SILVER CITY, NM – The Western New Mexico University Board of Regents met virtually on Thursday, September 11, 2025. Present on campus were Regents J. Dean Reed and Keana Huerta and present online were Regents Steven Neville and John V. Wertheim.

The meeting began with Chair Neville welcoming to the meeting Greg Trujillo, who was recently nominated by NM Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to join the board. Trujillo will be attending Board of Regents meetings as he awaits confirmation.

Neville then invited Interim President Christopher Maples to report. Maples began by discussing the university’s fall semester challenges surrounding enrollment. “The biggest immediate challenge is that we are down about 365 students at this point in time,” he said. “That is about a 10% decline.”

As a result of the enrollment decline, the university’s revenues are down approximately $3.3 million for the year, Maples reported. The decline can largely be attributed to the cyber incident in the spring, which resulted in the university not having a web presence for a time.

Maples said that the university is actively looking for ways to return to having a robust web presence. “We have requests into the appropriate channels with the state for supplemental funding,” he said, adding the university is looking into other funding sources as well.

He also noted that the university is getting rid of barriers to enrollment and looking for ways to increase student support services.

Maples also reported that WNMU is working with NMSU Global Campus to increase enrollment in online courses, including recently developed 8-week courses.

Maples then ceded some of his time to ASWNMU President Carlos Carranza who announced the Hispanic Heritage Month Unity Ball and described for the regents ASWNMU efforts to have outdoor charging stations installed on campus.

Following brief reports from Faculty Senate and Staff Senate, the regents heard an update from Regent Reed about the search for a new university president. Reed reported that the search committee has been formed and a prospectus for the position completed, which will be available on the university’s website.

Vice President of Business Affairs Kelley Riddle then reported on two submissions due to the Higher Education Department. The first was a report on the university’s Research and Public Service Projects. This year, the university is requesting additional legislative funding for ongoing projects, including Athletics, the Child Development Center, expansion of programs in Nursing on the Silver City campus as well as in Truth or Consequences and Deming, the web-based network for teacher licensure, and the Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Education. The regents approved the requests as described in the report.

Riddle then reported on the university’s endowments received through the state. The regents voted to approve the report.

Riddle asked Assistant Vice President of Compliance Debra Noble to explain some proposed changes to the university’s Title IX policy. The proposed changes, said Noble, are meant to make the university’s policy consistent with recent language changes in the FBI’s user manual. The board approved the changes to the policy.

After inviting the public to comment, the meeting concluded with regent comments. Reed requested that the next meeting include a report on capital outlay priorities. Neville then announced that he and Regent Huerta would be serving on the Higher Education Regents’ Coalition.

The next Board of Regent meeting will be held on a date to be determined.