Tagged: University of Wyoming

During Wyoming Public Radio’s relationship with UW’s Master of Fine Arts program, we have also acquired some people who wanted to learn to be public radio reporters.  Three people have joined us, including this next writer.  Irina Zhorov is an accomplished photographer who wanted to develop her writing skills.  She recently graduated from the M-F-A program.  When Irina came to Wyoming from Philadelphia she had questions about her new state.  Today she tells us about her conclusions in her “Letter to Wyoming.”

Earlier this year the Wyoming legislature set aside some 30 million dollars in matching money to help pay for a major upgrade in U-W’s College of Engineering.  With an anticipated cost of nearly 100 million dollars, it would be U-W’s most expensive building project.  The last major addition to the College occurred in 1980.  Right now labs are too small, classrooms are crowded and the front portion of the building has a distinct 1920’s flavor.  As Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck reports…at a time when other building projects were occurring on campus…the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee said skipping the College of Engineering would have been a crime….

     The University of Wyoming is joining other state agencies in trying to determine how it will trim eight percent from its budget.  U-W Provost Myron Allen says an eight percent cut most certainly means that some positions will have to be eliminated.  However, Allen says it’s still too early to say if U-W will have to eliminate degree programs.

“I’d prefer not to implement across the board reductions, so there probably be some programs that are hit a lot harder than others.  But whether we will have to eliminate some programs, I don’t know yet.”

Allen says there is no way that U-W could raise enough money through tuition and fees to easily make up for an eight percent budget cut. 

A team of UW engineering students recently traveled to Alabama to compete in NASA’s annual moon buggy race. The race is for high school and college students who have designed and built non-motorized vehicles that resemble lunar rovers. Teams from all over the world participated, on a race course meant to resemble the surface of the moon. The winning moon buggies aren’t actually going to space, but as Wyoming Public Radio’s Willow Belden reports, the project is a major learning experience for the students.

A doctoral student at the University of Wyoming has developed a new method for producing and selling vegetables. The student’s name is Nate Storey, and he’s designed a growing system in one of the university’s greenhouses that requires no fertilizer, produces virtually no waste and yields four times as much produce as traditional greenhouse setups. Wyoming Public Radio’s Willow Belden reports.

The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees met today/Thursday to discuss a proposed tuition and fee increase that would begin this fall.   If passed, that option would bump up in-state tuition by 2% for the next two years. Non-residents could pay 4.5% more this fall. 

ASUW President Megan Degenfelder says most students she's spoken with support the increase because it will directly improve their educational experience with libraries and classroom technology, among other things. "We’re seeing a higher fee increase this year, so we’re really supporting a lower tuition increase, which I think is important.  Keeping it low, but remaining competitive," says Degenfelder.

University of Wyoming Board of Trustees will discuss whether or not to increase tuition rates this week, with a final vote taking place on Friday. Under the proposal, in-state tuition would increase by 2%, while non-residents would pay 4% more this fall, and an additional increase of 2% the following year.

Listen to the interview

In its budget request, the University of Wyoming asked for nearly 10 million dollars for salary increases for its employees. But the legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee rejected pay raises for all state employees, including those at UW. Average pay at UW is below market average, so University President Tom Buchanan tells Willow Belden that salary increases were the university’s highest budget priority.

Listen to the Story

Noted Wyoming author Mark Jenkins is currently writing stories for National Geographic.  He will be discussing a recent article called the Healing Fields, the legacy of war and the search for Miss Landmine Cambodia during a lecture in Laramie on February 27ths at five in the UW classroom building.  Jenkins will also make some additional appearances in the state.  He talks with Bob Beck.