Interim Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Viola Florez has appointed Rita Martinez-Purson as interim vice president for institutional diversity. Martinez-Purson is currently dean of Continuing Education. As interim vice president for institutional diversity, Martinez-Purson will help to create a new office at UNM charged with providing strategic leadership in initiatives related to increasing and maintaining diversity within the University system and community.
“We’ve been working hard to assemble a leadership team that can manage every aspect of academic affairs,” said Florez. “I’m very pleased that an individual of this caliber is willing to step into this critical role.” She added that a national search will take place this fall.
Martinez-Purson brings to this position more than 22 years of senior administrative leadership, including positions as interim president of Santa Fe Community College (SFCC), human resources group leader at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and dean of continuing education and workforce development at both SFCC and UNM.
As dean of continuing education at UNM for the past 4 years, she has managed 46 staff employees and more than 400 instructors while managing an annual budget of $8 million.
Martinez-Purson has also been very active in diversity activities both on-campus as well as through statewide initiatives like the Diversity Leadership Council. She holds an Ed.D. in Education Administration and Leadership as well as a M.A. in Public Administration from UNM. She also held a year-long advanced leadership institute fellowship for minority-serving Institutions from 2005-06.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu