• Reflections of Warren G. Armstrong—Interview with First Lady Joan Armstrong
• Reflections of Robert L. Matheny
• Reflections of Dr. Everett Frost
• Reflections of Dr. Steven G. Gamble

A. “Shock!” is the word that comes to mind. I had never considered the possibility of being a university president. Most of my experience had been in teaching and in faculty affairs serving on the Faculty Senate. Although I was serving as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the time of the appointment, I regarded myself as a member of the faculty temporarily engaged in administration. I did not want to be president, but obviously changed my mind quite hurriedly.

The Board of Regents determined to conduct an abbreviated, internal search. The President of the Board came to my office and asked if I would have an interest in the position. I was surprised and reluctant, but certainly appreciative that they asked me. They indicated a level of trust that I was not aware of at the time. Within about three hours that Saturday morning, they invited me in for an interview, offered me the position, and somewhat dazed I talked with my wife, Sandra, and accepted the Board’s offer. Little did we know that over the course of a few hours our lives would change so drastically, and we would experience the most challenging and fulfilling time of our lives.

Q. What were ENMU’s strengths when you became president?

A. As a comprehensive regional university, Eastern became a “liberal arts and professional programs” institution. Emphasizing teaching/learning, close faculty-student relationships and small classes, Eastern developed a number of programs that received regional and/or national recognition. Through the years, the Teacher Education Program had established a strong reputation with the public schools in New Mexico and beyond. Programs such as anthropology and archaeology, music, undergraduate science and math, the pre-med program, broadcast television and accounting were regarded as excellent programs throughout the Southwest. In addition, the research component of faculty expectations had been strengthened as faculty were encouraged to engage in research and publication to maintain relevancy and currency in their teaching specialties.

Q. What were some of the biggest challenges?

A. I am afraid that the challenges during my time in office were not particularly creative or unusual. Outside forces beyond our control, however, demanded immediate attention. Enrollment stability became a major preoccupation when national data projected that fewer high school graduates would be available to recruit to Eastern. At the same time, a population shift from eastern New Mexico to communities in the Rio Grande River Valley, and the growth of two-year colleges on the east side, decreased the recruitment pool and greatly increased competition for students. Thus, the recruitment of students, and the retention of those students already enrolled at Eastern, became a primary concern.

Q. What were some of the hardest decisions?

A. Two related areas provided the context for the most difficult decisions I found necessary to make while serving as president. Personnel decisions associated with the denial of tenure and the non-retention of faculty, administrators and staff created the most painful and distressing experiences. I was clearly aware that negative personnel decisions I had to make would directly affect the lives of many people. While such decisions were necessary, I had two main concerns. Was a given personnel decision legal, and was it fair?
Closely related to personnel decisions was the reduction of academic programs. The reduction of a program, however justified, negatively affected students and faculty. Programmatic reduction occurred primarily because of a lack of student enrollment, or a lack of funding required the reduction of a program. In either case, those decisions were never easy and involved a great deal of consultation, study and thought.

Q. What were some of Eastern’s accomplishments?

A. I tend to think of two developments about which I have been most thankful to have participated. For a number of years, the average scores for entering freshmen were low compared to regional universities across the nation. A combined effort to raise funds for scholarships, and a change of focus in recruiting, resulted in significant increases in high ability students. An Honors Program was added to attract students and serve their needs and interests.

The second program of note during the 1980s was the establishment of a comprehensive Student Assessment Program. That program generated evidence of student achievement during the Eastern experience. Started in the mid-1980s, the program provided students,
faculty, prospective employers, and state and national agencies and associations with a benchmark of the University’s success. Recently, New Mexico has adopted assessment as a voluntary program for colleges and universities.

Q. How stressful were the day-to-day duties of being President?

A. I did not find the duties of being president particularly stressful. I can honestly say that I enjoyed going to work every day. Whatever stress we may have experienced was alleviated by the enjoyment of attending fine arts performances, and athletic and social events. We were away from home about five nights a week, but never out very late.

