Dec. 20 -- Joseph Shepard, president of Western New Mexico University for 13 years, agreed Friday to resign from office effective Jan. 15.

In exchange for his resignation as president, Shepard will receive a lump-sum payment of $1.909 million by Jan. 15. Western's board of regents authorized the payment in a 5-0 vote without mentioning the amount. The total is roughly equivalent to what Shepard would make in five years as president.

In addition, the regents guaranteed Shepard a professorship in the School of Business that will pay him at least $200,000 a year for five years.

Shepard, 60, faced heavy criticism for a year over public expenditures for international travel and purchases of furnishings for the president's official residence.

In discussing his resignation with the board during a special meeting on Zoom, Shepard said he had been slandered by critics.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on," he said before reciting a list of his grievances against critics and his accomplishments as president.

The five-member board of regents unanimously approved a separation agreement with Shepard while simultaneously authorizing a new contract for him as a faculty member. No mention of Shepard's duties, salary and terms of his faculty appointment were discussed publicly by the regents. The New Mexican has requested his separation agreement and his latest employment contract.

Fuller details about the end of Shepard's presidency are forthcoming in Milan Simonich's Ringside Seat column.