Governor nominates new UNM regents
Nominees unanimously approved by New Mexico Senate March 15, 2021
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced the nomination of three appointments to The University of New Mexico Board of Regents including Jack Fortner, William “Bill” Payne and Randy Ko. The nominees were submitted to the Senate Rules Committee for appointment and were approved unanimously in the Senate Rules Committee and were confirmed unanimously by the New Mexico Senate on Friday, March 12.
Fortner and Payne were appointed to six-year terms, while Ko, a student regent, was appointed for two years. Their terms end Dec. 31, 2026, and Dec. 31, 2022, respectively. They replace Regents Rob Doughty, Marron Lee and student-regent Melissa Henry, whose terms expired Dec. 2020.
Ringside Seat: Businesswoman Kim Rael From Just-Say-No Era Pushes Cannabis Bill
SFNM
At a glance, corporate titan Kim Rael seemed like an unlikely convert to the cannabis industry.
Rael, 55, was in high school in Raton when occupants of the White House made recreational drugs their target.
In her own words, Rael was “the classic Nancy Reagan just-say-no person”.
After college at Harvard, Rael went to work for then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman. She moved from government to jobs in the financial and technology sectors.
Then she pivoted to what she calls “the wellness industry.”
In plainer terms, Rael is president and CEO of Azuca, a 3-year-old company whose technology made it possible for edible cannabis to go directly into the bloodstream.
UNM approves new seal; implementation set to begin
Full implementation could take up to a year December 14, 2020
After a lengthy process, The University of New Mexico’s Board of Regents recently adopted a new official seal, which will be implemented throughout 2021. The new seal is a simple block lettered design that is centered with UNM’s new logo and the institution’s founded date encompassed by a southwestern theme.
As part of the selection process, a UNM Seal Committee was created that sought a new original design that exemplified the University’s past, present and future. Founded in 1889, UNM sits on the traditional homelands of the Sandia Pueblo. The original peoples of New Mexico – Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache Tribes – have significant connections to the land. UNM is New Mexico’s flagship institution and the only Research 1 university in the state. It is designated a Minority Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of the seal comm