Anthony Rodd
arodd@uwyo.edu
University of Wyoming presidential candidate Laurie Nichols visited campus on Wednesday to address questions and concerns from faculty, staff and students.
Nichols, a South Dakotan native, is the vice president of academic affairs at South Dakota State University.
Nichols has a lengthy background at multiple land grant universities including Idaho State University where she taught for several years, Colorado State University where she received a masters degree in vocational and adult education, and Ohio State University where she received a doctorates degree in family and consumer sciences. She was also interim president at Northern State University from 2008 to 2009.
In Nichols’ first public appearance to the greater university community she spoke a lot about her experience at land grant universities.
“I am a product of land grant universities, and I love the mission of land grant universities, especially the University of Wyoming,” she said. “I am passionate about it, and the thing I love the most is that land grant universities are all about the state and taking care of the people of the state.”
Nichols also said being from South Dakota and travelling around the Midwest definitely helps her to understand the problems and concerns of Wyomingites.
“Wyoming is a lot like South Dakota. There are certainly differences but there are a lot of commonalities,” she said. “We’re in roughly the same part of the country, we’re in small rural states…really, I understand how South Dakotans think, and I think Wyomingites think a lot the same, and think I can relate to people here quite easily.”
Whether or not Wyomingites and South Dakotans experience the same issues, Nichols made it a point of extreme importance that if she is elected, student-president relations on campus will be kept at the highest excellence.
One student inquired during the student meeting about how Nichols plans to be involved with students.
Nichols said she loves attending events, but often its assumed university presidents will not come to smaller events, such as RSO meetings. Nichols said if she were invited she would try her best to attend.
Nichols referenced a ‘coffee hour with the provost’ she started at South Dakota State.
“It was an open forum, anybody that showed up I would buy a cup of coffee for them and there was never an agenda, just dialogue, just talk,” she said. “It was open discussion, you could ask me anything you want – and I might ask you some questions, but we just talked.”
Nichols also spoke considerably about diversity and race issues, highlighting the importance of listening and allowing others to speak, as well as talking about what her school, South Dakota State University, has done to combat racial conflicts.
“Race is really a huge issue right now, and I know there are many individuals and groups on campus and around the country that feel like they don’t have a voice,” Nichols said. “This is a problem, and I think what everyone needs to do is open up and listen, because I think when you can listen you can really begin to understand.”
In the shadow of the Wyoming fiscal crisis, Nichols also spoke about her experience with budget cuts.
From 2009 to 2012 I had to make roughly 15 percent in budget cuts, and the way we did this was by moving away from a centralized budget to a decentralized responsibility-focused budget, Nichols said. Doing this, and supplementing it with analysis reports, allocated money and resources more efficiently, Nichols said.
Taking into account the university mission, the president-student disconnects, issues of race and diversity and the Wyoming fiscal crisis, Nichols addressed a variety of central subjects on campus.
The last open forum day will be Monday with the last candidate Jeremy Haefner being the focus.
