UW College of Business and Honors College Receive Heywood Fund Awards

The University of Wyoming’s College of Business and the Honors College each were facing their own quandaries -- how to improve, upgrade and better use key space in their respective facilities with limited financing.

And while both entities had secured a good share of the necessary funding through their own efforts, the two colleges recently received some much-needed finishing support from a Heywood Fund award.

The Heywood Fund, established by UW alumnus John Heywood in 1984 in memory of Catherine Donofrio Heywood, awards a grant every two years to provide funding for priority projects identified by the university’s colleges, the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the School of Energy Resources and students.

The grant offers an opportunity for substantial funding for major projects that have a significant impact on university programs.

The College of Business will use its $150,000 Heywood Fund award, in conjunction with $150,000 it raised from private donors, toward creating co-working and innovative spaces. The hope is to create these spaces within the college where students, faculty and other professionals can work together in a creative environment to foster innovation and entrepreneurship endeavors, according to the College of Business’ proposal submission.

“We are honored to receive support from the Heywood Fund for a complete redesign and reimagination of a space that has become a storage area for us, currently,” says Dean Scott Beaulier. “The vision Dr. (Ben) Cook and Mr. (Quique) Girones have for the space is one that was inspiring to me and clearly resonated with the selection group as well. Design plans are well underway, and we look forward to sharing this space with our students and UW community upon completion.”

Cook is an associate instructional professor and senior assistant dean in the College of Business, and Girones is an assistant professor of practice for the college’s MBA and professional graduate programs.

“We are excited to have an inspiring nonclassroom space that looks like the work environments our students aspire to be in someday,” Cook and Girones say in a joint statement. “Students, faculty and mentors can come together to work on their entrepreneurial journey, and prospective students will be able to physically see the investments we are making in their future student experience.”

Beyond general renovation construction costs, funds will be used to cover other expenses, including furniture and fixtures; technology and equipment; miscellaneous installation and assembly; and supplies, tools and creative materials.

“The need for this innovation space is among our top priorities in the college to leverage donor support, bolster co-curricular engagement, support the creation and launch of real businesses, and allow students to bring their ideas to life,” Beaulier wrote in his proposal.

The Honors College already used its $37,000 Heywood Fund award this summer for a major technological upgrade to the Guthrie House, its headquarters. The Honors College had previously earmarked $20,000 of its own funding for the project.

“We knew that we were in line to receive the Heywood, so we took advantage of the summer -- when there is much less demand on the classrooms -- to get the work done,” says Peter Parolin, dean of the Honors College.

Parolin describes UW Operations as “complete pros,” who installed great new systems and equipment and set the Honors College up for effective teaching and learning in the Guthrie House. The renovations took approximately five weeks to complete.

“This award is huge for Honors,” Parolin says. “Our building, the Guthrie House, is beautiful and full of character. But, as an older building that was formerly a private residence, it lacked some of the physical and technological capabilities that a top-flight modern university building needs. The Heywood grant enables Guthrie to function at a much higher level.

“In particular, the award enabled us to dramatically improve the projection systems and speaker capacity in our two main classrooms as well as upgrading the lighting,” he adds. “In one of our classrooms, it enabled us to extend a wall so that we would have a logical place to mount our projection screen, which previously had been mounted over the room’s only window.”

According to the fund proposal, neither of the two classrooms had a central computing station to support Honors College activities. Instead, the previous setup had computers on the head tables, connected to screens and speakers that ran taped, across the floor. On a physical level, the configuration invited constant disruption. In the past, people tripped over cables, disconnected the cables and altered projection settings, Parolin says.

The two classrooms also are used for community gatherings and sites for extracurricular activities, according to the proposal.

“It has been wonderful this fall to see students and faculty working with top-quality facilities,” Parolin says. “We’re no longer impeded by the technological snafus that, in the past, frequently stopped our work dead in its tracks. We are very grateful to the Heywood Foundation.”