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[fedscholar]

I know there are some older threads on UNM in Albuquerque (circa 2008), but I would welcome some feedback on current condition. Seems like the economic realities in many state have changed markedly since then. 

I just applied for a job at UNM, and I'd welcome thoughts on the school and area. It is still a good place to work?  Since Ms. Fedscholar loves hiking and trail running daily if she can, I was looking at east foothills or town, but I have heard Nob Hill and the UNM environs have appeal too. Fedscholar Jr. is entering 2nd Grade, so decent public schools are also of concern. I know the ABQ system as a whole is not very strong, but there is plenty of local variation.

Current details please!

[aandsdean]

I know there are some older threads on UNM in Albuquerque (circa 2008), but I would welcome some feedback on current condition. Seems like the economic realities in many state have changed markedly since then. 

I just applied for a job at UNM, and I'd welcome thoughts on the school and area. It is still a good place to work?  Since Ms. Fedscholar loves hiking and trail running daily if she can, I was looking at east foothills or town, but I have heard Nob Hill and the UNM environs have appeal too. Fedscholar Jr. is entering 2nd Grade, so decent public schools are also of concern. I know the ABQ system as a whole is not very strong, but there is plenty of local variation.

Current details please!

I have a lot of family in ABQ including one sister-in-law who's on the Med School faculty at UNM.  I also have several nieces and nephews who've done one kind of degree or other at UNM.

Let me preface all of this by saying, I'd cut off a digit to be able to live in ABQ, for some of the reasons you've named and for some others as well.  Our family, by the way, all live on the eastern foothills, strung all along the east side of Tramway from right by the tramway to Four Hills, so that's an area I know well.  It ranges from small suburban tract houses and ratty apartments to some very beautiful, upscale desert homes, so the range is large.

Nob Hill and the area west on the way down Central to downtown are very interesting and funky, but have exceedingly high crime stats.  One of my brothers-in-law went to UNM (awhile ago now, like 16 years ago, however), and his apartment was burglarized about 5 times in 2 years.  All through that area you see houses with bars on the windows, those armored screen doors, and so on.  I'd certainly consider living in that area (most particularly in the SW quadrant around the National Hispanic Cultural Center), but I wouldn't underestimate the risks, either.

UNM--UNM has pretty much always been the lowest-funded R1 flagship in the U.S. since I started paying attention to such things 20 years ago or so.  I can't imagine that the situation has gotten better.  Salaries are at the very low end of R1 compensation, and in fact we (a small Midwestern private college) do better than UNM does, which is unfortunate because the ABQ area does NOT have a low COL.  (When I go grocery shopping there, I am struck by the fact that many staples--Cereal, bananas, milk, etc., cost about 40% more than they do here, FYI.)

However, my family members who have gone there have had a very decent academic experience, and I gather the teaching-learning atmosphere is pretty solid.  If you like diversity, there's plenty of it.  I would be very very interested in a job at UNM, but if you expect it to be a plush and well-funded place you will be sorely disappointed.  In the sciences, though, there's some interesting stuff in ABQ, including Sandia (where a brother-in-law and a niece and nephew-in-law all work), and I suspect some very interesting research and collaboration opportunities.

Good luck.

[theblackbox]

My in-laws have been in ABQ for about 4 years now. They love a lot about the city, but ditto aandsdean regarding the high COL. Also, your concern about the school system is founded. Sister-in-law was waiting to have kids until they moved because she said they felt they'd absolutely have to do private school otherwise.

Sorry to say I don't know anything about UNM.

[fedscholar]

Thanks aandsdean!

Yes, I do know a little about UNM, and I know it is a bit underfunded relative to wealthier states. However, a number of things appeal to me about the school and the department. I did work in that area about 10 years ago, so I love the landscape and cultures all around, and  feel I have something solid to share. But, so do 100 others!



