By Rebecca Darrup
On Sept. 25, the Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents chose interim chancellor Patrice Caldwell to be ENMU’s new chancellor. She will cover ENMU as a whole, including Portales, Roswell and Ruidoso campuses, with her contract running through June 2022.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Caldwell attended the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles before taking a position as an assistant professor of English and the Director of Freshman Communication at ENMU in 1980.
“I’ve been here ever since,” she said.
Since then, Caldwell has worked within ENMU as a faculty member, department chair, vice president, dean and executive director, adding up to 40 years. For 30 of those 40 years, she has been in a position of leadership. Her selection as chancellor makes her the 11th president of ENMU, and the first female to hold the position in the University’s 86-year history, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed.
“I was very touched by the number of women employees and students who reached out to me,” Caldwell said. Although she’d been uncertain if ENMU was ready for a woman to be chancellor, she realized that wasn’t the case, and believes that her selection to the position could provide a fresh perspective in looking at the challenges faced in this day and age. She has several goals in mind that she would like to accomplish during her time as chancellor.
“It’s already a strong campus,” said Caldwell. She pointed out the diversity throughout the system and the potential for new programs because of that diversity. Additionally, she spoke to the strength of the nursing program, as well as the teaching program, and her hope to advance that through the entire ENMU system.
“I think that would be a huge asset to the state,” she said. “I think more than ever, we appreciate the importance of teachers in our classrooms.”
Having spent her career at ENMU, she also understands the importance of ENMU to the community, and the community to ENMU. She looks forward to the time when it is safe to bring students back and to watch not only the students thrive, but the community as well.
She enjoys reading and architecture, interested in the patterns and designs that present themselves not only in architecture and art, but through grammatical structure as well. Caldwell finds and applies patterns and designs not only in her own interests, but in the ENMU campus as well.
