BoT names two finalists for UW President

[OrediggerPoke]

I don't think anyone is denying that Shane Reeves has had an outstanding military career. His career is impressive and he should be proud of it. That being said, running a federal service academy and a civilian university are completely different animals.

As you mentioned, getting into West Point is extremely difficult. The demand far exceeds the number of seats they have open on an annual basis. As a result, West Point has the luxury of being highly selective and admitting only extremely high performing applicants. Contract this with UW that has a declining enrollment and an acceptance rate of 96-98%.

Tuition at West Point is fully funded by the federal government. Because of this, the financials at West Point are about as secure as you can get. Contrast this with UW where, especially with current state legislature, funding cuts/stagnation are a high likelihood.

Lastly, West Point gets to guarantee 100% employment upon graduation due to the military commitment cadets make when entering. Not only that, but cadets are paid a monthly salary while at West Point. Contrast that with UW where some post-grad job prospects are pretty bleak (depending on the degree) and cost/tuition is a real problem in retaining students through graduation.

There are some real problems at UW right now, none more important than the declining enrollment. Shane Reeves would be tasked with solving several issues that he has probably never even thought about at West Point because they are essentially irrelevant there. His success in the military and subsequent position at a highly prestigious federal service academy certainly does not guarantee him success at a struggling civilian university.

Leadership isn’t knowing the answer to everything. Leadership is listening, bringing in and utilizing a competent team and ultimately working with your team to make informed decisions. Military leaders do these things well typically in my experience.

The current UW President lacks these characteristics in my opinion, and, appeared to force out one of the members of the team who in-fact did know possess these characteristics (a retired Colonel) apparently because that person would not go along with the idea to divert money to fund the program that was created for the current president’s ’partner.’

 

[WyomingCoog]

I don't think anyone is denying that Shane Reeves has had an outstanding military career. His career is impressive and he should be proud of it. That being said, running a federal service academy and a civilian university are completely different animals.

As you mentioned, getting into West Point is extremely difficult. The demand far exceeds the number of seats they have open on an annual basis. As a result, West Point has the luxury of being highly selective and admitting only extremely high performing applicants. Contract this with UW that has a declining enrollment and an acceptance rate of 96-98%.

Tuition at West Point is fully funded by the federal government. Because of this, the financials at West Point are about as secure as you can get. Contrast this with UW where, especially with current state legislature, funding cuts/stagnation are a high likelihood.

Lastly, West Point gets to guarantee 100% employment upon graduation due to the military commitment cadets make when entering. Not only that, but cadets are paid a monthly salary while at West Point. Contrast that with UW where some post-grad job prospects are pretty bleak (depending on the degree) and cost/tuition is a real problem in retaining students through graduation.

There are some real problems at UW right now, none more important than the declining enrollment. Shane Reeves would be tasked with solving several issues that he has probably never even thought about at West Point because they are essentially irrelevant there. His success in the military and subsequent position at a highly prestigious federal service academy certainly does not guarantee him success at a struggling civilian university.

I get some of those points/hesitations, but in my opinion, that's the narrow thinking that got Wyoming to this point in the first place. The President is the CEO of UW, so give me the best mind with the most success and history of leadership. If a guy can go to capitol hill in DC to have budget fights with the likes of Ted Cruz and Chuck Schumer and get dollars for their school, then I'm sure he's not going to have problems with a state representative from Thermopolis.

Saying someone has great experience but it's at too high of a level, with tons of stress at a school that only has high performing applicants is akin to saying that if Kirby Smart was interested in coaching Wyoming football, we should say no, because he isn't used to having to fundraise, get NIL dollars or recruit players in the West. It's easier to win at a place like Georgia with their resources than Wyoming and Kirby hasn't proven he could do it at the MWC level. Wyoming needs a coach that has a local pipeline and used to handling players with less talent.

You don't rise all the way from a random student at Rock Springs with no power, no money and no connections to the Dean of West Point if you're not brilliant, hard working and ambitious. Give me that kind of a guy all day and let him go to work and figure it out.

 

[Steamboat]

I don't think anyone is denying that Shane Reeves has had an outstanding military career. His career is impressive and he should be proud of it. That being said, running a federal service academy and a civilian university are completely different animals.

As you mentioned, getting into West Point is extremely difficult. The demand far exceeds the number of seats they have open on an annual basis. As a result, West Point has the luxury of being highly selective and admitting only extremely high performing applicants. Contract this with UW that has a declining enrollment and an acceptance rate of 96-98%.

