ENMU asks for nearly $33.5 million from state

Eastern New Mexico University is asking for nearly $33.5 million in state funds through the 2023 New Mexico Legislature, university regents decided Wednesday in a regular meeting.

The board met in Santa Fe on the second day of the Legislature’s 60-day session in New Mexico’s capitol building, the Roundhouse.

Included in the total are about $17.8 million in funding in New Mexico Higher Education Department (HED) allocations, more than $10.6 million in general requests, and about $5.1 million in HED Research and Public Service Project funds.

The largest single items on the request list are for renovation of the Student Academic Services Building at $9 million, and cost overruns due to inflation in renovations at the Roosevelt Science Center at $5 million.

Other requests on the list of $1 million or more include more than $3.2 million for demolition of former dormitories Harding Hall and Bernalillo Hall, more than $2.7 million for ENMU athletic programs, more than $2.5 million for rebricking and renovations at the Eddy Hall dormitory, and more than $1.1 million for transmitter improvements at the KENW public radio and public television stations.

The regents on Wednesday also:

• Approved the purchase for $150,000 of a double-wide mobile home to replace the current mobile home at the Blackwater Draw dig site between Clovis and Portales.

• Approved a resolution recognizing the late U.S. Army Maj. Ronald Milam who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York’s World Trade Center in New York. Milam was an “exemplary student” at ENMU before he joined the Army and served as an ROTC instructor on campus during his 10 years of Army service, according to the resolution.

• Granted tenure and assistant professor status to eight faculty members, including Maria Duarte, history; Jayson Evaniuck, educational foundations and secondary education; Scott Golem, art; Kristin Kuhlmann, nursing; Michelle Schmidt, sociology; Rick Shepardson, digital filmmaking; Sidney Shuler, music; and Erik Stanley, anthropology.

• Approved program changes for ENMU’s Roswell campus that include deactivation of an associate’s degree program in human services and certificate programs in helping relationship skills and early childhood education, and launching of a certificate program in early childhood education.

• Approved a 2023-2027 strategic plan and general obligation bond requests for the Roswell campus. The strategic plan includes goals for student success, community success and institutional success. The GO bond requests did not include specific amounts but will cover expansion and renovation of an aviation building, and replacing a roof and other renovation at the Instructional Training Center, according to a document accompanying the agenda.