The search for a new president of Northern New Mexico College took an unexpected twist Friday: The state’s attorney general is on the finalist list.
Hector Balderas, a lifelong lawyer who is leaving the Attorney General’s Office at the end of the year, was one of four people who will be considered for the post. The others include Española Valley native Dr. Patricia Trujillo, deputy secretary of the state Higher Education Department; Dr. Bruno G. Hicks, vice president of academic affairs at Dalton State College in Dalton, Ga.; and Dr. David L. Johns, president of Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va.
According to an email from the Northern New Mexico College, the candidates will participate in open forums with the campus community and the public before a selection is announced. Barbara Medina has led Northern on an interim basis since the departure of Rick Bailey, who left in January to become president of Southern Oregon University.
Balderas, 49, grew up in Wagon Mound and is a graduate of New Mexico Highlands University and the University of New Mexico Law School. He served two terms as state auditor before moving on to the Attorney General’s Office, to which he was elected in 2014 and 2018. In a statement he said he was “humbled and grateful” to be considered for the position.
There has been speculation about Balderas’ future plans as his second term winds down. But political leaders serving as college presidents is not uncommon: News outlets this week have reported Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse intends to step down to become president of the University of Florida. And former Oklahoma Gov. and U.S. Sen. David Boren became the second-longest serving president at the University of Oklahoma.
Trujillo is the candidate most familiar with the Northern New Mexico College, having grown up in the area and serving as an assistant and associate professor of English/Chicano studies since 2010. She also was the college’s director of equity and diversity from 2013-20.
She was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as deputy secretary of the Higher
Education Department in 2020 and supervises six of nine divisions there, including academic
policy, adult education and information technology.
Trujillo is a graduate of New Mexico State University and earned her master’s degree in English from the University of Nebraska. She got a doctorate in U.S. Latina/o Literatures in 2008 from the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Hicks, who led Dalton College’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, is a high-ranking administrator at Georgia’s only Hispanic-serving institution. According to his résumé, he played a role in the school’s enrollment and retention efforts and also managed its $33 million budget for academic affairs.
He has two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Maine-Fort Kent, a master’s degree in environmental education from Lesley College Graduate School and a doctorate in science and STEM education from the University of Maine-Orono.
Johns has served as president at Ferrum College, a liberal arts school affiliated with the United Methodist Church, since 2018. The college has an enrollment of about 900, about half students of color, according to Johns’ résumé.
Prior to his arrival at Ferrum, he served as vice president for academic affairs and dean at Union College in Kentucky, and as associate professor at Earlham School of Religion in Indiana.
He has a bachelor’s degree from Malone University; master’s degrees from Earlham School of Religion and Kent State University, and a Ph.D from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
