Western New Mexico University selects interim president

SILVER CITY — Western New Mexico University’s new Board of Regents selected an interim president Wednesday in the latest step toward implementing new leadership.

After meeting initially in closed session, the regents voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with Chris Maples, a paleontologist who has served in interim and permanent leadership positions at several higher education institutions outside New Mexico. He currently resides in Reno, Nevada.

“I’m excited and looking forward to helping set the stage for whoever comes after me for the permanent position,” Maples told the Journal. “I really look forward to visiting campus and settling in longer-term, getting to know people there in Silver City.”

Regent Chair Steven Neville said the candidate needed experience not only leading a university, but as an interim leader paving the way for a permanent successor. “There’s no time for on-the-job training,” he said. “You need to know what you’re doing the day you get here.”

The process follows a period of upheaval late last year, culminating in the departure of president Joseph Shepard and all but one of the regents. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez took the university and Shepard to court, in a lawsuit that remains pending, to claw back a $1.9 million severance payment the former regents granted to Shepard along with a lucrative faculty appointment. The former regents resigned at the request of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The new board met virtually in a special session Wednesday. The Silver City campus was quiet on a sunny day following thunderstorms that passed through Grant County and across the Black Range overnight.

Summer classes are in session, and WNMU has also lent dormitory space to firefighters, State Police and Red Cross workers assisting the 1,395 personnel fighting the Trout Fire 12 miles north of Silver City. The fire had burned 47,121 acres and was 41% contained on Wednesday morning.

Regent John Wertheim said WNMU’s search for an interim president was distinct from the national search for a permanent leader, and had been carried out by a different consulting firm. The ideal interim executive, he said, “has to be this bridging type of figure who … is kind of laying the foundation for the success of the permanent president.”

The process of selecting candidates for the permanent position is being led by the Anthem Executive firm, Wertheim said. Maples was among the finalists for the interim position elevated by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

The search for a permanent president would be an extended process, Wertheim said, to include campus visits by finalists, town halls and campus input. Neither he nor Neville projected a target date for the permanent president to be in place, and Maples’ appointment is subject to negotiation and approval of a contract.

One thing about Maples’ background that stood out, Wertheim said, was that Maples initially dropped out of college, enlisted in the U.S. Army and gave higher education a second try after finishing military service, ultimately completing a Ph.D. in paleontology from Indiana University in 1985.

At IU, Maples chaired the Department of Geology before moving on to the Desert Research Institute in Nevada and then eight years as president of the Oregon Institute of Technology. He later served as interim president of the Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University in Oregon, and interim chancellor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

“He’s very down-to-earth, very engaging, a very nice guy. He’s got a good sense of humor,” Neville said.