The University of Wyoming’s demotion of a popular dean this week unleashed widespread criticism toward President Ed Seidel, including accusations he retaliated against the administrator for questioning a funding shift to a department led by Seidel’s romantic partner.
On Tuesday, the university announced that Cameron Wright, who has led the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences since 2019, would return to teaching and give up the dean role.
An uproar on and off campus ensued, with anger directed toward both the president and UW’s board of trustees. Faculty leaders have expressed a loss of confidence in the president, industry professionals who advise the engineering college have expressed outrage to the trustees and at least one major charitable foundation, The John P. Ellbogen Foundation, announced it is pausing consideration of any grants to UW due to concerns over the dean’s demotion.
The decision to demote Wright followed a UW Board of Trustees meeting last week where trustees grilled the dean about progress toward achieving a longstanding goal of the Wyoming Legislature — begun under former Gov. Matt Mead — to elevate the college into the nation’s “Tier-1” echelon of engineering colleges. Trustees in that meeting told Wright they weren’t satisfied with his answers, but it appeared he would have another opportunity to respond in May.
Wright’s supporters, which include Laramie-based state lawmakers and members of a board that advises the engineering school, believe Seidel might have targeted the dean after he resisted pressure to hand over a portion of his budget last summer to a new department. That department, the School of Computing, is among Seidel’s signature initiatives and is also directed by the president’s romantic partner. Wright, at the time, told administrators he could not shift the funds because the Legislature had specifically allocated them for the Tier-1 engineering initiative.
Anticipating the demotion, the engineering college’s 10 department heads signed a letter Monday calling for Wright to remain dean. “It would be wrong, and harmful to morale, to terminate Dean Wright without substantial justifications and a formal review process.”
Demotion sparks anger
That night, the board of trustees gathered for a hastily called closed-door meeting. In a statement to WyoFile, UW said the board decided to demote Wright in Friday’s executive session. “The decision was made by the Board, not President Seidel or his administration,” the university’s statement read.
The funding dispute did not drive Wright’s demotion, according to the statement. “The University had several performance reasons for his removal as Dean,” the statement, provided by UW spokesperson Chad Baldwin, read. “The College has not met many of these (Tier 1) goals and he could not articulate a cogent plan to make progress on meeting the goals.”
Wright declined to comment for this story.
The university announced his demotion Tuesday.
In response, the faculty senate’s seven-member executive committee accused university leadership of ignoring the institution’s “principle of shared governance,” and said Seidel had lost their trust.
“UW will not achieve its goals without trust in leadership and a willingness to work together, based on mutual respect,” their statement read. “The President’s seemingly arbitrary actions, unwillingness to listen to others and lack of concern for shared governance has eroded what little trust remained between the faculty and his office and has led to a state where the faculty do not have any confidence in his leadership.”
The letter cites a section of UW regulations stating that removing or hiring academic officers “normally shall involve significant faculty participation,” and accuses the trustees and administration of ignoring that guidance.
In UW’s statement, Seidel offered a measure of conciliation. “Trust is essential, and where my actions or words may have contributed to a loss in that trust, I take responsibility,” he said. “I’m committed to growing our partnership through open dialogue and a renewed focus on shared governance — because we can only achieve our goals if we do it together.”
Outside response
But the fallout to Wright’s demotion hasn’t slowed.
On Tuesday, the John P. Ellbogen Foundation, a major contributor to UW energy research initiatives, among other things, sent a letter to UW informing officials that it would pause the funding review process. The letter, which was obtained by WyoFile, cited “recent leadership decisions made by President Seidel, his advisors and the Board of Trustees, particularly those regarding the dismissal of the Dean of the College of Engineering.”
“The manner and lack of transparency in which business was conducted diminishes the confidence and trust that are foundational to our commitments as a donor,” the letter, which is signed by the foundation’s board, read.
Members of the engineering college’s advisory board, which is composed of industry professionals, have also written letters to the trustees decrying the decision. Wright had strong relationships with donors, those private sector engineers said, and the university risked donations beyond those of the Ellbogen Foundation.
