By Lynn Janes

On May 8, 2025, the board of regents held a regular meeting at Western New Mexico University. The board consisted of Steven Neville, chair, Joseph “Dean” Reed, John Wertheim and WNMU student Keana Huerta. 

The board approved the agenda, meeting minutes April 29, 2025. The date for the next board meeting will be finalized later. 

Presidents report

Jack Crocker, acting president, had updates from others to share with the board.

Brenda Dominguez, student body president, said she had attended WNMU since 2016 and felt she had become a better person because of being part of the university community. She thanked the board for taking on the responsibility and new leadership role. The past year as student body president had been an adventure but thought it prepared her for the future for the better. 

She introduced Carlos Carranza as the new president that would be taking her place. “I have seen him grow during the last year into leadership roles.” He had attended the legislature with her to lobby for the university. 

Carranza said he came from Hatch, New Mexico and now is a second year student, majoring in education. He thanked Dominguez. 

Neville congratulated him and said his daughter had been student body president at New Mexico State University. “It is a great accomplishment.” 

Phil Schoenberg, president faculty senate, wanted to introduce his successor. He also wanted to provide updates from the staff. The faculty senate had met, and the only major business had been a first read of potential changes to the way they do the faculty performance review. They expected to have a flurry of work to have grades posted. Schoenberg said it had been an honor for him to serve in this position. They had elections and Gregory Robinson Guerra will be the new faculty senate president and Andrea Nika will be the vice president. 

Guerra said he would be honored to serve the faculty and administration. 

Bartholomew Brown, director of network operations, had a few comments. He wanted to extend his congratulations to the 2025 graduates. This semester had some extraordinary and unconventional challenges. The graduates had demonstrated resilience and adaptability. He commended every student at WNMU. “Your dedication had not gone unnoticed, and we honor the commitment you have shown your academic and personal growth.” The same words also extended to the faculty and staff. They had collectively navigated a period marked by rapid change and uncertainty with professionalism, grace and determination. He wanted to take a moment to recognize the outstanding work of the information technology team. He had seen the pressures and stress endured in the countless hours invested to rebuild the systems and restore services. 

Brown thanked Dominguez and Schoenberg and said it had been great to serve with them and welcomed the new presidents. 

The university presented Dominguez and Schoenberg with awards for their service. 

Crocker wanted to add a few comments. Commencement would be the next day, and they have 565 graduates. What often has been overlooked would be the need to replace those graduates. He also wanted to bring up Fiesta Latina that would be coming up June 5-8, 2025. The university had been notified that all of the counseling programs had been accredited by a national organization. He turned the update on the cyber situation to Michael Acosta, chief information officer.

Acosta provided a brief update. They had made significant progress to restore the infrastructure that. although not seen publicly, has been critical to begin full restoration. Upgrades have been in progress to a number of critical systems and some additional that will provide resiliency and strength. One of the first things will be the Mustang Wi-Fi. “Ultimately this campus and our community will be stronger because of this.” 

Neville said, “We understand that things were a little tough here for a while. It was hard for students and staff.” He commended everyone and thanked them for bearing with them while they resolve the situation. He thanked Crocker for leading the group. 

New business

The board approved Neville’s recommendation on the search and negotiation for the appointment of an interim president. He wanted to appoint himself and Wertheim. They would be finalizing the agreement with several organizations that will provide the university with candidates for the position. They wanted to get this moving as quickly as possible. 

Wertheim said the process would be important and he saw it in two phases. They would have a quick group of consultants that would help them collate through potential interim candidates. He saw it happening in weeks and not months. Then the big job of choosing the president everyone would hear more about. It will be important as a board to be committed to be open to both in- and out-of-state candidates for the interim president. 

Neville wanted to make it known if anyone knew of any administrators out there that would be qualified the board would certainly consider their application. 

Neville and the board wanted to acknowledge Crocker for stepping up without warning and they had not been dissatisfied with his services. He had risen above and beyond and they thanked him for his efforts. 

Kelly Riddle, vice president of business and finance, said the human resource department does have a process and calculation formula to determine the amount of a stipend to pay for picking up the duties of other positions. With the approval of the board, they would go through that process and determine an appropriate stipend salary for Crocker since taking on these duties starting January 16, 2025. 

Neville reiterated their appreciation for Crocker’s effort and dedication to making sure the university continued. He said they would still need his help along with the interim president. Certainly, the new president would also need his help. 

Crocker thanked them for the vote of confidence and said it had been an honor. He will continue until they find an interim president. He did add it had really been the faculty and staff that stayed constant and committed. “That is why we are having finals and commencement without any delays.” He commended the IT team and said he had sat in the meetings and didn’t understand a word in terms of technology. It has been remarkable what they have been able to do. He thanked Acosta and Brown for their leadership. 

