Regents updated on spring commencement services

PORTALES — Plenty of work was still left between Friday afternoon and its May 30 airing, but much has begun on Eastern New Mexico University’s virtual spring commencement service.

John Houser, assistant vice president of marketing and communications for ENMU, updated regents briefly during their virtual meeting.

The commencement will be broadcast 10 a.m. May 30 on KENW 3-1 and 3-2 and streamed at the same time at enmu.edu.

Houser said Interim Chancellor Patrice Caldwell and all deans are scheduled to pre-record speeches May 20-21 at the KENW studios. Featured speakers will be Student Regent Joseph Gergel and Student Body President Adilene Adame. Following their speeches and short addresses from the deans, degrees will be conferred and a tassel ceremony will be shown. The program will conclude with a scroll of graduate names and photos.

As of Friday morning, the school had received 183 photos from students who were emailed details and instructions. Houser also credited KENW and the registrar’s office for their tireless work on the program, which came to fruition after regents postponed the May 9 commencement due to pandemic concerns.

Regent Board President Terry Othick and other regents said they were pleased to hear about the progress.

“I look forward to that,” Othick said. “I had no idea how these things would occur. It’s certainly better than having a complete cancellation and it gives the opportunity to congratulate the students for all of their work.”

The regents handled numerous other matters during a meeting that stretched more than four hours and concluded with no action taken following a 40-minute executive session on a pair of personnel matters.

During the meeting:

• ENMU Foundation President Steve Doerr told regents the foundation was still recovering from the market drop in February and March that eliminated much of what it had gained during the fiscal year on investments.

Foundation Executive Director Noelle Bartl told The News the foundation had a total asset balance of $20,750,368 at the beginning of fiscal year, and had built the assets to $23,513,356 as of Jan. 31.

The TAB dropped to around $17 million during the market crash but as of Friday had rebounded to $20,610,420. Bartl is hopeful the rebound will continue to the point that by the conclusion of the fiscal year the foundation’s TAB will show a positive return despite a rocky and unprecedented fiscal situation.

The foundation, Doerr said, has so far awarded $525,000 in scholarships for the 2020-21 school year. He is hoping to get help from the college for additional positions in the future, noting the staff has reviewed more than 8,000 scholarship applications in recent months.

• Othick said he viewed the Ruidoso branch’s online commencement and was pleased with what he saw.

“I was duly impressed, given the short amount of time they had to organize this,” Othick said. “It was really well done, and I congratulate everyone on the campus. It made a bad situation about as good as can be.”

Branch President Ryan Karstens had an optimistic estimate 700 people watched online, based on YouTube and Facebook Live views.

The Roswell branch held its ceremony online Friday night. President Shawn Powell said the prerecorded commencement was about 65 minutes.

• Karstens updated regents on the Ruidoso branch and credited the college staff and its students for their efforts.

He admitted holding his breath through the end of the spring semester “to see what losses we’d sustain,” but ENMU-Ruidoso was up 7% in overall enrollment and up 18% in full-time equivalent.

“I feel blessed we had this kind of semester in light of everything that was happening,” Karstens said.

He is hoping for flat enrollment in the upcoming semesters, but has left a fund balance in anticipation of state clawbacks.

• Regents moved the Ruidoso branch use a working budget for 2020-21 that replicates this year’s budget with a minimum reduction of 5%.

Karstens said he believes the college will have money for various Phase II and Phase III projects, and that property tax payment rates are usually high in Ruidoso. Many of the homes are second homes, meaning the owners are usually not seeing financial difficulties.

• Powell said the Roswell campus expects a site visit from the Higher Learning Commission in September. It had no issues during a virtual visit, but U.S. Department of Education requirements include in-person visits.

He also noted the school is anticipating budget cuts between 10% and 25%, and has required all travel and purchases have advance approval by a vice president.

• Regents approved emeritus status for John Olsen, who is retiring after 31 years.

Jamie Laurenz, vice president for academic affairs, said Olsen came to ENMU in 1989 as a piano instructor and is “first and foremost a dedicated educator” who helped many piano majors enter top-tier graduate programs. Additionally, Olsen twice served as the fine arts college dean and was on nearly every university-wide committee.

• An associate of science degree in speech language pathology assistant was approved.

The college already offers bachelor’s and master’s programs in the field. Mary Ayala, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, said the A.S. degree creates opportunities for students to work while they’re pursuing the more advanced degrees. Ayala noted the school already has the faculty, curriculum and on-site clinic and regents largely agreed before voting 5-0 to approve.

n Jeff Long, vice president for student affairs, said the summer head count and credit hours are up with most of the gains in graduate-level courses. Graduate enrollment is up 12%, while undergraduate enrollment is down 1%.

While there’s still plenty of time until the fall semester, fall enrollment is so far down 5.4% with credit hours down 8%.

• Regents asked Vice President of Finance Scott Smart to readvertise the former Greyhound Stadium property without requirements to build a fence to house box turtles.

Smart said four people have expressed interest in the property, but the required $40,000 in fencing was far more than what anybody was likely to pay for the property. He said the fencing is for three box turtles, which he believes could be relocated.

“Let me get this right,” Regent Lance Pyle said. “We can’t sell the stadium because of three turtles?”

Smart responded, “That’s correct.”

Othick said the regents could either readvertise without the fence or just let the stadium stand. Smart said he would be against the latter because there will be eventual costs associated with taking down the stadium.

• Smart said the school would have to shelve a solar project due to a years-long study now required. He said the development may be a blessing in disguise, as the college planned to use $5 million in reserves to pay for the project and pay itself back with revenue. Smart said given current conditions, expending that money might not have been a good short-term decision.

• Smart said custodians, as a benefit for working during campus closures, have received either Mondays or Fridays off as a bonus. He noted that the 10 Department of Public Safety employees on campus have received temporary $300 monthly stipends.

Othick said he didn’t question administrative authority to give bonuses or whether employees deserved them. He was concerned the measure, without an end date, would in essence be an unapproved salary increase. Smart said it was a fair point, and he would come back to the board if the measures were still in effect after four months.

• Othick said he received a letter from former ENMU President Robert Matheny, who was complimentary of the regents’ decision to appoint Caldwell following the resignation of Jeff Elwell.

“It was reassuring to hear,” Othick said. “I can’t tell you how many compliments we’ve gotten on the change in leadership and how it’s been handled.”

• An address from Athletic Director Matt Billings was tabled, as he had to leave the meeting before his scheduled appearance and could not return. He was slated to update regents on the women’s golf program and give a general rundown of department goals.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. June 6 at the Portales administration building.