Q. What did you enjoy most about being president?

A. The most enjoyable part was the association with parents and students and having interaction with faculty and staff—particularly those with whom I worked every day. It was exciting and encouraging to travel around the state and hear employers talk about the quality of Eastern graduates. Working with the Foundation and off-campus constituencies was pleasant and rewarding. We made many friends representing the University.

Q. How did you feel when your presidency came to a close?

A. Either when I was appointed or shortly after, I indicated to the Regents that I would not stay in the position longer than six years, assuming that they wanted me in the position that long. When the sixth year approached, Sandra and I had a long talk and decided there was no good reason to continue past six years. When I announced that I was ready to step down and go back to the classroom, one of the Regents was kind enough to say that the timing was not right to leave the office. To me it meant that the time was exactly the right time. I never wanted to stay so long that everyone would be saying, “Will he ever leave?” I truly believe that if you have the choice in life, you should always pursue professional goals in which you can have fun and, hopefully, contribute positively to other people’s lives. The experience at Eastern as a student, member of the faculty, and administrator has been an enjoyable and exciting experience. For the past 75 years, the University has been blessed with quality people, both employees and students who make it a great place to study and work. I am confident that in 2084 the same will be true. Of course, I will be here to celebrate the 150th Anniversary. Go Greyhounds!

In a forward to the book, Dr. Charles W. Meister, fourth president from 1965-75, writes:

“The man who probably contributed the most to the successful establishment of Eastern New Mexico University is Floyd Dewey Golden. Many stories are told of how Floyd Golden talked waitresses and gas station attendants into attending Eastern, on his way to lobbying the state legislature in Santa Fe for more money to operate the school. His enthusiasm, his determination and, above all, his hard work made it possible for a small town to harbor a significant state university.

“His coming to Portales as school superintendent in 1928 was fortuitous, since the small eastern New Mexico town was in the process of requesting that an institution of higher education be established there by the state legislature. Golden quickly became the focal point of this thrust. He worked unceasingly to help open the doors of the new institution.

“After serving as dean from 1934-41, he became second president of the institution in 1941, and served in that capacity for nineteen years. Much of the growth in size, prestige, and academic quality was due to his tenacious leadership. He was particularly adept at selecting dedicated and well-qualified faculty members. During his tenure the school evolved through phases of normal school, junior college, a four-year college, and finally a state university.

“From a two-year institution in its inception it grew until it offered the Education Specialist degree, representing one year’s work beyond the master’s degree. In size the school rapidly became the third largest in the state, far larger than all of the smaller state schools. This was a great tribute to many dedicated people, but first and foremost would be the man entitled to be called “Mr. Eastern,” Floyd Golden.

ENMU’s Golden Library is named after Dr. Floyd Golden. A copy of ‘The Golden Years’ can be found in the library’s archives. For more information, e-mail Gene Bundy at gene.bundy@enmu.edu.

“Oh, my goodness alive! It is a miracle,” Migdon Cox said with a chuckle. “You just can’t realize, you can’t imagine how—it was just those two buildings.”

Migdon Cox, 90, graduated from Eastern New Mexico Junior College in 1938, when there was nothing more than the current Administration Building and a girl’s dormitory, and to see Eastern today, is truly miraculous.

Ms. Cox, who was then Migdon Pepper, came to Portales from Ralls, Texas, where her father was a Baptist preacher. Future ENMU president Floyd Golden, at that time the College Dean, was a friend of the family, who often visited his sister in Ralls.

“Mr. Golden thought it would be good for me to come over here for school. I had an aunt and an uncle who lived here, and they had the biggest café in Portales and I worked in that café to go to school and I lived with them.”

It cost Ms. Cox $50 as an out-of-state student, which, she reminded, was a lot of money back then. Ms. Cox studied typing and shorthand and was awarded an associate in arts diploma upon graduation. She recalls that the “shorthanded teacher could write both right-handed and left- handed, it didn’t matter.”

