Dead professors prop up UNM’s credentials
School website promoted deceased MacArthur fellows, Nobel laureate
It’s a safe bet that the University of New Mexico’s Nobel Laureate and two MacArthur fellows won’t be doing much teaching this year.
Because those three UNM professors are, in fact, dead. Though you wouldn’t have known that by perusing the university’s website or reading at least one recent UNM news release.
Until recently, the university advertised that the acclaimed professors were still on the faculty.
Their credentials have even been cited by publications that ranked UNM highly in various categories.
For example, Sunset Magazine repeated the claim this fall while naming Albuquerque one of the best college towns in the West.
The Journal inquired about the professors last week, and soon after the university corrected its website. Cinnamon Blair, a spokeswoman for the university, said UNM officials are creating a new web page specifically devoted to faculty accomplishments and college rankings that will be regularly updated so a similar mistake isn’t made in the future.
She said because of an oversight in the marketing department, New Mexico’s flagship institution implied the highly regarded — but deceased — professors were still on the job.
The two MacArthur fellows have each been dead for more than 20 years and the Nobel Prize recipient died in May.
“We would never do that intentionally,” Blair said. “It’s one of those things where if someone passes away and nobody calls (the marketing department) we don’t have the information, and it lives in a lot of disparate areas.”
Officials with the Nobel Prize and the MacArthur Foundation didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Until at least Thursday, the university advertised on its website that, “UNM boasts an outstanding faculty that includes a Nobel Laureate, two MacArthur fellows, 35 Fullbright scholars and several members of national academies.”
A Nobel Laureate is someone who has won a Nobel Prize, a highly regarded award that only about 900 people across the globe have received since 1901. And to its credit, UNM at one point had such a scholar on its payroll.
Murray Gell-Mann, who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1969, was a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy during the 1990s and 2000s. He taught a popular seminar once a year, and he held the title of professor emeritus after he left the university, according to UNM’s website. He died in May in Santa Fe.
A MacArthur fellow is someone who has received a $625,000 “no strings attached” award from the MacArthur Foundation, which recognizes individuals making various creative pursuits. The awards are sometimes called “Genius Grants.”
Former UNM professors Beumont Newhall and Alfonso Ortiz each earned the award. Newhall, an art historian, taught at UNM in the 1970s and 1980s until he retired to Santa Fe, where he died in 1993. Ortiz, a cultural anthropologist, died in Santa Fe in 1997. He taught at UNM from 1974 until his death, according to UNM’s website.
By Friday morning, the website had been scrubbed of any reference to a Nobel Laureate or MacArthur fellow being among the university’s faculty. In its place, the text read: “UNM boasts an outstanding faculty that has included four National Academy of Sciences/ Engineering Members, six National Academy of Inventors Fellows, 60 Fulbright scholar program awardees, and several fellows of national and international associations and societies.”
UNM officials said that despite no longer having a Nobel Laureate or a MacArthur fellow on faculty, there’s still plenty of scholarly achievements of which they are proud.
“UNM faculty are an amazingly accomplished lot,” Provost James Holloway said. “Our current faculty include three members of the National Academies, the United States most prestigious organization recognizing scholars and deploying their talents to address critical issues in society. “We also have five members of the National Academy of Inventors, and a number of other faculty with distinguished national recognitions.
“All of our faculty bring great expertise and experience to their creation of new knowledge and to their teaching. Having such a distinguished faculty is something to boast about.”
Several UNM professor have recently been recognized for their work. They include Enrique Lamadrid, a Spanish professor who won a major national prize from the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, and Matthew Campen, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences leading research into how vaping is causing illnesses, a major health concern.
Blair pointed out that UNM’s Jeremy Edwards, a professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, was recently inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, and professor Patricia Crown was one of three archaeologists elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2014.
“One of the 10 best?” Holloway said in a news release about Sunset Magazine naming Albuquerque a top-10 college town. “Well, of course we are! An amazing campus in an amazing town, surrounded by amazing natural wonders. Read medieval manuscripts in the morning, image atoms in the afternoon, and stroll the Sandia crest in the sunset — it’s just how we roll.”
The same news release, however, boasted there are multiple Nobel Prize winners on the UNM faculty.