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Saturday, March 22, 2008 Regents tour Playas training centerPLAYAS PLAYAS — The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents was treated to a tour of Playas Training and Research Center and a hostage rescue demonstration by a SWAT team trained at the facility, before their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 18. PTRC is a division of the university's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, whose one purpose is to provide real-life training facilities for security and safety teams. Regents were informed that the facility could expand its business if its aircraft landing strip were improved. The Regents were impressed by the demonstration and added the landing strip improvements to the goals they directed Tech President Daniel H. López to work toward in the coming year. The Board opened its formal meeting by electing new officers for the coming year. Jerry Armijo is the new board president and Ann Daily is the new secretary-treasurer. López announced :
Dr. Van Romero, vice president of Research and Economic Development, reported that projects to get New Mexico Tech more coverage on KNME-TV in Albuquerque were successful. A "Science Café" program was held on Feb. 23 at Magdalena Ridge Observatory, and turn-out was good despite bad weather. "Science Café" was so successful at conveying Tech's research to the public that a second one is planned, for 49ers Celebration and Alumni Homecoming (Oct. 24-25), focusing on EMRTC and explosives. Another joint program planned with KNME for next fall is a "Science Crawl" in which mid-school students will have the opportunity to explore Tech's campus and learn about opportunities in Earth science. In addition, López announced:
Regents received a report on New Mexico Tech's current financial condition, which is excellent. The Board was informed about a series of purchases with restricted funds. Restricted funds purchases do not require Board approval. The Board was presented with a proposed policy on additional faculty compensation. The policy, with concurrences of the Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs and Research, respectively, will allow faculty to include extra compensation for faculty working on sponsored research. The extra compensation, according to this policy, will restrict extra compensation to no more than 20 percent of a researcher's salary. The policy was tabled while questions were addressed as to how it may affect researchers at the Bureau of Geology and PRRC. The board approved four new academic appointments:
The Board granted tenure to the following faculty members:
In addition, the board approved granting an honorary doctorate degree in Business Management to Steve S. Torres, who served on the Board of Regents from 1966 to 1996. The degree will be presented at Commencement on May 17. Meeting as the Employee Benefit Trust, the board determined that New Mexico Tech's employee health insurance plan is financially sound. After meeting in a executive session to consider legal and personnel matters, the board announced that they commended López for his excellent performance, and were giving him a pay raise of a little more than 3 percent, as well as extending his contract through 2013.
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