‘It was never our intention to leave Wyoming’
Months after being removed from UW College of Health leadership, Brant Schumaker is taking charge of the WWAMI program in Montana, as Sandy Root-Elledge is recognized for an ‘unparalleled’ career.
Celebrated former leaders from the University of Wyoming’s College of Health Sciences continue to excel or earn praise in their professional fields months after being cast out by a controversial former dean.
But their absence from leadership roles at UW show what Wyoming has lost in the aftermath of a chaotic year within the college, an insider told the UW Board of Trustees earlier this month.
Dana Govaerts, a clinical faculty member in UW’s WWAMI program, said the ousted leaders’ recent accolades demonstrate what the dean’s brief leadership cost UW and the entire state of Wyoming.
“I think what we forget is that Wyoming’s greatest resource is its people — people that choose to live here, people who choose to work here, people who choose to raise their families here,” Govaerts said. “I do not understand how a land-grant university built by the people of Wyoming, for the people of Wyoming, to educate the students and the people of Wyoming, takes these individuals, who are our most valuable, tremendous resource, and kicks them to the curb.”
Sandy Root-Elledge, formerly the director of the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND), was recognized by her peers with a Career Achievement Award, having been nominated by other college leaders.
And Brant Schumaker, formerly the director of UW’s WWAMI medical education program, was hired from among a crowded field of qualified applicants to take over Montana’s WWAMI program in Bozeman. He said the new job is exciting, but it will require his family to relocate.
“It was never our intention to leave Wyoming,” Schumaker said. “We have very close relationships here that we are really sad to leave. But we’re also very excited about the new opportunity in Bozeman at Montana State University, and I’m thrilled to get to continue to work with the WWAMI program in Montana.”
The man who cast out both Root-Elledge and Schumaker — the now ousted former Dean Jacob Warren — had sought to remake the college when he joined it less than two years ago. But his efforts were widely criticized throughout the college he commanded and his brief tenure as dean was plagued by allegations of nepotism, authoritarianism, poor communication and costly interference with research grant applications.
Warren removed Root-Elledge and Schumaker — two of the college’s seven division leaders — shortly after the pair participated in a vote of no confidence in Warren’s leadership. It was a move that blanketed the college in a widespread fear that anyone’s neck could be on the line and that speaking out, via official channels or through the press, could lead to retaliation.
Following several months of intense and sustained public scrutiny — including from off-campus stakeholders — UW removed Warren.
UW is now searching for a new dean though it’s not clear how much of Warren’s vision for the college will remain. Neither Root-Elledge nor Schumaker were reinstated.
Former WWAMI director finds new home in Montana
Brant Schumaker was hired last month by Montana State University to run that state’s WWAMI medical education program. He’ll be stepping into the same role he held previously at the University of Wyoming.
Schumaker first came to UW in 2010, as a veterinary student enrolled at the University of California-Davis looking to complete an externship. He liked it so much he stayed.
“I really fell in love with the state and the connections that we have to our people and animals in the state,” he said. “And I was really excited to join the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory as an epidemiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Sciences.”
Though Schumaker started as a veterinarian, he would eventually become the director of UW’s WWAMI program — a program that focuses on human health rather than that of other animals. But as the COVID-19 pandemic so violently demonstrated, human health, animal health and the environment shared by all animals are part of one interconnected and closely linked system.
“We learned from day one of veterinary school that diseases which affect some species of animals affect others,” Schumaker said. “And so the idea that things that are common to animals also affect humans is not a far leap.”
Schumaker has doctorates in both veterinary medicine and epidemiology, both from UC-Davis.
He became director of the Wyoming WWAMI program in 2021 and served in that role until Dean Warren removed him in October of last year.
“I’m really proud of the work we were able to accomplish with the Wyoming WWAMI program during my tenure here,” Schumaker said. “There is a really great group of dedicated faculty and staff, working to further medical education and the physician workforce in Wyoming.”
But having been removed from his post at UW, Schumaker looked north to Montana, where that state’s WWAMI director had recently retired.