“You have destroyed the best thing that had happened to the College of Engineering in the last decade and have alienated many people that have been working hard to make this college the best it can be,” Zia Yasrobi, a board member and Jackson engineer, wrote in a letter to longtime UW trustee and the current board chairman, Kermit Brown.
Seidel came to the university in July 2020 following a previous mysterious and controversial demotion carried out by the board of trustees — that of former president Laurie Nichols. Trustees refused to explain why they had removed Nichols, a relatively popular administrator, until WyoFile and the Casper Star-Tribune sued for records that revealed a secret investigation into her comportment as president.
Beneath the sudden upwelling of rancor over Wright’s demotion lies frustration with Seidel’s drive to establish a School of Computing, which began within the engineering college and has now been established as an independent entity. Seidel’s partner, Dr. Gabrielle Allen, directs the School of Computing.
Allen’s online biography states she was appointed to the position after a nationwide search. But her appointment has driven “general concern, among faculty and legislators,” state senator and UW professor Chris Rothfuss told WyoFile. “There’s no doubt that [Allen] is qualified for that position but that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to put your partner into the leadership position of your flagship effort at the university.”
Seidel was not involved in the search that led to Allen’s hiring, according to the university’s statement. Allen has given the university notice that she will end her tenure as director of the School of Computing before the start of the 2025-2026 academic year and return to teaching, the statement reads.
Conflict over budget transfer
Two state lawmakers who represent Laramie, Rothfuss and Rep. Karlee Provenza, expressed concern last September that Wright would face retaliation for opposing the transfer of $500,000 from the engineering college’s budget to the School of Computing.
That August, Wright wrote in a memo to the provost that he could not “in good conscience” transfer the money to the School of Computing because the Legislature had dedicated it to the engineering college’s drive to achieve Tier-1 status.“I believe it would be interpreted as being contrary to the intent of the legislature, and would set a troublesome precedent,” Wright wrote. “I believe that in taking that action, there would likely be negative political and financial ramifications for UW.”
The university has published a “Conflict of Interest Management Plan” that states the funding decisions for the School of Computing will be made by the provost, board of trustees or other administrators and that Seidel generally is removed from major decisions impacting his partner’s employment.
Despite that agreement, Wright wrote that he had discussed the funding change with Seidel both in person and by email, and that the president had pushed for the transfer.
Wright consulted with his advisory board before making that decision, three members of the board told WyoFile. They agreed the money shouldn’t be transferred.
According to Baldwin’s statement, the university reviewed whether Seidel had violated his conflict of interest plan after Wright rebuffed the funding transfer.
As to whether hiring Allen was a conflict, Baldwin wrote that the university conducted a competitive search for a director of the computing school, and Wright was one of two officials who reviewed applications and ultimately offered the job to Allen. Seidel was not involved in the process, he added.
The university’s subsequent review of the funding dispute found that the request to shift the $500,000 was prepared in collaboration with the university’s budget department, and disputed Wright’s contention that it violated the Legislature’s intent for the money.
“The $500,000 was always devoted to Tier 1 goals and was always designed to be part of the [College of Engineering] budget,” the statement read.
In September, the administration dropped the request to shift the $500,000, and, according to Thursday’s statement, Wright agreed that the money could be used for “joint hires” with the School of Computing.
“The University found that since the President did not direct additional finances to SOC, nor did he affect or direct any academic policy other than to reinforce the original budget and intent of the SOC, there is likely not an actual violation of the President’s [Conflict of Interest] plan,” Baldwin wrote. That finding was backed by the trustees.
Politicians weigh in
A month after Wright’s August memo, Rothfuss and Provenza wrote Gov. Mark Gordon and asked him to monitor funding for the engineering college to see that it stayed true to the Legislature’s intent. They also asked Gordon to protect Wright’s job. “We are deeply concerned about any potential retaliation against Dean Wright for standing firm on these principles,” they wrote.
