College of Arts and Sciences to Honor Alumni, Former Faculty

May 16, 2006 -- The University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences will honor its outstanding alumni and former faculty during a banquet Friday, May 19.

The banquet begins with a 5:30 p.m. reception followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the Wyoming Union Yellowstone Ballroom. To make a reservation, call (307)766-2755 or e-mail asdean@uwyo.edu.

Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors, these awards recognize alumni who have excelled in their fields and shown a strong commitment to the liberal arts and sciences. Former faculty members who powerfully influenced students, Arts and Sciences programs and their academic disciplines also are honored.

College of Arts and Sciences 2006 Outstanding Alumni are: David J. Burman, partner in Perkins Coie LLP Law Firm in Seattle, Wash.; John D. Haun, professor of petroleum geology and co-founder of Casper-based oil and gas consulting firm Barlow and Haun, Inc.; and Edward A. Wise, psychotherapist who expanded his group practice into one of the nation’s largest medical-surgical hospitals.

College of Arts and Science 2006 Former Faculty (all posthumous) are: June E. Downey, Department of Psychology; Reed W. Fautin, Department of Zoology and Physiology; and Werner A. Mueller, Department of Modern and Classical Languages.

Burman, who grew up in Laramie, graduated with a political science degree from UW and went on to become editor of the Georgetown Law Journal while pursing his J.D. at Georgetown University.

Following law school, Burman had clerkships with the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia and Justice Byron White of the United States Supreme Court. At his Seattle law firm, he has been involved with many of Washington state’s significant public law cases.

Old Hickory, Tenn., native Haun in 1953 earned UW’s first Ph.D. in geology. After graduate school, he worked for Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, which later became Amoco. He served as vice president at Petroleum Research Corporation from 1952-57, and in 1955 joined the faculty at the Colorado School of Mines. During the early part of his career, he was extensively involved in oil and gas exploration throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. In 1957, he and James Barlow formed the Casper-based oil and gas consulting firm, Barlow and Haun, Inc.

In 1976, after receiving a bachelor's degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., Wise joined the UW Department of Psychology clinical-community doctoral program. Wise was then accepted into the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Internship Consortium. In the early 1980s Wise and several colleagues from the Frayser Millington Mental Health Center opened a private practice. Later, he expanded his practice into one of the nation’s largest medical-surgical hospitals, providing psychological evaluations, group and individual therapy to patients.

Downey, a Laramie native from a pioneer family, graduated from UW in 1895. She received both her master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago and in 1898, began her UW career as an English instructor. In 1905, she became professor of English and philosophy. Downey later chaired the UW Department of Philosophy and Psychology, becoming the first woman in the United States to head an academic department.

Fautin began his higher education at Brigham Young University and received his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois. He came to teach at UW in 1946. Fautin moved his family to Kabul, Afghanistan in 1958 to participate in the University of Wyoming US-AID Program. For two years, he served as adviser to the dean of the Kabul College of Agriculture and Engineering.

Mueller, originally from Berlin, Germany, studied classical Greek archeology and German literature at universities in Berlin, Munich, Freiberg, and Koenigsberg. He immigrated to the United States in 1928 and in 1946 settled in as a faculty member of the UW Department of Modern and Classical Languages. He taught German, Latin and Greek.

Photo

Pioneer Professor -- Early-day University of Wyoming Professor June Etta Downey will be among College of Arts and Sciences former faculty who will be honored during a banquet that starts with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Wyoming Union Yellowstone Ballroom. Downey was the first woman in the United States to head an academic department. (American Heritage Center Photo)

Posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2006