President's Weekly Perspective, 4/8/2013

We talk a lot about student success, as we all share a commitment to creating an environment where every student can and will succeed. We cannot afford to treat student success as just a component of a strategic plan – it must become a part of and drive our culture. UNM students succeed when they achieve both personal and institutional educational goals, developing knowledge and skills, becoming more mature in their thinking, and assuming greater responsibility for their own lives and learning. We know, students do better whom fully immerse themselves in the “UNM experience.” This is evidenced by participation in student life, taking more hours and trying things they have never experienced. Further, high expectations must be a condition for student success. At UNM, success is a shared enterprise. Students succeed by active engagement in educationally purposeful activities, and by building the educational character of the first year and placing emphasis on the environment in which we place students we can advance this culture.The University of New Mexic