Though Wright’s demotion came seven months after his memo, Rothfuss said he believes it remains the driving force behind the move.
“In my view, it is exactly what I was concerned about along with Rep. Provenza,” he told WyoFile on Wednesday. “I think there was a desire at that point to terminate [Wright]. It was paused until an alternative explanation could be generated.”
Yasrobi, the advisory board member, shared that view. “It’s a cover,” he said of the university’s statement this week. Wright, he said, had stabilized and advanced the engineering college after years of turmoil. “The things that have happened during his tenure there are amazing,” he said.
The administration’s determination to establish the School of Computing has sapped resources from the drive for a Tier-1 engineering school, Rothfuss said, “which is literally and precisely what [Wright] was concerned about.” In that light, the criticisms trustees levied at Wright over the progress on that initiative and the public explanation for his demotion are “truly absurd,” Rothfuss said.
In a statement to WyoFile, Gordon appeared to stand by the university’s decision.
“Changes in any team can be disruptive and I recognize how especially difficult it is to see the departure of Dean Wright,” he said. “On a personal level, my heart goes out to a friend as it does to all those who benefited from his tenure at the University – students, staff, and fellow faculty. As an ex-officio of the Board of Trustees, I have monitored developments in this unfortunate issue. I am confident this difficult step was not taken without extensive and thorough deliberation by all involved.”
The Legislature has grown increasingly socially conservative during Seidel’s tenure, and UW is a target of lawmakers who’ve criticized its diversity efforts and gender studies program. Lawmakers, particularly those in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, have challenged its funding and ability to craft its own programming and regulate the carrying of guns on campus.
This year, the Legislature banned spending on diversity, equity and inclusion-related programming.
Seidel has not opposed those demands as vociferously as many in Laramie would like, Provenza said.
Rothfuss noted that because Wright was dismissed a month after the Legislature adjourned, lawmakers won’t be able to weigh in immediately. But he said it’s clear that a reservoir of frustration with Seidel’s leadership has now burst to the surface.
“This was a poor decision,” Rothfuss said. “It is pouring gasoline on the embers of a fire.”
Editor’s note: The John P. Ellbogen Foundation is a funder of WyoFile. The organization has no involvement in WyoFile’s editorial decisions.
Tier-1 Initiative Funds to SoC: To help bring clarity to usage of the Tier-1 Initiative Funds delegated to the School of Computing in support ONLY for helping achieve the Tier-1 goals, please find the FY24 budget report signed by Dean Wright:
https://www.uwyo.edu/soc/_files/2-13/2024-soc-tieri-report-revised.pdf
Note the $500K comes from the additional $5.5M advocated for by President Siedel for the College of Engineering (as confirmed by Dean Wright’s report stated on p.107 in the paragraph immediately following the Year 6-12 budget): https://www.uwyo.edu/trustees/_files/docs/2025-board-meetings/03-2025/public-session-report-march-26-28-2025.pdf
Thank you for your summarization of Dean Wright’s presentation to the BoT. I only heard the middle of the presentation. In my previous experiences with the BoT, it’s apparent that they do not understand how complicated running a higher education institution is. It’s not a corporation. The mission of this school, the state’s only 4 year, state funded University and a land grant school, is to teach students. That mission has been ignored while this administration and its bureaucratic administrative layers build their little fiefdoms at the expense of the good people doing the mission’s work, like Dean Wright.
Is the University not here for the students? I’m thinking of the lack of consideration for students in the midst of this controversy and its timing. IMHO..this action demonstrates significant disregard for students who will be graduating from CEPS under Dean Wright’s leadership this spring. They won’t be receiving diplomas from their Dean. Additionally, the annual Tau Beta Pi Engineering honors banquet is scheduled for April 26th. This recognition dinner distributes hundreds of student scholarships, awards and honors for a wide range of achievements in CEPS. Recipients will not be granted awards from their Dean. If personnel matters are discussed behind closed doors at UW could the Trustees not have waited until after graduation to announce their decision on this issue?