Hey the blackbox,

I struggle with the school issue. It seems like having large numbers of minorities in the schools precipitates the "must do private school" reaction in most white, middle and upper middle class parents. I went to schools with large numbers of minorities and poor kids in general, and I never felt it held me back at all. It added to the experience. I do know the test scores tend to be lower at such schools, but I am not sure that holds back the learning of those who have parental support and talent. My son fits that pattern, so although I want to provide him with the best education possible, I  think that can be done in the presence of a diversity of students. Given all the PhDs in ABQ, it would be interesting to learn how many do private or public schools. It seems that there is a degree of elitism in education, where the liberal, egalitarian ideals are abandoned for their kids. My wife and I debate this all the time. She wants the very, very best for the sprout, and I want the sprout to be the very, very best he can be, regardless of where he ends up during different chapters of life. I guess my main worry is in the high school years, where I would like him to have friends with goals, self-discipline, and good ethics.

[dr_alcott]

Chime to everything AandSDean said.

Re: the public schools: my husband used to teach in one of the public high schools in the foothills, and it was a very good school. In 1996, however, his starting salary was just $23K. Most of his colleagues could afford to teach because they were married to someone who had a larger income. What he found then was that there was a big disparity between the quality of schools in the heights and in the valley. I wish I could recall more so that I could be more specific. In a nutshell, I think it's possible to get a very good public education in ABQ, but between the disparity in schools and the crime rates that A&S mentioned, I'd do a lot of research before I chose where to live.

[offthemarket]

Fedscholar, I realize that I've read a lot of threads about places where you're applying.  I might be out of place here, but I think it's not good for anybody to mull over these kinds of things until the job search process continues.  This is one of the few R1 positions in this entire field that has opened up this year, and I think there'll be at least a couple hundred people applying.  Just spending the mental energy on it at this point, after sending the application, can't be good for you.

[traductio]

I graduated from one of the bad high schools in the valley in Albuquerque, and here's what I observed. My school had a better-than-50% drop-out rate (700 incoming freshman resulted in about 300 graduating seniors), and there was a real polarization between students who performed well and those who performed poorly. I left high school with 30 college credits (I left the state for college and entered school technically as a sophomore) and went on to get a PhD. A lot of my friends did the same, PhD and all. The students who performed poorly left the school functionally illiterate.

All this to say -- students can get a top-notch education in the Albuquerque Public School system, even in the reputedly bad schools, but there are lots of cracks to fall through, and lots of people fall through them.

[theblackbox]

I struggle with the school issue. It seems like having large numbers of minorities in the schools precipitates the "must do private school" reaction in most white, middle and upper middle class parents. I went to schools with large numbers of minorities and poor kids in general, and I never felt it held me back at all. It added to the experience. I do know the test scores tend to be lower at such schools, but I am not sure that holds back the learning of those who have parental support and talent. My son fits that pattern, so although I want to provide him with the best education possible, I  think that can be done in the presence of a diversity of students. Given all the PhDs in ABQ, it would be interesting to learn how many do private or public schools. It seems that there is a degree of elitism in education, where the liberal, egalitarian ideals are abandoned for their kids. My wife and I debate this all the time. She wants the very, very best for the sprout, and I want the sprout to be the very, very best he can be, regardless of where he ends up during different chapters of life. I guess my main worry is in the high school years, where I would like him to have friends with goals, self-discipline, and good ethics.

I completely understand your take on this. I was went to public school every year except for my pre-K and K years, where my parents were in an inner city with a notoriously awful public system. I want my future children to attend public school, and I do not think that a diverse population in a school should equate to moving to private school. I don't know for sure what my sister-in-law's take on the issue is, but I know poor test scores or 'unacceptable' performance ratings of her local elementary school were what sparked her concern.

[fedscholar]

Fedscholar, I realize that I've read a lot of threads about places where you're applying.  I might be out of place here, but I think it's not good for anybody to mull over these kinds of things until the job search process continues.  This is one of the few R1 positions in this entire field that has opened up this year, and I think there'll be at least a couple hundred people applying.  Just spending the mental energy on it at this point, after sending the application, can't be good for you.

No worries OTM, I think I agree. However, any sort of move for me involves a family, so I try to do my due diligence. Hopefully, one or several of the of those 200 applicants who get to the interview process will stumble over this thread and find it of use. I think it is pretty good to update thread even for schools as large and well known as UNM. It really seems like the fiscal realities of the states are changing rapidly and people would be served by fairly current information.

