UW offers many different options to help all students. Some of these options include alternative formats for reading assignments, test taking and note taking accommodations, real time captioning, interpreter services and extended time for test taking and assignments.

Chris Primus, the associate director of Student Educational Opportunity, said, “UDSS also has an assistive technology lab with software designed to make use of computers more efficient and possible for students with different disabilities.  For example, we have a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking, a voice recognition program designed to respond to voice commands.  Students who express themselves better orally than they do when they type may find DNS handy, as will students with hand function limitations.

“We have software that will read back what is written on the screen, a handy tool for students with low vision or blindness, or those with learning disabilities affecting reading.”

UW’s disability program also ensures that every student is evaluated on a case-to-case basis.

Amanda Hearne, a coordinator for the University Disability Support Services, said, “We gather self report information and documentation to decide what accommodations will be most efficient for them and most effective for their academics. So, just because we offer things like alternative format doesn’t mean that every student that comes to UDSS is eligible for that.

“It really depends on their documentation and their self-report says. And we look at that every semester for every class for every student. So, it is very much personalized to each student.”

While these services are readily available, students with disabilities still need to seek the help themselves. “In high school or elementary school, students are sought out with disabilities and they have [Individual Education Plans] created, or 504 plans, and they have a team working with them. Students who come to the University have to self identify. That is the difference between high school and college,” Hearne said.

IEPs are a set of goals a student sets for a year in school. A 504 plan refers to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and helps make sure students are involved to a certain extent with the normal activities of a school day.

A lot of the services that UDSS offers pertain to students with emotional or learning disabilities, but Hearne said that UW is fortunate to have good facilities for those with disabilities.

“With all the construction on our campus, we’ve seen a lot of increase in accessibility in our buildings, which is really cool. We have a very accessible campus for small town Wyoming,” Hearne said.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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While the event is intended to increase dialogue of the subject on campus, there are a number of services offered that already help foster diversity, such as the Rainbow Resource Center, located on the main floor of the Union.

Emily Hart, a senior in the Division of Social Work and head coordinator of the center, said that the center has a number of programs, one of the key features being the opportunity to meet other like-minded students.

“The biggest thing we offer students, both GLBTQ and non[- GLBTQ], is the social networking opportunities here at the center,” she said.

Hart added that giving students a positive, safe environment to interact is central to the center’s mission.

“We are in a very typically conservative area, which means that more help and support can be given, the better,” she said. “It’s a safe environment for everyone really. Anyone can come in as long as they are respectful.”

One feature of the center is its expansive library of GLBTQ-related books and media.

According to Hart, the center has the largest GLBTQ library in the state (980 titles in all) that they work to keep updated. The center recently received a $500 donation from TriO and is using the money to update their library.

TriO Programs is based out of the office of Student Educational Opportunity and is designed to help individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Along with being a safe environment and having the library, the center also offers academic support.

“We can also help students academically through assisting students with making schedules or working with the registrar’s office,” Hart said.

This support is extended by the center’s mentoring program, which helps incoming GLBTQ students adjust to college life.

“We have a peer mentoring program now that will take students who have been down here a year or longer, and they can mentor incoming students, to help start a relationship with campus and better integrate into Laramie’s community,” Hart said. “This is a program we piloted in the fall, and it is run specifically out of our office.”

There are, however, a number of challenges associated with running the resource center, Hart said.

“On average, we have close to 3,600 [students], who are members of the GLBTQ community, who go to school at UW. We are also the only hub in the state, so we try and network with GLBTQ students throughout the state,” she said.

Hart added that another challenge associated with the GLBTQ community in Laramie is the political climate that causes many students to be hesitant to be open about their sexual orientation.

“It’s really difficult to get solid statistics on how many GLBTQ students are currently enrolled at UW, because many students don’t want to come out,” she said.

In the future, Hart said she hopes to continue to expand the services the resource center can provide students both GLBTQ and non-GLBTQ.

“I think the work we do here, and the services we provide, are important—not just to the GLBTQ community on campus—but to the state as a whole,” she said.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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“Early on, CHAP was a way for health professions students to get volunteer hours and to put their interests to work on campus and in the community,” Colleen Hubbell, associate lecturer and licensed counselor in the College of Health Sciences, said.

According to Hubbell, in the last few years, strong partnerships have developed between CHAP and community organizations.

She explained that CHAP is currently working on several different projects including volunteer opportunities at Senior Housing, an apartment complex for low-income seniors. The organization is also working with a program to help teach young children about health professions through puppetry as well as a new partnering program.

