Bob Frank is bringing a suitcase full of ideas and goals to the University of New Mexico, along with an enthusiasm for what UNM can and should mean to the state.
Ultimately, it should be a great public research university, Frank told the Journal editorial board Thursday. Frank, who last week was selected to succeed David Schmidly as president of the state’s flagship university, says that phrase means the university belongs to the public, should be engaged in discovery to enhance knowledge and life, and should follow in the centuries-old academic tradition of shared governance where faculty has a role and its members are valued as special “knowledge employees.” Frank envisions UNM over time becoming a leading player in the über-competitive national university scene. He says the university already is very good in research enterprise, noting it has the rich resources of two national laboratories at hand. Frank wants that agenda accelerated with the goal of UNM becoming “best of class.” Frank currently is the provost at Kent State University in Ohio and won’t take the reins at UNM until June 1. He admits there is a lot he doesn’t yet know about the institution he will lead, but on his immediate to-do list is establishing an effective relationship with the UNM faculty, which has been sometimes at odds with Schmidly, the administration and UNM regents. Longer-range goals include attacking the graduation and freshmen retention rates, issues he says all universities struggle with. UNM reported a 74.1 percent freshmen retention rate this fall, the worst in 10 years. Its six-year graduation rate hovers around a dismal 45 percent. Frank says that while a target of 60 percent is challenging, it is achievable over time. Frank wants UNM to have a greater economic impact on the state, helping it to become a cutting-edge player in what he calls the “new knowledge economy.” A former athlete himself, Frank is troubled by the big-money influence on college athletics and says the system appears to be unsustainable. But he’s smart enough to know that fixing it will be difficult, that he doesn’t have all the answers and that UNM is just one small player. As a New Mexico high school graduate and UNM alumnus — he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees here — Frank has a head start in fitting into New Mexico’s community and culture. New Mexicans will be watching — and hoping — that Frank, armed with what appear to be a well-defined long-range vision for UNM and a commitment to repair relations with faculty, can take the university to the next level and beyond. So, Bob Frank, tuck a healthy dose of luck into that suitcase for this challenging journey. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
