UNM Gets New President

 

 

New Mexico Business reports that the University of New Mexico Board of Regents has selected UNM alum Robert G. Frank as the school’s 21st president. The official announcement was made by the university at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Frank, 59, will succeed David J. Schmidly, who announced in April 2011 that he would step down after five years as president.

Frank will assume the presidency in June. He was selected after a six-month search by a 29-member committee that included regents, faculty, students, staff and alumni. UNM Board of Regents President Jack Fortner chaired the search committee.

“The university community looks forward to Frank’s arrival on campus this summer,” Fortner said in a prepared statement. “Frank emerged from a field of candidates as the best person to lead UNM to new heights of academic excellence,” Fortner added. “I am confident that with his passion for education and experience, fostering cutting edge interdisciplinary teaching and research, that he’s a great match for UNM.”

Frank has been the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Kent State University since July 2007. Prior to holding that position, he was the dean of the college of public health and health professions at the University of Florida.

Frank is a graduate of Mayfield High School in Las Cruces. He earned three degrees from UNM. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in science in 1974, earned a master’s degree in psychology in 1977 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1979.

Tim Ross, faculty senate president and member of the presidential search committee, said Frank is a Lobo with roots in New Mexico.

“He has the savvy to run a complex university,” Ross said. “We look forward to working with him.”

Frank said his appointment at UNM is “the most exciting opportunity I can imagine.”

Frank, his wife Janet, and their dogs Lobo and Bailey will reside at University House, which is the president’s residence, on campus.