Barbara Couture has resigned as president of New Mexico State University after less than three years on the job. Last week, the university confirmed that Dr. Couture was on leave but withheld any comments about her departure until a public forum was held Monday afternoon. At the public meeting the university announced that she was leaving her post but gave no reasons for her departure.
Under the agreement reached between Couture and the university, she will officially remain on administrative leave through the end of the year, during which time she will be able to live in the president’s residence on campus. By January 15, she will receive a lump sum severance payment of $453,092. Dr. Couture had agreed to take a senior advisory post at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in Washington.
Before becoming president of New Mexico State University, Dr. Couture was the senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Previously, she was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University in Pullman. Dr. Couture holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, all from the University of Michigan.