LOCAL COLUMN
OPINION: Incoming UNM president should collaborate with business community
Congratulations to Dr. Steve Goldstein on being selected as the 24th president of the University of New Mexico. We wish him success in leading one of the most important institutions in our state, and we invite his collaboration with the business community as we work together to strengthen opportunities for students and grow the university and New Mexico鈥檚 economy.
UNM is a cornerstone institution of the state. Its influence extends far beyond academics 鈥� it helps shape the future workforce, economic competitiveness and long-term trajectory of New Mexico itself.
Our focus, moving forward, is to ensure that Goldstein and the Board of Regents step up to the challenge and fundamentally rethink how UNM, businesses and our communities work together. Our students and our state depend on it.
Higher education serves many important purposes, including research, scholarship and intellectual advancement. Those contributions matter deeply and deserve respect. Faculty and researchers play a critical role in expanding knowledge and preparing students intellectually. But for most students and families, education is also a means to an end.
That end is opportunity 鈥� the ability to secure a rewarding career, support a family, contribute to society and build a better future. Hopefully, that future is in New Mexico. Too many students graduate without a clear understanding of where the economy is headed, what employers actually need, or how to connect their education to meaningful career opportunities. That is not the fault of students, nor the fault of educators. It is the result of a system where universities and the business community operate in separate worlds.
Academics understandably spend much of their careers inside institutions focused on scholarship, theory and academic priorities. Meanwhile, businesses operate in a world driven by workforce shortages, technological change, investment realities, competition and economic outcomes. Both perspectives have value. But when they fail to engage meaningfully with one another, students are left navigating the gap on their own.
The business community wants to collaborate with New Mexico鈥檚 universities. We are asking for stronger alignment between education and the realities students will face after graduation. Universities should engage employers continuously to better understand workforce demands, emerging industries and the skills necessary for long-term success. Students deserve guidance informed not only by academic theory, but also by the realities of the economy they are entering. As a slow-growth economy ranked 46th in the country, this alignment is crucial to New Mexico鈥檚 future.
The consequences of this disconnect are visible across New Mexico. UNM enrollment has remained relatively flat over the past several decades despite substantial population growth nationally and enormous public investment in higher education. At the same time, New Mexico recently experienced population decline and is projected to face minimal long-term growth and an aging population. These are warning signs for UNM, the future workforce and the economy of our state.
We continue to lose talented young people because too many graduates leave New Mexico in search of greater opportunity elsewhere. At the same time, employers across the state struggle to find the skilled workforce necessary to grow and compete. That disconnect is solvable 鈥� but only if universities become more intentionally connected to the industries, entrepreneurs, investors and employers shaping the future economy.
UNM has the ability to become a true catalyst for economic growth in New Mexico. But doing so requires a cultural shift toward deeper collaboration with the business community, greater focus on workforce outcomes and recognition that student success ultimately depends on connecting education to opportunity.
We encourage Goldstein to make engagement with the business community a central part of his administration. New Mexico鈥檚 employers, entrepreneurs, developers and industry leaders stand ready to partner with UNM to help students transition into rewarding careers while strengthening the economic future of our state.
This is about growing and building a university system that better prepares students for rewarding careers while helping New Mexico鈥檚 economy grow for generations to come.
Prakash Sundaram is the board chair of NAIOP New Mexico, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口-based commercial real estate development association.
