Kristian Finlator

Kristian Finlator joined NMSU’s Astronomy Department in 2015. He earned an A.B. in Physics at Princeton University in 2000 and then worked for three years at a Boston-based speech recognition software company before enrolling in the University of Arizona’s graduate Astronomy program in 2003. After defending his PhD in 2009, he held postdocs at the University of California Santa Barbara and the Dark Cosmology Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark before returning to the desert. He has supervised research by eight graduate and seven undergraduate students; won several national grants, designed a seminar; taught eight different curricula; and chaired two Departmental committees. His first involvement with the Faculty Senate came in February 2021, after NMSU responded to budgetary pressures by cancelling 433 academic journal subscriptions affecting faculty campus-wide. Though not a senator, he contributed to and co-sponsored legislation emphasizing the critical need for faculty input. He joined Faculty Senate in fall 2021 and has served on the Research and Creative Activities and Student Success subcommittees. He has participated in discussions of myriad issues including Departmental evaluation, funding for open-access publications, inter-campus enrollment, international graduate student onboarding, and textbook acquisitions. He has served on the Faculty Senate Leadership Committee for three semesters and chaired the Student Success subcommittee for one. A strong advocate for shared governance and lead sponsor of four successful bills, he takes satisfaction in listening to faculty concerns and weaving them into a consistent message for the NMSU Administration.

John Sandstrom

John Sandstrom is a professor in the College Faculty of the Library, serving as the Head of Acquisitions, a position he has held for the past 15 years.  Before and just after coming to NMSU, he also taught as an adjunct in the DACC Library Science program.  In the Faculty Senate, he is currently serving on the Leadership Committee, Open Access Committee, Student Review Board, and Curriculum and Instruction Committee.  At the university level, he currently serves on the Sick Leave Bank Committee and the General Education Course Certification Committee.  In the Library, he serves on the Budget Committee, the Collection Committee, and the New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries – Resource Sharing Committee.  He also has experience in strategic planning, change management, and assessment.  John has a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Tulsa, a Master's in Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma, a Master's of Management in Public Administration from the University of Texas – El Paso, and an EdD in Educational Leadership and Administration from NMSU.  As the Head of Acquisitions, he has developed an overview of how the main campus and the community colleges fit together to the benefit of all our faculty and institutions.  From that position, he has also experienced the necessity of shared governance.  My experience as an instructor, faculty member, and faculty senator provides me with a solid understanding of the importance of shared governance, both in communication and strategic planning.  It is my hope that I can utilize my knowledge and experience to benefit the faculty and the university.