation of administrators, improved branch campus relationships with the main campus, technology and technology support, consistent and equitable workloads and compensation, benefits for subcontract workers, and better communication throughout the institution. The team commends the steering committee for its work.

Extensive and useful additional resources were provided for the team in a room near the team meeting room, and other materials were provided upon request. The self-study report noted that the primary audiences were the university communities and the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association.

Comments to: accredit@unm.edu

Last Revised: 11/10/99