New Mexico picks a new university president, and it isn’t Staben

Kevin Richert | 11/02/2017

The University of New Mexico has a new president: Garnett Stokes, an administrator from the University of Missouri.

The UNM job search culminated Thursday. The Idaho connection: University of Idaho President Chuck Staben was a finalist for the job, interviewing on the Albuquerque, N.M., campus last month.

Staben has been the U of I’s president since 2014.

Thursday’s news spares the State Board of Education from the process of filling a third vacancy in the state’s higher education system. The State Board is already searching for successors for Idaho State University President Arthur Vailas and Lewis-Clark State College President Anthony Fernandez; both are retiring.

Click here for details on the UNM hire, from the Albuquerque Journal.

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 35 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. He can be reached at [email protected]