She has vivid memories of her first classrooms at Eastern. “The building wasn’t all made when I first started. When I took typing, we went in at the main door and then we went to the left upstairs and that was a typing class and the other part wasn’t finished,” Ms. Cox said about the Administration Building. “It wasn’t until second semester that the other part was finished and you could go in the little door on the west to get to class.”

With a laughing disdain, Ms. Cox remembers having to wear the traditional freshman beanie. “Oh, we had an old green cap we had to wear. I don’t know, they just told us we had to wear them and we wore them.”

Ms. Cox said she did not have time to be involved with clubs on campus; she was too busy cleaning house, doing the washing and ironing for three boys and working eight hours a day at Liberty’s Café. However, she said the professors and football players came into the café to eat a lot, because the dining area at the campus was very small.

“I didn’t get any money during the semester because I was paying for school, but in the summer I stayed and I worked and I got a dollar a day, plus tips—and if you got a quarter tip, you were on cloud nine; you never got a quarter tip, you got 10 cents,” she said. Ms. Cox met and married her husband, Karl Cox, in that café.

“He came in the café; he brought a boy with him; they were both going to go to college and they sat on the end of the café (counter) and I hardly ever waited on the café counter, I waited on the big tables, and he told the boy ‘You see that girl right there,’ he said, ‘I’m gonna marry her.’ The boy said something like, ‘But you don’t even know her,’ and he said, ‘You just wait and see.’”

She recalls having to march down to the basement of the Methodist Church every Wednesday morning for Eastern’s assembly program. “They told us the announcements. Told us what we should be doing, told us to study in our classes and all that kind of junk, but that’s what we did.”

Until he injured his knee, Ms. Cox’s husband played football. Then he stayed around to “help any other boy who was injured.” They played on the high school field because Eastern did not have one.

“The football team picture is not in the 1938 annual because the coach got mad at my husband. My husband looked more like the coach than the coach so he wouldn’t let them put it in,” she said.

The boys didn’t have a dormitory, they just kind of lived around I guess. Karl lived with a nice married couple.

“It was pretty hard during that time, getting money to go to college and so he had to quit and go down and help his daddy with the farm, but he worked in a little bit of everything while he was going to school to make money,” said Ms. Cox. “He helped in the potato shed, and in the green beans, and he worked in the filling station and he worked in every little thing that came along.”

Ms. Cox does have sad memories of some of the boys she knew at Eastern New Mexico Junior College. “Most of the boys that graduated from out here, the years I was here, went into the services and most of them did not get to come back.”

Remembering the world of 60 years ago is not hard for Billy Brown Lees (B.B.) and his wife, Jimmie Fern, who can talk about the 1940’s and 50’s as though it were yesterday.

“Eastern is our life.  If you take a few years out, we have spent a lifetime here,” said B.B.

In 1948, Jimmie Fern first saw B.B. in the school cafeteria, which is now the post office. She said B.B. had a crew-cut and turtleneck shirt, was on the football team and in her eyes he was the “the big man on campus.”  She asked him on their first date, a Beta Barn Dance in which girls asked the boys.

B.B. came to play football at Eastern New Mexico College. He was recruited as a running back and later also played basketball and baseball. Jimmie Fern had an academic scholarship and wanted to get her degree while staying close to home in Clovis.

“My four years at Eastern were a lot of fun,” said Jimmie Fern, 1948 homecoming queen. “Eastern was a school in which you could participate in many activities. I was a cheerleader for three years and belonged to a sorority.”

Each year Eastern selected a Beauty Queen and four Yucca Blossoms who were sponsored by different associations.  While on tour in Amarillo, Bob Hope agreed to be selecting judge.

“Being on the Bob Hope show with Doris Day and Irene Ryan, as well as Les Brown’s ‘Band of Renown,’ was very exciting,” Jimmie Fern said.

After graduating in 1952, B.B. taught and coached in the public schools.  He then returned in 1956 as an instructor in physical education and assistant football coach. In total he was part of Eastern’s faculty almost four decades and athletic director for 18 of those years. It is impossible to name all of B.B.’s achievements, but along with coaching numerous sports, he is part of the NAIA Hall of Fame and Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor.

