Tagged: UW

Students who earn associate of arts or science degrees at Wyoming Community Colleges will automatically be admitted to the University of Wyoming starting this fall. UW and the Wyoming Community College Commission announced the new policy at Casper College today.
 

A new study shows that the decline in native cutthroat trout has had dramatic impacts on the migratory elk herds in the Greater Yellowstone Area. 
 

Lead Researcher Arthur Middleton and others were studying the decline of elk herds in the region, and they determined that grizzly bears were playing a greater role in those deaths than they realized. 
 

The illegal introduction of lake trout into Yellowstone Lake has harmed the cutthroat trout population. 
 

The Dean of the University of Wyoming’s College of Arts and Sciences will retire this summer, after more than 40 years at the University. Oliver Walter came to U-W in 1970 to teach political science, and became dean in 1989. He says he’s seen a lot change during his time at U-W, including growing emphasis on research, more technology on campus, and increasing diversity.  But, for him, a highlight has been the growth of the study abroad program and international relationships.

Now that Colorado State University is planning to increase in-state tuition by nine percent, a University of Wyoming official says that more students might consider U-W as an affordable option for college. 

U-W Vice President for Academic Affairs Sara Axelson says even though Wyoming’s out-of-state tuition will soon increase slightly… the cost is going to be very competitive when compared with C-S-U.  She says they will work hard to point that out to high school seniors.             

University of Wyoming police are investigating an anonymous message posted to a public Facebook page. The message directed sexually violent language toward a UW student.

UW Crushes is a page on Facebook where users can anonymously submit messages about other UW students. They’re usually vague compliments, but some are sexually explicit or use real names.

UW has officially started construction on the new Michael B. Enzi laboratory facility north of campus.

UW President Tom Buchanan says the building will host introductory courses in the sciences, technology, engineering and math.

“Every undergraduate student at UW will spend time learning, studying and advancing their education here in this facility. This is not an engineering facility, it’s not an arts and science facility, this will serve every undergraduate at UW,” says Buchanan.

Stakeholders in the Rocky Mountain region are in unanimous agreement about what needs to be done about invasive plant species. That’s according to a new study published in the journal Bioscience.

They are common invaders—cheat grass, leafy spurge, salt cedar, yellow toadflax and spotted knapweed. Project leader and UW professor Edward Barbier says that what sometimes begin as attractive lawn shrubs purchased from local nurseries can escape, and proliferate, taking over land, choking out native plants and providing less than ideal grazing material for livestock.

The Senate Education committee killed a bill that would have allowed those with concealed weapons permits to carry guns in schools and on Wyoming College campuses.  The bill died after nobody made a motion to consider it.  A number of educators at all levels testified that the legislation was a bad idea and that such ideas should be left to local school districts to consider.  University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan testified that the allowing guns on campus could lead to problems.

A new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by UW researchers Bob Kelly, Todd Surovell, Bryan Shuman, and one-time UW graduate student Geoff Smith looks at climate change in the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming and how it affected the population living there over thousands of years. Archaeologist Todd Surovell and geologist Bryan Shuman came in to talk about their work with Wyoming Public Radio's Irina Zhorov.

The President of the University of Wyoming says while the six percent budget cuts are better than the eight percent the Governor had previously proposed…he says they will still cause pain.  

President Tom Buchanan told the legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee that the cuts could cost U-W 60 to 95 employees and added that some may have to be layoffs.  Buchanan also made the case for increasing U-W’s faculty and staff salaries by three percent.             

Several media outlets have filed a lawsuit challenging the secret search for a new president of the University of Wyoming.
 
The Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming Tribune Eagle and The Associated Press filed the lawsuit Monday in state District Court in Laramie.
 
The UW Board of Trustees has decided to not to release the names of any of the candidates it is considering to replace President Tom Buchanan, who is retiring next year.
 

University of Wyoming trustees have decided on the process they’ll use to select a new university president, who will take over after Tom Buchannan retires next year.

UW’s Vice President for Government and Community Affairs Chris Boswell says the trustees’ resolution made a few things clear: “It sets out a prospective timeline, and also, very importantly, it sets out the very clear intention to involve faculty, students, staff at the university of wyoming, as well as external constituencies.”

The University of Wyoming’s fall job fair was Tuesday, and the students’ outlook was optimistic. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers projects hiring will increase 13-percent for college graduates this spring compared with the same time in 2012.  The number of businesses represented at the fall job fair rose slightly this year, from the mid-80s to low-90s.

The University of Wyoming will present its proposed supplemental budget request to the UW board of trustees Thursday and the request will include money for a pay hike. 

Even though state budgets could be trimmed from four to eight percent, UW wants the Governor and Legislature to set aside five million dollars that can be used for merit based pay raises.  The average increase would be about three percent. 

The University of Wyoming will host a panel discussion Thursday on how climate change can impact planning and management at national parks. 

Researchers from around the world will discuss how environmental changes can impact tourism.   UW Professor Patricia Taylor is one of the organizers.  She says it’s important that those in running parks consider how stakeholders are impacted by decisions park managers make on topics concerning climate. 

     The National Science Foundation says seven University of Wyoming research projects have been chosen to use the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Wyoming Supercomputing center.  The U-W projects will study topics from hydrology to energy.   

Bryan Shader is a special assistant for the Vice President of Research and Economic Development.  He says one project will involve U-W and some researchers from Utah who will study the Colorado River Basin.

The University of Wyoming and Colorado State University want to sell jointly-owned ranch land in southeastern Wyoming to supplement agricultural endowments.

In 1997, the Courtenay C. and Lucy Patten Davis Foundation donated the 50-thousand-acre Y-Cross Ranch to the universities for hands-on agricultural education.

UW Foundation President Ben Blalock says the ranch has become more valuable over time, although the property is still being appraised.

University of Wyoming Trustees met today to discuss the construction of new College of Engineering and Applied Science facilities.  Lawmakers set aside matching money this year to get the project started.

UW Associate Provost Andy Hansen says the current facilities don't meet the students’ needs.

Four faculty members from the University of Wyoming participated in a forum last night to discuss how new technologies could contribute to cleaner, more diversified energy production. They discussed carbon sequestration, natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy.  Geology professor Carrick Eggleston, who participated in the forum, said there isn’t going to be just one solution. "There is no one technology that is going to solve all of our problems," Eggleston said.

The University of Wyoming is getting access to a portion of the supercomputer that the National Center for Atmospheric Research is building in Cheyenne, but it’s also building it’s own smaller supercomputer on campus.

Bryan Shader is the special assistant to the vice president of research and economic development at UW. He says the campus supercomputer will be faster and more powerful than the computing systems the university has now.