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'A new beginning'

NMSU regents approve new president’s contract

Posted

This story was updated at 11:40 a.m. with details of Ferme's employment agreement. 

New Mexico State University’s governing board unanimously approved an employment agreement between the university and its incoming president, Valerio Ferme, during a special meeting Friday morning. 

The brief meeting took place by video conference and the only business item addressed was the agreement. There was no discussion in open session of any terms, such as compensation, length of the contract or a start date, but the university released the contract to the Las Cruces Bulletin upon request.

The regents selected Ferme on Sept. 19, tapping him to be the university’s first permanent leader since April 2023 with the departure of Chancellor Dan Arvizu. 

Ferme is executive vice president of academic affairs and provost at the University of Cincinnati. He is the former dean of that university’s college of arts and sciences, and previously held leadership positions at Northern Arizona University and the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Regents and top administrators took turns welcoming Ferme and lauding his selection. 

Regent chair Ammu Devasthali, reading prepared remarks, said, “The Board of Regents will stand with you side-by-side in true partnership to lead this university, to calm our waters, to bigger and better things that we know we are capable of at NMSU.” 

She was not the only one to acknowledge a desire to turn the page on a tumultuous period for the university. 

Valerio Ferme, a finalist for New Mexico State University president, speaks with a student after a presentation on the Las Cruces campus on Sept. 13, 2024.
Valerio Ferme, a finalist for New Mexico State University president, speaks with a student after a presentation on the Las Cruces campus on Sept. 13, …

The chapter begun by a surprise decision in 2018, by a former board, to hire a president and chancellor sharing nearly a million dollars in annual compensation, saw positive gains for the university, such as increased enrollment, gains in research funding, building of new educational and research facilities and the football team’s entry into Conference USA. 

Yet it ended in leadership shifts, fractious relations with a new graduate student worker union, serious blows to the reputation of the athletics program amid explosive stories about the men’s basketball program. A shootout in which an Aggie athlete shot and killed a University of New Mexico student in self-defense in 2022, followed by complaints of systematic sexual assault on the team that led to criminal charges and lawsuits, drew intense scrutiny. The university also settled a lawsuit brought by former Provost Carol Parker, who alleged she was scapegoated for unpopular policies and punished for investigating allegations of racist and sexist pay disparities. 

Arvizu assumed full leadership with the departure of President John Floros in 2022.

Regents decided in December 2022 that Arvizu’s contract, which would expire in mid-2023, would not be renewed. Arvizu departed that April. Since then, the university has been led by two consecutive interim presidents: Jay Gogue and, currently, Mónica Torres. 

On Friday, Regent Deborah Romero said she was confident Ferme would “bring that peace that we need, that ability to unify people.” 

Regent Christopher Saucedo called Ferme’s impending arrival at the job “a new beginning.” 

In brief remarks to the meeting, Ferme thanked the regents for his selection, the agreement and the warm welcome that had already been extended to him and his family. 

“I do feel the responsibility to be an excellent representative of the university itself, in everything it does,” he said. Later in his address, he added, “There are untapped opportunities that we can really make work on behalf of the university and the state. … I’m excited to engage the ‘us’ that comes together in our communities, and I think that together we will turn these possibilities into realities and elevate and enhance the pathways already at work in the strategic plan, but well beyond them.” 

From the regents’ discussion, it emerged that Ferme will soon move to New Mexico and begin a transition period alongside Torres, the chancellor of NMSU’s community colleges who has been interim president since March.

Contract terms

The university released the contract, with signatures dated Oct. 21, to the Bulletin upon request shortly after Friday's meeting.

Per the agreement, Ferme’s employment will begin on Nov. 18 as president-designate for a transition period until Jan. 1, when he takes on full responsibility as president. The initial end date of the agreement is Jan. 1, 2030. 

He will also join the faculty as a fully tenured professor of English, with the possibility of a faculty teaching position in the event of his departure from the president’s office, depending on the circumstances, at the highest rate of pay NMSU offers to tenured professors. In that event, he would also have the option of taking a one-year sabbatical. 

Ferme will be responsible for the whole university system, including its community colleges and extension offices throughout the state, with the exception of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, a state agency that is managed independently.

Valerio Ferme, a finalist for New Mexico State University president, prepares to begin a presentation for students on the Las Cruces campus on Sept. 13, 2024.
Valerio Ferme, a finalist for New Mexico State University president, prepares to begin a presentation for students on the Las Cruces campus on Sept. …

He will be paid a base salary of $600,000 per year, with incentive pay up to $50,000 annually and free housing at the official University Center and Residence. Ferme will be eligible for the same benefits as other administrators, business and travel expenses, and moving reimbursements up to $22,000.

The $50,000 cap on incentive pay, which would be based on performance goals set by Ferme and the regents, is considerably more modest than incentives offered to Floros and Arvizu when they were hired in 2018, at base salaries of $500,000 and $450,000 respectively, with incentives up to 30 and 20 percent of their salaries.

As to severance pay, if Ferme’s agreement is terminated, he could receive as much as 12 months’ pay and accrued benefits, depending on the timing and circumstances. If the agreement ends because of mental or physical incapacity, Ferme would receive his base salary for up to six months through the end of his contract; or 12, if terminated by the regents at their discretion (as opposed to firing him for just cause). 

The agreement also states that Ferme has committed to annual charitable contributions to NMSU causes, beginning with $10,200 to Aggie Cupboard, the campus food pantry. 

NMSU, New Mexico State University, Valerio Fermi

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