Three Women Among the Five Finalists for President of the University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico Board of Regents has named five finalists to replace university president David Schmidly when he steps down in June 2012. Three of the candidates are women.

Meredith Hay is a special advisor to the chair for strategic initiatives of the Arizona Board of Regents. She was executive vice president and provost at the University of Arizona from 2008 to August 2011. Previously, she was vice president for research at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Hay is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver. She holds a master’s degree in neurobiology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Ph.D. in cardiovascular pharmacology from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio.

Elizabeth Hoffman is executive vice president and provost at Iowa State University. She is the former president of the University of Colorado and earlier served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University.

Dr. Hoffman is a graduate of Smith College. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a second Ph.D. in economics from CalTech.

Elsa A. Murano is professor and president emerita at Texas A&M University. She joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1995 but took a leave of absence to serve in the Bush administration as undersecretary of agriculture for food safety. In 2005, she returned to Texas A&M as dean and vice chancellor of agriculture and life sciences. In 2008 she was named the first woman president of the university.

Dr. Murano is a graduate of Florida International University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in food science and technology from Virginia Tech.

An announcement of the new president is expected in January.

Update (1-4-12): None of these three women were chosen as the new president.