The call came in 1996. Eastern New Mexico University has been nominated for the Pew Charitable Trusts award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. “Do we want to apply?” the representative from Pew asked. We would have to complete a complex report and undergo a three-day campus visit. What was our answer?

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.”