One of his most important legacies was getting Eastern into the Lone Star Conference, which was a difficult task since there were no other non-Texas schools. The Conference ensured that Eastern, previously independent, would have steady opponents with equal programs.

Jmmie Fern was a math teacher and chairperson of the mathematics department at Portales High School. In 1983 she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching for New Mexico.  This award was started for all states by President Ronald Reagan and continues each year.

“The awardees spent five days in Washington, D.C., where we attended workshops and receptions. There were lots of perks and a large financial gift to use at his/her high school. The last day we were addressed by President Reagan in the East Room of the White House. Now that was exciting,” she said.  Jimmie Fern adds that Eastern prepared mathematics teachers to do well in the school systems.
She was selected to be one of the eight educators in the first Eastern New Mexico University Hall of Honors for Education in 2008.

“I am thrilled and humbled for these awards,” Jimmie Fern said.

The Lees watched Eastern go from a college to a university and grow in other ways. While enjoying retired life, they continue to be part of Eastern life.  B.B. is on the ENMU Alumni Board of Directors and Jimmie Fern makes all the meetings.

“There are Eastern alums to see and, of course, there is always shopping,” said Jimmie Fern.

My first reaction is, “This means more work.”  Isn’t this work going to be separate from that which is at the core of what we are really supposed to do?  We are supposed to teach classes, counsel students, create an exciting environment for our students and faculty. Do we need to need to assign resources to answer Pew’s questions?

In 1996, we were completing two- years of self-study for our ten-year North Central accreditation evaluation in 1997. No president can afford to underestimate the importance of an accreditation visit. But with professor of languages Dr. Margaret Willen, a person of unlimited energy, spurring on the North Central self-study, I was confident that we were doing our best to write a report and do what self-study is all about:  reflect on our mission, ensure we are accomplishing it and pursuing a vision.

Academic vice president George Mehaffy convinced me that responding to the Pew nomination was not really starting over. It was refocusing an already completed process on a different but similar set of questions. After all, hadn’t we been asking and answering these questions since 1991, when, at an unusual Sunday morning Regents’ meeting, I was suddenly asked to be the eighth president of the university. At that time finances appeared to be wobbly and a sudden leadership transition left the campus community unsure of what was coming next.

But it was 1996. The campus had built a strong student learning assessment program from the foundation set by President Matheny’s faculty committee. Outreach to ENMU’s communities was enriched and extended by the foresight of Duane Ryan, the father of Eastern’s Public Broadcasting television and FM radio program.

Perhaps most significantly for a self-regarding institution such as Eastern, the University was asked to coordinate a legislative-funded statewide public school instructional improvement program dubbed “ReLearning.” In 1992, Academic vice president Bill Engman and a faculty group adapted the ReLearning model to college classrooms. Then, in 1994, Dr. Mehaffy and Computer Center director Ed Kinley led a campus-wide effort to enhance the ENMU classroom experience using computer technology.

These initiatives complemented Eastern’s long-standing student learning assessment program. Long before most undergraduate institutions in the nation were required to assess student learning by the state and federal government, Eastern had started this process voluntarily.

In short, we wrote the Pew self-study. And in 1997, we joined an elite group of three 1996 recipients and three 1997 awardees–Alverno College (the world leader in assessment), Babson College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mount Saint Mary’s College and Portland State University. In 2000, the Association of American Colleges and Universities extended this group by combing the six Pew awardees and 16 others into the Greater Expectations Initiative to serve as role models and a national leadership resource for improving undergraduate education.

How did a small, rural institution in a multicultural state earn this recognition? Eastern’s self- regarding strategic planning posture with the key building block of assessment, its close student-faculty teaching learning processes, distance education, and its renewal of the undergraduate learning experience was the answer. Our commitment to students’ success, especially for our increasingly diverse student body, was the key.

When I retired in 2001, I was curious where Eastern would go. President Gamble did not take long to establish as Eastern’s motto, “Student Success, That’s What It Is All About.”  Clearly, Eastern has a niche in New Mexico and the nation as a leader in undergraduate education, distance education, assessment and partnership with public schools. This is a Student Success niche.

