Five finalists approved by NMT board of regents

The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents approved the five final candidates recommended by the Presidential Search Committee today, including two candidates who are currently employed at NMT.

In July 2025, New Mexico Tech announced Michael Jackson as Interim President following the resignation of Dr. Mahyar Amouzegar. Amouzegar, who began his tenure as the university’s 18th president on April 15, 2024, resigned on June 30, 2025, less than two weeks after regents restricted his hiring authority and asked him to reverse a vice presidential appointment.

The five presidential finalists approved by the board today include Montserrat “Montse” Fuentes, president at St. Edward's University, Andrew Hamilton, vice president for academic success at Texas State University, Michael Jackson, interim president at New Mexico Tech, Kerop Janoyan, associate dean for research and graduate studies at California State University – Long Beach and Carlos Romero, associate vice president for research at New Mexico Tech.

Board Regent President David Lepre Sr. said it took a tremendous amount of work to do the search.

“I believe this may be the first time that we have, as the New Mexico Tech campus has done this on its own,” Lepre said. “Essentially, we've done it with the great assistance of a search committee, with the support and help of our human resources director and department, with the state administrative staff as well.”

Board Regent Secretary Yolanda Jones King said she believes they have set a precedent by doing their own presidential search.

“Other universities are interested,” Jones King said, “We may be paving the way for others to do it themselves.”

According to the NMT press release, the finalists will visit campus next week, March 23–27, where they will meet with students, faculty, staff and community members.

NMT Dean of Arts and Sciences, Steve Simpson, said each presidential finalist will visit campus for a full day of meetings, including several opportunities for community participation.

As part of their visit, each candidate will give a public presentation and participate in an open session in the morning, providing members of the campus and Socorro community an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates and offer feedback. The open sessions will be held daily at 9 a.m. in the Macey Center Auditorium for each candidate.

Simpson said they will send an email to the campus community inviting people who can’t attend to submit questions, some of which can be asked during these sessions.

Candidate biographies and visit schedules will be posted on the New Mexico Tech Presidential Search webpage.