University of Wyoming

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The University of Wyoming’s Anthropology Building now bears the name of George Frison, a Worland native and UW graduate who achieved international acclaim as an archaeologist during a lengthy career as a university faculty member.

The UW Board of Trustees voted Friday to name the building in Frison’s honor, at the request of the university’s Anthropology Department, the university’s naming committee and President Ed Seidel.

The George C. Frison Building, a 53,000-square-foot facility that was completed in 2007, houses the Department of Anthropology, the State Archaeologist’s Office, the cultural records section of the State Historic Preservation Office, the Frison Institute, the State Archaeological Repository and the Anthropology Museum.

“Naming of buildings for certain individuals is a very rare honor at UW, but this is clearly a case when it’s absolutely appropriate,” Seidel said. “Dr. Frison was a huge figure in archaeology and put Wyoming and UW on the map in this important field of study. This is a great way to honor his legacy.”

Frison, who founded the Department of Anthropology and was the first state archaeologist, is the only UW faculty member ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

He died Sept. 6, 2020, at the age of 95.

“It’s only right that the university honor Dr. Frison’s decades of service to UW and the state by putting his name on the building that houses the programs that would not exist if not for his efforts,” said Professor Todd Surovell, head of the Department of Anthropology. “He easily ranks among the greatest field archaeologists in the history of American archaeology. His contributions to the field of archaeology, the Department of Anthropology, the University of Wyoming and the state of Wyoming cannot be overstated.”

Frison was born Nov. 11, 1924, in Worland and grew up on his grandparents’ ranch near Ten Sleep. He spent his early years working sheep and cattle and spent his spare time collecting arrowheads, exploring caves in the Bighorn Mountains while developing a love for the history and prehistory of Wyoming.

He enrolled at UW in 1942, but his education was cut short when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving in the forces of the South Pacific during World War II.

After being honorably discharged in 1946, he returned to the family ranch.

While operating the ranch, Frison joined the Wyoming Archaeological Society and was an avocational archaeologist, discovering numerous artifacts including atlatl and dart fragments.

His interactions with UW Professor William Mulloy prompted Frison to enroll at UW in 1962 at the age of 37 to finish his undergraduate work.

After earning his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, Frison returned to UW in 1967 to head the new Department of Anthropology and serve as the first state archaeologist, a position he held until 1984.

During his decades of work at UW, Frison made major contributions to the understanding of the prehistory of the northwestern Great Plains in the areas of chipped stone technology, bison bone beds, Paleoindian systematics and Plains chronology.

His many books and papers, which include “Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains,” made him an internationally recognized figure in archaeology.

More than 70 students graduated with the Master of Arts degree in anthropology during his tenure at UW, and many more students attended his classes and graduated with undergraduate degrees from the Department of Anthropology.

His many awards include the lifetime achievement award from the Society for American Archaeology, a Regents’ Fellowship Award from the Smithsonian Institution, UW’s George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award, UW’s Medallion Service Award and the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.

Frison retired from the Anthropology Department in 1995, but continued to serve as professor emeritus.

He was named to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997.

Among his legacies is the George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at UW, which funds archaeological research, supports student and faculty participation in international research and education opportunities, sponsors an annual lecture and public talks and provides for volunteer participation in field and lab programs.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

University of Wyoming officials have proposed delaying the elimination of some programs and staff positions until 2023, it was announced on Friday.

Officials will present the proposal to the UW board of trustees later this month. The proposal, which follows months of development informed by thorough review and feedback from internal and external stakeholders, aims to position the university for a vibrant future at a time of uncertain state revenues, economic shifts and a changing higher-education landscape.

“We must consider where we are headed at the same time we make changes to budgets of our various units in response to reductions in recent years,” UW President Ed Seidel said. “The academic reorganization plan, combined with new initiatives to improve the student experience and higher education’s role in Wyoming’s economy, sets the stage for new synergies, scholarly coherence and efficiencies that aren’t possible under the university’s current structure. Overall, the plan aims to better serve our students and better position us for increased revenue streams from research agencies and corporate partnerships.”

Specifically, the proposal going before the trustees would, effective July 1, 2022, reorganize the College of Education, move and/or consolidate several academic departments and eliminate four low-enrollment graduate degree programs.

Additional academic reconfigurations, including movement of several academic departments from the current College of Arts and Sciences, and restructuring and renaming of the current College of Engineering and Applied Science and College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, wouldn’t be implemented until July 1, 2023, pending further refinement.

“After careful consideration of the feedback that we have received from faculty, students, staff and stakeholders, I believe additional time is needed for consideration of how best to implement the major reorganization of the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Engineering and Applied Science,” Provost and Executive Vice President Kevin Carman said. “I plan to engage in a robust discussion over the next year to carefully consider optimal alignments while minimizing unintended negative consequences of restructuring.”

