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

SPONSOR Garcia

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/01/06

HB

SHORT TITLE

NMSU Minority & Women Faculty Recruitment

SB 101

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$800

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

New Mexico Department of Higher Education (NMHED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 101, NMSU Minority & Women Faculty Recruitment, appropriates $800,000 from

the General Fund to the Board of Regents at New Mexico State University (NMSU) to recruit

and retain minority and women faculty.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall revert to the gen-

eral fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $800,000 contained in this bill is a RECURRING expense to the

GENERAL FUND. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of 2007

shall revert to the GENERAL FUND.

NMSU indicates that it seeks legislative funding to continue the development and maintenance

of an important program which is no longer being funded through the National Science Founda-

tion.

Senate Bill 101 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMSU indicates that this bill appropriates $800,000 from the General Fund to NMSU Board of

Regents for the purpose of improving recruitment and retention of diverse, high-demand faculty

in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) disciplines which reflect our

state’s diversity and extending this information to other institutions of higher education in NM.

A diverse faculty in New Mexico’s institutions of higher education is needed to advance New

Mexicans currently underrepresented in the science and engineering workforce and improve our

state’s competitiveness for the 21

st

Century. The bill does not limit this funding to these disci-

plines.

NMSU indicates that a previous grant to NMSU from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

has already initiated programs to improve recruitment and retention of female faculty in STEM.

These same initiatives are needed for other underrepresented groups so that faculty composition

reflects our state’s diverse population. This diversity will attract greater numbers of New Mex-

ico students into Science and Technology fields.

According to NMSU ethnic minority Ph.D.s are scarce across most academic fields. The repre-

sentation of women among doctoral recipients varies greatly across fields from those with pro-

portionately many women (like the humanities and psychology) to those with far fewer women

(like engineering and computer science). The nationwide concern with diversity in the profes-

soriate combined with these different levels of "candidate availability" means that NMSU must

compete with every other institution for those excellent women and minority candidates. It is the

positioin of NMSU that providing attractive incentives is essential in the natural and physical

sciences and engineering to win this nationwide competition for the best talent. Efforts in reten-

tion are needed to protect the investment NMSU has made in these candidates.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMSU further points out that because a diverse faculty in New Mexico’s institutions of higher

education will improve our state’s high-technology competitiveness for the 21

st

Century, we

need to build upon the successful efforts already initiated by the NMSU ADVANCE program

and sustain the following ‘Best Practices’:

- Competitive hiring packages to attract excellent, high-demand diverse faculty for

world-class research

- Increased faculty diversity through intensive training of recruitment committees

- Improved effectiveness for diversity through training programs for department heads

and administrators

- Training of ‘Equity Advisors’ throughout campus to foster an understanding and a

value of diversity

- Family-friendly work environment to foster the work-life balance demanded by today’s

professional work force

- Enhanced retention and protection of the hiring investment through mentoring

- Technology and research centers linkage through travel awards for faculty

Senate Bill 101 – Page

3

- Economic development and national recognition fostered by research awards for

faculty

- Leadership development program to build faculty leaders

- Disseminate these best practices to other institutions of higher education in NM.

GM/mt