Education

The University of Wyoming marching band "Western Thunder" took a trip to Riverton to perform at a high school football game against Cody. The event, called "Bring the Thunder" is part of an effort to get students excited about going to college - and to recruit new members of the marching band. Wyoming Public Radio's Savannah Maher was there to see the two bands meet, and she sent us this postcard.

The University of Wyoming has opened its new Engineering Education and Research facility. The $105 million project is being touted as one of the most advanced learning facilities in the nation and will not only benefit students, but the state and community as well.

This summer, Walter Tribley took over as the president of the Northern Wyoming Community College District. Tribley has 20 years of experience in higher education. Most recently, he was the president of Monterey Peninsula College in California. Wyoming Public Radio's Catherine Wheeler sat down with Tribley at Sheridan College to talk about his goals as he begins his new position.

Recent Torrington High School graduates Quentin Meyer and Ryan Walson love Wyoming as it is. For our "Belonging" series, the childhood friends sat down to reflect on the agriculture and stories that pull them to stay while acknowledging the career possibilities that may draw their lives outside of the state they hold dear.

Nationally, community college enrollments have been declining in the past couple of years. Wyoming is no exception. In Powell, Northwest College's enrollment is among the lowest in the state. So the college is looking at some new degree programs to try to turn things around. That includes a conservation law enforcement degree.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West co-hosted an intensive week long workshop for teachers on how to use primary sources in their classrooms. This workshop was sponsored by the Library of Congress as part of its effort to teach teachers how to use objects, letters and art in their lesson plans.

Wyoming Public Radio's Kamila Kudelska spoke with the education director of the National History Museum of National Forest Service History, Cheryl Hughes, and the Center's educator Megan Smith. First, Hughes explained how primary sources can create a placed based learning environment.

After serving as an interim dean, UW Trustees recently named David Jones to become the new Dean of the College of Health Sciences. Jones tells Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck that despite the fact that he'd been an interim dean, the college has been moving forward.

Boreal toads were once common in the western part of the United States. Today, the toads, and many other amphibians, are under attack from a deadly skin disease known as chytrid fungus, which limits their ability to obtain oxygen and may lead to cardiac arrest. But somehow toads found in Western Wyoming appear to be fighting back against the disease.

Over 600 Native students and their educators gathered at Central Wyoming College this week for the annual Native American Conference. Juvenile Defender Nubia Pena gave the keynote address. She talked with Wyoming Public Radio's Savannah Maher about what teachers on the Wind River Reservation can do to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.

The University of Wyoming has hired a new dean to oversee the Department of Agriculture. Barbara Rasco is a food scientist, engineer and attorney known around the world for her work on food safety.

Now she's bringing that knowledge to bear on Wyoming's deep history in ranching and its new progress in local food entrepreneurship.