Hicswa, colleges like the vibes from incoming UW president

Already, incoming University of Wyoming president Laurie Nichols is winning friends on Wyoming community college campuses.

For one, she has a big fan in Stefani Hicswa, president of Northwest College in Powell.

“I had not met her, but when the selection was announced, I reached out to her to congratulate her and welcome her to Wyoming,” Hicswa related.

“We have been emailing back and forth, and I am just thrilled, thrilled, thrilled. She understands community colleges and sees the potential of what we can do in Wyoming.”

Nichols, currently provost at South Dakota State University in Brookings, was chosen by UW trustees Dec. 18 to become the next president of the state’s only four-year public university. Her appointment is also groundbreaking as the first woman to lead UW.

At a presentation during her on-campus introduction in Laramie as a finalist earlier in December, she was asked at a public forum what her relationship and leadership as the president of the University of Wyoming would be with the community colleges.

Nichols demonstrated that she had done her homework on the key role in Wyoming higher education played by the state’s seven community colleges. She could cite statistics that were probably enlightening to many, and she made no bones about wanting a strong relationship with the community colleges.

In her extensive answer, she cited data from a national study.

“I don’t know if you know this,” she said, “but Wyoming has the highest proportion in the country of students from Wyoming who start at a community college. And you’re way off the chart, far larger than anybody else, well over 60 percent, if I recall.”

“This is a unique characteristic of this state that has implications, obviously, for the University of Wyoming,” she continued.  “I would imagine your incoming freshman class is a bit smaller, because these students are starting all over the state in your community college system.”

Nichols said the onus is on UW “to make sure you’re getting them here (at UW) after they complete their two-year degree or after one or two years at a community college.”

That means the mechanics for a seamless transfer must be in place, she emphasized, and then answered her questioner directly. “So I would say incredibly strong relationship with the community colleges and making sure you have really great articulation agreements.”   

Simply put, articulation is an agreement that a class or program at one college meets the requirements of the same course or program at another college.

“You don’t want these students losing credits,” Nichols said. “If they lose credits, they won’t come.”

“I understand you have been working hard at it (articulation), and I understand there has been some really good work done,” Nichols added. “Hopefully, it continues to go.”

Nichols said completed articulation agreements need to be communicated openly to the people of Wyoming.

“You need to get them on your public website so anybody in the state can pull them and look at them,” she said. “It doesn’t help to just have them in the registrar’s office. You need to get them out there so people know and understand how transfer and articulation works. You’re probably already doing that, but these are just things that I think are really important, given the demographics of your state and where students go.”

Northwest College and UW have been working aggressively in the last year to firm up articulation agreements, considered an imperative by Hicswa for NWC, with its strong emphasis on transfer programs.

“I am quite pleased with the progress that has been made,” Hicswa said. “But we still have work to do. It is a long and arduous process. It is important that it remain an ongoing priority of the university. I think she (Nichols) will follow up on what Dick McGinity (retiring UW president) has been doing.”

Hicswa said her own NWC faculty members have been working hard with UW faculty this semester to complete agreements. She just signed a handful of the articulation agreements before the Christmas break.

“They are coming together, and we will start phase two soon. I couldn’t be more pleased,” she said.

Nichols has been provost at SDSU for seven years. She was chosen over two other finalists to become UW president sometime before July 1.

McGinity, who has been at the UW helm since December of 2013, is stepping down.