Ferrel Heady, the 11th president of the University of New Mexico who served from 1968 to 1975, died Aug. 17 at the age of 90. A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 26, at 11 a.m. in the UNM Student Union ballroom. Heady served during turbulent times marked by student demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
Photo: Ferrel Heady, UNM's 11th President
One protest turned bloody on May 8, 1970, when New Mexico National Guardsmen marched onto campus and 10 people were bayoneted. Heady was also president during the 1969 “Love Lust” poem controversy and the challenge of academic freedom.
Among his accomplishments as president, UNM opened its first branch campus at UNM-Gallup and the UNM Andean Study and Research Center was established in Quito, Ecuador.
A building boom took place, with construction of Ferris Engineering Center and a two building complex that housed the Institute for Social Research and Development and the School of Business and Administrative Sciences, now the Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management. University Stadium was also built during his tenure.
Inaugurated on Heady’s watch were the Bachelor of University Studies, the Cancer Research Center, the College Enrichment Program, and ethnic study centers for Chicano, Afro-American and Native American Students.
Heady earned a Ph.D. in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. He came to UNM in 1967 as academic vice president, after serving as academic vice president at the University of Michigan for 20 years, seven as director of the Institute of Public Administration.
After serving as UNM president, Heady was a professor of public administration and political science from 1975 to ’81. He was an honorary degree recipient in 1993 and also received UNM’s outstanding graduate teacher award. He served as professor emeritus in UNM’s School of Public Administration, which he founded.
Heady is survived by his wife of 64 years, Charlotte; sons Richard and Thomas Heady, both of Albuquerque; daughters Judith August of Austin, Texas, and Margaret Heady of Cheney, Wash., a brother and a sister.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu