Albuquerque Journal

UNM Parents Get University's Ear
By Martin Salazar, Journal Staff Writer

As Maria Probasco stood outside the University of New Mexico's dorms last week helping students move into their rooms, she was baffled.
       
She couldn't help but notice that while UNM worked hard to entice students, once they arrived at their dorms — vehicles loaded with possessions — a parking officer was welcoming them with citations or warnings.
       
"You have parents coming in making sure students are settled and safe, and what we're thinking about is making a buck," said Probasco, president of the UNM Parent Association that formed in April. She approached a UNM administrator, and he promptly reported back that the problem had been taken care of.
       
In a nutshell, that's what UNM's new Parent Association is about: being an advocate for parents and students; giving parents a place to go with their questions and concerns; helping to guide them through the bureaucracy so they don't give up; and giving them information about services for their children in case they run into trouble.
       
The group is also reaching out to the parents of future UNM students, hosting a program that exposes parents of high school freshmen and sophomores to the college experience.
       
"Graduation is the bottom line," said Probasco, noting that with 56 percent of students failing to graduate within six years, everyone needs to do more — including parents.
       
Though UNM has had a parent relations office since 2006, it got a major boost with the arrival of President David Schmidly and his wife, Janet, who had helped to start an association at Oklahoma State.
       
Here, the Schmidlys helped establish a memorandum of understanding, giving the association a regular voice at regents' meetings. Janet Schmidly has also taken an active role.
       
"There's nothing better than a happy parent in a grocery store talking about the benefits their children are receiving at the University of New Mexico," said Schmidly, who was a teacher for 26 years. She said the more involved parents are, the better their children do.
       


Parent group
        For more information, go to parent.unm.edu, e-mail parent@unm.edu or call 277-5915.