New Mexico Tech announces next president

The provost from the University of New Orleans will take the reigns at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology this spring.

New Mexico Tech’s Board of Regents recently announced it hired Dr. Mahyar Amouzegar as the college’s 18th president. He has agreed to a five-year term with an annual salary of $425,000. He will start April 15.

Since 2017 Amouzegar was the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at the public research university in Louisiana. Prior to that, he was the dean of engineering for California Polytechnic University, Pomona’s College of Engineering from 2011 to 2017.

He has been a senior national security policy analyst for the RAND corporation since 1998. In that position, he managed teams to create research ideas for the U.S. Air Force, according to New Mexico Tech.

“I am thrilled and deeply honored to be entrusted with leading New Mexico Tech into its next chapter,” Amouzegar said in a prepared statement. “NMT stands proudly at the forefront of innovation, a campus where brilliance converges with limitless possibilities. As we embark on this transformative journey, I also wish to acknowledge the historic town of Socorro, whose provenance is soundly intertwined with the campus’s growth and ingenuity.”

Amouzegar was picked from a pool of 70 candidates. A search committee was formed and the college also hired Korn Ferry to find people interested in the position. New Mexico Tech conducted a survey of more than 400 stakeholders to seek out the qualities and skills of the next president at the university in Socorro.

Amouzegar will replace interim president Daniel Lopez, who was serving in the role after Stephen Wells, who was New Mexico Tech’s last president.

“The board had a difficult decision to make in considering the three candidates brought forward by the search committee,” said Jerry Armijo, the president of the regents. “The quality of the candidates from which we had to make our choice confirmed how highly regarded New Mexico Tech is to academic leaders and researchers across the country.”