Document Type

Annual Report

Publication Date

6-30-1974

Abstract

While it may have appeared that higher education "just growed" like Topsy during the 1950s and 60s, decades of unprecedented expansion, that was not quite the case. Granted, there was a scramble just to keep pace with both enrollment and the knowledge explosion, but there also was a great deal of time devoted to planning. The nature of the pressures were such that much of the planning dealt with bricks and mortar. Without classrooms, laboratories, libraries, offices, the demands of students and society could not be met. Now, for a variety of reasons, that era of higher education is ended. There will be isolated pockets of expansion, seldom university-wide, more often in a few disciplines because of a plethora of job opportunities or societal interest. The current steady-state or, at most, very slow growth period has serious implications for us all. It means that we must reexamine our mission and the ways in which we try to accomplish that mission. A different planning emphasis is essential. At the University of New Mexico, we are grappling already with some of the many ramifications of steady-state enrollment. Financing is one problem. Tenure is another, as is grading. We must examine the makeup of our student body, what it is and what it should be. We must consider what we can and cannot offer in the way of instruction, research, and community service. All of these are directly related to a redefinition of the University of New Mexico\'s purpose.

Comments

UNM Annual Reports, 1973-1974, Volumes 1-3

Sponsors

University of New Mexico

Language

English

Publisher

University of New Mexico Press

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