Hadley Hall, New Mexico State University’s administration building captured Aug. 19, 2024. NMSU is seeking a new president, and wrapped interviews with the four finalists for the position. (Danielle Prokop/ Source NM)
Candidates for New Mexico State University’s top position wrapped in-person tours and interviews last week, as the prolonged search for the next president comes to a close.
The Board of Regents held a closed meeting Saturday, to discuss the candidates.
The public can expect a final announcement towards the end of next week, said Justin Bannister, the spokesperson for NMSU. The Board of Regents scheduled a special meeting for Thursday Sept. 19, but no agenda is publicly available yet.
Only four candidates remain in the pool after the withdrawal of Neil MacKinnon, who told the Las Cruces Bulletin he accepted a position at another university.
The four remaining candidates include:
Arsenio Romero, the former secretary of the Public Education Department, a former regent and professor at NMSU
Valerio Ferme, vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Cincinnati
Brian Haynes, a vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Riverside
Monica Lounsbery, a dean at the college of health and human services at California State University in Long Beach.
As previously reported, Romero stepped down from his post heading the state’s education department, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an ultimatum to withdraw his bid for NMSU president or resign.
NMSU, the state’s land-grant university, has been without a permanent leader since April 2023, when Chancellor Dan Arvizu resigned abruptly before his contract’s expiration in June 2023. In December 2022, the board of regents agreed not to renew the five-year contract.
A first iteration of the search ended with the board declining to hire any of the five finalists picked for the replacement. Instead, the board opted to restart the search and appoint interim President Mónica Torres in March 2024.