The District Governing Board of Arizona Western College has appointed Marc A. Nigliazzo, UNM’s Vice President for Rio Rancho Operations and Branch Academic Affairs, as its president. Nigliazzo’s resignation from UNM will be effective June 30, 2009. His appointment at Arizona Western College begins August 3, 2009.
Photo: Marc A. Nigliazzo
UNM President David J. Schmidly credits Nigliazzo with solidifying relationships in Rio Rancho and getting that campus off the ground – literally. “In the past 13 months, Marc has taken the Rio Rancho campus from concept to the reality of its first building going up at City Center. His energy will be missed.” Schmidly also commends Nigliazzo for strengthening branch campus ties with the UNM main campus.
Schmidly has appointed Beth Miller to serve as acting executive director for UNM West and Rio Rancho. She has been serving as Special Assistant to the Vice President and is a former executive director of UNM-Gallup.
In his new job, Nigliazzo will lead a nationally recognized community college with an approximate enrollment of 13,000 students on its main campus in Yuma, AZ, and at several other instructional sites throughout Yuma and La Paz counties.
Nigliazzo said AWC enjoys exceptional relationships with Northern Arizona University-Yuma and the University of Arizona. AWC’s connection with NAU-Yuma is especially notable, he said, as it is considered a national model of cooperation between two and four year institutions.
In his letter of resignation, Nigliazzo said it has been an honor to be part of the University of New Mexico for the past year, and “it is only my career-long passion for the community college that is drawing me away from it.”
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1807; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at June 9, 2009 03:22 PM