To be clear, the president has a lot of support from faculty but they are too busy to engage in this political whining and complaining about vague complaints and one-sided rumors. UW is filled with ineffective, low performing faculty and staff, and they are all content with the status quo. They like to act like they are doing things but they actually only resist things. The Dean is clearly popular, but he was clearly ineffective, just look at his presentation and past performance. And the letters from the faculty senate and deans were empty and even a bit comical. Seems like the hit job is on the president not the dean. A hit job that wasn’t about the dean but it was about the dean. A dean being moved back to their faculty position is not news. It’s only news because of a carefully planned and well curated and extremely one-sided PR narrative. There are more important things UW should be focusing on.
In addition to Pres Seidel and the BoT any investigation/review should include looking at UW’s lead general legal counsel Tara Evans and her involvement. She’s one of the consistent members who’s been around in each of the questionable decisions.
I taught at UW for 24 years in Engineering. All I wish to say is the administrative process expressed here needs a SERIOUS audit on how this “business” of using grant money within the guise of doing any teaching for students needs serious scrutiny from outside sources.
If this was not so sad it would be funny. The BoT – the same group of good-old-boys who got rid of Laurie Nichols. And, they open a new Department (as they close old ones) so the “romantic partner” new President of the U can have a job -and then try to take money from another department for it!
President Seidel’s leadership at the University of Wyoming has been Great. Could a lot of this criticism be based on his following the directives from the State legislatures concerning banned spending on diversity, equity and inclusion-related programming. The people of Wyoming voted in their legislatures to represent their values. Legislatures in Wyoming are following the will of the people of Wyoming. We need to support President Seidel.
No, DEI has nothing to do with this. Cam Wright is one of the best deans this college and university has ever had. Seidel seemed to have a personal vendetta against Dean Wright and was like a dog with a bone for a long time now. We’ve just had to watch and endure as Cam patiently dealt with everything, which he did with the utmost professionalism. How this dismissal was handled went outside of all policies and procedures and is NOT what anyone in the College (and beyond) wanted. Public declarations stating that this isn’t what we want were ignored. It just isn’t right and this Board of Trustees and President NEED to be held accountable for their poor decisions. This is one in a long line of bad decisions our leadership has made. They need to be held accountable.
You are mistaken. As illustrated in the letter from the deans, two of the three concerns were related to the legislature’s actions. The president responses to those requirements have been very good, generally speaking. They say this is not about the dean but the bigger issues because they know that firing a dean is perfectly normal at a university. Deans serve at the will of the president and BOT. The BOT decided that the Dean was not performing, and it’s clear he has not been performing.
The University leadership, including Ed Seidel, is a secret society. Decisions are made behind closed doors and the rationale for such decisions is never explained nor revealed to the public. The University needs a clean sweep of current trustees and most especially Ed Seidel, who has demonstrated he is incapable of independent thought: he exists primarily to do the bidding of the Freedom Caucus. This is the second incident of a University staff member “pulling strings” in order to facilitate the hiring of a romantic partner, despite the obvious conflicts of interest. Many of us are still smarting from the dismissal, under secret and suspicious circumstances, of UW’s popular and first female president, Laurie Nichols. (That move gave the University a well-deserved black eye.) The academic autonomy of the University has always been under threat, but never more so than right now. The legislature and top UW leadership are destroying the University I knew. This is the reason I have counseled my grandchildren to attend a university out of state.
What I find perhaps most interesting is watching this board of seemingly otherwise intelligent good people making the “best,” decisions for the people based on such expertly curated crafted narratives that they clearly believe from their glass castle. I venture to guess whatever story has been spun by general counsel and the president for the board was never actually confirmed through a discovery process. Maybe they should have taken a moment and actually asked Dean Wright their questions directly. Trust but verify.
YES!!! THIS!!
Between Seidel, the Board of Trustees, and constant meddling by the state legislature’s MAGA wing, UW is being transformed into a second rate junior college. People should look elsewhere for a quality education.
