Joseph Shepard

For the Texas pioneer, see Joseph W. Shepard.

Joe Shepard
15th President of Western New Mexico University
In office July 5, 2011 – January 15, 2025
Personal details
Born	Joseph Shepard
Education	Northern Arizona University (BS) University of North Texas (MS) Florida International University (PhD)

Joseph Shepard is an American academic administrator who served as the 15th president of Western New Mexico University. Appointed on April 27, 2011, he assumed office on July 5, 2011. Some of Shepard’s accomplishments during his 14 year tenure include:  establishing WNMU as the New Mexico Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Education; growing the WNMU Foundation assets 380%; ensuring the university earned “clean audits” for more than a decade with no additional requirements from state oversight bodies;  significant and numerous campus beautification and improvements; nationally recognized Masters of Social Work and MBA programs, and awarded an A+ in the science of teaching reading by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Shepard increased the student retention rate by 14% during his time in office and in his last year at Western, the freshman class size increased by 36% - the largest increase in the state.  To help bridge the long-standing “town-gown” divide, Shepard initiated “Fiesta Latina” in 2017.  It is a weekend long event with concerts, food, and artisians representing all of Mexico.

After a sustained media campaign about allegations of wasteful spending, Shepard resigned effective January 15, 2025.  The university's board paid him the balance of his contract and negotiated a teaching position for Shepard. On October 17, 2025, an independent forensic auditor, overseen by the New Mexico State Auditor, released their report to the public which showed that there was no waste, fraud, abuse, incompetence, personal financial gain, or corruption found for Shepard or the university. The report did, however, detail improper expenditures ranging from improper procurement and excessive travel to the problematic issuance of university purchasing cards to non-employees, including Shepard's spouse, former CIA covert operations officer Valerie Plame. The audit flags expenditures totaling over $360,000 over the five year period investigated. The report also details weak internal controls, poor oversight and policy gaps that led to missing documentation, after-the-fact approvals or self-approvals of expenses and other issues, including potential violations of the Governmental Conduct Act and Open Meetings Act. The report found that some internal university procedures and policies needed updating and tightening.

Joseph Shepard is married to Valerie Plame, a former CIA operations officer and author. Plame has faced scrutiny for her use of a university purchasing card, which state investigators alleged was a violation of university policy, as she is not a university employee. However, the independent audit report found that Plame's use of the university purchasing card was approved by the board and that there was no illegal spending on the card (as it was used exclusively for university purchases), but there was a procedural violation in issuing the card as Plame was not a university employee.

On October 31, 2025, Shepard filed a Whistleblower/RICO legal case, claiming a conspiracy to defame and destroy his reputation in retaliation after he raised questions about a $1 million allocation in state money for a charter school located on the university campus that Senator Siah Correa Hemphill’s children attended without disclosing this potential conflict interest to her Senate colleagues. Shepard raised this alleged fraud with the NM Attorney General, the State Auditor, the Higher Education Department, and the State Ethics Commission. To date, this alleged fraud has not been investigated.

The RICO legal case names State Senators George Munoz, Siah Correa Hemphill, Mimi Stewart, as well as new university board Vice Chairman John Wertheim, and State Auditor Joseph Maestas as defendants. On April 29, 2026, all defendants except Wertheim were dismissed, as Judge Hofacket agreed with the defendants claim that their actions, while mostly uncontested by the defendants, were covered under legislative immunity. The whistleblower portion of the lawsuit continues.

Two motions to reconsider order of dismissal in the RICO case were filed on April 30, 2026 arguing that the defendants actions went beyond that normally covered by immunity. These state that the dismissed defendants are alleged not merely to have performed official duties, but to have participated in a retaliatory, self-interested, politically coordinated campaign against Shepard after he raised concerns about alleged misconduct involving WNMU, legislative appropriations, and public officials. The motions try to reframe the case away from “protected legislative activity” or “authorized audit activity” and toward non-protected conduct: private threats, alleged retaliation, alleged abuse of office, alleged self-dealing, alleged manipulation of audit processes, and alleged racketeering-enterprise conduct, much of this documented by sworn testimony already taken from the defendants. The motion also relies on the Phil Griego conviction to argue that legislative immunity cannot categorically protect undisclosed self-dealing merely because it involves matters before the legislature.

Education

Shepard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in math education from Northern Arizona University, Master of Business Administration in finance and banking from the University of North Texas, and a PhD in public administration from Florida International University.

Career

Prior to being president of Western New Mexico University, Shepard worked as an administrator at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he was chief student affairs officer, chief business officer, and chief financial officer. As president of Western New Mexico University, Shepard was responsible for the university's main campus in Silver City, New Mexico and three additional satellite locations. In September 2019, Shepard's contract was extended for three years by the university's board of regents. He is no longer President of Western New Mexico University.