Governor Bill Richardson has signed the $5.6 billion budget bill that will pay for state government, public education and higher education this coming fiscal year. As signed, the budget allots a 5 percent compensation increase for faculty and staff, plus a .75 percent increase in employer contributions for higher education.
However, the governor vetoed $20.5 million earmarked to provide an advance .75 percent for educational retirement that would have covered next year’s employer contributions. The bill also features a zero tuition credit.
These last hours of the 2007 session will be a blur of activity. We’ll allow the dust to settle and provide a full report on UNM’s legislative fortunes next week.
UNM fared well in the budget bill dubbed “Junior” that was signed by the Governor March 13.
UNM Projects in Senate Bill 611
1. $207,000 for one or more full time equivalent professor and other expenses of the Native American Studies program
2. $75,000 for one FTE to research and teach Navajo language in Native American Studies
3. $75,000 for Chicano, Hispano, Mexicano Studies program
4. $85,000 for African American student services program and operations
5. $290,000 to expand sustainability studies program
6. $357,000 for dept. of media arts at main campus
7. $75,000 for indigenous library program
8. $75,000 for dept. of media arts for provide media training for Albuquerque youth
9. $280,000 to expand international education initiatives
10. $372,000 to expand biomedical engineering program
11. For Health Sciences Center:
a. $312,000 for integrative medicine program in the School of Medicine
b. $35,000 to expand nurse advice line to cover uninsured callers
c. $57,000 to sustain and improve medical research involving outpatient medicine through continuing medical education, clinical research and outreach programs for rural clinicians and to support retention of clinicians in underserved areas
d. $10,000 for the pediatric department’s telehealth programs to help rural health providers and school-based health centers to treat and prevent childhood obesity through telehealth consultation
e. $225,000 for salary increases for statewide staff of the New Mexico Poison and Drug information Center in the College of Pharmacy
f. $150,000 for operating expenses at the young children’s health center in Albuquerque
g. $50,000 for a multidisciplinary evaluation clinic for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder
h. $57,000 to create a cooperative pharmacy program in conjunction with NMSU
12. For the School of Law:
a. $25,000 for the Corinne Wolfe Children’s Law Center to provide training, technical assistance and research concerning abuse, neglect and juvenile justice
b. $120,000 for operational funding for the Corinne Wolfe Children’s Law center
c. $100,000 for Utton Transboundary Resource Center operational expenses
d. $191,000 for Utton Transboundary Resource Center to provide ombudsman services for pending stream adjudications
e. $75,000 for a college preparatory mentoring program for children in the 8th through 12th grades in Albuquerque public schools
f. $25,000 for a national Latino and Latina law student conference
13. $157,000 for scholarships for students enrolled in the reserve officer training corps
14. $275,000 for programs and support services to enhance student athlete retention and timely graduation.
15. $40,000 to create a college mentoring program to train graduate and undergraduate students to mentor high school and other college students
16. $145,000 to enhance pre-college science and mathematic skills and conduct a summer mathematics and science camp for minority students through the School of Engineering special programs
17. $45,000 to the Bureau of Business and Economic Research to conduct a study of the feasibility to incorporate the South Valley of Bernalillo County
18. $30,000 to expand the Resource Center for Raza Planning
19. $100,000 to expand the Institute for Aerospace Engineering
20. $150,000 for the Center for Regional Studies
21. $40,000 for the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies to meet the challenge of developing a new relevance for anthropology
22. $100,000 to support the Julian Samora legacy project, which is a collaboration between the University of Texas, Michigan State University, University of Notre Dame and UNM to make the papers of anthropologist Julian Samora more accessible for research
23. $50,000 to create the research service learning program
24. $50,000 for a theatre company in residence in the dept of theatre and dance
25. $267,800 to contract with a private entity in Bernalillo County to operate a secure, long-term, statewide multijurisdictional residential rehabilitation and transition facility that admits persons who have been ordered to the facility by a NM court
26. $45,000 to the Anderson School of Management to provide a consultant to prepare a strategic plan for the entrepreneurship program at Northern NM College
27. $20,000 for licensed alcohol and drug counselor internship initiatives
28. $35,000 for students to use mass transit to attend the university
29. $30,000 to bridge the achievement gap for high school students and first year university students to prepare for university coursework in the field of African American studies and to provide for fellowships and assistantships for graduate and post-doctoral students and distinguished lecture series in African American studies
30. $25,000 for programs at the center for Latin American resources and outreach
31. $30,000 to the Anderson School of Management to provide a consultant to prepare a strategic plan for an entrepreneurship program at the Gallup branch
32. $35,000 for the Gallup branch library
33. $200,000 for the Taos branch to develop and implement a partnership with local schools and community groups for manpower development
34. $92,000 to create a college mentoring program
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1989; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu