Highlands University names new president
Dec. 22—New Mexico Highlands University has selected Neil Woolf, a longtime higher education administrator who most recently served at Southern Oregon University, as its next president.
"I think we're going to have an exciting next few years," Highlands Regent Frank Sanchez told Woolf during a special meeting Friday at which the board of regents unanimously approved his hire.
Woolf will take over the top job at the Las Vegas, N.M.-based school from Sam Minner, who is retiring after serving in the position since 2015.
Woolf's start date remains a matter for negotiation, board of regents Chairman William E. García said, but will be no later than the June 30 expiration of Minner's contract.
Woolf will be paid $290,000 a year, $7,000 less than his predecessor.
Prior to his selection as Highlands' next president, Woolf, who holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, served as the executive vice president of Southern Oregon University. He was the institution's vice president of enrollment management and student affairs from 2019 to 2023, his résumé shows.
His responsibilities in those roles included budget management, state and tribal government engagement and planning for capital projects, as well as implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion practices and retention strategies to increase enrollment.
Woolf has more than two decades of experience as a higher education administrator at schools from Washington to Wisconsin.
"While we were visiting Highlands, my wife and I felt like we were visiting old friends," Woolf said during Friday's meeting.
"And so we look forward to the opportunity to serve and look forward to the opportunity to become part of the Las Vegas and the Highlands community," he continued. "We're very humbled, very honored, very excited."
Brandon Kempner, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the presidential search committee, said in a November interview the school's new president will have to lead it into the post-pandemic era, which will include big changes like the proliferation of online learning and the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship, now in its second year of offering state residents tuition-free higher education.
From an original field of more than 80 applicants, Kempner's committee whittled its choices down to five finalists, who included Roxanne Gonzales-Walker, current provost and vice president of academic affairs at Highlands, as well as top college administrators from Oregon, California and Texas.
The five finalists toured Las Vegas — where García said the new president will be required to live — and met with Highlands students, staff and other community members. Their feedback was incorporated into the regents' decision-making process, Sanchez said.
The regents framed their decision to hire Woolf as a kind of launch pad toward a brighter future for the university.
"We really believe that we're in a position now to move to the next level," García told Woolf. "Your background and demonstrated experience and achievements we're all going to rely on to ensure that."
"I am very excited for all the ways that your experience, vision and skillset aligns with the mission of Highlands, and I'm very excited to welcome you to the community," added Regent Robert Lucero.