Finalists for UNM-G director due on campus

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Linda Thornton
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — Four candidates have been selected to interview for the position of executive director of UNM-Gallup, and all four will be coming to Gallup over the next two weeks to determine which of them best fits the campus and the community. The candidates are Robert A. Anderson Jr., Sylvia Rodriguez Andrew, Anselm G. Davis Jr., and Homer Garcia.

“I think we have some strong candidates, and I’m excited about that,” said Kate O’Neill, executive director of UNM-Taos and the chair of the search committee.

UNM-Gallup employees, the Gallup community, and the search committee will meet each candidate during a series of meetings. The candidates will tour the campus as well as Gallup, and will also travel to Zuni for a tour of the South Campus. After that, they’ll be off to Albuquerque for a meeting with O’Neill and UNM administrators, branch directors, deans, and extended university administrators.

Candidate profiles

Anderson, of Heber, Ariz., has been in private business since 2005. He was vice president for student services at the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas from 2002-04, and prior to that, president of Colorado Northwestern Community College in Rangely from 1995-2002. Other administrative positions include executive vice chancellor from 1991-95 of the Houston Community College System in Texas; superintendent from 1987 to 1991 of Sevier Valley Applied Technology Center in Richfield, Utah; and president from 1978-87 of New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. He received a Ph.D. in educational administration and an M.S. in educational psychology from the University of Utah, and a B.S. in elementary education from the College of Southern Utah.

Andrew, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Antioch University Los Angeles since August of 2008, has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, and a J.D. from Lincoln Law School of San Jose, Calif. She was dean and professor of the College of Social Work at San Jose State University (Calif.) from 1994-2006.

She was also interim chancellor of San Jose/Evergreen Community College District from 2004 to 2005, and acting president of Evergreen Community College from August to September of 2004. Andrew held teaching positions at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin and our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

Davis, of Gaithersburg, Md., holds an Ed. D. from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and an M.A. from Northern Arizona University. Of Navajo-Choctaw descent, he was the executive director of the White House Initiative in Tribal Colleges and Universities for the Department of Education (Washington, D.C.) from May of 2008 to January of this year, and prior to that, was special assistant for the same organization from 2004 to 2008.

Other positions he has held include program director for the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., for the Rural Systemic Initiative; principal investigator for an RSI grant for the Navajo Nation; associate director for the North Central Association-Navajo State Office; and dean of instruction and assistant to the executive director of Navajo Preparatory School, Farmington, from 1991 to 1997.

Garcia currently resides in Pearland, Texas, where he has been a consultant since 2006 to tribes, churches, and the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was president/professor of general studies at Henry Cogswell College from 2004-2006, and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and professor of sociology, University of Texas-Pan American, from 2001-04. Other positions he has held include vice president for academic affairs, University of Saint Francis from 2000 to 2001 and professor of sociology at Baylor University from 1990 to 2000. He has a Ph.D. in sociology, a master of philosophy and a master of sociology from Yale University.

Candidate dates

Schedules for the four candidates are as follows:

• Anselm G. Davis Jr.: Arrive in Gallup April 29,
• Robert A. Anderson Jr.: Arrive in Gallup May 4,
• Homer Garcia: Arrive in Gallup May 5
• Sylvia Rodriguez Andrew: Arrive in Gallup May 6

Marc Nigliazzo, vice president of Rio Rancho operations and branch academic affairs, will be the hiring officer. He will make his selection in consultation with the UNM Gallup Local Board.