View the video from Frank’s acceptance below.
Bob Frank, who will take over as University of New Mexico president on June 1, has agreed to accept at least $102,000 less than the job currently pays so more money will be available for academics, the regents president said Wednesday.
And job one will be meeting with faculty to discuss concerns some have raised about his selection.
Frank’s compensation package could be as high as $492,000 a year, including a $355,000 salary, $100,000 in deferred compensation, a $12,000 car allowance and a $25,000 annual bonus if there is “measurable improvement” in UNM’s six-year graduation rate and freshmen retention rate.
Regents have eliminated a housing allowance because Frank will live rent-free in the on-campus presidential home. The five-year contract still is being finalized.
“It was his suggestion that he should be paid less to provide more for the mission of the University of New Mexico, and I wholeheartedly agree,” Regent President Jack Fortner said.
Regents voted unanimously Wednesday to select Frank, the provost of Kent State University and a UNM alumnus, as the 21st UNM president. Frank, 59, will replace David Schmidly on June 1, one day after Schmidly’s contract expires.
Robert Frank, left, talks about his vision for the university while UNM Regents President Jack Fortner, center, and Frank’s wife, Janet, listen on Wednesday. (adolphe pierre-louis/journal)
Schmidly currently earns $594,000 annually, including a $45,000 university payment toward his private home in Placitas. His original contract, signed in 2007, was worth $587,000 per year. A decade ago, UNM’s annual presidential pay totaled about $219,000.
At Kent State, Frank earned about $288,000 in annual salary, according to a Kent State spokesman.
“It’s saving the university quite a bit of money. When you think faculty and staff haven’t had a raise for three years, I think it really demonstrates a recognition of the financial situation,” Regent Gene Gallegos said.
Frank, who is expected to visit campus several times before he takes office in June, will meet today with faculty to address concerns they raised about his leadership.
A group of faculty members last month described Frank as one of two “unacceptable” presidential finalists among the five contenders because of his reputation for aggressively pushing change at Kent State that some faculty there opposed. UNM faculty also pointed to a reference Frank previously made about sometimes needing to “drop the hammer” as an administrator. Some said that approach doesn’t fit UNM.
“The day that faculty don’t speak up and have diverse ideas is the day the university is not doing its job, so the fact that not every faculty member stood up and screamed, ‘Huzzah!’ the day my name came up, it makes this a great university. That’s part of the way universities work,” Frank said.
“I will meet with all faculty, and I will get to know and understand all their issues.”
The meeting today is to “see how we can get started on the right foot,” Faculty Senate president-elect Amy Neel said.
“I think there are some concerns about his leadership style,” Neel said. “We’ll just have to work closely with him to make sure the faculty voice continues to be heard.”
Frank’s selection is winning praise from the Hispano Roundtable.
Chairman Ralph Arellanes said Frank already has reached out to Hispanic community leaders to cooperate with the university. The future president on Wednesday said he hopes to expand diversity among UNM professors.
“We’re going to be supportive of him, but we’re also going to hold him accountable where necessary,” said Arellanes, who was on the university’s presidential search committee.
Regents say Frank was the top pick because he brings diverse experience in higher education and health sciences with New Mexican roots. They said they took into account the faculty concerns, but Frank continued rising to the top of the list.
Regent Don Chalmers said he understands that choosing Frank despite faculty objections might spark concern.
“Do we owe some explanation to those people that didn’t feel the same way we did?” he said. “I think (we) do. I want to talk to them and tell them exactly why. … I don’t know that I’ll change their mind, but hopefully they’ll open their minds and say, ‘I’ll now judge him based on how he performs his duties here, going forward.’ ”
Undergraduate student president Jaymie Roybal said she hopes Frank’s connections to UNM will help him understand issues facing the state and allow him to better relate to students at his alma mater.
“I don’t think his learning curve will be as big as some of the other candidates would have been,” she said.
Frank graduated from Mayfield High in Las Cruces and earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from UNM.
“For me to have reaped the benefits of this university and then have an opportunity to return and give back is a very personally satisfying moment, so I want to thank the regents for their vote of confidence, I want to thank the faculty and staff for their vote of confidence in me. I look forward to building relationships with all the different communities here,” Frank said.
Kent State President Lester A. Lefton said UNM is fortunate to have Frank.
“Dr. Frank made significant accomplishments while at Kent State. He was an innovator who supported the introduction of systems that have had tremendous impact on our students’ success,” Lefton said in a statement.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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