The initiatives of Drs. Armstrong and Matheny placed Eastern in a position to be self-regarding and adaptive to the 21st Century. I was fortunate to be able to help fine-tune their focus with even more specific vision of a self-regarding concern for meeting student needs. The Pew Award acknowledged the efforts by many faculty and administrators over 35 years, and it is a lasting tribute to Eastern’s past, present and enduring commitment to “Student Success.”

During most of the eight years of my administration, the state of New Mexico has enjoyed a solid economy that enabled Eastern to move forward on several fronts.  In the past two years, both president-emeriti of ENMU have asked me the same question:  “How does it feel to be president when the state has money?”
My answer to them both was the same:  “It feels good.”

With the good funding from the state and the outstanding support of Governor Bill Richardson and state legislators like Stuart Ingle, Carroll Leavell, Rod Adair, Gay Kernan, Clint Harden, Keith Gardner, Joe Campos, Brian Moore, Anna Crook and others, ENMU has been able to do some good things.  For example, the University assessed the needs of our region and state and developed the following new academic programs:  Social Work (Bachelor’s); Applied Arts and Sciences (Bachelor’s); Occupational Education (Bachelor’s); Professional Technical Education (Master’s); Aviation Science (Bachelor’s); Emergency Medical Services (Bachelor’s); Hospitality Management (Bachelor’s); Forensic Science (Bachelor’s); and Animal Science (Bachelor’s).

Many of these programs are offered online, enabling Eastern’s influence to spread throughout the state and region.  These new programs meld with our historical strengths in education, the fine arts, the sciences, humanities and business to provide an outstanding educational program for our students.

These programs not only provided our students with more educational options but enabled Eastern’s student body to grow, resulting in significant increases in our state appropriations.

During this period from 2001-2009, state general obligation bonds and other state and federal funding enabled the University to renovate older buildings, construct new facilities and begin the replacement of older infrastructure systems.  These actions resulted in the construction of a new Communications Building and San Juan Village (residence hall), renovation and addition to the Science Building, renovation of the Campus Union Building, Natatorium and Administration Building, replacement of the University’s electrical distribution grid, and significant improvements in the heating-ventilation-air conditioning (HVAC) system.  In addition, a major renovation of the Music Building (with the addition of a new band hall) is underway, and funding has been secured for the replacement of the Technology Building.  ENMU’s athletic teams have also benefitted from new facilities, including a soccer field, new track, and baseball and softball field houses.  In addition, a new athletic weight training facility is being built.

Eastern’s campus is one of the most attractive in the Southwest, and the Administration’s preference is to renovate its buildings rather than replace them.  We believe that this approach is resulting in a campus that has maintained its historical beauty while providing state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to its students and faculty.

High on the list of recent successes of the ENMU system is the progress that has been made at ENMU-Roswell and ENMU-Ruidoso.  Both campuses contribute substantially to their communities and both are recognized throughout the state for their exceptional academic and technical programs.  ENMU-Ruidoso was granted “branch campus” status in 2005 and the enrollment has risen dramatically.  ENMU-Roswell continues to be the cornerstone for economic development in Chavez County and has several programs of national renown.  Both campuses have acquired new leadership in the past several years with Dr. John Madden becoming president at Roswell and Dr. Mike Elrod assuming the presidency at Ruidoso.

While we have enjoyed the “good times” at Eastern, we also encountered a few “bad times”—9-11, the near closing of Cannon Air Force Base, and, most recently, the economic downturn of 2008-09.  However, ENMU has always had an ace in the hole to help sustain us during these periods.  This “ace” is our people—not only the exceptional students, faculty and staff of the institution, but the strong support of the community, Eastern’s loyal alumni (throughout the state and nation) and the dedicated members of the ENMU Foundation who work hard to obtain resources for our students.  As I have said many times, Eastern New Mexico University is fortunate to have a beautiful campus, excellent technology, and wonderful equipment, but it is the people who are the true strength of this fine institution.

