Silver City, NM – The Western New Mexico University Board of Regents extended President Joseph Shepard’s contract through 2024 at their meeting on Thursday, September 19, in Albuquerque. They also approved the transfer of university golf course equipment to the Town of Silver City, voted to move forward with funding phase three of the Harlan Hall Natural Science building renovation, agreed to purchase 42.4 acres of land for a future facility in Deming, and tabled the president’s 2019-2020 evaluation form and performance goals.
Regent Chairwoman Janice Baca-Argabright presented the president’s contract with two major changes to the previous one. “Last year, Dr. Shepard did not accept the raise the governor mandated for those who work in higher education. We’d like to give him that raise. We’d also like to include a sabbatical of three months,” Argabright said.
Shepard’s contract, which was due to end in 2020, will now expire in June 30, 2024. The other update is a change to how the president is rewarded for a job well done. “We decided to take out of the president’s contract this idea of five goals and instead call his bonus area a retention bonus that is capped at a certain amount,” said regent Dr. Mary Hotvedt, representing the board’s personnel committee.
Argabright said the board has confidence in President Shepard and appreciates what he’s done for the university. “I think we’re the envy of all the state’s universities, because we have the best president,” she said.
The regents are still developing the tool for measuring the university’s progress and will work in conjunction with WNMU administrators to flesh it out over the next couple months. “It makes some sense to use the current strategic plan to measure how we’re doing as a university. We talked about refining an instrument with the president’s office and finalizing it at the December meeting,” Hotvedt said.
The WNMU Board of Regents will meet next on Thursday, December 12, 2019.