Schumaker wasn’t the only one eyeing that position, Govaerts told the UW trustees during her public comment this month.
“Everybody wants to go to Montana,” Govaerts said. “They have a fabulous program there. It’s a trifecta: well supported by their government, well supported by the university, and they have an excellent working relationship with hospitals and communities … They had 22 people apply for the job, 19 of which were extremely, highly competitive. They hired Brant Schumaker.”
Schumaker’s responsibilities at Montana State begin July 2.
Former WIND director’s ‘visionary leadership’ recognized
Sandy Root-Elledge won the College of Health Sciences Career Achievement Award last month, for which she was nominated by her peers and for which she received a standing ovation.
Two recommendation letters obtained by the Laramie Reporter show Root-Elledge was endorsed for the award by five of the college’s seven division leaders, as well as additional former division leaders, including Schumaker. The letters speak to an industrious one-of-a-kind career that earned WIND global distinction in the area of disability education and outreach.
“As a leader, Sandy engaged in a strategic effort to expand the reach and focus of WIND to reach all four corners of the state and maximize the impact of WIND on the community,” writes WIND interim director Michelle Jarman. “She did this by focusing on expanding partnerships, increasing consumer and family voice, and advanc[ing] the reputation of WIND while developing innovative programs that work in our rural environment. This led to a fundamental shift in the approach at WIND that continues to this day.”
Root-Elledge joined WIND in 2004, initially as an assistant lecturer, and rose steadily through the ranks for the next decade, becoming the institute’s interim director in 2014, then its permanent director in 2016.
She was a leader celebrated both on- and off-campus, responsible for the launch or growth of WIND’s most recognizable programs. This included expanding Project ECHO from healthcare settings to educational and community settings and eventually positioning it to be an “ECHO Superhub,” a world leader in the project’s implementation.
“This inaugural class of Superhubs was an elite group that included ECHO India, ECHO Northern Ireland and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP),” Jarman writes. “It is rare for a small department that focuses on improving the lives of those with disabilities to be listed along with the AAP! Since then, the UW ECHO Superhub has trained 74 other organizations across the U.S. and internationally to implement the ECHO model.”
Throughout her tenure as leader of WIND, Root-Elledge brought in $27 million in grants for research, education and outreach, including $18 million in federal grants.
The other recommendation letter — the one signed by various current and former leaders in the College of Health Sciences — spoke of Root-Elledge’s “unwavering dedication” and “unparalleled” accomplishments.
“Her scholarly work in the area of disabilities and community support has been presented nationally and published in a variety of venues,” the letter states. “Despite research not being a requirement for her position, remarkably, she has 16 publications, of which 12 are peer-reviewed journal articles.”
In addition to Project ECHO, Root-Elledge directed the Wyoming Accessibility Center, Wyoming Assistive Technology Resources (WATR), and the Wyoming Family to Family Health Information Center.
“These roles not only contributed significantly to the university’s mission but also had a profound impact on the lives of Wyoming residents, particularly those with disabilities, along with their caregivers and service providers,” the letter states.
Root-Elledge had the unquestioned support of her division and the wider college in which it sat, but she did not have the support of her dean.
Neither Root-Elledge nor UW has provided a full account of why the WIND director was forced out. But it’s likely, given public testimony that came later, that Root-Elledge and Warren disagreed about the future of WIND’s community outreach programs.
What is known is that within 24 hours of Root-Elledge taking part in a vote of no confidence in Warren’s leadership, the dean removed the WIND director, bringing her near-decade of leadership to an end in a move that stunned and terrified those still employed at the college.
The nomination letters do not speak to Root-Elledge’s removal directly, but they make plain that her colleagues and peers in the College of Health Sciences had nothing but praise for her nearly two decades of work within WIND.
“Her visionary leadership has positioned WIND at the forefront of providing innovative, cutting-edge resources and services for individuals with disabilities,” the second letter states. “Sandy’s relentless commitment to enhancing inclusivity and accessibility underscores her invaluable contribution to both the academic community and the broader society of Wyoming.”
