On March 25, Lakshmi Reddi, dean of the College of Engineering, was named to serve as interim provost and chief academic officer following the retirement of his predecessor. On April 1, David Jauregui, engineering associate dean of academics, was appointed interim dean.

In this role, Reddi will oversee deans and academic operations until a new, permanent provost has been named.

Reddi became dean of the College of Engineering in 2016. Under his leadership, Reddi distinguished himself an effective leader. Reddi launched several successful initiatives in the college, including the creation of the Eloy Torrez Engineering Learning Communities, development of the Seidel Engineering Leadership Institute, raising funds for the replacement of Thomas and Brown Hall, institution of differential tuition enabling the college to hire more instructors and implementing a new academic structure to enable engineering students’ successful and timely graduation..

An NMSU alum, Jauregui joined the faculty in 1999. He was named civil engineering department head in 2015 and promoted to associate dean of academics in 2023. While department head, Jauregui led the New Mexico Department of Transportation Bridge Inspection Program and the New Mexico Transportation and Construction Conference, which originally started in the late ‘80s and ‘60s respectively. Under his leadership, the department garnered three federal Research Center of Excellence grants and established a joint degree program in civil engineering with the University of Chihuahua, Mexico.