NMSU eliminates president positions at three community colleges
LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State University on Tuesday announced it would be eliminating the president positions at three of its community colleges.
The campus president positions at NMSU Alamogordo, NMSU Carlsbad and NMSU Grants have been eliminated as part of a broader restructuring.
The changes will not affect Doña Ana Community College, another community college affiliated with NMSU.
While the mission of each campus will remain the same, the three community colleges will undergo administrative restructuring and other adjustments to transition into a more integrated system of branch campuses, the university stated in a news release.
The university will look to find "additional efficiencies" at each campus while also "leveraging support" from NMSU’s main campus in Las Cruces.
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New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu appointed former NMSU Alamogordo President Ken Van Winkle to become the university’s new branch executive director to lead the transition to a more integrated system model, the release stated.
NMSU Carlsbad president John Gratton retired in June. NMSU Grants president Mickey Best took the job in 2017. The university did not announce whether Best would be staying within the NMSU system in its news release.
Van Winkle said an integrated system model lends itself to greater opportunities for each campus to expand economic development through shared programs such as NMSU’s Arrowhead Center. As a result, campuses can take advantage of expertise in the areas of business creation and employment transition skills. Additional operations from the main campus will be explored at the branch campuses in the coming months.
“Current health and economic conditions across the country demand we seriously rethink higher education in our own state,” Van Winkle said. “I’m excited to be a part of the leadership team who will implement changes in support of students who attend any of the campuses in the New Mexico State University system.”
The university stated the moves will save taxpayers money.
“We’re entering a new era for higher education in New Mexico, where we must be even more responsive to the communities we serve, while also being less reliant on funding from the state,” Arvizu said. “With that in mind, our communities still need us to provide higher education and economic development, as well as extension and outreach programs. This realignment will allow us to be more nimble in addressing those needs.”
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NMSU Alamogordo was established in 1958 to serve the needs of the airmen and families stationed at Holloman Air Force Base. NMSU Carlsbad was established in 1950 as the state’s first community college. NMSU Grants was established as a branch of NMSU in 1968 through the cooperative efforts of NMSU and Grants Municipal Schools.