This week, we’re talking to New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu. Ahead of this year’s 60-day legislative session, we wanted to find out what sorts of legislation the university would like to see passed. We’ll take a deep dive into how proposed legislation may impact NMSU.
Some of the things Arvizu and his colleagues in higher education around the state would like to see are a 10 percent average increase in compensation, fully funding the mandated 1 percent increase in retirement benefits for the next two years, a five percent increase in instruction and general funding, and $10 million to invest in workforce training.
While New Mexico is looking to have an historically large budget in the coming fiscal year, no one seems to have much of an appetite for allocating it to recurring costs. Instead, the thinking seems to be focused on ways to make one-time, non-recurring investments that will benefit the state in the long run. NMSU is also hoping to get a healthy dose of capital outlay and general obligation bond funding — totaling nearly $60 million — to improve facilities on its campuses around the state.
We’ll also be talking to Clayton Abbey, NMSU’s Interim Assistant Vice President for Government and Community Relations, who will be doing much of the work for the university in convincing lawmakers in Santa Fe to make these investments, and Sherry Kollmann, associate vice chancellor for digital learning.
This week, I’m grateful to have Chancellor Arvizu, Sherry and Clayton joining us.