III. STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES

Strengths and Challenges are identified in areas that are related to the criteria for accreditation and the general institutional requirements.

Representative strengths identified at the University of New Mexico include the following:

1. The institution has a strong human resource component including a faculty and an administrative and support staff who are deeply committed to students and loyal to the institution and take pride in the university and their role and accomplishments. Faculty also exhibit consistent interest in their responsibilities for matters of curriculum and academic freedom as well as a desire to share in decision-making throughout the institution. Regents exhibit detailed knowledge and strong commitment to their duties and the institution.
2. Students at the University exhibit enthusiasm for the value of the education they are receiving and are increasingly earning such national recognition as Rhodes and Truman scholarships.
3. The University of New Mexico research enterprise has achieved noteworthy success since the last visit, evidenced by greatly increased grant and contract funding, substantial collaboration with neighboring federal and national research laboratories, and faculty recognition in the form of national and international awards.
4. The Law School provides one of the best clinical experiences in the country with a requirement of six hours of internship for all students.
5. Programs in the Health Science Center have received national recognition and provided national leadership for the Problem-Based Learning approach developed in the School of Medicine and applied, along with integration of key program areas, in the education of students in Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Diagnostic and Therapeutic Sciences.
6. The University of New Mexico branch campuses provide key educational services to their communities and to traditionally under-served populations of Native American and Hispanic students.
7. The University of New Mexico libraries constitute an important strength of the institution as illustrated by the significant upward movement of the library among peer ARL libraries during the last ten years to the top 50 from a ranking near the 100 mark.
8. Wide-ranging services and support system improvements, including technical support for registration and fund raising efforts, are further evidence of the strides made at UNM during the last decade.
9. Since 1990, special program strengths have been recognized in 22 areas by national rankings, whereas none had been so recognized before that time.
10. The outreach efforts of Continuing Education are noteworthy in making available non-credit programs and Evening and Weekend Programs to citizens of the region.

Representative challenges identified by the team include the following:

1. Despite positive and vigorous leadership from administrators in interim positions, the University is not positioned to make long-term commitments to planning and other initiatives and to respond to certain challenges while the issue of permanent executive leadership is unresolved.
2. A policy and procedures for conflict resolution for faculty issues unrelated to personnel decisions should be developed with mutual consultation among faculty and academic administrators and put in place to meet the deadline imposed by a recent court decision.
3. Institutional constituencies report a history of decentralization and inadequate communication within the institution, resulting in a lack of understanding of institutional goals, priorities, and, decisions and a perceived inequity of support in such matters as equipment and other resources. This is particularly evident in a lack of connection between academic and student affairs that hinders effective coordination in areas of common institutional concern, such as retention of students and faculty.
4. The planned program for the assessment of student academic achievement has not been implemented consistently and effectively throughout the institution including the branch campuses and is behind schedule in yielding useful results for program improvement and budget decisions, especially at the Taos Education Center.
5. Compensation for faculty, staff, and graduate assistants lags significantly behind that at peer institutions. A realistic plan is needed to address this issue and to improve recruitment and retention of faculty and staff. This situation is exacerbated by many aspects of UNMpact such as grievance procedures, lack of clarity, and lack of fit for branch campus employees.
6. Main campus facilities and utilities are in sufficiently bad repair to jeopardize success in teaching and research and undermine safety on the main campus. Resources need to be identified to address these critical needs. Educational technologies are inadequate for a campus wishing to maintain a major research presence and move forward on the educational front. Facilities for health care programs at UNM-Gallup are also in critical need of improvement.
7. The ratio of part-time and non-permanent (non-tenure stream) faculty to "permanent" faculty lines (tenure-stream faculty) is a concern in different ways on both main and branch campuses. A decline in tenure-stream faculty causes concern among main campus faculty, and limited numbers of full-time faculty on branch campuses could jeopardize compliance with general institutional requirements.

Comments to: accredit@unm.edu

Last Revised: 11/10/99