
2 minute read
From the President
Dear ENMU Family and Friends:
I am overwhelmed with admiration and respect after witnessing all the ways our local businesses and community members are adjusting to this pandemic, fighting to stay afloat, helping neighbors, and dreaming of better days. I wish ENMU could bring back our thousands of students, send cohorts of faculty and staff out to dine together in the local restaurants, window-shop around the Portales square, and buy out all the merchandise.
ENMU’s move to online instruction was probably the hardest decision we have ever made, and it was hard because we knew local restaurants and businesses were counting on us. But we could not do the expedient thing. We could not follow our hearts when ENMU needed to do our part to help keep students, employees, and our beloved community safe. You taught us better than that. You expect more from Eastern than that.
I’m thrilled that this newsletter is featuring a very special alumnus--our Board of Regents President, Mr. Terry Othick, who came “home” to ENMU to serve six years as a regent. In hindsight, Terry and his fellow regents could not have predicted six years ago that they would be guiding ENMU through both a state budget crisis and a pandemic in 2020. And as our world and campus shifted gears swiftly to address COVID-19, Terry and his talented spouse and college sweetheart, Sissy Othick, helped to home-school their grandchildren all the while Terry agonized about the tough choices facing ENMU.
Terry Othick is the kind of person who defines his alma mater, defines what the University values, and defines how ENMU quietly and competently must do what is right, no matter the personal cost.
Volunteer leadership like Terry’s is why you can trust Eastern to stand with you through and after this pandemic. He is why you can trust everyone at ENMU to do what is right and safe for students. He is why we say, spring will come, and we will be back.
ENMU will never forget these days and everyone’s sacrifices.
And when the pioneering resiliency of ENMU, Portales and Roosevelt County has pulled us through this pandemic, we will be even stronger partners supporting the students and the community we love.
Sincerely,

Patrice Caldwell, Interim President Eastern New Mexico University