UW Presidential Search Listening Sessions Sept. 21

Members of the University of Wyoming community and people around Wyoming have an opportunity to voice their desired qualifications and characteristics for a new UW president Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 21-22.

Presidential search listening sessions are scheduled on the Laramie campus and at UW-Casper, with video-conferencing connections to many Wyoming communities. The meetings will be led by representatives of Storbeck Pimentel, the consulting firm retained by the UW Board of Trustees to assist with the search.

“This is a chance for people to let us know what they want to see in a new president,” says Board of Trustees member Jeff Marsh, of Torrington, who chairs the first of two committees involved in the presidential search. “The input we gather will be valuable to guide us as we consider candidates to help ensure the best possible fit for the university and the state.”

Two sessions are planned for UW faculty members. The first is 10:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, in Coe Library Room 506; the second is Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 1-2 p.m. at the same location. Members of the Faculty Senate and all UW faculty members are invited.

A brown-bag lunch meeting with the campus community and the public is Monday from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Coe Library Room 506.

Members of the Staff Senate and all UW staff members are invited to the same location from 1-2 p.m. Monday.

A meeting for the Associated Students of UW and all students is set from 2-3 p.m. at the same location.

A statewide outreach meeting, originating from UW-Casper, is set for 5-6:30 p.m. Monday at Room 420 of the Casper College Student Union/University of Wyoming (UU) Building. Members of the public can attend in person at that site or connect through UW’s Outreach Video Network, which has sites at these locations around the state:

Afton -- Afton/Lincoln County Civic Center, 150 S. Washington St., Room 105.

Cheyenne -- Laramie County Community College, 1400 E. College Drive, Education and Enrichment Center Room 213.

Cody -- Park County Building, 1501 Stampede Ave., Suite 2011, Room 1.

Evanston -- Uinta BOCES Higher Education Center, 1013 Cheyenne Drive, Room 126.

Fort Washakie -- Frank B. Wise Business Complex, 3 Ethete Road, UW classroom.

Gillette -- Gillette Campus, 300 W. Sinclair, Room 167.

Jackson -- Center for the Arts Building, 240 S. Glenwood, Room 120.

Laramie -- UW Classroom Building, Room 109.

Lusk -- School District Administration Building, 619 W. Fifth St., School District Board Room.

Newcastle -- Newcastle High School, 116 Casper Ave., Community Education Room 20.

Powell -- Northwest College, 231 W. Sixth St., Orendorff Building Room 137.

Rawlins -- Downtown Development Authority, 116 Fourth St., upstairs.

Riverton -- Central Wyoming College, 2660 Peck Ave., Inter-Tribal Education and Community Center Room 107.

Rock Springs -- Western Wyoming Community College, 2500 College Drive, Room 1229E.

Sheridan -- Sheridan College, 3401 Coffeen Ave., Watt Building Room 132.

Torrington -- Eastern Wyoming College, 3200 W. C St., Tebbet Building Room 252.

Worland -- Worland Community Center, 1200 Culbertson, Suite G.

In addition to the second meeting for UW faculty members Tuesday afternoon, Storbeck Pimentel representatives will meet earlier that day with UW deans, directors, department heads and the Executive Council.

Written comments about the desired qualifications and characteristics of the next president also are being accepted via email at UW.Presidential.Search@uwyo.edu.

Input gathered from the stakeholder groups and the public will be used to develop criteria to evaluate candidates for the presidency. That input will be added to comments received by a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees when it held public and stakeholder meetings earlier this year to seek input on the search process.

The first search committee is charged with helping launch the search, considering applications for the presidency and identifying a list of 10-15 candidates who warrant further consideration.

Once the first search committee identifies a list of 10-15 semifinalists -- whose names will remain confidential -- the second committee is charged with interviewing those candidates and selecting three to five finalists. Those finalists will be identified publicly and come to campus for public forums.

Each search committee is composed of 14 people representing the UW Board of Trustees, students, faculty, staff, the UW Foundation and the public.

The full Board of Trustees will interview the finalists and select the next president, possibly as early as late December.

During its regular meeting last week, the board approved a motion that allows for the possibility of considering candidates who apply after the first search committee forwards its list of semifinalists to the second committee. However, the names of those individuals would be brought before the first committee, which would decide whether to forward them to the second committee or not.

For complete information about the presidential search, go to www.uwyo.edu/presidentsearch/.