College Council Meeting Minutes - May 11, 2026
Announcements
College Council information updates from Anne Jarrett
- The CC May meeting agenda incorrectly stated that the April CC meeting minutes were
sent to faculty and staff via email on May 5. 2026. The April CC meeting minutes were
sent out on May 8, 2026.
- Reminder of College Council changes (see the CC bylaws for more detailed information)
- This is the last meeting for CC Chair Anne Jarrett, according to the bylaws. A new CC Chair will need to be chosen from the other remaining CC members.
- A new CC member must be chosen (an exempt staff member) prior to the first CC meeting in September. The bylaws describe the process, which will begin in August.
Updates on new hires
New Director of Business Operations - Introduction of Karen Boise who has started in May and grew up in Los Alamos. She worked at the City of Albuquerque as the Organizational Growth Manager. We welcome her to UNM-LA.
Continuing Education Program Manager - checking references
Marketing Assistant - Sending out invitations to interview
Manager for Facilities Operations - candidate evaluation
Integrated education and training teacher - sending out interview invites
Sr. Program Manager-Workforce Development - Sending out invitations to interview
Update on Construction – Mike Holtzclaw described the construction activities on campus. Phase 2, which included the front steps, driveway, front and side parking lots, and the sidewalks will be completed in May or June. The next phase of construction will begin sometime after that and will include upgrading the courtyard and pathways between buildings 1 and 2. The courtyard upgrades will be done in phases to allow for foot traffic between buildings on campus. Negotiations are ongoing regarding the status of the back parking lot and parking by LANL employees along the side parking area.
Marketing Requests - Faculty and staff are to use the UNM-LA service portal in Smartsheets for all marketing requests.
Contact Information in New Website - Grace Willerton informed everyone that the new website's directory is pulling from old data in Banner. Would everyone please check their own contact info in the directory, and tell Sascha, unmlahr@unm.edu, about any information that needs correcting.
Our new directory page: https://losalamos.unm.edu/about-us/campus-directory/.
Possible day and time for College Council meetings beginning fall semester - The faculty have a free hour when no classes are being held on Wednesdays from 9 – 10 a.m. This could be a good time for CC meetings and faculty voiced that if instructors had to teach beginning at 10 a.m., the other faculty could update their colleagues about CC matters.
Book store updates - Brent Pickett and Grace Willerton discussed the status of ordering books through the central campus bookstore. Information is beginning to be disseminated and as more of it is available, it will be communicated to the students. Part of the new plan is to include a digital ordering method. Kevin Rosenberger
New Student Planner - Grace announced that the new Student Planner is ready and shared physical copies with those who wanted them. The cover artwork was drawn by a UNM-LA student. There will be a digital version available on the website
LANL Data Sprint Project – Brent Pickett said that the LANL data experts will be doing their “deep dive” regarding our enrollment issues during the week of July 13 – 17. No date has been given as to when we will receive the results from LANL.
Community Participation and Volunteering opportunities – Karen Williams mentioned that there were some community activities where a select number of UNM-LA employees participated but that the rest of the faculty and staff were unaware of the opportunity to participate. These were missed opportunities for fundraising and for UNM-LA to connect with the community. The discussion then turned to using the new Communications platform (the new UNMLA Announcement Board – see agenda item below) as a vehicle for communicating such events. It was also decided that the Campus Engagement Committee should become active again. Anne Jarrett will send out an email to faculty and staff asking for volunteers to sit on this committee in order to plan and communicate events and activities on campus and in the community.
AGENDA ITEMS
Strategic Plan Themes (updated chart documents sent out May 5, 2026)
Joan Lucas noted that there need to be updates on the Strategic Plan charts regarding referrals to the Title V grant. Anne Jarrett said the updates would be addressed.
No other comments were made regarding the content of the Strategic Plan themes. Several people wanted to know what the next steps in the process were going to be. Mike Holtzclaw indicated that the Executive Cabinet would review the updated charts and then send them to CC so they can be distributed prior to the first CC meeting being held fall semester and be an agenda item for that initial fall semester meeting (date tbd, scheduled for September).
Communications tool - IT informed everyone that the new communications tool is up and running on Sharepoint and is called the UNM-LA Announcement Board.
Naming the UNM-LA Buildings -There were several ideas and suggestions regarding naming the buildings on campus. It was decided that a working group would be formed to investigate the UNM and UNM Foundation parameters surrounding naming buildings. Mike asked Karen Williams to be part of the working group and Irina Alvestad volunteered to be part of the group. Anne Jarrett will send out an email asking for volunteers to be on the committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:32 p.m.
The date and time of the first College Council meeting for Fall Semester in September 2026, will be announced after the faculty return to campus.