Page 27 - November report 2023

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO SITE VISIT
OCTOBER 2, 2023
UNM Meeting Participants
Kiana Alvarez - Programs Specialist, Anderson School of Management Corporate and Community Engagement Innovations program
Dr. Julie Coonrod - Interim Dean for the Anderson School of Management
Sarah Fair - Director of Development, Corporate and Foundation Relations
Melanie Hitchcock - Senior Director of Development, Anderson School of Management Carol Kennedy - Director of Development, University Libraries
Janice Kowemy - Program Specialist, Indigenous Nations Library Program
Janice Ruggerio - Director of Development, Anderson School of Management
Andrew Yazzie - Manager of Student Services
JSF Participants
Richard Williams - Indigenous Program Consultant John Glover - Indigenous Program Consultant
At the request of the JSF Grant Program Committee, we visited the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Business. The Anderson School of Business is rated as one of the top 25 business schools in the West.
Our first stop was with Dr. Coonrod. We had an unscheduled drop-in visit with the Dean. During the brief conversation, the Dean never spoke about a commitment to the support of American Indian students. In our initial inquiry about American Indians and the Anderson School of Business, information was provided that they reported they had two American Indian business faculty. We did not meet with either one of them.
We then met with a representative, Andrew Yazzie and the team from American Indian Student Services (AISS). The director was not available. They have a sound support system for American Indian students; however, when asked if the University provided adequate support for the Center, the response was that “the University did not provide adequate support.”
The highlight of our visit was the campus tour with AISS Student Ambassadors. Two freshmen took us around the campus and provided their thoughts about being at UNM.
We then met with Kiana Alvarez. It is an excellent program; however, no one present could discuss support for American Indian projects in the community or with the Tribes throughout the state.
We then met with Janice Kowemy and Carol Kennedy. The meeting was very awkward because the center director lobbied for financial resources and did not know we only provided support for scholarships.
We concluded our visit with Sarah Fair. We spent most of our time with staff from the development office rather than from the business school. We had several questions that were not answered. UNM reported approximately 360 American Indian students enrolled in the business school. We were not able to visit with any of the American Indian students.
In their response to our initial inquiry, they reported they had an American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) program. Unfortunately, it was not active at this time, and no students were available to talk with us. In addition, they reported they had an American Indian Business Administration (AIBA) program, but it was not currently operating. I picked up the campus newspaper, and the edition listed all of the programs on the campus. AIBL, AIBA, and AISES programs were all listed but were inactive and not registered.
Based on our experiences, the University of New Mexico has not demonstrated that they have a support system and a commitment to supporting American Indians in the Anderson School of Business School. This may change in the future, but at this time, we cannot recommend moving forward with the University of New Mexico - Albuquerque.
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