This weekend, the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees interviewed four candidates to replace President Tom Buchanan, who will retire this summer.
The search for a new UW president was originally confidential, to allow candidates to maintain security in their current jobs, but a judge in Laramie ruled that the University must release the names of its candidates to the public. In order to stay on schedule, the Board of Trustees obliged, but not before telling candidates the search would no longer be confidential.
Board President David Bostrom says many candidates, some of whom are current university presidents, dropped out of the running.
“We do have quality candidates now, but we don’t have any of the sitting presidents who obviously have gone through a process and become a president,” Bostrom says. “So, is the pool as good as it could have been? Probably not. Will we be successful in hiring a president? Certainly we will.”
The remaining four candidates have served as provosts of state universities.
Douglas Baker has an academic background in management, and is the provost and executive vice president of the University of Idaho.
Warwick Bayly is Washington State University’s provost and executive vice president. He has a background in veterinary medicine.
Robert Sternberg works in psychology and is the provost of Oklahoma State University.
Audiology and speech scientist Kim Wilcox was a provost and executive vice president at Michigan State University.
Several of these candidates are in the running for other academic positions around the country.
Sunday’s interviews happened in an executive session, but the Board of Trustees is expected to gather for a public session in the next week to decide who UW’s next president will be.
