Bridging Stewardship and Student Success with Drew Bennett

 

By Sunnie Lew 
 
In a state defined by its vast landscapes and small population, the University of Wyoming becomes a shared thread. UW draws together families, neighbors and entire communities across generations and county lines. Nearly every Wyomingite has a tie to the university. That closeness creates a rare sense of belonging, where connections feel personal even across great distances.

“At the end of the day, my work comes down to relationships,” says Drew Bennett, the Whitney MacMillan Professor of Practice of Private Lands Stewardship in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. “If you don’t have relationships, you don’t get things done. Here, we’re connected to each other and to the land.”

Bennett arrived at UW in 2018, looking for a place where his work could live beyond the classroom. His position was created through an endowed gift from Whitney MacMillan, former CEO of Cargill, with a focus on connecting academic work to the real-world challenges facing private lands in the American West. Bennett’s work sits at the intersection of conservation, ranching and community. From sustaining wildlife populations to navigating long-term drought concerns, his applied research brings landowners, students and stakeholders into the same conversation. 

Those relationships shape how he thinks about stewardship. Rather than viewing support as a transaction, Bennett sees donors as partners searching for the place where their passion can make the greatest impact. In meetings with supporters, he listens for what excites them, then helps connect that interest to opportunities across the university, even if it leads outside his own program.

Bennett’s own position is a living testament to stewardship’s lasting reach. What began as MacMillan’s gift of a single faculty role has become the foundation for grants, research teams and student opportunities. Over time, he’s watched one gift expand into a network of learning and discovery through the research scientists and students he feels privileged to support.

“MacMillan’s gift created the endowment for my role, but it’s not just one position,” Bennett says. “It’s infrastructure that’s enabled a lot of other things to happen. More money has been raised through this position in grants and contracts than was originally donated to it. And those resources have been put to use. I think about the reach of that gift. I just look at what our students have done, and I’m really amazed and inspired.”