The University of New Mexico (UNM) has three principal activities specified by its mission – education, research and service.  The breadth and depth of contributions by UNM in these areas is extensive with many centers of excellence are present at the University.  All of these efforts impact the economy of New Mexico in various degrees, but perhaps none is more important than service to the community.  The services delivered by UNM affect the very quality of life of New Mexicans.  Nonetheless, the public may not fully appreciate how consistently their lives are touched in positive ways by University students, staff and faculty.  UNM provides sources of optimism, entrepreneurism and means to address many of the significant problems confronting New Mexico whether economic growth and individual economic empowerment, water resources management, enlightened health care delivery, or other business and societal problems.

 This report reviews: 1.) what UNM is doing to support economic development, 2.) how well UNM is performing relative to economic development, and 3.) the gaps that exist in UNM’s diversity of programs and services relative to economic development.  On the basis of this review an agenda of suggestions is presented on what UNM should be doing to better support economic development.

What Is UNM Doing To Support Economic Development?
In general, UNM supports the New Mexico economy by:

• Improving the quality of life whether through the performing arts, athletic events, delivery of high quality and technically sophisticated health care, creation of and assistance to businesses, or other contributions from a vigorous intellectual community of students, faculty and staff
• Educating and enlightening the citizens and workforce of New Mexico, thereby enabling people to make distinctive contributions to society
• Providing expertise to business, governmental and non-governmental organizations to assist in their growth and development
• Introducing new innovations, new technologies, and discoveries through research
• Cultivating a rich resource base of students, faculty and staff who contribute to the intellectual, economic and cultural vigor of society
• Employing thousands of people and purchasing/procuring goods and services from New Mexico organizations
• Attracting public and private funds that support academic programs and research
• Helping to create the quality of life that makes New Mexico an attractive place to live and to work, and encouraging existing businesses to stay and expand, and to grow new businesses. UNM enhances the overall quality of life through its performing arts and athletic programs.  It provides a wealth of opportunities for personal growth in its degree, certificate and non-degree programs, in the conferences and public lecture series it offers, in its museums.  Through its Health Sciences Center and University Hospital, through the training it provides for medical professionals, UNM makes major contributions to delivering quality (and affordable) medical services in Albuquerque and around the state
• By giving our students the solid educational foundation and problem solving skills that will enable them to be agile in the world of work and in job markets that put a premium on upgrading skills and learning new technologies
• By holding and organizing conferences that expose New Mexicans to new ideas and technologies, while introducing visitors to the attractions of our state

• Preparing an educated and well-trained workforce that embraces life-long learning
• Creating and commercializing intellectual property of a diverse nature from the arts to the sciences
• Providing technical assistance to a broad continuum of organizations ranging from new ventures and start-ups to large, established institutions
• Providing quality information and analysis for decision-making
• Employing thousands of professional and technical staff and economically supporting their families
• Supporting local businesses through the procurement of goods and services
• Contributing to the vibrancy of the local economy through many avenues: funding from outside the state, academic conferences and technical meetings that bring visitors to New Mexico, etc.
• Providing the educational support needed by companies that are locating in New Mexico
• Partnering with others in New Mexico who are focused on economic development
• Assisting community problem-solving through expertise and professional networks

How Well Is UNM Doing It
Adult and Continuing Education

• Programs are progressive
• Attentive to needs of community and programs respond to community and consumer input
• Offering of non-degree training certificates and programs
• Main campus attempts to avoid duplicating/competing with other units and TVI
• Post-diploma programs by academic units have not been cultivated.  UNM graduates appear to think that post-diploma study is only for obtaining a higher degree rather than replenishment in a past field of study.  This is not consistent with life-long learning.
• Main campus offers courses at times and days supportive of working adults

• Branch campuses have done an excellent job in ascertaining and meeting the needs of local constituents for vocational courses and programs
• Branch campuses are flexible in the programs and courses they offer.  They are agile in initiating programs
• Branch campuses could do a better job of promoting the concept of life-long learning by encouraging and supporting the transition from two-year degree to four-year degree (and beyond)
• Main campus has concentrated on appropriate undergraduate and graduate degree programs and thus focused on its main mission.  UNM has resisted the pressure to vocationalize its academic programs and has endeavored to support TVI
• UNM supports articulation which builds a strong relationship with TVI and other two-year colleges

• UNM primarily provides well-educated graduates for private sector and government organizations
• The professional schools – Architecture and Planning, Education, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine and Public Administration – typically have good reputations for producing solid graduates needed in New Mexico
• The business, nonprofit and governmental communities perceive that UNM has many valuable assets that can contribute to economic development, yet the full extent of these assets and their accessibility are not clear
• The campus is perceived as being inaccessible (e.g., parking) and the faculty as generally not interested in the problems of the economic growth of New Mexico
• UNM has cultivated academic programs that have substantial promise for the Next Generation economy initiatives, especially Microsystems, biomedical and biotechnology development, information technology, optics and photonics

