Seidel updates campus on federal developments, local commitments

Research funding is in jeopardy. AI tools are being used for student recruitment. And UW’s president had a “transformative” experience in a Lander sweat lodge.

UW President Ed Seidel hosts a town hall in April. During the May meeting of the UW Board of Trustees, Seidel provided an update on challenges facing the university as well as more hopeful developments. // Photo: Jeff Victor

The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees had a busy finals week.

The trustees considered the impacts of major changes to federal research funding, canceled the Gender and Women’s Studies degree alongside four other degree tracks, and began their annual work on the institution’s budget.

Amid a packed schedule, President Ed Seidel took a few minutes for his bimonthly update to the board. In a wide ranging summary of what’s happening at UW, Seidel addressed various challenges, opportunities and controversies.

Here are five key takeaways from Seidel’s May 2025 update:

The university will take a hit from Trump’s attack on federal research funding.

“We are on it,” Seidel said. “We’re talking about it practically every day.”

As Trump targets research dollars at specific elite institutions, he’s also pursuing or recommending steep cuts that will, according to university officials, hurt UW research.

A set of policies, implemented across various funding agencies, seek to cap “indirect costs” on research grants to 15%. Those are being challenged in court; if they’re allowed to stand, UW will lose $8.5 million a year.

At the same time, Trump is recommending budget cuts to the National Science Foundation and other funders.

“That would upend decades of federal support for universities carrying out basic research, and I’m very concerned about that,” Seidel said. “This is going to be a massive shift in how the university does its work.”

UW will double down on corporate partnerships to fund research, Seidel said.

UW is using AI to recruit students.

It’s too early to say whether the student headcount will go up or down next fall, but after several years of declining enrollment, Seidel said early indicators are good.

“My notes here say ‘cautiously optimistic,’ but I’m actually optimistic,” Seidel said. “We’re working very, very hard, and we’re firing on all cylinders.”

Confirmations for nonresident students are down, but confirmations for resident students are up. Graduate student applications and registrations are up 4%.

In its effort to turn around the enrollment plummet, Seidel said UW is deploying emerging technology.

“We’re using a new tool that allows the team in enrollment management to apply AI technologies in order to predict which students are most likely to respond to interventions and outreach,” Seidel said. “So I think that’s also increasing our ability to be a lot more efficient and have better yield.”

UW is looking to fill several key positions following a year of high-profile resignations and ousters.

Seidel abruptly removed his provost, Kevin Carman, in late September. Less than two months later, the VP for Student Affairs abruptly resigned. In February, UW announced Gabrielle Allen, lead for UW’s School of Computing, would be stepping down from the role this summer. In April, UW ousted Dean Cameron Wright from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“We’ve had some hard decisions,” Seidel said. “And I would say we have made those so that we can make progress.”

UW is now, or will soon be, seeking replacements or successors for each of these positions.

Seidel said he’s all-in on shared governance.

The upheaval brought on by so many high-profile ousters rocked UW last month.

Important decisions were being made without input from the people most affected, faculty alleged. They moved to take a vote of no confidence in Seidel’s leadership. That vote was successful and it inspired the UW trustees to establish a shared governance committee the following morning.

Seidel said he “applauds” this development.

“I’m very supportive of this, and I will contribute to that as I can,” he said. “I’ve also undertaken a lot of discussions with many faculty, many staff members, many department chairs, with many deans. At least half of the deans, I’ve interviewed deeply.”

Seidel said he’s regularly meeting, for an hour and half at a time, with the provost and deans. “These weren’t courtesy meetings,” he said. “These were deep dives into issues that have been highlighted in the last few months, and we’ve identified a number of areas to work on.”

Seidel added he’ll soon have a full-day retreat with his cabinet and deans.

Seidel discussed a few perks of the job.

On Saturday, UW sent off more than 1,700 graduates. Commencement, Seidel said, was one of his favorite presidential responsibilities. But Seidel has also been involved with outreach.

He said he went to Lander last month with James Trosper, a long-time liaison between the Eastern Shoshone tribe and the University of Wyoming.

Seidel said he “had the experience of a lifetime” in a sweat lodge.

“It was a transformative experience,” he said. “At the end, I heard a voice. James said, ‘Is anyone still here?’ Because it was pitch dark in there for two hours. It was very hot, and I just barely could squeak out, ‘I’m still here.’ And so he said, ‘You can leave now.’ And I mustered all the strength in my body to crawl out and they tried to pick me up, but I could not stand.”

He continued: “I recovered, but I think it reset my parasympathetic nervous system, and I’m very pleased to have done it, and I’ll never forget that. So, it’s a privilege to be here in Wyoming.”

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