The University of New Mexico is making aggressive strides toward becoming a major player in the city’s economic development

A sleeping giant of economic development appears to be awakening.

As the state’s economy struggles, the University of New Mexico is refocusing on helping to build it up, said interim President Chris Garcia.

By Shea Andersen
Tribune Reporter

"On campus, our faculty and staff are realizing more than ever that as our state economy goes, so goes the university’s well-being," he said. "It has become, I would say, the most-discussed mission of this university."

Grumbling has been heard in recent years in the business community over UNM’s laid-back role in economic development, and comparisons have been drawn between UNM and the University of Texas at Austin, which has been a key part of that city’s economic engine.

Garcia recently named a special UNM "economic development adviser."

Avi Shama, professor of management at the Anderson Schools of Management, will step into the new role, albeit part time. He’ll keep his position as a full professor, but will eventually move into Scholes Hall to be closer to Garcia and his staff.

Shama, who has a wealth of economic development experience abroad and in New Mexico, will be what Garcia has described as "the focal point of the economic development activities of the university."

Shama, a native or Israel, joined the UNM faculty in 1983. Since then he’s had a number of titles, from professor of management to coordinator of the school’s marketing program.

In his new job he’ll represent the president’s office in business matters before city, state and federal agencies, and make the rounds of private commercial groups.

"I think the university is open for business," Shama said.

It’s a move that business groups have embraced.

"First of all, UNM is a very dynamic part of our economy," said Randy Burge, president of the New Mexico Information Technology and Software Association. "Linking that university system as a tool in the economic development process, that’s the sort of goal and purpose that a number of us are advocating for."

Garcia said the move to devote a staff member to the job was the result of circumstances.

"One is the economic condition of the state," he said. "We’ve realized as never before that if the university is to thrive, the state’s economy must do better."

A quick link can be found in the UNM budget, which showed flat growth this year.

But also, said both Garcia and Shama, UNM is noticing that it, like other state universities, it is going through a period of change.

"More and more of them are realizing that, unless they are engaged in developing the economy, their future is limited," said Shama. "So there’s a little bit of self-interest involved."

Shama’s work began immediately after his appointment two weeks ago. He’s been meeting with the deans of the university’s various schools and getting contacts within those schools. Calling them his "go-to guys," Shama’s contacts will form a council for economic development at UNM.

First they’ll find out what they’re already doing in that arena, then work together to make new plans.

"One of the biggest advantages of UNM is that it has a wide range of specialties," said Shama. "The labs specialize in high science. We really have skills that cut across the specialties."

He’s hoping the members of his council can act as experts and liaisons for the community.

It hasn’t been an easy awakening. UNM, like many other academic institutions, has a culture to change.

Chuck Wellborn was once an integral part of the university’s economic development efforts as the head of the Science and Technology Corp., a UNM group dedicated to transferring technology and research out of the school’s labs and into the private sector.

Wellborn, now a consultant in the private sector, said the school has lots of potential, and lots of learning to do.

"UNM could be and probably ought to be the center of economic development in New Mexico," he said. "It has to get some of the faculty out of their comfort zone. A lot of the faculty just want to get their government research grants and not be bothered. And that’s OK. But it’s a matter of advancing the interests of the university. They’re really just supporting their institution."

Another way to support the institution, said Burge, is to make sure the school has funding to attract prominent researchers and experts.

That can come from endowed chairs. Last year, Public Service Company of New Mexico endowed a professorship in microsystems and commercialization, a chair filled by Andy Salazar.

Microsystems are tiny machines the size of the width of a human hair that can process information and react on a microscopic scale. They’re currently used in printers and air bags, and are believed to have billions of dollars of market potential.

"(An endowed chair) puts a nationally recognized figure in those teaching and research slots," said Burge. "If we get those people there, they attract students to be connected to the much-larger technology market opportunities."

In 2001, the Legislature passed a bill to fund the endowment of faculty chairs at UNM, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech. The endowment was for $10 million, with the stipulation that matching dollars would be raised from private sources. Rep. Gail Beam, an Albuquerque Democrat who was behind the legislation, said there is momentum for more such efforts.

"We haven’t, as a Legislature, done anything for higher education in years," said Beam. "It’s really dismal. This was one thing we could do that wouldn’t be a recurring hit (to the permanent fund)."

Garcia said the university is coming around, however slowly.

"This is relatively new for us, being a major institution. Sometimes cultural change is reasonably difficult," he said. "But I’m getting buy-in. It’s an exciting time. The movement is there."

Whether the movement remains after Garcia finishes his one-year tenure as interim president remains to be seen.

Garcia said he’s confident UNM will attract a president with economic development in mind.

"We’re on a trajectory that I think we have to be on and has to continue for several years," he said. He said the presidential search has brought out groups of all stripes hoping to influence the decision, but notes that ultimately the new president will have to be a good fit with New Mexico.

He estimates there will be more than 100 applicants, all well qualified. And he hopes they all would put an emphasis on economic development.

"Every president of a state university is involved in economic development," said Shama. "There is no other way for state universities. They have to be community focused."

http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/business02/120202_business_unm.shtml