The University of Wyoming will move forward with key initiatives under its current management team, led by Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Dick McGinity.
In accordance with university regulations, McGinity is performing the duties of president while retaining his interim position as UW’s chief academic officer. Other members of the university’s administrative team are carrying on with their responsibilities as well.
In accepting the resignation of former president Bob Sternberg last week, the UW Board of Trustees took no action regarding presidential succession. Instead, the board noted the university regulation that calls for the vice president of academic affairs to fulfill the duties of president when the president has resigned and no acting president has been appointed. The board also expressed confidence in the ability of McGinity and other administrators to “move the institution forward” while trustees consider how to proceed with UW’s presidential leadership and succession.
“The direction from the board was clear that I will handle the items requiring decisions by the president, until the trustees take further action regarding university leadership, and that the personnel changes and changes in direction at the university in the past several months will stay in place,” McGinity says. “We will continue to emphasize the university’s land-grant mission of service to the people of Wyoming, state government and the economy.”
McGinity and other UW administrators are continuing to work with Gov. Matt Mead and lawmakers to prepare for the Legislature’s 2014 budget session. The university’s biennial budget request, approved by the Board of Trustees earlier this year, reflects several key initiatives, including:
--A proposed 4 percent compensation increase for UW employees, to be distributed based upon merit.
--Programmatic and capital facilities improvements to lift UW’s College of Engineering and Applied Science to “Tier 1” status over the next five years.
--Expanded partnerships with Wyoming community colleges, including the creation of a bachelor’s degree program in clinical laboratory sciences at the UW/Casper College Center, and planning for a building to house Laramie County Community College’s Albany County campus at UW.
--Technological improvements for students, including upgrading of classrooms and improvement of the campus wireless system.
“These initiatives and others are crucial to the continued progress of the university in fulfilling its important role in the state,” McGinity says. “We will make sure they continue to move ahead.”