My son is a top petroleum drilling engineer in the country. Graduated from UW School of engineering. Thank you for doing a great job. Hoping this gets resolved quickly & focus returns to the quality education UW provides.
UW is overdue for some old fashioned campus activism. Here’s the good news students and faculty: Seidel and his sweetie’s taxpayer funded nepo love nest isn’t difficult to find. Peacefully gather at the end of the driveway, set up camp, and let our feudal lord know what you think.
Keep your heads up, UW. Your toilets are being safely guarded by Worland’s finest bowl-cut Karen, martha lawley, you’re getting guns on campus, you’re boycotting sporting events based on bigotry, WY’s best students are choosing to study elsewhere, and now the grants are starting to dry up because even conservative donors are nauseated. At least the Dow is in free-fall, so your economic outlook while trying to pay off financially exploitive student loans is also in jeopardy. Go team orange, ‘Murika is now officially a dumpster fire.
Simply put, Dean Wright has not done anything to move the College of Engineering towards Tier 1. Almost no progress at all. He’s a super nice guy that people like, but clearly he’s not an effective dean. And the excuse that he doesn’t have resources is just that…an excuse. Nobody has enough resources, but effective people figure it out. And good deans figure it out and get stuff done. And his presentation to the BOT was absolutely terrible, and that was the last straw. Why was he not better prepared? Why did he not do a better job? Because he’s not a good dean. The fact that his friends rally around him indicate he’s a great person that buys people beer, but it’s clear that he’s just not a very good dean. And to be honest, if he sues UW, then that just confirms he’s not a good dean. And it shows he cares more about himself than UW. Deans get fired all the time. You’re not that special. Your tenure is about average for deans, and clearly you’re not above average. And if donors use their leverage to help their ineffective friends, they also are more interested in the individuals instead of the institution and mission. Do you want UW to be great or not? One person is not that important, especially when they’ve shown they don’t get things done. The entire episode reveals who are the selfish children and who are the mission driven adults.
I’m sorry sir, but he is an exceptional dean and an exceptional human being. He also makes ethical decisions, which sadly sets him apart from most of the rest of the leadership at UW. The College of Engineering has done quite well under him and would continue to thrive if he remained the dean. Yes, his friends like myself, are frankly beyond pissed off about this decision. But honestly we are all sick and tired of being betrayed by the “leadership” at this university. We all know damn well that these people who are being let go simply would not agree to go along with some unethical directive handed down by Seidel. To me, the fact that people like Dean Wright refused to just hand over some Tier 1 funding to Seidel for his “school of computing” project because it was highly unethical/likely illegal, is exactly what we should expect from our heads, deans, and directors at this institution. That’s leadership. What’s not leadership is firing the provost because he refused to go along with firing Dean Wright and then later firing Dean Wright in the most cowardly and spineless of ways this week. UW can be a really great institution and we all want that for the good of the institution and the people of this state. I truly believe it was a really solid school when I started here 20 years ago. But it has been in steady decline since 2011 by one bad decision after another at the behest of the trustees and the leadership in Cheyenne. We can do better because we have done really well in the past when there was not so much political noise interfering in every aspect of what makes/made UW a really great place. The politicians need to quit putting their thumb on the scale and let us, the faculty, staff, and the few good administrators we have left do what we do well. I know this comment could draw the ire of some of those in power, but this needs to be said. UW can and should be a great institution for the people of Wyoming, but that’s never going to happen when people like Dean Wright get let go for doing what all good leaders should do.
The President and BOT advocated and secured $5m extra funds for engineering. Dean Wright has not achieved much towards the Tier 1 goals despite this support. The BOT decided based on his lack of performance. His presentation to the BOT was poor…to put it politely. Deans come and go, and Wright has lasted longer than the average tenure of a Dean. If he had performed, he would still be Dean. All the other noise is theater by uninformed gossip queens.
