UW names next Health Sciences dean
Patrick Hardigan, a UW graduate currently leading research efforts at a Florida university, will be the college’s first permanent leader since the ouster of Jacob Warren last winter.
The University of Wyoming has named Patrick Hardigan dean of the College of Health Sciences, ending the college’s 11-month stretch without a permanent head.
In January, UW ousted the former dean, Jacob Warren, who was facing allegations of alleged nepotism, mismanagement and authoritarianism and whose dispute with his own faculty caught the attention of both lawmakers and federal funders.
Hardigan assumes the role Jan. 2. He is coming from Florida, where he currently serves as the senior associate dean for research at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Allopathic Medicine.
But Hardigan is originally a UW graduate, who received both his MBA and Ph.D. in Laramie in the 1990s. He worked as a faculty member in the UW School of Pharmacy — a division of Health Sciences — until 1999.
“Becoming the dean of the University of Wyoming’s College of Health Sciences presents a remarkable opportunity to greatly influence health education, research and community service within a dynamic and impactful university,” Hardigan says in the UW news release announcing his hire.
The College of Health Sciences has been in a state of turmoil for some time. In the summer of 2022, Warren was named as its next dean and almost immediately began butting heads with division leaders — most notably over his plans to reorganize the college, but also regarding his leadership style and concerns that he was allegedly using his position to benefit his spouse, Bryant Smalley, who had also joined the university as an administrator and researcher in 2022.
In October 2023, in a span of about 24 hours, Warren removed two of the college’s seven division leaders — both of whom had been critical of his leadership. These removals included then-director for the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) Sandy Root-Elledge and then-director for the state’s WWAMI medical education program Brant Schumaker.
University leadership fielded internal complaints from faculty and other division leaders. The UW Board of Trustees heard — during every public meeting following the removals — complaints from students, faculty and an advisor for WIND. Those insiders spoke to a culture of fear in the college and a feeling of uncertainty for the broader Wyoming community served by the state university. UW President Ed Seidel and Warren himself faced questions from lawmakers.
Ultimately, UW removed Warren from the deanship in January. Both Warren and Smalley remain at UW as members of the faculty.
In the months since Warren’s ouster, Root-Elledge was recognized by her peers with a Lifetime Achievement Award even as Project ECHO — a prestigious program she fostered — celebrated its 10th year at UW. Schumaker was hired within months of his own removal to head Montana’s WWAMI medical education program.