V. RATIONALE AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The team's recommendations for action, including its recommendation to continue the accreditation of the University of New Mexico, are stated below and on the attached Work-sheet for the Statement of Affiliation Status. The rationale for those recommendations is as follows. The institution has many strengths and accomplishments. It 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. Regents exhibit detailed knowledge and strong commitment to their duties and the institution. 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. The University of New Mexico research enterprise has achieved noteworthy success since the last visit, evidenced by greatly increased grant and contract funding, and faculty recognition in the form of national and international awards. Since 1990, special program strengths have been recognized in 22 areas by national rankings whereas only a few had been so recognized before that time. 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. The out-reach efforts of Continuing Education are noteworthy in making available non-credit programs and Evening and Weekend Programs to citizens of the region. The University of New Mexico libraries show significant upward movement among peer ARL libraries during the last ten years to the top 50 from a ranking near the 100 mark.

In addition to having these accomplishments and strengths, the institution is faced with significant challenges. 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. 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. The planned program for the assessment of student academic achievement has not been implemented effectively throughout the institution and is behind schedule in yielding useful results for program improvement and budget decisions. Compensation for faculty, staff, and graduate assistants lags significantly behind that at peer institutions. A realistic plan is needed to address the compensation issue and to improve recruitment and retention of faculty and staff. 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. Finally, main campus facilities and utilities are in bad repair, as are some on branch campuses. Educational technologies are inadequate for a campus wishing to maintain a major research presence and move forward on the educational front.

Despite these challenges, the team is confident that UNM is a fundamentally strong and sound institution whose history of achievements and current operations demonstrate that it is capable of continuing to address its challenges in a timely and effective way.

Due deliberation regarding the institution's strengths and challenges leads to the following recommendations. It is recommended that the next visit be in ten years. It is further recommended that the Statement of Affiliation Status remain as it is, consistent with the recommendation of the institution.

Comments to: accredit@unm.edu

Last Revised: 11/10/99