Tuition at West Point is fully funded by the federal government. Because of this, the financials at West Point are about as secure as you can get. Contrast this with UW where, especially with current state legislature, funding cuts/stagnation are a high likelihood.

Lastly, West Point gets to guarantee 100% employment upon graduation due to the military commitment cadets make when entering. Not only that, but cadets are paid a monthly salary while at West Point. Contrast that with UW where some post-grad job prospects are pretty bleak (depending on the degree) and cost/tuition is a real problem in retaining students through graduation.

There are some real problems at UW right now, none more important than the declining enrollment. Shane Reeves would be tasked with solving several issues that he has probably never even thought about at West Point because they are essentially irrelevant there. His success in the military and subsequent position at a highly prestigious federal service academy certainly does not guarantee him success at a struggling civilian university.

This is all true except not every cadet graduates.

 

[TheRealUW]

I get some of those points/hesitations, but in my opinion, that's the narrow thinking that got Wyoming to this point in the first place. The President is the CEO of UW, so give me the best mind with the most success and history of leadership. If a guy can go to capitol hill in DC to have budget fights with the likes of Ted Cruz and Chuck Schumer and get dollars for their school, then I'm sure he's not going to have problems with a state representative from Thermopolis.

Saying someone has great experience but it's at too high of a level, with tons of stress at a school that only has high performing applicants is akin to saying that if Kirby Smart was interested in coaching Wyoming football, we should say no, because he isn't used to having to fundraise, get NIL dollars or recruit players in the West. It's easier to win at a place like Georgia with their resources than Wyoming and Kirby hasn't proven he could do it at the MWC level. Wyoming needs a coach that has a local pipeline and used to handling players with less talent.

You don't rise all the way from a random student at Rock Springs with no power, no money and no connections to the Dean of West Point if you're not brilliant, hard working and ambitious. Give me that kind of a guy all day and let him go to work and figure it out.

I am not advocating for ‘saying no’ to Shane Reeves as UW President. I am simply pointing out that it is not as preposterous as you made it seem in your original post to have some concerns about how he will be able to transition to a civilian university that is very different from his entire career.

I haven’t worked with a ton of career miltary guys who make the transition to civilian jobs, but in my limited experience, I’ve seen both success and failure when they do so. As Oredigger pointed out, some of them are able to successfully transition their leadership skills to a completely unfamiliar civilian career very well. Others struggle pretty significantly with that transition. Frankly, I don’t blame the ones that struggle with the transition. There is a certain level of commitment and loyalty that I think they get used to after being in the military for many years that is not present in the civilian world. I would imagine that can be extremely frustrating.

To my knowledge, Shane Reeves has never held a civilian workforce position other than maybe during high school. I do not think it is wrong to wonder how that might impact his transition to UW President. If he is the best candidate for the job, and it appears he is, then we should hire him. That being said, I still think it speaks volumes about how UW is viewed amongst traditional academia that we apparently did not have any other high level academic administrators interested in the job. That is concerning to me regardless of if Shane Reeves is successful or not. He will not be the UW President forever.

 

[Wyolie Coyote]

I am not advocating for ‘saying no’ to Shane Reeves as UW President. I am simply pointing out that it is not as preposterous as you made it seem in your original post to have some concerns about how he will be able to transition to a civilian university that is very different from his entire career.

I haven’t worked with a ton of career miltary guys who make the transition to civilian jobs, but in my limited experience, I’ve seen both success and failure when they do so. As Oredigger pointed out, some of them are able to successfully transition their leadership skills to a completely unfamiliar civilian career very well. Others struggle pretty significantly with that transition. Frankly, I don’t blame the ones that struggle with the transition. There is a certain level of commitment and loyalty that I think they get used to after being in the military for many years that is not present in the civilian world. I would imagine that can be extremely frustrating.

To my knowledge, Shane Reeves has never held a civilian workforce position other than maybe during high school. I do not think it is wrong to wonder how that might impact his transition to UW President. If he is the best candidate for the job, and it appears he is, then we should hire him. That being said, I still think it speaks volumes about how UW is viewed amongst traditional academia that we apparently did not have any other high level academic administrators interested in the job. That is concerning to me regardless of if Shane Reeves is successful or not. He will not be the UW President forever.

Not sure we know who was interested in the position. The BOT narrowed down to these two. There could have been a myriad of applicants. We do not know and certainly can't be sure the BOT narrowed it down to the best 2 candidates.