Did you read Dean Wright’s report to the BoT? I did. It addressed and outlined EVERYTHING that has been done, which has been pretty awesome given the circumstances we faced in this nation since Cam stepped in as Dean. Here is an excerpt from his last weekly email he sent out to college faculty and staff, which goes to show the kind of leader he really is: “The bottom line was that despite less than half the amount of funding that the original Governor’s Task Force said it would take, and going through 5 Deans, 6 Provosts, and 6 Presidents, and enduring multiple budget cuts, faculty cuts, a COVID-19 pandemic, and a college reorganization, etc… we’ve made significant progress on most of the goals. I take no credit for that; it’s the hard work that you all did and continue to do that moves us forward like that. I thank you all.” You can see that the barriers faced have not been easy. Fact of the matter is that there are only so many hours in the day and if the university wanted him focusing on Tier 1 status (which he was, to the best of his ability!), then maybe they shouldn’t have made so many decisions that put roadblocks in the way and slowed down our progress. We ALL care about achieving tier 1 status but there’s a lot more involved than just throwing money at it. I firmly believe we would have achieved this status in the next few years had Dean Wright been allowed to continue as Dean. And as for his presentation to the board being “poor”… it was thorough, factual, and not even fully presented when the Board rudely cut him off midway through. In my opinion, their decision was already made in that moment and Cam was doomed if he did and doomed if he didn’t. If he were a bad Dean/Leader, you wouldn’t be seeing this level of outcry from internal and external persons. ALL department heads in the College of Engineering & Physical Sciences stand behind Cam and, as of today, ALL other Deans on the campus publicly do now, too. And both parties of leadership are contesting how this was handled. To me, that speaks VOLUMES. And, finally, let me share Cam’s last email to us, saying goodbye. Again, it reflects the kind of person he REALLY is: “As I expressed in my Friday email last week (which now has to be my last such email), keep the really important things, like our students and our people, foremost in your mind. We have a great college, wonderful faculty and staff, and amazing students. Regardless of the machinations of the upper levels of administration, we’re here for the students. Stay strong, and don’t shy away from doing the right thing.”
I did read the report and I saw the (horrible) presentation, which had to be the last straw. There was supplemental funding and faculty lines that are being ignored in this narrative. Everyone has an excuse. Good leaders figure out a way to get things done. Everyone faces scarce resources. Reorganize, reallocate, refocus. There is a clear argument that Dean Wright was ineffective. But it doesn’t really matter what we think, particularly since we don’t know all the information (by law). The BOT knows a lot more information and ultimately they didn’t think he was performing, and their role is to hire/fire deans. It’s not the end of the world to have new people with new ideas and new energy step in to actually get things done.
With all due respect, I’m sorry to have to correct you again, but I am most certainly not an uninformed gossip queen. Honestly, there are times where I wish I were a bit more uninformed so that I wasn’t constantly aware of the total failure of leadership at this university. To my own detriment, I pay very close attention to the happenings of this university, am well connected with those in the know, and sadly have gotten really good at reading between the lines.. Being ignorant of just how bad the administration is at this university would be a bit of a blessing for me, but I actually care about UW and thus do my homework to learn and fact check BS like this. Trust me, I’d be a much happier person if I simply didn’t care, but for some reason I still do. Good deans shouldn’t “come and go” that serves no purpose, we need people like Dean Wright to stick around. It’s called institutional knowledge. This man has been nothing short of outstanding as the Dean of the College of Engineering and I wish we could replace Seidel with him as the president of this institution. If the BOT had any common sense and a good understanding of what this university needs leadership-wise, they would make this happen. But hey have failed us pretty much at any and every opportunity they have been afforded. I certainly hope* the BOT takes the time to read through these comments, maybe they will learn some things.
Very good article. Glad so much was brought to light. Thank You!
As a UW alum, it has become increasingly hard to hear the latest and not so greatest developments coming out of the school in the last year. Let’s add this disruptive transition to the growing list of UW’s steady downfall, shall we?
What was once a place where curious and bold minds came to learn and return to their rural community as contributing members of society- appears to be in the throes of a freedom caucus, hostile take over. Do better UW.
Sincerely,
Everyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired with the state of Wyoming continued nonsense.
10000% cosign this.