NM Daily Lobo 09 15 14 by UNM Student Publications

Daily Lobo new mexico

monday September 15, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 21

The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

Hispanic retention exceeds average

League of legends — see page 6

By Marielle Dent

of performance is not assured in the future,” Herring said. “It is very competitive in legal education right now. Low salaries could soon hurt us in fulfilling our educational and service mission.” Meanwhile, UNM head basketball coach Craig Neal earns $950,000 per year in base salary — a raise of $200,000 a year — as part of Neal’s new contract. Neal’s salary

More Hispanic students are returning for their sophomore years than ever in UNM history. University President Bob Frank announced on Friday that the retention rate of Hispanic students going into their third semester is 80.1 percent. Hispanic students make up about 25 percent of undergraduate students on campus. “What historically has been a vulnerable student group is now one of our strongest,” he said. “This milestone is reason to celebrate.” This surpasses the overall student retention rate of 79.1 percent, and also sets the record for largest total number of returning students, Frank said. These high numbers are in part the result of several student success programs, like the Foundations of Excellence, which were designed to engage with students on a personal basis, Frank said. The 3-year-old Foundations project improves current programs and creates new ones in order to supplement the freshman experience. To encourage new students to continue attending, the Office of Student Academic Success created “Operation: Registration,” an informal registration party for freshmen. Beginning at midnight in the Student Union Building, students can speak with advisors and register for their next semester, according to a press release. “We get all the advisors together, bring in the bursar’s office, offer free food and prizes, then we have a huge operation to help get students registered for the next semester,” Jennifer GomezChavez, director of Student Academic Success, said. Vanessa Harris, director of University Advisement, said she believes much of the improvement in retention numbers is because these programs cut through the red tape that can make getting an education frustrating. “Now students know exactly who their academic advisors are, who they need to go to and what other resources on campus they can connect with, such as CAPS for tutoring,” she said. According to a UNM press release, students who continue past their freshman years are more than twice as likely to graduate in their lifetimes, so the increase in retention rates is an encouraging trend. “This success is a result of UNM’s intentional and deliberate effort to enrich our students with a positive and engaged educational experience,” said Brian Colón, president of the UNM Alumni Association. “Students are our customers and this is a signal that we’re moving in the right direction. As an alumnus, I couldn’t be more pleased.”

see Salaries page 3

see Retention rates page 3

Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo / @SXfoto

José Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre signs autographs during the International Legends Cup at University Stadium on Saturday. The International Legends Cup matched former international World Cup soccer players against each other on a single field.

Professor pay pales compared to peers By Sayyed Shah

How UNM stacks up for average full time faculty salary fiscal year 2013 $150,000

$120,000

$119,000

$117,500

$116,500

$116,000

University of Nebraska at Lincoln

University of Missouri at Columbia

University of Oklahoma

Texas Tech University

$91,100

$120,200 Florida International University

New Mexico State University

$121,000 University of Nevada at Las Vegas

$105,900

$121,200 University of Kansas

The University of Texas at Arlington

$122,200 University of Arizona

$106,800

$126,300 University of Utah

The University of Texas at El Paso

$126,300 University of Colorado at Denver

$108,100

$128,800 University of Colorado at Boulder

Texas A & M University

$130,300 Arizona State University – Phoenix

$110,500

$131,052 Oklahoma State University

University of North Texas

$135,300 University of Iowa

$30,000

$111,100

$135,700 University of California – Riverside

$60,000

University of New Mexico

$138,300

$90,000

University of Houston

UNM is struggling to bring faculty salaries up to par with peer institutions around the country. The University is finding it difficult to compete for highly qualified faculty in the national market because of budgetary restrictions, which in turn is affecting the quality of education on campus, according to documents from UNM’s Finance Committee. According to the data presented to the Board of Regents by University officials, the departmental operating budgets have not been increased since the 2008 fiscal year, and even then, “academic operating budgets were increased in total only by $500,000.” The trend resulted in understaffed departments in many areas, according to officials. The University, however, has relocated $3 million of internal savings to fund a compensation increase for fiscal year 2014. The American Association of University Professors conducted a survey in 2014 and found that average salaries for faculty at UNM are far below those of its peer institutions. According to the survey, average salary offered by UNM to full professors during the financial year 2012, was $106,900, which is far below the median — the 24th percentile of doctoral institutions in the survey. In comparison, the University of California at Riverside, a UNM peer institution, offered $131,300 to full professors. Similarly, the salaries of associate professors also remained far below the median, according to the survey. “At the assistant professor level we compete very well with our peers, but we do not do as well as

Sources: Chronicle of Higher Education, Oklahoma State University website, Texas A&M University website

faculty progress to the associate professor and full professor levels,” Provost Chaouki Abdallah said. The School of Law and Anderson School of Management faculty salaries are particularly lagging behind their peers, Abdallah said. “For our peer law schools, many provide salaries well above those at the University of New Mexico School Of Law. I have not performed a comprehensive study, but our salaries here are

approximately $10,000 to $30,000 less per year, depending on title — assistant, associate or full professor — and years of experience,” said David Herring, dean and professor of Law at UNM. Herring added that lateral hiring was a challenge, and offering competitive salaries was critical to success. “We are performing at a high level despite our relatively low salaries. However, this high level