New Mexico Highlands University is officially looking for a new president.
During a board meeting Tuesday, regents of the state-owned school in Las Vegas, N.M., voted 3-2 to hire an outside firm to search for the institution’s next president — who will be the third person to hold the position since 2023.
“What we’re all trying to do … is to work in good faith to always continuously move forward in all the responsibilities that we have — because we’re an institution that is of high class, and we are going to continue to move forward,” said Regent Gary Tripp.
The search comes amid months of unprecedented upheaval at Highlands, which served about 2,700 students in fall 2025, according to the latest estimates from the state Higher Education Department.
The regents abruptly placed former President Neil Woolf on paid administrative leave in May before firing him a month later. His departure was the first in a wave of high-level firings, which eventually cleared out the university’s provost, several vice presidents and the men’s basketball coach.
In a letter sent May 27 to the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, Highlands’ regents accused Woolf of improper hiring and procurement practices, financial mismanagement and retaliation against university employees, among other misconduct — claims an attorney for Woolf has disputed.
Woolf, meanwhile, has filed a lawsuit against the university, accusing the institution of violating his contract and retaliating against him after he refused to follow an order to redirect a construction contract to a local firm with ties to a regent and a local politician. The university has challenged those claims and promised to “vigorously defend” itself in court.
Highlands also faces a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit from the university’s former vice president for advancement and university relations and a discrimination suit from a former athletic director.
The institutional turbulence has prompted formal probes from the Office of the State Auditor, the state Higher Education Department, and prosecutors from the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the New Mexico Department of Justice.
The regents’ decision Tuesday to move forward with hiring a search firm to find Highlands’ next leader isn’t unusual; it’s a common step for universities in the market for top administrators.
However, details about which firm Highlands will hire and the cost of the search remain to be determined. While the regents identified AGB Search and Isaacson Miller — which have previously led searches at other New Mexico higher education institutions, including Northern New Mexico College and the University of New Mexico — as their preferred picks, hiring and contract negotiations are still to come, according to discussions during Tuesday’s meeting.
Student Regent Grace Herrera and Regent Elaine Luna voted against the measure, with Luna indicating her vote may have been related to university finances.
“It’s vital to move forward with hiring a university president, and I agree that it’s prudent to do so by hiring a qualified search firm,” Luna said.
However, she added, “It’s also my fiduciary responsibility to assure that we have the internal budget funds available to proceed with taking that next step in hiring a search firm, and therefore my forthcoming vote will reflect that.”
