Reflecting on her three-year term as the 26th president of the University of Wyoming, Laurie Nichols said she feels good about it.
“It’s been three pretty incredible years,” Nichols said. “There’s been a lot of challenges, but there have also been a lot of rewards. I would say, in general, it’s gone fast and I feel really good about it.”
Nichols will step down on June 30 and take a faculty position in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. The UW board of trustees is expected to appoint an acting president to take over the position at that time while they conduct a search for Nichols’ permanent successor.
“My hope would be that they just find someone that’s incredibly committed and who will take it seriously and do a great job,” Nichols told the Branding Iron. “This university really deserves it.”
Since the trustees’ unexpected announcement March 25 that they will not renew Nichols’ contract, many have wondered why. Among those left without an explanation is Nichols herself.
“I have not been in the loop, and I think they have handled this completely in executive session,” she said of the trustees.
Because executive sessions are closed to the public, the details of these meetings cannot be disclosed. Board of trustees chairman Dave True has said in a release that “the board is committed to a presidential search that involves stakeholders across UW’s constituencies, including Wyoming citizens.” No concrete details have emerged regarding how that search will be conducted.
“I have not been informed, so at this point in time I have no information about either the acting president, like who it might be,” Nichols said. “I would imagine in that case that they’ll probably just name somebody. … I also don’t have any information about their plans to roll out a search for the next permanent president.”
In the meantime, Nichols said that she is focused on doing her job and conducting University business as usual until the end of her contract.
“Finishing the semester and then having what I just hope will be an outstanding commencement in the next two weeks will be the focus, and then I’ll be down to six weeks after that,” Nichols said. “At that point in time there’s just a few clean-up items that I’d like to get done, probably throughout the rest of May.”
Nichols also said that she is focused on finishing the University budget for fiscal year 2020, a process that is nearing completion. Once June begins Nichols plans to focus on the transition to an acting president.
When an interim president is appointed, he or she will become UW’s fifth president in just six years. Nichols will have served three of those six years.
Nichols began her duties on May 16, 2016, succeeding Dick McGinity as president after a unanimous vote by the trustees. She is the first woman president in UW’s history.
Nichols said she is particularly proud of her work reducing UW’s significant budget deficits, which she oversaw early in her leadership when UW’s budget was slashed by $42 million. She also redistributed $7 million in funds between departments.
In addition to weathering the state’s financial crisis, Nichols said she is proud of her work helping to develop and implement a five-year strategic plan for the University. The plan, which took more than a year to create, has reversed a trend of declining enrollment at UW.
It remains to be seen whether Nichols will remain at UW in some capacity long term. While she is expected to become a faculty member on July 1, she said her future “is very up in the air right now.”
There is a strong possibility that she will stay in a faculty spot for one year, she said. Nichols expects that she and her husband Tim will have made a decision by June.
