Associate Vice President for Research

About the role

The Associate Vice President for Research (AVPR) is a senior leadership position within the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) at New Mexico State University (NMSU), an R1 land-grant institution. Reporting to the Vice President for Research and serving as a key member of the VPR leadership team, the AVPR provides strategic direction, operational oversight, and institutional leadership to advance NMSU's research, innovation, and economic development mission. The AVPR plays a central role in strengthening research centers and institutes, expanding high-impact partnerships, enhancing research infrastructure, and fostering interdisciplinary and convergent research. The position is critical to positioning NMSU for success in large, complex, multi-institutional research initiatives and in strengthening engagement with national laboratories, academic institutions, and industry partners.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a trusted strategic partner to the Vice President for Research and collaborates closely with the AVP for Research Administration and other university leaders to advance a cohesive, high-performing research enterprise.
• Provides leadership and oversight for assigned research centers, institutes, consortia, and strategic initiatives.
• Fosters partnerships among faculty, staff, national laboratories, industry, and academic institutions.
• Supports efforts that strengthen research capacity, infrastructure, innovation, and external funding success.
• Works effectively across diverse disciplines, personalities, and areas of expertise, recognizing and supporting research excellence at all funding scales.
• Helps elevate NMSU's research enterprise, expand opportunities for researchers at all career stages, leverage and enhance research facilities and capabilities, and position NMSU as a premier R1 land-grant university recognized for research excellence, innovation, economic impact, and service.

Qualifications

Required: Earned doctorate or terminal degree in a relevant discipline from an accredited institution and 6 years of relevant experience. Related education and experience may be substituted for assessing minimum qualifications.

Preferred:

• Ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in multidisciplinary research, research innovation, technology commercialization, economic development, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex, multidisciplinary research initiatives and managing research programs, centers, institutes, or comparable organizational units.
• Proven ability to serve as a trusted and collaborative member of a research leadership team, with strong communication, relationship-building, and consensus-building skills.
• Demonstrated success developing and sustaining strategic partnerships among universities, national laboratories, federal agencies, industry, tribal nations, and community stakeholders.
• Experience navigating complex organizational environments and aligning diverse interests to advance shared research, workforce development, and economic impact goals.
• Demonstrated ability to build high-performing teams and advance institutional priorities through collaboration, transparency, and shared decision-making.
• Experience leading, supporting, or overseeing externally funded research programs and sponsored research portfolios.
• Experience working in an R1 university, national laboratory, federal research agency, or other research-intensive organization.
• Experience working with DOE, NSF, NASA, DOD, USDA, or other major federal research sponsors.
• Demonstrated success identifying and advancing strategic opportunities that strengthen research capacity through partnerships, sponsored programs, and multi-institutional collaborations.
• Experience advancing technology commercialization, innovation ecosystems, entrepreneurship, or economic development initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging institutional strengths to develop impactful collaborations involving academic, government, laboratory, and industry partners.
• Demonstrated commitment to advancing the land-grant mission through research, workforce development, outreach, community engagement, and economic impact.

About NMSU

New Mexico State University is New Mexico's land-grant institution and a comprehensive research university dedicated to teaching, research, public service and outreach at all levels. NMSU is a welcoming community of talented faculty, staff and students who are working together to make a difference. We are a NASA Space Grant College, a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI), a minority-serving institution (MSI) and home to the first Honors College in New Mexico. NMSU provides learning opportunities to a diverse population of students and community members at four campuses, Cooperative Extension offices located in each of New Mexico's 33 counties, 12 research and science centers, and through distance education.

Since 1888, NMSU has proudly embodied this tradition, building relationships that last a lifetime while serving students who want to earn their degree and grow in their field. Today, NMSU Global Campus provides flexible, career-focused online education through over 70 degree and certificate programs, skill-building microlearning courses, and career and talent development. NMSU's 900-acre main campus is located in Las Cruces, NM, at the crossroads of I-10 and I-25. Doña Ana Community College (DACC) provides transformative educational opportunities meeting workforce needs of Doña Ana County with over ninety degrees and certificates, adult education, specialized workforce training, and small business assistance. NMSU Alamogordo, established in 1958 to serve Holloman Air Force Base, is a community college with a long history of excellence. NMSU Grants, established in 1968, serves the local communities in Cibola and McKinley counties, including the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, as well as Tohajiilee, San Mateo, San Rafael, Cubero, the City of Grants, and the Village of Milan.