Kaleb Poor
Staff Writer
Last week, the Board of Trustees announced that Edward Seidel would become the University of Wyoming’s next president. Here’s what the UW community should know about its next top administrator.
Seidel is a long-time academic with extensive leadership experience. He boasts expertise in astronomy and physics, economic development and grid computing, and he has held leadership roles at the National Science Foundation, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and the MIT-backed Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, among others.
In his most recent post at the University of Illinois’ multi-campus system, Seidel served as vice president for economic development, an initiative which claims to contribute $17.5 billion to the economy of Illinois each year.
That number contrasts starkly to the fiscal realities Seidel will face in his position at UW. The university has a relatively modest budget of around half a billion dollars per year, and the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of Wyoming in 2018 was just over $38 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Following a sharp drop in the price of oil earlier this week, Wyoming’s economic outlook has become particularly uncertain.
Hopes are that Seidel’s experience will help UW not only weather the storm, but that his leadership might help Wyoming’s only four-year public university become the tip of the spear in an effort to revitalize the state’s economy.
“Dr. Seidel has a high sense of energy and drive, and is very focused on economic development and actually taking research and applying it out in the real world,” said Dave True, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “I think he has a tremendous amount of experience in doing that, and I believe he’s really focused on implementing research going forward.”
While Seidel will be moving to a much smaller university and state, he said during on-campus forums last week that he believes its smaller size makes UW “more agile.” He has also expressed a desire for UW to become a leading institution in the state.
“The University of Wyoming is the place that should have the most important impact on the state, and it has the ability to do that,” Seidel said last week.
While the fiscal outlook in Wyoming may be uncertain, the soon-to-be president’s wages are not. In accepting the position, Seidel accepted a base salary, housing allowance and deferred compensation plan contributions total $475,000, and his total compensation is even greater.
“Overall total is above that,” True said when asked about Seidel’s compensation. “It really is a situation of competition and what’s out there in the market for university presidents. If the university desires a president with similar skill sets as Dr. Seidel has… we have to meet what’s in the market.”
True said the Board followed the compensation recommendations put forth by the firm that led the search for UW’s next president, Parker Executive.
“Personally, [I think] that is a lot of money for a single position,” True said. “But I also truly believe we need a strong president at the university, and to do that in today’s market those are the numbers we must go into the market with.”
Seidel has been hired into an institution which has been plagued by administrative instability for years. Seidel will replace acting president Neil Theobald, becoming the sixth person to hold that office since 2013.
If Seidel manages to bring stability to UW, it will no doubt be a welcome change. Some who have followed the presidential hiring process have expressed optimism at the Trustees’ choice, including Ken Chestek, UW’s faculty senate chair.
“President Seidel seemed to be the candidate with the biggest vision for UW going forward,” Chestek said. “[But] I would say that all three candidates had pockets of support.”
Seidel is expected to tour Wyoming and its communities before taking office in July.
