The Board of Regents for the University of New Mexico has announced performance goals for President Louis Caldera for the current fiscal year. President Caldera participated fully in the development of these goals with the regents in a series of meetings over the past several months.
Regents say they would like Caldera to finalize his management team and to create a high-performance managerial structure that delegates work efficiently. The performance of the team will be reviewed in judging Caldera’s effectiveness and performance.
A major goal for the University involves retention and graduation rates. The president’s formal goal is to retain 76 percent of the first-time freshmen that started at UNM in fall 2004. His goal is also to see that 46 percent of those first-time freshmen are graduating within six years. The goal takes into account the reality that most UNM students combine work and school. Caldera has also been requested to see that UNM enrolls an increasingly higher proportion of New Mexico’s top 10 percent of high school graduates.
The regents set a formal goal for Caldera to continue to improve salaries for faculty, including medical faculty, with incentives for improved personnel performances, although regents did not attach specific numbers. They also asked that he develop external relations with the legislature, with local constituents, the media and community service organizations.
Another area in which the regents set goals for Caldera concerns economic development. He has been asked to finalize the Mesa del Sol transactions, to work with the Science and Technology Corporation to create a more effective technology transfer office and to work with Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories to develop partnerships for joint research programs.
Caldera is asked to assure the success of the newly formed audit committee and incorporate fiscal reporting to reflect the budget status on a quarterly basis. He is also asked to improve fiscal controls to assure the regents of stricter accountability. He is asked to consult with the president of the board and possibly the entire board when a proposed action is of such consequence that it could affect the fiscal condition of the university, its academic mission or is of great public importance.
Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1989