As a result of his distinguished career in educational research, Doctor Jesús Galaz Fontes has been chosen for the Chair of Mexican International Higher Education in the 2005-2006. As a visiting scholar, Dr. Galaz Fontes will spend the academic year at the University of Arizona in Tucson and will be hosted by the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) and the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE). The appointment was announced at a press conference in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Doctor Alejandro Mungaray Lagarda, Rector of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) and Doctor Salbador Malo Alvarez, President of CONAHEC's Board of Directors, jointly presented the appointment award to Doctor Galaz Fontes.

Doctor Malo Álvarez said that the position as Chair is an acknowledgement of the appointee's distinguished academic research career as well as for his research proposals. He emphasized that Doctor Galaz Fontes has dedicated himself to the study of faculty behavior, attitudes and working conditions in the three North American countries.

During his appointment, Galaz Fontes will dedicate himself to studying the Mexican higher education system from an international comparative perspective, reflecting and writing on his experiences and observations about institutional leadership and the evolution and tendencies in Mexican higher education. He will also offer courses, workshops, presentations and consultations on these subjects. Doctor Galaz Fontes added that the central purpose for his research project at the University of Arizona and CONAHEC is to update and enrich the report initiated by CONAHEC about the profile and working conditions of faculty in Mexico and the United States. He will later incorporate Canada and, in so doing, deepen the institutional diversity covered by these studies.

"I hope to present research which will serve to differentiate as well as assist in understanding the differences existing within these systems of higher education."
The call for applications for this position was issued by the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES) of Mexico, the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of Arizona, and the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC).