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

SPONSOR Lujan, B

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/18/2007

HB 1288

SHORT TITLE

UNM INTERCULTURAL STUDIES CENTER

SB

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$75.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill1288 appropriates $75,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of the

University of New Mexico (UNM) for expenditure in FY08 to provide funding for the Alfonso

Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies to meet the challenge of developing a new relevance for

anthropology in the world at large and to match funds for this purpose.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $75,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Ortiz Center provides a gathering place where members of the academic community meet

with their counterparts from diverse communities and cultures beyond the academy for mutual

study, debate, and cultural expression and exchange.

According to the UNM website, the Ortiz Center serves as a meeting ground of

learning, teaching, and play, where all participants engage as equals. The Ortiz Center’s

collaborative public programs: films, colloquia, exhibits, performances, and conversation

House Bill 1288 – Page

2

promote new forms of teaching, research, and shared ideas among the students, staff, and faculty

of the university. The public programs encourage a dialogue with non-traditional academic

community members such as independent scholars, elders, artists, teachers, healers, musicians,

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

Named for the late Alfonso Ortiz, a UNM professor of anthropology for 23 years, the center

builds on his work to eliminate barriers between the institutional communities of the university

and the communities of the world at large.

It is unclear where the appropriation will be spent. The Director of the Ortiz Center was

unavailable for comment.

This request was not submitted by UNM to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for

review and is not included in the Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

GM/mt