While the proposed reorganizations were driven, in part, by budget considerations, they would not achieve the reductions necessary to respond to the drop in state funding and reallocate resources for the new initiatives: establishment of a School of Computing, a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Initiative, which are integral to the new Wyoming Innovation Partnership involving UW and the state’s community colleges.

As a result, working with UW college deans, the Office of Academic Affairs has separately developed a budget reduction plan that achieves a $5.3 million reduction to academic programs, with work continuing for a total $13.6 million budget reduction.

Final details on reductions will come later, but the plan does include eliminating 20-25 faculty positions that have been vacated by resignations and retirements.

“We worked extremely hard with the deans to find ways to achieve our budget targets, continue to be strategic and not harm faculty who dedicate their careers to serving our students,” Seidel said. “We have succeeded in not eliminating faculty positions that are currently filled. And, by folding in final implementation of the reorganization with strategic planning, we will ensure strategic outcomes with faculty, staff and student input throughout the process.”

The proposal going to the Board of Trustees this month would:

• Reorganize the College of Education effective July 1, 2022. The plan is for the college to have three divisions: one focused on educator preparation; one for graduate education; and one for innovation and engagement. A review committee would examine a proposal to discontinue two graduate degree programs, the Ph.D. in counseling and the Ph.D. in learning, design and technology.
• Reorganize the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Engineering and Applied Science to better align the life and physical sciences, and the humanities, social sciences and arts, with full implementation by July 1, 2023.
• Discontinue these degree programs: the Master of Arts in philosophy, the MBA in finance, the MBA in energy and the Ph.D. in statistics.

Among the changes that would take place by July 1, 2022:

• Consolidation of the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
• Movement of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and consolidation of that department with the Department of Atmospheric Science.
• Consolidation of the agricultural communications degree program with the Department of Communication and Journalism.
• Movement of the American Studies Program into the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice.

Among the changes that would take place by July 1, 2023, pending further refinement:

• Movement of other physical sciences departments — Chemistry, Geology and Geophysics, and Mathematics and Statistics — from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
• Renaming of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, possibly to the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
• Movement of the Department of Zoology and Physiology, the Department of Botany and the Life Sciences Program from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. With the additional time, work will be done to determine the optimal structure for the consolidated program and to consider alternative placement of life sciences faculty with discipline-specific expertise that aligns better with other academic units, such as those in the College of Health Sciences.
• Renaming of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, possibly to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
• Restructuring of the College of Arts and Sciences to emphasize and elevate humanities, social sciences and arts. With the additional time, work will be done to, among other things: possibly launch a Ph.D. program in English; explore opportunities for other Ph.D. programs; and explore partnerships with the planned School of Computing.
• Movement of the Nutrition Program to the Division of Kinesiology and Health in the College of Health Sciences.
• Movement of the Human Development and Family Sciences Program, and the Early Care and Education Center to the College of Education. With the additional time, work will be done to consider alternative placement of the Human Development and Family Sciences Program and faculty with discipline-specific expertise that aligns better with other academic units; consider the appropriate academic home for the Design, Merchandising and Textiles Program; and consider discontinuation of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The additional year also would allow careful review of the potential implications of the proposed reorganizations of the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Those considerations include reallocation of staff support and academic advising, redistribution of operating budgets, assignment and stewardship of endowments and administrative structure.

A number of degree programs initially targeted for elimination would be maintained under the provost’s recommendations: bachelor’s degrees in German and French, as well as in Spanish, German and French secondary education; master’s degrees in political science, international studies, sociology and architectural engineering; graduate degrees in entomology; and the master’s degree in family and consumer sciences, pending potential reorganization of that department.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The COVID pandemic is largely to blame for a 3% decline in the University of Wyoming’s enrollment in the last year, a UW spokesman told Cowboy State Daily.

According to census data collected on the 15th day of classes, UW has enrolled a total of 11,479 students this semester, down 3% from the overall enrollment of 11,829 last fall. The 15th class day is used because it falls after the class drop/add deadlines, and after the first tuition and fee payment is due.

University spokesman Chad Baldwin said that there were various reasons for students leaving the university, but all of them were related to the pandemic in some way.

“Regarding the overall enrollment decline, we know that we lost hundreds of students last year because so many classes were taught online due to COVID-19 and because of the campus pandemic restrictions, not to mention the financial difficulties the pandemic caused for students and their families,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “We’re working to re-recruit as many of them as possible, but research shows that once students pull out of college, a good number of them don’t return.”

