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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

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ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/9/2006

HB 824

SHORT TITLE UNM Intercultural Studies

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$160.0 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

http://hed.state.nm.us/Bills/Bills2006/HB824-950%20Feb%202.pdf

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 824 appropriates $160,000 from the General Fund to the Board of regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico for deposit in FY07 in the Alfonso Ortiz Center for intercultural Studies

Endowment Fund

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall not revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NM Higher Education Department Website

In 1999, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded a Challenge Grant to

UNM´s Department of Anthropology and the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology to create the

Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies. The Ortiz Center provides a place for members of

the academic community to meet with their counterparts from the community for mutual study,

debate and exchange. The Ortiz Center’s collaborative public programs—such as films,

colloquia, exhibits, performances, and conversation—encourage new forms of teaching,

House Bill 824 - Page 2

research, and shared ideas among people at the university and those who typically have

remained outside like independent scholars, elders, artists, teachers, healers, musicians,

thinkers, storytellers, and other recognized holders of traditional and community wisdom.

The funds appropriated through HB824 would be used as the final part of the match required by

the NEH Challenge Grant. Meeting the match will help to ensure the credibility of the Ortiz

Center and aid it in obtaining future grants. The American Association of Museums (AAM),

which recently reviewed the accreditation for the Ortiz Center, stressed that it was integral that

the Center fulfill the matching funds requirement of the NEH Grant.

This request was not on the list of priority projects submitted by UNM to the New Mexico

Higher Education Department (NMHED) for review and was not included in the Department’s

funding recommendation for FY07.

BMC/nt