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BoT names two finalists for UW President

TheRealUW said:
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.
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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.’
 
TheRealUW said:
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.
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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.
 
TheRealUW said:
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.
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This is all true except not every cadet graduates.
 
WyomingCoog said:
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.
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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.
 
TheRealUW said:
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.
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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.
 
Wyolie Coyote said:
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.
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That's true.

I am definitely working off an assumption that may be incorrect.
 
Wyolie Coyote said:
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.
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We actually know that there were a total of 103 applicants from prior University release.

As you indicate, we can’t know who these applicants are but I’d be surprised if there weren’t several good candidates out of the 103.
 
TheRealUW said:
. 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.
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I’m just curious, what backgrounds are you presuming that the other 101 applicants had? I guess it would be semi-humorous if the Wyoming freedom caucus urged all of its members to submit applications and thus the 103 applicants.
 
FWIW, Montana is also hiring a president, and had a lot of applications and bringing 10 to campus for interviews.. names haven't been released yet.
 
OrediggerPoke said:
I’m just curious, what backgrounds are you presuming that the other 101 applicants had? I guess it would be semi-humorous if the Wyoming freedom caucus urged all of its members to submit applications and thus the 103 applicants.
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I did not know there were that many applicants.

I would love to see the list.
 
This has been a frustratingly interesting thread to follow… We all love Wyoming, but we need to stop acting like high-level academia or administrative candidates are banging down the door to get to Laramie. They aren’t.

Wyoming simply isn’t a “player” on the global higher-ed stage. Beyond our borders, the University is seen as a small, isolated land-grant institution struggling with its identity. Laramie is a great town for us, but for a top-tier academic, people with proven success, or on the rise, it’s a hard sell. We aren’t just competing with the Mountain West; we’re competing with the world, and right now, we’re losing.

Look at what happened with Laurie Nichols. We finally hired a regional powerhouse who did the dirty work to fix a $40M budget hole, only for the Board to ambush her and refuse to renew her contract without giving her or the public a single reason why. If someone like Nichols can get “disappeared” despite fixing the books and having the support of the campus, why would any top-tier outsider touch this job?

The instability at the executive level is the elephant in the room. We’ve had a revolving door of presidents and deans, and everyone knows why: the Board. It’s become so dysfunctional that the Higher Learning Commission (the accreditation board) officially flagged the university in 2020 for its “persistent pattern of leadership turnover.”

High-level candidates talk. They see a board that can’t stay out of the weeds and an accreditation report that lists “instability” as a major risk, and they pass. Who wants to move their family to Wyoming just to get sacked in two years because a Trustee didn’t like a specific hire or a curriculum shift?

To the “football-first” crowd: The new President has a monumental task ahead of him just to get the car out of the mud and execute a basic vision for the university itself. The school has much bigger problems than the NIL fund or the depth chart at QB. If we want a stable athletic department, we first need a stable university. Don’t expect him to be a regular at every booster lunch or focus 100% on sports until the actual foundation of the school isn’t crumbling.

In higher ed, confidentiality is the standard, not the exception. Any candidate worth their salt is currently employed elsewhere and isn’t really interested in knowing that they're shopping. If we made the list public, the quality of the pool would drop to zero overnight.

Let’s hope this President can actually stick around long enough to fix the ship.
Go Pokes.
 
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