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ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSITY
A10
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ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSITY
The University of New Mexico is today recognized as one of the nation's major research universities, with nationally acclaimed programs in areas as diverse as medicine, fine arts, engineering, and law. But it wasn't always that way. When Bernard Rodey steered the enabling legislation through the Territorial Legislature to create UNM on Feb. 28, 1889, there wasn't a single public high school in the territory, and most people believed a university was a frill the impoverished territory could ill afford. When the university opened its doors three years later, the majority of the 75 students were in the Preparatory Department which graduated high school students. The only other department, the Normal School, enrolled six public school teachers. Although college-level classes and departments began to be added the following year, it would not be until WWI ended in 1918 that the university stopped taking in high school students.
UNM's second and third presidents, Clarence Herrick (1897-1901) and William Tight (1901-1909), both geologists, placed emphasis early on for including the sciences in the university curriculum. Although Herrick's tenure was cut short because of health reasons, Tight was the epitome of a hands-on president. In addition to teaching geology and chemistry, he dug a well and irrigation ditches, laid out campus landscaping, took the student body into the Sandia Mountains to bring back trees, and built the first fraternity building, the Estufa, on campus, using the construction of the oval building as a way to teach calculus.
Tight was also responsible for adopting the unique architecture that makes UNM a special place. When the original university building, four-stories of red brick and a high-pitched roof, was in danger of collapse, Tight conceived the idea of remodeling it along the lines of the Spanish-Pueblo architecture that was prominent throughout the territory. Since that time his dream has been reflected in every building constructed on UNM's main campus. It was also during Tight's presidency that the Engineering School was formed and the Associated Students of UNM was organized.
The growth of the university remained slow but steady, reaching an enrollment of 610 students in 1925. The first graduate degrees, in Latin and chemistry, were granted in 1922. It was in that same year that the university first attained national accreditation. It was under UNM's seventh president, James Fulton Zimmerman (1927-44), that the university began a major emphasis that continues to this day, reaching south of the border to embrace studies of and ties to Latin America. Today, UNM's library holdings of materials related to Latin America place it in the top ten in the nation, and scholars from throughout the world travel to Albuquerque to use them.
Zimmerman was responsible for creating the College of Education in 1928, the General College (today University College) in 1935, and the College of Fine Arts in 1936. It was he who convinced a relatively unknown Santa Fe architect, John Gaw Meem, to serve as the university's informal architect. Meem seized the strength of Tight's vision and went on to create some of the university's most distinctive buildings, including a new library in 1936 (today named Zimmerman Library), Scholes Hall (administration), and the Anthropology Hall.
Enrollment rose to nearly 2,600 under Zimmerman, but then WWII intervened. Zimmerman died in 1944, the same year one of the most significant education bills ever addressed by the U.S. Congress was passed. The G.I. Bill opened higher education to thousands of men and women who might never have dreamed of pursuing further studies and the nation's campuses were overwhelmed with returning veterans.
In 1947 the university granted its first doctoral degrees, and both the College of Business Administration and the School of Law were conceived.
Thomas Popejoy (1948-68), the first alumnus and first native New Mexican to hold the presidency, oversaw the greatest expansion the university has known, both in enrollment and buildings. The great influx of veterans first resulted in the campus being crowded with barracks, but almost immediately on taking office Popejoy began lobbying the Legislature for construction funds. A master plan for the campus was created, and the College of Education complex, Johnson Center, the Fine Arts Center, and the Student Union, among others were built on the main campus. To the north the Health Sciences Center was started, and to the south the athletic complex was both conceived and constructed.
Popejoy's successor, Ferrel Heady (1968-75) steered the campus through the most tumultuous period, the Vietnam War years. The Bachelor of University Studies degree was begun during his tenure, allowing students to tailor their own degrees. In 1968 he also oversaw the opening of UNM's first branch college in Gallup. Heady was also responsible for steering the university toward the path of seeking an increase of research funds, and it was during the 1970s that the university first began serious discussion for developing a research park. Today, the university, in partnership with both private enterprise and the state's national research laboratories, Sandia and Los Alamos, provides both cutting-edge research for industry and national defense as well as multiple education and training opportunities for students.
From 1975-82, under President William Davis, research funding doubled, and the efforts that were begun by Herrick and Tight began to be recognized as UNM earned national accolades in the areas of science, technology, and business research. Under Davis, the Latin American and Southwest Hispanic Research Institutes were created, as were branch campuses in Los Alamos and Valencia County.
The 1980s saw a quick succession of presidents. John Perovich (1982-84) oversaw the development of the Instructional Television program which allowed the university to deliver its classes to remote areas of the state. Tom Farer (1985-86) presented the university community with major changes in administration and resource allocation. Gerald May (1986-1990) served during hard economic times with little or no money for new initiatives and with a marked need to raise tuition just to keep even with inflation.
Richard Peck (1990-1998) reemphasized the university's Latin American ties with key initiatives and cooperation agreements with other universities. Peck also placed a continuing emphasis on the growth of the university research park and on faculty initiatives to garner increasing research funds.
William Gordon (1998-2002)
was the first university faculty member to rise through the ranks to assume
the presidency, going from an assistant professor of psychology, to department
chairman, to dean of Arts and Sciences, and then serving as provost before being
elevated to the presidency. Gordon was succeeded by Interim President F. Chris
Garcia who agreed to take the position for a one-year term. Garcia has been
responsible for overseeing legislative initiatives to change the state funding
formula for higher education, the first major change in nearly a quarter of
a century.
F. Chris Garcia (2002-2003) has been a UNM professor of political science since 1970 and taught at the University of California at Los Angeles, Indiana University, the University of California at Davis, California State University at Fullerton, Fullerton Community College and the University of Northern Colorado. He was also interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs in 1993 and again in 1998-2000. He held other administrative positions at UNM including vice president for Academic Affairs, 1987-90; dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1980-86; assistant and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1975-80; and, assistant director of the Division of Government Research, 1970-1972. His areas of research and teaching include American politics, emphasis on public opinion, campaigns and elections, New Mexico government and politics, political culture and ethnic and Hispanic politics. He is the recipient of several research grants totaling more than $2 million. Garcia is the author or editor of 10 books and more than 50 monographs, articles, chapters and reviews.
Louis Caldera (2003-2006) served as Secretary of the Army from 1998-2001 during the Clinton Administration. He represented downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding neighborhoods in the California State Assembly from 1992-97. He chaired the Banking Committee and was a member of the Higher Education Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Budget Committee. He held the post of the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement for the California State University System. In addition, Caldera is a 1978 West Point graduate and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a J.D. from the Harvard Law School.
David W. Harris (2006-present) held various leadership positions in the State Administration including Director of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee from 1989-1995, Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration from 1995-2005, Deputy Chief of Staff from 2001-2003, and Executive Director of the New Mexico Finance Authority through April 2004. Harris received a B.B.A. in 1971 from Eastern New Mexico University.
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