Faculty Support and Research
Together, we will support the heart and soul of UNM: teaching and discovery. We will add dynamic faculty and power their research. What makes the biggest difference in a student’s education? The care and attention paid to the student by faculty who go above and beyond.
UNM’s outstanding faculty includes a Nobel Laureate, a MacArthur Fellow, 35 Fulbright Scholars and several members of the national academies—yet our faculty compensation lags behind peer institutions, jeopardizing our ability to retain the best teachers and researchers. Too often, just as our brightest faculty achieve national recognition, competing universities offer higher salaries and more funding for research. Recruitment and retention are our goals. Support for faculty through chairs, professorships and fellowships provides funding to enhance salaries—enabling UNM to retain our best faculty more effectively. Beyond funding for faculty compensation, this private funding is also used to support the scholarly activities of the holder of the chair, professorship or fellowship.
UNM’s annual external research funding ranks in the top 100 of nearly 3000 universities in the United States. Public funding and private gifts support the research endeavors of our faculty. To take advantage of UNM’s research strength in driving student success, faculty often involve undergraduate students in research activities—an exceptionally powerful academic means of motivating young students in their studies and for connecting the theoretical to practical application. Your support will allow undergraduate students into the mix of researchers and advanced graduate students and open a model of learning that is essential in today’s interdisciplinary world.