A more activist role for UNM's business school

New Mexico Business Journal, Oct, 1996 by Pamela Salmon

Howard Smith has taken to running the University of New Mexico's Robert O. Anderson Schools of Management like a business. In February as interim dean, he decentralized management and created four academic department chairs. The change allows him to be more active with the business community.

Having been named the permanent dean on May 10 and relieved of the distractions from the nationwide search, Smith now can focus on marketing and the bottom line. Ironically, he says the two sometimes conflict with one another.

Sitting in a leather overstuffed chair in a room that sports the chocolate brown decor of a once-male-only smoking room, Smith says he wants to market the school so the community will be more familiar with the scope of its endeavors. He also wants to appeal to local businesses to develop project-oriented internships for his faculty. And he hopes to involve a broader segment of the business community in educational opportunities such as guest speakers, sponsors of student projects and internships, and hosts of field trips.

However, when marketing means attracting more students, Smith puts on the brakes. His budget has been cut for two consecutive years, such that his $4 million annually doesn't allow him to offer more classes. Yet enrollment increased 8.3 percent in the fall of 1995 and 10 percent in the spring of 1996. "It makes no sense to advertise if I can't offer more classes," he asserts. So Smith concentrates on improving what he has.

The phrase, "Dedicated to Excellence in Professional Management Education," is carved in a beam across the main entrance of the west building of the Anderson Schools. The maxim seems to have guided the congenial six-footer throughout his education and career.

Born in San Diego, he began to build his academic credentials at California State University at San Diego where he received his bachelor's degree in 1971 and developed an affinity for racing Porsches. He continued his education and in 1973 finished a master's degree with an emphasis in health care planning at the University of California at Los Angeles. At UCLA, he adapted his racing skills to a bicycle to cope with the area's notorious traffic jams. Further studies and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle followed in 1976, and Smith slowly began to transfer his energy from a bicycle to his feet.

With mountain trails beckoning in New Mexico, he eagerly accepted an assistant professorship at UNM in 1980. At the time, the faculty of the Anderson Schools numbered 25, half of what it is today. Smith says its commitment was evident, the school was not a "degree mill" and it was initiating a health care management program, his specialty. In addition, he saw a potential for growth, both at the school and in Albuquerque.

In the ensuing years, Smith served in numerous capacities as teacher, researcher, administrator and publisher. His curriculum vitae includes a list of publications that goes on for 19 pages. He describes a laborious production schedule. He begins in the morning with a pen and white legal pad and writes in longhand until he finishes his first draft. Somehow, the prolific academician has managed not only to write scores of articles in this manner, but also to co-author five books.

He applies such vigor and intensity to other areas as well. He is on the Embudito or Pino Trail by 6:15 a.m. In one hour, he covers two and a half miles and an elevation gain of 1,200 feet. "I come in invigorated and spiritually refreshed, "he says. "It helps me put things in perspective."

Perhaps his perspective also can be gleaned from his necktie. Its cobalt blue, purple and fuschia geometric pattern jumps boldly from between the lapels of his tweed sports jacket. And bold Smith must be. "Deans of business schools typically last slightly less than four years," he reports. "I look in terms of three to five years to get something done. If I don't provide leadership, I won't try to hold on."

Although he has held the position of interim dean for two years, he feels more freedom to move forward as permanent dean. He also feels a sense of urgency, especially since the school was put on review in December 1995 by its accrediting body, the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. The organization said the school needs to refine its mission and bring some of its faculty members up-to-date in their fields (hence, Smith's desire for faculty internships).

Reaccreditation, therefore, tops Smith's goals. Close behind comes a technology boost through improved computerization and the offering of bachelor's degree classes via video to community colleges and branch campuses throughout the state.

"I see us as the flagship business school in the state," he says, although his claim might be disputed by the business school at New Mexico State University, which has a faculty of 80 compared to Anderson's 50.

Such numbers don't faze Smith, however, who lauds the productivity of his teachers and bases his assessment on the value of the school's educational opportunities and research per dollar per student. To emphasize his appraisal, he cites statistics from another school with a similar enrollment.