How did we get here?
Warren took over as the dean of the College of Health Sciences in the summer of 2022. He came to Wyoming from Mercer University in Georgia and brought with him his spouse and frequent research collaborator, Bryant Smalley, who was hired into the college as well.
For the first 15 months of Warren’s tenure, tensions between the new dean and college faculty emerged and worsened until, eventually, a letter invoking the university’s formal dispute resolution process was shared with the press. At that point, the outside world gained a window into a power struggle gripping UW’s College of Health Sciences.
The faculty letter made a variety of allegations, including the accusation that Warren had interfered with grant applications before their submission, allegedly costing the college more than $10 million in grants it might have otherwise been awarded. The letter also accused Warren of using his position to benefit his spouse.
Warren had sought to remake the college, specifically by bolstering a new entity — the Wyoming Rural Health Institute — by moving outreach programs such as the Telehealth Network and Project ECHO from WIND to that new institute, which would then be helmed by his spouse.
WIND insiders have alleged that such a move would threaten WIND’s prestigious federal designation as the state’s only University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. That designation requires WIND to go beyond education and research and to engage in community outreach and service.
For years, WIND has interpreted its community outreach mandate to mean it should address whole systems — for example, promoting telehealth for everyone regardless of ability or disability, with the understanding that everyone will benefit from more robust access to telehealth.
Dean Warren, however, allegedly wanted WIND to interpret its mandate more narrowly and focus more tightly on just those with disabilities.
This intra-college conflict was allegedly exacerbated by Warren’s leadership style. Alongside the allegations of mismanagement and nepotism were more mundane accusations of poor communication between Warren and his college. An internal university audit shared with the Laramie Reporter showed that Warren had been investigated for both the allegations of nepotism and the allegations of poor communication. It found Warren and his spouse had failed to properly manage their conflict of interest and it set out a path for improving communication between the dean and those in his college.
In October, five of the college’s seven division leaders took a vote of no confidence in Warren’s leadership. Before that vote had closed, the dean informed Sandy Root-Elledge that she could either resign or be removed from her leadership position. Shortly after the vote closed, Warren gave Brant Schumaker the same ultimatum. The following Monday, both Root-Elledge and Schumaker resigned from their leadership roles.
The college was plunged into an environment of “fear and distrust” in which many feared retaliation for raising any objections against their dean. That environment was felt even by students, who told the Board of Trustees in November they feared for the future of their medical education program.
In its brief communications about the situation, UW leadership initially said they stood by the dean and his vision for the college.
But stakeholders both on- and off-campus kept up the pressure. Disability advocates said they feared what Warren’s reimagined college would mean for the statewide services that assist people across Wyoming. A retired former faculty leader wrote an op-ed for WyoFile blasting the administration’s decision to “circle the wagons” and defend their embattled dean. Lawmakers grilled UW President Ed Seidel and Warren himself about what the situation suggested about free speech on campus.
In late January, just three months after Root-Elledge and Schumaker were removed, UW announced it was ending Warren’s deanship.
Neither Root-Elledge nor Schumaker have been reinstated in their leadership roles, though Root-Elledge remains a member of the faculty in WIND.
It was courageous of Dr. Govaerts to say publicly what many of us thought: it was an error in judgement for Old Main to be complicit in pressuring two long-time and competent UW directors to resign their posts. This was their punishment for trying to alert upper administration to a problematic new dean. It will be interesting to see whether Old Main now decides to visit the same fate on Dr. Govaerts. Our university needs more, not fewer, people like Sandy, Brant and Dana.
Why, time after time... over the years... the administration fails on its duty of due diligence in rooting out bad seeds, but supports them like they were family or something!?!
Followed this story from begining, and not once did the leaders of UW figure out where and who the bad players were!
So sad, once again , for UW to lose face and prestige because of failures on the part of search committes, administration, and finally the president at the crucial time to do their most important job, not paper pushing, but guidance of school and policies to a better place!!!!!!!
Idiots that don't deserve THIER JOBS!