Tucked away in the back recesses of the second floor of Golden Library (the exact location where the Greyhound football team once played on Saturday afternoons) is a repository of information, quite often overlooked, that tells the history of ENMU’s first 75 years.

Special Collections, coordinated by Gene Bundy, has built a treasure trove of images, news stories about accomplishments and controversies—including protesting students taking over the president’s office during Vietnam—yearbooks documenting changing hairstyles and wardrobes, school newspapers filled with youthful idealism and naïve complaints about the administration, presidential papers and other faded documents.

“Mary Jo Walker really started it all and I’ve just kept it going,” says Mr. Bundy of the late library director. “Everything we have has been donated to us or we’ve hunted it down, purchased it, picked it up, lifted it; just wherever and however we could get it.”

Bound scrapbooks detail all aspects of Eastern’s history: including every issue of the yearly literary magazine, El Portal, dating back to 1936, the annals of the printed Monday Memo weekly employee newsletter from before it was called that (today the Monday Memo is a weekly electronic publication with photos, features and videos), every issue of the Silver Pack yearbook before it had the name, the school newspaper under both names it has employed through the years, The Chase and Eastern Sun-Press, and identified and unidentified old photos of students, employees and visiting entertainers.

The scrapbook history dating back to statehood that line the bottom row of shelves in the archives and creep around past the corner even contain newspaper clippings detailing how ENMU played a role in New Mexico becoming a state.

“Part of statehood was that there would be a normal school for education on the eastern part of the state. Without it, New Mexico would not have been granted statehood,” according to Mr. Bundy. “The people of Portales really wanted Eastern to be based here. We even have the original list of names of people who donated a dollar, five dollars and some up to 100 dollars in the 1920s.”

Archives also has a collection of correspondence that every ENMU president had with their administration. “You can find the exact correspondence about the history of ENMU-Roswell starting with former president Floyd Golden and how they went from Roswell Community College to being a part of Eastern,” says Mr. Bundy.

Those more visually inclined may find the photographic history of Eastern fascinating. Within the filing cabinets are folders of photos documenting the evolution of the Administration Building, early graduating classes, the fountain built under Warren Armstrong’s administration, barracks from Ft. Sumner being trucked to campus, a myriad of student activities that breathed life into the campus, and a long list of other photographic treasures that testify to the keen eyes and abilities of the long-forgotten photographers.

The archives also extend outside of the realm of Eastern’s history. Mr. Bundy oversees information about New Mexico’s rich past. “Want to know where to go on a weekend? I know things. Want information about the Bataan Death March? I have it. Code Talkers? Buffalo Soldiers? We have that, too,” touts Mr. Bundy.

While the 75 years of Eastern history in Special Collections, including the Jack Williamson Science Fiction Library, take up approximately 6,000 square feet, the real story behind the scrapbooks, photos, yearbooks, newspapers and papers is the human stories they represent in making ENMU “The Pride of the Land of Enchantment.”

To reach Mr. Bundy, call 575-562-2636 or e-mail gene.bundy@enmu.edu.

David Stone, president of the Portales National Bank, recently published an article in New Mexico Magazine about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to create Eastern New Mexico Junior College.

During the 1927 session of the State Legislature Roosevelt County state senator Graham Bryant knew he was one vote short of getting approval for the founding of Eastern. He targeted one Louis Cole, the senator from Hondo, who was unescorted in Santa Fe.

“Bryant was a gruff, serious-minded lawyer.” Mr. Stone wrote. “When the future of Portales was at stake, however, he started having romantic ideas. Who could persuade Coe to vote for Portales? She would be needing an escort to a Santa Fe celebration on the eve of the big vote.

“Napoleon Bonaparte Fields, known as ‘Boney,’ was a handsome, debonair, smooth-talking men’s clothing store owner in Portales. He was an impeccable dresser and drove a new Buick Roadster convertible. More important, he was the most eligible bachelor in Portales. Bryant needed a lady’s man.

“Soon after Bryant explained the situation, ‘Boney’ Fields washed his car, packed his best suit and was on his way to Santa Fe. He carried the hopes of Portales with him.

