UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

UW President Shane Reeves was featured in a WyoFile article about the start of his presidency. The wide-ranging interview covered topics including the university’s enrollment, the role of free speech in college classrooms and the ways artificial intelligence can be harnessed in postsecondary education. The article was picked up by several outlets, including the Laramie Boomerang, the Jackson Hole News & Guide, the Thermopolis Independent Record, the Newcastle News Letter Journal and the Saratoga Sun.

Scott Beaulier, the H.A. “Dave” True Jr. Family Dean of UW’s College of Business, is quoted in Washington Times article about how men are dropping out of the workforce at an alarming rate, threatening the nation’s social stability. He says the American economy has gradually moved away from some of the industries that historically provided good jobs to men without college degrees, while much of the recent employment growth has occurred in areas such as healthcare and education, where women make up a much larger share of the workforce.

In a USA Today article about a national heat record set in July, UW climatologist Tony Bergantino notes that Wyoming saw its warmest July ever and its warmest month on record. Temperatures in some of the northern parts of the state soared as high as 10 degrees above average for daytime highs and overnight lows.

The 2026 water year in the Snake River drainage is no longer on track to beat or tie its heat record, UW climatologist Bryan Shuman told the Jackson Hole News & Guide. For the first half of the water year, temperatures were on track to beat the record.

UW Professor Ellen Currano was one of the authors of a paper in the journal Science that reconstructs the forest canopy of 56 million years ago in what is now Wyoming, during a massive and abrupt emission of carbon into the atmosphere during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The research was highlighted by media outlets including Science Magazine and Environment Journal. For the first time, the authors of the study used fossilized leaf cells to reconstruct the tree canopy of the PETM, Earth’s most recent period of abrupt climate change.

UW President Shane Reeves and Kelly Crane, the Farm Credit Services of America Dean of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, spoke at last week’s Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame induction ceremony during the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas. The Wyoming Livestock Roundup covered the event.

Inside Climate News quoted UW Professor Gregg Cawley in an article about how the issue of public lands is playing a big role in this year’s Wyoming elections. He notes that essentially all Republican candidates have opposed the sale of federal lands.

In a Marketplace piece about increased electrical demand and power generation sources, UW economist Rob Godby says he expects natural gas and renewables to keep building their lead over coal next year.

Retired UW faculty member Stephen Feldman is quoted in a WyoFile article about Wyoming’s U.S. House race, in which people attending campaign events for a particular candidate are receiving substantial gift cards. He says the practice is probably legal, but “it seems somewhat questionable” from an ethical standpoint.

Charmaine Delmatier, a research associate with UW’s Rocky Mountain Herbarium, was part of a group that summited an unnamed peak in the remote, northern part of the Tetons Aug. 1. To celebrate, the group held up the U.S., Wyoming and University of Wyoming flags at the top, according to the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

In another Jackson Hole News & Guide article about Teton County Commission candidate fundraising, UW political scientist Ryan Williamson says fundraising for local campaigns can be difficult because there’s a smaller pool of donors to pull from than a statewide or national campaign. But he says these races also are cheaper, and dollars go further because there are fewer people to reach and possibly less work to manage.

The Laramie Boomerang and WyoToday Media picked up UW’s release about a $1 million gift to UW’s College of Law from the Spence Foundation on behalf of the late Gerry Spence, legendary trial lawyer, and his wife, Imaging. The gift, doubled to $2 million through the Wyoming Legislature’s endowment matching program, will benefit student success and enrichment.

In a Cowboy State Daily article about an elk calf being freed after becoming entangled in a fence, UW Professor Kevin Monteith says wildlife-friendly fencing has been a boon for game herds across Wyoming and the West.

An apparent increase in the volume of wildlife roadkill on Wyoming highways this summer -- possibly driven by hot, dry weather -- might only be a precursor to what’s seen when big-game migrations start this fall, Monteith told Cowboy State Daily in another article.

Buckrail joined the list of news outlets highlighting UW’s role in a sweeping new study on the history of North American bison.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle published UW’s release about Laramie being ranked No. 9 on Business Insider’s list of the “20 Best College Towns Where Life Revolves Around Their Universities.”