ENMU hosts community focus group on president search

Aug. 30—Eastern New Mexico University regents and administrators, and Portales community leaders agreed on Monday that the next ENMU chancellor should give high priority to increasing the number of students who live on campus.

They gathered Monday in Portales for a community focus group, one of three such sessions on Monday led by Wyn Goering of EFL Associates, the consulting firm that is guiding the search for ENMU's next president. The first two sessions in this first round of focus group sessions were held Monday at ENMU's Ruidoso and Roswell branches.

The discussion started with Goering asking the assembly what they would be looking for in a president of ENMU.

One ENMU staff member suggested the new president recognize the changing demographics of college students. Many are choosing online classes, the staff member said, due to cost and safety concerns. In addition, the staff member added, fewer New Mexico high school students are graduating, reducing the state's entire population of college students.

That comment led to a discussion of the blow to Portales' economy resulting from closing the ENMU campus, and several community members said the next president should work with the Portales community, especially merchants and Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce, to find ways to attract more resident students on campus.

Community members pointed out that Portales is currently lacking recreational businesses like movie theaters or even a bowling alley.

One audience member pointed out that a student without a car on campus has difficulty getting to shopping or other venues.

"Walmart is three miles away," he said.

One community member said Portales should work on improving conditions on some city streets, which, she said, are marred by cracked concrete on sidewalks, abandoned buildings, debris and trash, and stray animals.

The next president, they said, should help the community address such issues.

One speaker said a new recreation business planned in the city would help attract students to town.

Another said students get access to movies, as well as popcorn and candy, free of charge on campus.

One community member said that Portales' rural nature and low crime rate should make it attractive to students seeking a safe campus.

Regina Bouley Sweeten, an ENMU librarian, said the community should make some services more readily available to students. For example, she said, a food bank in Portales could help with low-income students on campus.

Students, she said, should be able to say "I'm from Portales" with some pride, even if they only lived there while they attended ENMU. Currently, she said students sometimes do not feel they are part of the Portales community.

ENMU's relationship with Cannon Air Force Base, potentially another source of on-campus students, is disrupted because Air Force personnel at Cannon are often deployed to places far from Cannon, which works against live class attendance, Goering said.

The next ENMU president, Goering said, is likely to have an advantage if two former ENMU chancellors are available for consultation. The two former chancellors would be Patrice Caldwell, the current president who is delaying her retirement until a new president is chosen, and Steven Gamble, who retired in 2016 after 16 years at the helm.

The first thing the former president should convey to the incoming president, Goering said, "who to talk to in the community about what matters."

In a small community like Portales, he said, it often takes time for the townspeople to adopt a new person, but once they accept a new person, it is permanent.

One audience member said the new president should be an innovator who can find ways to recruit new students, both on-campus and online, and find new ways to resolve problems that divide the campus and the Portales community.

Goering said there have been 96 applicants for the president's position, and "most are quite qualified to be a college president."

"This is a viable job," Goering added, primarily due to its location in a rural community. It makes the process of narrowing the field quite challenging, he said.

Using criteria developed through the community forums and other sources, he said, he plans to help the ENMU presidential hiring committee choose five finalists and name a finalist by November.

Caldwell announced her intention to retire on Feb. 18, but agreed to stay on until a new president is chosen. The ENMU Board of Regents in April selected EFL, based in Kansas City, Mo., to assist in recruiting and review of candidates.