It’s been another successful year of serving our students.
I’m delighted to report that our Spring 2025 headcount was up 3% over Spring 2024. More importantly, because revenue comes from the breadth of credits students take, our Spring 2025 credit enrollment was up 6% over last year. Thanks to everyone! You have my heartfelt appreciation for all your hard work, resilience and caring to make us the #1 community college in Wyoming by Niche and Studique and #256 (out of 3,732) or within the top 7% nationally according to Studique.
#1 in Best Community Colleges in Wyoming
The college accomplished many things this past month, so much in fact that I will need two newsletters to do it all justice. Expect Part 2 about a week from now.
Part 1: Great things we do with the support of grant and/or federal funding.
This part of my newsletter will highlight parts of the May Board Packet that demonstrate some of the great things you all do with the help of grant funds. As you know, many of the grants we rely on are being targeted for reduction or elimination at the federal level. For a synopsis of these proposed cuts, see my President's Updates.
For a snapshot of why CWC exists – to serve students and our communities – check out the Student Spotlight on Summeri Bass from the Foundation Report. Bass is studying Expedition Science and Native American Indigenous Studies while living at the Alpine Science Institute in Lander's Sinks Canyon.
To get a small glimpse of how the CWC Foundation works to get us grants to better serve our Mission to transform lives and strengthen communities check out the Foundation’s Grant FY25 Scorecard.
CWC does so much great science.
CWC INBRE Grant. CWC’s participation in Wyoming INBRE for approximately 20 years has transformed the lives of many students. Professor of Chemistry and Physics, Dr. Bill Finney, along with Kirsten Kapp, Professor of Biology; Tara Womack-Shultz, Professor of Biology; Kate Patterson, Associate Professor of Mathematics; Lucy Graham, Instructor of Biological and Physical Sciences; Claudia Troxel, Instructor of Biological and Physical Sciences; Mara Gans, Instructor of GIS and Expedition Science; Matt Herr, Professor of Computer Technology; and Charles Palmer, Instructor of Software Development accompanied 14 students to the INBRE Spring Meeting and Undergraduate Research and Inquiry Across the Disciplines (URID) Thursday, April 24 through Sunday, 2025 at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
Mara Gans and Jacki Klancher, along with Professor of Outdoor Education and Leadership, Darran Wells, continue to work on projects that intersect human and environmental health. Kirsten Kapp has continued her long-running (since 2015) research project on microplastic pollution in freshwater environments. While much attention has been paid to this type of pollution in Earth’s oceans, this poses similar problems in our local environment. Students working with Lucy Graham and Claudia Troxel presented their work on the effects of wildfire smoke on lung cell cultures. Wyoming INBRE has also provided Central Wyoming College with funds to purchase cadavers for the Cadaver Anatomy and Human Anatomy courses (see write-up in Cowboy State Daily). Of special note, Lucy Graham’s husband, Tyler, was one of the first students to enroll in the Cadaver Anatomy class.
High Altitude Ballooning at CWC. Dr. Kate Patterson, Associate Professor of Mathematics, and Dr. Bill Finney, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, are leading a team of six students in a project following their adventures with the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project in 2023 and 2024, where they and their students flew balloons during eclipses to investigate gravity waves. This spring’s campaign, in which they have completed two of at least three anticipated flights, occurs during the solar maximum - the most active part of the 11-year cycle of solar activity.
Career Services. Career Services has been working with the CWC Welding Department since the beginning of our grant. We have seen students thrive in internships with Darryl Steeds and Matthew Dripps. They provide equitable opportunities for their students, and we have enjoyed working with them over the past few years. Pictured below, from left to right, is Matthew Dripps, Darryl Steeds, and Aly Ball. Aly has finished up an internship with the welding department this spring and will be graduating this semester.
Workforce Coordinator. The Eastern Shoshone 477 Program has successfully completed another cohort of its 6-week computer training initiative. The training series, titled "Basic Computer Skills Workshop I and II," covered essential digital literacy topics.
The 5th Annual CWC Powwow was expanded into a week-long week of events called Native Voices. As reported, “Over five days, the team hosted a number of community outreach events and integrated classroom engagement with CWC students (culinary, hospitality, film, and American Indian Studies and students at Arapahoe, Fort Washakie, Jackson Hole, and Wyoming Indian high schools).”
TRIO Student Support Services. Approximately 70 TRIO students will be graduating this May. TRIO celebrated our graduates with festive decorations and a wonderful meal catered by Rusty’s! We had a great time visiting with students, staff, and trustees as we discussed the path students took to get to graduation as well as talking about what is next for them on their journey.
CWC successfully launched its inaugural Central Wyoming Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (CWIE) this past month. On April 10 and 11, the heart of innovation beat at CWC as we proudly hosted the inaugural Central Wyoming Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CWIE) Conference, and it was a resounding success! With an electric lineup of keynote speakers, including the inspiring Tabatha Coffey, dynamic entrepreneur Bill Rancic, visionary leader Mike Wandler, and Wyoming's own Governor Mark Gordon, the conference set the stage for two unforgettable days of big ideas and bold connections. Between sessions, attendees were treated to more than just coffee - local food vendors and culinary delights from CWC staff bakers who turned every snack table into a mini showcase of Wyoming flavor. At Friday's lunch, CWC's Riverton Culinary students, alongside Riverton High School's culinary stars, served up creativity on every plate, earning rave reviews from everyone in the room. People all across the State attended. The sessions were amazing and the concert with country musician Chancey Williams was an electrifying and raucous event.
CWC grounds staff installed a new Veterans Memorial and planted trees for Arbor Day. The memorial is a peaceful seating area and flagstone to remember our vets.
Check out lots of news in their newsletter. For example:
At the end of April, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that Wyoming PBS has been awarded $2,263,457 in funding to modernize its emergency alerting infrastructure. The grant, part of CPB’s Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) initiative, will support the replacement of outdated and unreliable equipment at 39 of the network’s 53 locations, significantly enhancing public safety communications across the state.
In May, Joanna will attend the Youth Mental Health Summit in Jackson, where she will present the Wyoming PBS episode, A State of Mind: Generation Found. Her presentation aims to shed light on the challenges young people in Wyoming face regarding mental health and highlight the stories and solutions featured in the episode. This event offers a valuable platform to spark dialogue, raise awareness, and promote mental wellness among youth in the region.