Wertheim wanted to echo what had been said. Crocker had come in at a very difficult time. It has been an unprecedented situation that Western has managed with great skill. The faculty, staff and whole Silver City community had really used this as an opportunity to come together, and it had been impressive to see. It had made it possible for them, the new regents, to not be completely panicked by the responsibilities but instead feel like they could help pull them all together to be even stronger. 

Reed said he wanted to reiterate some things. Some great highlights had come out. They had met for the first time April 9, 2025, and it had been a furious 30 days. Despite the lack of conductivity, the communication had been exceptional. He pointed out Riddle’s team had submitted the budget to HED (higher education department) by May 1, 2025, a requirement. “I know as regents we could have scripted a better start, but we got what we got, and we said yes, and we are glad to be here with you.”

The board approved the calculation Riddle spoke of to determine the appropriate stipend for Crocker. 

The board approved the staff emeritus designation presented by Crocker and Riddle. 

Debbie Heller, professor of English, her dedication would be missed. She had been dedicated to the writing center and the writing across the curriculum program. She had shaped personal growth of countless students and collogues and will leave a lasting legacy at WNMU. 

Joy Lemme, retiring June 30, 2025, after holding a number of administrative positions for the last 30 years. She ended in the director’s position with special events and had gone above and beyond her professional responsibilities to support various university events. 

The board approved the promotions and tenure presented by Crocker. It included:

Promotions:

Edmund Brunt – Assistant Professor to Associate Professor

Roberta Brown – Associate Professor to Professor

Phillip Schoenberg – Associate Professor to Professor 

Tenure:

Joel Blaxland

Garrett Peltonen 

Shannon Rivera

The board approved the post tenure presented by Crocker. It included:

Post-Tenure Review:

Scott Fritz

Alexandra Neves

Margarita Wulftange

The board approved the posthumous degree presented by Betsy Miller, vice president of student affairs. The recommendation had been for Mark Hunter Riley and former student that passed away April 16, 2025, at his residence hall due to a medical condition. They wanted to award him the degree fall of 2025 at the commencement ceremony in December. Gardner had started at WNMU in fall of 2019 and would have been due to graduate this summer or fall with a baccalaureate in social work. This would be an honorary degree. While at Western he had attended weekly bible study participating in both small and large groups. Some of the faculty felt this would be extremely meaningful to his surviving family and friends. 

Neville said the young man had come from his community in Farmington. He wanted all the information so he could make formal contact when they had everything ready. 

Wertheim added a side note. It had been very moving to have seen this in their packet and wanted to extend his condolences to the Riley family. 

The board approved the fiscal year 2025 third quarter financial action requested by Riddle. As a requirement they must submit a quarterly report to HED if they have any significant budgetary or cash flow issues. Being the third quarter, they would expect about 75 percent of the budget to be used. Some areas had gone beyond that. Riddle went over the different areas that had gone over. Some would be expected and explained those. She didn’t have any budgetary issues, and they had a good cash flow and the balances are healthy. The third quarter does recognize the payment made to Dr. Shepard. It had not caused a drop in the fund balance below the required 3 percent. 

Reed said he and Huerta had spent several hours with Riddle and her team. It had been a great learning experience. The university exceeds the 3 percent easily. “Financially we are in exceptional shape, all things considered.”

Wertheim commended the work of the budget committee, Riddle and her staff. He wanted the public to know they had not missed any deadlines. He made the comparison to sometimes a hurricane arrives and what happens in the aftermath. Here the university has done so well financially despite the hurricane they have been going through. Seems the right appointments had been made to the budget committee. 

The board approved the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). This time of year, they submit their five-year plan. Riddle presented them with the plan. It would be a continuation of the last plan with some projects moved to a different order. Vocational technology had been moved to number two and early childhood programs moved to number one. The last legislative session they had not received any funding. They do have the ability to revise the list until December, before the legislative session. Riddle told the board as they familiarize themselves with the capital projects they could make adjustments. They do have to have the list submitted by June 1, 2025. 

Riddle said they would be meeting concerning the escalation of costs to do capital projects. She continued to address the issue and how it has and will affect projects. 

The board approved the open meetings act. This will be a procedural item done year to year. It notifies the public when the board will be meeting. 

Public comment 

Mark Donnell said he hated to say but he has been a regular visitor for public comment because of the problems in the last year. “I am a retired physician. After 23 years of practice at Gila Regional Medical Center. I am also a former adjunct professor in natural science and the nursing departments. Everyone had really managed to avoid the elephant in the room.” He said he would reintroduce the elephant, the recent ransomware attack on the university computer system and he thought it had been badly mismanaged from the beginning. 