“History does not record how ‘Boney’ Fields entertained her. It does record that on the first ballot, Coe voted to locate the new Eastern New Mexico Junior College in Portales.”

The entire article can be found at: http://www.enmu.edu/about/history/article.shtml

While the 1981-82 recession had eased somewhat, the cost-cuts mandated in the 1970s and the constriction of state funding persisted into the 1980s. In this rather unnerving economic climate, Eastern set a course of significant institutional change, responding to changing demographics of its students, adjusting recruiting practices and developing its signature assessment program.

A key to these changes was ENMU’s increasing reliance on institutional research, under the leadership of Dr. Everett Frost, vice president for Planning and Analysis. His office inaugurated a rigorous analysis of institutional data, tracking declining numbers of high school graduates, Texas schools’ recruitment of New Mexico’s high ability students, and a population and legislative power shift to New Mexico’s Rio Grande corridor.

ENMU’s student body was changing, too. In 1982, about one-third of Eastern’s students were minorities (9% Black, 20% Hispanic, 3% Native American, and other 2%). In Roosevelt County, minorities composed about one third of the general population, and these percentages were increasing. Committed to providing educational opportunities to all who desired a college education, ENMU reached out to this emerging diverse student population and added a major outreach to high-ability students.

This enrollment initiative relied on a number of University programs. Ms. Frances Richardson, director of Development, and the Friends of Eastern Foundation (now the ENMU Foundation) with its president, Dr. Buck Wilson, responded to the urgent need for scholarship funds to attract high ability students. The recruitment program, led by Dr. Wayne Gares, vice president for Students Affairs, and his staff, aided by faculty, recruited quality students from across the nation. The entire campus bought in to the plan. Over the next four years, the average ACT score for the freshman class rose to more than 18 from an average 15.3 in 1984. (I should note that ACT scores have continued to rise, slowly and steadily.)  The dedication and hard work of so many in recruiting this student body stabilized enrollment and improved the quality and the diversity of Eastern’s student body.

In 1985, a second initiative further enhanced the quality of the University: the Student Assessment Program. Attending a conference that year, I heard a presentation by representatives from Northeastern Missouri State University who had recently established a program for the assessment of student achievement. It struck me at the time that such a program could reap real benefits for a “self-reflective” regional university. In Eastern’s case, such a program could build students’ confidence in their academic experience, provide accountability for programs, and document student achievement. It would also inform academic disciplines about curriculum design and classroom teaching, while providing off-campus constituencies, state and national legislative bodies and accrediting associations with credible evidence of the quality of student learning.

Assessment depended on the active involvement of those engaged in the teaching/learning process, which meant faculty ownership of the program. Dr. Bill Calton, professor of mathematics, chaired the initial committee to study the feasibility of assessment and design the process for the collection of data. Essentially, it involved the testing of freshmen on their general education knowledge, and testing them again as juniors to determine their learning gains. These assessments were complemented by end-of-program assessments in academic programs and surveys of students’ satisfaction with their educational experience and campus services.

Adjustments were made over the years to this process, but the program has remained committed to its original purpose and guiding principles. It was the first assessment program in New Mexico and became a model for other programs that followed. In 2008, all New Mexico four-year institutions enrolled in the national Voluntary System of Accountability, a comprehensive reporting system measuring student achievement and documenting campus support of student learning. A direction that Eastern New Mexico University had set in the mid-1980s was now a state movement. More importantly, ENMU had undertaken this initiative in the 1980s without a state mandate, but to serve its students and enhance their educational experience.

The 1980s proved to be an exciting time at ENMU. Albert Schweitzer said, “If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”  If that is a legitimate criterion for success, my tenure as president was particularly fulfilling. It was a time when the Board of Regents, administration, faculty and staff were highly skilled professionals dedicated to the teaching and learning process. Whatever challenges we faced, we could take comfort in the shibboleth that “the faculty teach, the students learn, and they graduate in May.”  This has happened every semester for seventy-five years!