The drop in nonresident students has been most pronounced, with a total of 3,644 students from out-of-state attending UW this fall, compared to 3,844 last fall.

There are 568 first-time nonresident students in this year’s class, down 6.7% from last fall’s 609.

During the 2020-21 school year, the university had limited in-person classes and events due to the pandemic. This year, the university board of trustees has implemented and indefinitely extended a mask mandate for anyone on campus.

The university has not implemented a vaccine mandate for either employees or students, but have created an incentive program for those who are vaccinated and also report it.

The university reported this week that the number of first-time students from Wyoming attending the university has grown by 11.5% this fall, contributing to an overall 3.7% increase in UW’s first-time student enrollment.

Some 909 students from Wyoming have enrolled in the state’s university for the first time, up from 815 the year before and topping the pre-pandemic number of 902 in fall 2019. As a result, the total number of first-time students this semester has grown to 1,477 from 1,424 last year.

“Our favorable in-state, first-time numbers are a reflection of intensive recruitment efforts and a return to a traditional fall semester with fewer pandemic restrictions, among other things,” Baldwin told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The University of Wyoming saw a 3% drop in enrollment for the 2021 fall semester, the university announced this week.

According to census data collected on the 15th day of classes, UW announced Monday it has enrolled a total of 11,479 students this semester, down 3% from the overall enrollment of 11,829 last fall. The 15th class day is used because it falls after the class drop/add deadlines, and after the first tuition and fee payment is due.

However, the university also noted the number of first-time students from Wyoming attending the university has grown by 11.5% this fall, contributing to an overall 3.7% increase in UW’s first-time student enrollment.

Some 909 students from Wyoming have enrolled in the state’s university for the first time, up from 815 the year before and topping the pre-pandemic number of 902 in fall 2019. As a result, the total number of first-time students this semester has grown to 1,477 from 1,424 last year.

“We’re excited that our class of new freshmen, particularly those from Wyoming, has increased. It’s a sign that we are on our way to recovering from the losses incurred by higher education institutions nationwide,” UW Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Kyle Moore said. “After we enrolled the two largest freshman classes in UW’s history in 2018 and 2019, the financial and other uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been impactful and significant. We’re working hard to rebound as quickly as possible.”

The drop in nonresident students has been most pronounced, with a total of 3,644 students from out-of-state attending UW this fall, compared to 3,844 last fall.

There are 568 first-time nonresident students in this year’s class, down 6.7% from last fall’s 609.

At the same time, the number of nonresident transfer students enrolling this fall rose to 251 from 223 last year, a 12.6% increase.

“Across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many students to stay closer to home to start their college experience. It also has resulted in large decreases in community college enrollments in Wyoming and nationwide, which impacts transfer numbers,” Moore said. “The pandemic seriously hampered our ability last year to do face-to-face recruiting out of state and bring nonresidents in for campus visits, and that is reflected in our current numbers. We’re redoubling our efforts to recruit students from outside the state while still making recruitment of Wyoming students our No. 1 priority.”

There was also a 4.9% increase in graduate and professional students, rising from 2,610 from 2,487 last year. Moore credited collaborative marketing and recruitment efforts with academic departments as factors in the increase.

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The University of Wyoming’s endowment is worth almost $800 million, an extraordinary amount for a college its size, President Ed Seidel said earlier this week.

Seidel, speaking during his “State of the University” speech on Wednesday, said the endowment, or value of the university’s investments based on donated money and financial assets, totaled $794.7 million.

The university saw almost $50 million in private donations last year alone, Seidel said.

In a wide-ranging address that also touched on coronavirus and the budget cuts faced by the university, Seidel said the university reduced its spending by more than $13 million per year by eliminating 75 positions and multiple programs at the school.

The changes will allow the university to better support its students and generate new revenue streams, Seidel said.

Programs not discontinued or reorganized will still see their budgets cut by 3%, he said.

He added the university will save another $18 million over the next 20 years by refinancing its outstanding debt.

“There are lots of things behind the scenes that are helping us save as much funding as we can,” Seidel said.

The long-term spending reductions are in addition to $42.3 million in cuts made when Gov. Mark Gordon ordered state spending cuts in the fact of dramatic downturns in the state’s mineral income.

Turning to coronavirus, Seidel said vaccination rates have steadily increased on campus, with around two-thirds of the student population having self-reported that they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We’ve got some more work to do there, but we’ve done relatively well,” he said.

As of Thursday, there were a number of active COVID cases among the UW population: eight employees, 14 on-campus students and 43 off-campus students, according to the university’s COVID dashboard.

The university was the first educational facility that implemented a mask mandate, with students being required to wear masks while on campus until mid-September.

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