The university had first said it had been an internal system problem which Donnell said was a lie and the university still refused to admit it they had suffered an external internet ransomware attack. “Instead of transparency the university repeatedly put out misinformation in attempt to cover its incompetency.”

He pointed out none of his comment would be directed at the board members. As far as he knew they had not been involved in making those decisions. “I assume it was Dr. Crocker that approved the information blackout.” It showed extremely poor judgement and needs explanation. He thought it had been unforgivable that the IT department had not been able to block the attack and further been inexcusable that the first response of the university was to cover it up and pretend it didn’t happen. He continued to admonish the IT department. He said a quick google search on how to prevent ransomware attacks gives a basic on how it could be done. 

“I have it on authority the WNMU IT people at the top are good hardworking people, but they were totally unprepared to secure the system.” He thought they needed to hire one or two people with advanced cybersecurity expertise as soon as possible. 

Donnell said, “I again urge the board to explore the idea of removing tenure from our disgraced former president, Joe Shepard. The former board members failed in every way to follow university guidelines.” He continued with the reasons until his time had expired to speak. 

Hugh Epping said “That’s a tough act to follow. It sounds like the whole school is going down the crapper.” Epping wanted to compliment the whole staff and how they had held things together during the critical mishap. He said the community really appreciated all the efforts that have gone into resolving the issue faced in the last month. He continued with thanks and compliments to the staff, faculty and students. 

Board closing comments

Huerta sincerely thanked everyone for their patience, dedication and unwavering resilience through the recent year. It had its challenges, but the commitment had been inspiring. “I am incredibly excited and honored to be involved in the upcoming graduation. It has been a privilege to celebrate the accomplishments of the students.” 

Reed said he had been catching up on what had been going well with the university. A few things had stuck out. He had come from a health background and takes technology for granted. The cyber incident had reminded him how difficult it could be behind the scenes. Most people don’t see the labor behind insuring the ease of use of technology for everyone. He thanked the information technology team, faculty and students. “I know this has been stressful.” From what he had seen they had handled a complicated and inconvenient problem with grace.. 

The Master of Science in nursing program had a 200 percent growth. Reed further pointed out that the BSN (Bachelor of Science in nursing) program had a 100 percent success in their final testing. “This is unheard of. Coming from the healthcare industry two years in a row at 100 percent is sensational. I know how hard the test is.”

Wertheim said although he had run for office he had never succeeded in winning an election. “My biggest title is regent of Wester New Mexico University.” He had not planned to talk about this but because of Donnell’s statements earlier he pointed out he had made a number of incorrect “factual statements” that he thought would mislead the public about what had been happening. “So, I find myself having to put on my lawyer hat and do a little rebuttal on some important facts.” 

They had open commentary at the last meeting and Donnell had not made any comments. He continued that he had made a motion at that meeting that the board authorize and direct the university to take the appropriate and necessary measures to recover and restore network services. The board had been fully involved with the cyber security incident, and it has been complicated. First, he avidly suggested that people not obtain cybersecurity advice from Google. He added that Google’s roll out of the new AI program Gemini has not been so great. 

The board has been fully informed at all times, and they have been rolling out information as they can. As promised at the last meeting Acosta had given a report on the cyber issue. “I think people understand that we’ve accepted these duties in the spirit it’s been offered to try and help the university succeed and that is what we are doing with the cybersecurity incident.” The last meeting the cyber incident had been discussed, and Donnell would have been free to comment. They didn’t have a blackout on information, Acosta providing an up-to-date report would not be a blackout. As said before the university has a forensic investigation in process. It would be really stupid for them to jump ahead of the forensic investigation. 

Wertheim continued that some of the top companies in the world, universities, top hospitals have suffered cybersecurity incidents that fall in the same category as this. To say this would be the result of incompetence would be wrong. The fact of the matter was people involved have been doing an extraordinary job. 

Neville thanked Wertheim for addressing things he wanted to. Cyber-attacks have not been that unusual. His personal accountant had been hacked, as well as Aztec public schools and Highland University. “Unfortunately, it is not that uncommon.” The state has been involved and every step available has been taken for more security. “I think we are on top of it.” 

“We have 565 graduates the next day and that is what we are here for. We will fight the battles of budgeting, build buildings and find funding. That’s our job.” The regents will be fighting to make sure they get the $8 million or $10 million or what would be needed. 

Crocker added that by mistake they had some faculty left off the tenure and promotion list. He will be following up and it will be addressed at the next meeting. 

Meeting adjourned.