Kaleb Poor
Staff Writer
The UW Board of Trustees announced the names of the final three candidates for the position of president Thursday afternoon.
The first candidate is Greg Bowman, dean of the College of Law at West Virginia University (WVU). Bowman recently helped to secure significant pay raises for West Virginia judges and is an expert in international trade law, holding a masters degree in economics in addition to his law credentials.
“I like what I see here, I like what I feel here, I like the mission,” Bowman said during a Monday listening session with students. “I had dinner last night with some really wonderful donors and graduates of this institution, and to hear people who’ve been so highly successful say ‘everything I’ve ever done, all success I’ve ever had, I owe to this university,’ that’s why we teach. That’s why we serve. That’s why this job really resonates with me.”
During the listening session, which was sparsely attended by roughly a dozen people, Bowman spoke of his belief that land grant institutions like UW are critical to providing quality education in small states. He also acknowledged the looming hardships that state budget shortfalls will likely bring during the next president’s time in office.
“I think the first thing is to try to minimize the impact of those budget cuts,” Bowman said. “I think, as challenging as things are, there are significant reductions coming nationwide… I’ve faced that cliff. The answer to it is… there’s no one silver bullet. It can’t be all state funding, [as] there will be less state funding in the future… It has to be a combination of improved enrollment and retention, improved relationships with the state legislature, improved grant funding and improved donor relations.”
During Bowman’s time as dean of WVU’s college of law, a member of that college’s faculty resigned for allegedly sleeping with students. Arthur Rizer – then working under Bowman as dean – resigned following an internal WVU investigation in which Bowman appears to have been deeply involved.
By all available measures, Bowman’s handling of that incident appears to have been proper. However, given UW’s ongoing problems with transparency, he will undoubtedly have reassurances to make if he is to be the university’s next president. Bowman was given an opportunity to detail his handling of the case during Monday’s listening session, but did not.
“That was a challenging process,” Bowman said. “There are things I cannot say. What I will pledge to everybody is that I’m a lawyer, and when you ask a question and I have an answer, I’ll tell you. When I don’t, I’ll tell you I don’t know; and if there are things I can’t say, I’ll say I can’t talk about that. What I can say is that we handled a difficult situation with care, thoughtfulness and dignity for everybody.”
The second candidate is Edward Seidel, vice president for economic development and innovation for the University of Illinois’ state-wide system. Seidel’s background is in astrophysics and grid computing, and has worked as a professor at the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI).
Seidel’s listening session with UW students was scheduled for Tuesday at 8 a.m. For details on his comments during that session, check back with the Branding Iron later this week.
Seidel’s science and computing background may be of particular interest as Wyoming attempts to expand its presence into blockchain technology and as UW continues to invest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and its programs. Just last week, UW received $500,000 in bitcoin donations in support of blockchain development efforts, reported by Britt Bardman of the Branding Iron.
Most notable are Seidel’s academic achievements. After earning his doctorate in relativistic astrophysics from Yale University, Seidel went on to lead Louisiana State University’s Center for Computation and Technology, became a world-renowned expert on numerical relativity and black holes and a world leader in the implementation of Einstein’s equations with the use of high-capacity computing systems.
While Seidel’s academic credentials are impeccable, he appears to have the least collegiate administration experience of the three candidates.
The final candidate being considered by the Trustees is Daniel White, currently the chancellor of the University of Alaska (UA) at Fairbanks. During White’s time there, Alaska’s university system faced a $135 million budget cut which some feared would lead to the closure of UA’s Fairbanks or Anchorage campuses. That crisis was averted by action from the Alaskan governor’s office, which managed to reduce the needed cuts to just $25 million.
If selected, White could face a familiar scenario at UW. With a fiscal cliff looming and the state legislature paralyzed by rigid political ideology, Wyoming’s only four-year collegiate institution could face painful cuts in the near future.
Important to note: almost exactly one year ago to date, in Feb. 2019, Anchorage’s KTUU reported that UA’s president, Jim Johnson, sent notice on behalf of UA’s board of regents to the university system’s three chancellors. That message demanded that the chancellors not speak independently of UA’s president and board, a move which critics feared would stifle transparency and independence within the ranks of UA’s system.
While White noted his concerns about Johnson’s request, he fell in line, declining to comment on whether his independence as chancellor was being restricted. UW continues to face serious transparency issues of its own.
“I think [transparency] is super important,” said Kaylee Hardesty, a UW student who tables with Students for Change. “I feel like it’s important that the president conducts themselves well… but it’s also important that they actually know how to run a university.”
Hardesty admits that, like most students, she has only been following the UW presidential selection “a little bit, but not extensively.” The Branding Iron asked a number of students to share their thoughts on the matter, and most were unaware that UW was hiring a new president.
This week will be the public’s best chance to get to know the three finalists for the job. The candidates will hold meetings with the public throughout this week, including 8 a.m. breakfasts with students downstairs in the Wyoming Union. Their full schedules can be found on UW’s news release page.
While Board of Trustees chairman Dave True declined to share his thoughts on the finalists, he urged public input as the UW community gets to know these potential future presidents. A number of online surveys were circulated to UW students in an email from ASUW last week.
The Trustees have final authority to hire a president, making it of vital importance that UW students, faculty and staff, and also Wyoming’s taxpayers as a whole make their voices heard as the head administrator of the state’s half-a-billion dollar university is chosen.