[fedscholar]

I struggle with the school issue. It seems like having large numbers of minorities in the schools precipitates the "must do private school" reaction in most white, middle and upper middle class parents. I went to schools with large numbers of minorities and poor kids in general, and I never felt it held me back at all. It added to the experience. I do know the test scores tend to be lower at such schools, but I am not sure that holds back the learning of those who have parental support and talent. My son fits that pattern, so although I want to provide him with the best education possible, I  think that can be done in the presence of a diversity of students. Given all the PhDs in ABQ, it would be interesting to learn how many do private or public schools. It seems that there is a degree of elitism in education, where the liberal, egalitarian ideals are abandoned for their kids. My wife and I debate this all the time. She wants the very, very best for the sprout, and I want the sprout to be the very, very best he can be, regardless of where he ends up during different chapters of life. I guess my main worry is in the high school years, where I would like him to have friends with goals, self-discipline, and good ethics.

I completely understand your take on this. I was went to public school every year except for my pre-K and K years, where my parents were in an inner city with a notoriously awful public system. I want my future children to attend public school, and I do not think that a diverse population in a school should equate to moving to private school. I don't know for sure what my sister-in-law's take on the issue is, but I know poor test scores or 'unacceptable' performance ratings of her local elementary school were what sparked her concern.

I don't know anything about ABQ, but I do  know that a lot of people talk about good and bad schools based on test scores, and there is often a strong racial undercurrent to it. I am a bit defensive about it, because my father taught public school for almost 40 years, and I was a substitute for two. I have found most of the teachers I worked with to be salt of the earth people, and all the monday morning quarterbacking gets to me at times.

[polly_mer]

I lived in and around Albuquerque for 15 years before we moved here a couple years ago.  The public schools in Albuquerque are variable with some very good ones, some ok ones, and some that I wouldn't visit if you paid me.  The problem isn't diversity/racism/poverty so much as neighborhoods that value education and neighborhoods that do not.  Pick a neighborhood that values education (often not the most expensive neighborhoods) and you will be fine sending your kid to public school.

As for UNM itself, I had an interesting talk this week with one of our new faculty members.  To hear him tell it, he was fleeing a sinking ship.  I remember the hoopla about the no-confidence vote in the president a few years ago.  I remember the hoopla about budget cuts that meant long-time people who were not tenured were getting shafted.  The underfunding that others have mentioned is a chronic problem.  Mr. Mer's experience as a student there (within the past five years as an undergraduate) was of a place that was struggling with money problems while having a large population of in-college-but-not-scholarly students.

I would work at UNM if a position were open in the right department (I know too much about the politics of some of the departments that could employ people like me to know that I wouldn't "fit"), but, as others have mentioned, UNM is at the low end for R1 in various ways.  It's good enough, but it's not an outstanding institution as one usually thinks when thinking R1.

[fedscholar]

Great post Polly_Mer! This is all very, very interesting.

Thanks.

[afm_man]

I was reading Polly_mer's comments and I had a bit of a chuckle.  David Schmidly (president of UNM) seems to leave a path of destruction wherever he goes.  Regardless, he is gone in 2012.

One thing I would not discount is that UNM is in an EPSCOR state.  Can be helpful in the sciences..

[samspade]

I am a native of Albuquerque and a graduate of the "other" college in New Mexico. I would kill to land a job at UNM. I still find the city is the best place in the nation to live. I crave green chile several times a week. As for schools, live in the Northeast Heights and you will be fine. I went to Catholic schools there but had many friends who graduated from public schools.
 Now I know right now morale at UNM is low. But political fortunes wane and I would gladly trade the uncertain atmosphere there for a chance to live in Albuquerque.

[fedscholar]

Hi Samspade,

I hope the opportunity presents itself for you! It is great to have a place you love more than anywhere else in the world. It's the job part that is so darn tricky. Not sure of your field, but the feds seem to be ramping up with hiring retirement replacements on a lot of fields. And I think there are a lot of government jobs in ABQ.