New Mexico State University announced on Monday that Clayton Abbey will be its next assistant vice president of Government and Community Relations. Abbey has served in that role on an interim basis since December 2022 following the retirement of Ricardo Rel, who led NMSU's government relations office for 25 years.

The NMSU Office of Government and Community Relations represents the university's interests and priorities with the state legislature, federal government, and government agencies.

Prior to serving as the interim assistant vice president, Abbey was the office's director for state government. He has more than 20 years of public service experience in K-12 education, higher education and public transportation.

Abbey holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northeastern University, a master's degree in early childhood education from Fordham University, and a master of public administration from Baruch College School of Public Affairs.

Prior to his work at NMSU, Abbey held government affairs roles with New Mexico Junior College, Central New Mexico Community College, and the Association of New Mexico Independent Community Colleges.

Abbey said his top priorities in his new role will be fortifying existing relationships with legislators and stakeholders across the state and continuing to build new relationships within the communities served by NMSU.

"I'm looking forward to building on the legacy established by my predecessor in this role," Abbey said. "I think our path to success in strengthening those relationships is to ensure that our strategy for making funding and policy requests at the state and federal level is informed by the university's goals and the vision of our chancellor and other leaders."

He said the Office of Government and Community Relations has a critical role in advocating for the university system's priorities and helping lawmakers and policymakers fully understand the impact of its teaching, research and outreach work.

"The work that we do is all about communication, engagement and relationship building," Abbey said. "I'm looking forward to leveraging every opportunity to help the NMSU system grow by providing the information and guidance lawmakers need to make decisions that impact New Mexico students and communities."

For more information about the NMSU Office of Government and Community Relations, visit govrelations.nmsu.edu .

The full article can be seen at https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/abbey-named-assistant-vp-of-nmsu-office-of-government-relations/s/0db20fc8-acbd-4118-b7fe-8764a64c728e