• Progressive improvement has occurred in the policies surrounding intellectual property and its commercialization
• Infrastructure has been developed to encourage and manage commercialization of intellectual property
• Substantial research at UNM is developing an increasing amount of intellectual property that could contribute to economic development in New Mexico

What Are The Gaps In UNM’s Diversity Of Programs and Services
Adult and Continuing Education

• Should build greater capacity to participate in workforce training without duplicating vocational programs at TVI
• Need for main campus effort to supplement and support efforts at branch campuses
• There is a gap between the traditional academic units and continuing education which prevents growing more successful adult and continuing education programs.  Degree programs have expertise and products that could enhance the continuing education programs
• An integrated effort should be instituted at the Provost level to build post-diploma programs.  If UNM truly supports life-long learning, then there should be a significant post-diploma program for degree graduates (and those from other universities) to come back and refresh their study in specific disciplines
• Next generation economy initiatives will require more agile academic and non-degree programs
• Distance education should be upgraded

• Branch campuses do not have the resources to facilitate the transition of two-year graduates to degree programs.  Main campus does little to support a system of higher education or to embrace graduates of branches and two-year institutions
• Main campus must develop an appreciation of its role for vocational education in concert with academic programs as a means to support economic initiatives

• UNM has not embraced an identity of contributing to economic development; nonprofessional colleges view economic development an inappropriate to the academic mission
• Corporations that seek to relocate to New Mexico often need substantial immediate numbers of college-trained specialists, particularly from the professional programs.  Our programs do not have the scale to meet these demands or the resources to ramp up graduation rates in specialties rapidly; they are not agile
• There is limited synergy between the professional schools on main campus and the branch campus programs which constrains the ability of the branch campuses to serve the economic development needs of local communities
• Businesses, governmental and nongovernmental organizations do not know how to access UNM resources that are needed for economic development
• UNM has not effectively promoted an international perspective among students that enables them to participate in the global economy

• Science and Technology Corporation doesn’t have a sufficient scope of resources to address the backlog of critical intellectual property, especially technologies that potentially can be commercialized

What Should UNM Be Doing To Better Support Economic Development?

First, UNM should make economic development a strategic initiative.  It should invest resources to support this thrust.  UNM can then provide leadership necessary to discover and commercialize intellectual property, while functioning as a state’s leader in business and economic development at a strategic level.  UNM can also provide assistance from aligned colleges/schools and departments to external constituents.

Second there should be a centralized office to coordinate economic development efforts between faculty and clients and to foster this strategic initiative within UNM. The separate schools/college efforts – STC, ASM, Engineering etc. – do not present a concerted whole to the public.  Our external constituents have difficulty accessing existing UNM services and do not understand what services exist.  This office would be charged with growing services beyond those currently offered.

The University should more formally meet community needs by promoting external assistance contacts through this office.  A fruitful strategy might utilize a network of associate deans in the colleges and schools in forming a clearinghouse for assistance and information.  Programmatic centers should be integrated within this network.  The public should be able to easily access a single point of contact – whether in person, by phone or over the Internet – to be channeled in the right direction for further help.

Third, specific academic units which attempt to provide economic development services are under administered.  They lack infrastructure to do more than a modest job.  Research overhead which helps to manage the generation of intellectual property should be allocated to support this infrastructure.  This would provide sufficient staffing at the department and school/college level.  It would help to grow these unit’s services, while also providing a mechanism to coordinate with a central office for UNM as a whole.

Fourth, the faculty of UNM should provide a dynamic, flexible curriculum that supports the needs of the economy and the state.  Individual colleges and schools should develop better connections with external stakeholders in order to feedback suggestions for curriculum change that enhance graduates’ ability to contribute positively to the economy in New Mexico.

Fifth, the faculty and administration of UNM should jointly create improved assessment and incentive systems that support economic development.  More credit should be given to faculty members who extend their service beyond the University campus.  A more robust definition of service, encouraging service to economic development, should be incorporated in the FACULTY HANDBOOK.

Sixth, UNM should reach down into high schools to better bring youth into the knowledge economy.

Seventh, UNM faculty should help students connect better with the broader community.  Internships, co-op experiences, mentoring, field projects and other pedagogical approaches should be expanded to bridge school to work and to the community.

Eighth, the Office of Institutional Advancement should aggressively promote and publicize UNM contributions to economic development