“In conjunction with Ivinson Memorial Hospital, [we are] partnering CHAP volunteers with people with pre-diabetes to encourage them to lose weight and make healthier food choices,” Hubbell said.

CHAP is a student-driven, extracurricular and inter-professional organization.

“Students involved report benefiting from CHAP as a place to meet and learn from other students,” Hubbell said. “Because CHAP is inter-professional, the majors represented range from within the College of Health Sciences nursing, medicine, kinesiology and health, pharmacy, to all across campus- art, biology, micro-biology, business, nutrition, and undeclared, to name a few.”

Hubbell said that students say they have been energized by getting involved with community organizations and being able to contribute to making a difference.

“CHAP works because students aspiring to various health careers are innately committed to improving the quality of life of their fellow citizens,” she said.

“Cathy Valades-Flynn keeps the diffuse group connected through regular e-mail announcements, lunch-time meetings and personal involvement,” she said.

CHAP meets twice a month, the first Wednesday at noon and the third Thursday at 4 p.m. On average about 20 students attend each meeting but nearly 300 students a year participate in some way.

“CHAP is not a club. There are no dues or requirements for joining. Just come to a meeting, have lunch, and bring your ideas for making a difference.”

Those interested in being added to the email list can contact Valades-Flynn at cvalades@uwyo.edu or call 766-4908.

Email the author: rkubiche1@uwyo.edu

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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As the ball careened off the rim once, and then again, hope faded to an imperceptible glimmer for Wyoming, and it appeared all but certain that the Cowboys and fourth-year head coach Heath Schroyer would once again come up heartbreakingly short in a crucial conference game against a top opponent.  

Sophomore wing Daylen Harrison grabbed a rebound and fired a desperation heave from the corner in the game’s dwindling moments, but Harrison’s shot clanged off the side of the rim and – for the briefest of moments – the ball hovered over the court like an errant balloon.

A forest of arms rose up under the hoop, and the Arena-Auditorium trembled under the tension of the baited breaths of 4,404 people as the clock ticked down to :01.   

With a sea of tumult thrashing about around him, Francisco Cruz grabbed the loose ball and – falling backwards – threw up one final prayer.

The buzzer sounded. The net rippled. A celebration of brown and gold erupted.

And a team’s entire season – and identity – may have undergone a complete transformation in the blink of an eye.

Cruz’s floater over the outstretched arm of New Mexico forward Alex Kirk proved to be the clincher in Wyoming’s 67-66 win over the Lobos on Saturday—ending a thriller of white-knuckle proportions which was anything but just another conference game for the Cowboys.

“It was a big win for our program and our team, and it was great for our kids,” Schroyer said in his press conference following the game.

Photo: DJ Bowman

“New Mexico is an unbelievable program with outstanding players and coaches. For us to get a win over a quality program like this is a big step in the right direction for our team.”

In a season which has been – in its young lifespan – tumultuous at best, and often thoroughly disappointing, Wyoming (8-8, 1-1 MWC) finally played to its potential and put together the signature win it has been searching for – and perhaps the very win Schroyer has been searching for throughout the past four seasons.

Hampered by nagging injuries to two of its top contributors – juniors Afam Muojeke and Adam Waddell – Wyoming had looked shaky in its first 15 contests of its 2010-11 campaign, as inconsistency and youth plagued the team in disappointing non-conference setbacks to Northern Colorado, North Florida, South Dakota, UC Irvine, and Wisconsin-Green Bay. 

The memories of a dismal 2009-10 season began to resurface after Wyoming blew a 13-point first half lead in its conference opener at rival Colorado State, as the Rams outscored the Cowboys 36-21 in the second half and ultimately put Wyoming away by a 73-60 margin.

Against New Mexico on Saturday, however, the Cowboys stood toe-to-toe with a formidable, 12 win team, conceding nothing to the defending conference champions.

Wyoming shot the ball well, hitting on 52.4 percent of its shots, and the Cowboys kept pace with the heavily favored Lobos thanks largely to two gutsy bench performances.

Harrison – who had struggled noticeably from the field in recent performances and did not see action against CSU – had a career afternoon, scoring 17 points on 6-7 shooting and pulling down four crucial rebounds.

“I thought Daylen was spectacular,” Schroyer said. “This was the Daylen we thought he could be. He was aggressive, and made the most of his opportunities today.”

Perhaps even more critical – and encouraging for the rest of the season – was the stellar performance from Waddell.

The 6’10 big man has been hobbled by an Achilles injury dating back to last season – missing a good portion of the nonconference season – but on Saturday he showed up in dominant fashion, even if his health still is not at 100 percent.

Waddell came through with 16 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of blocks in just 23 minutes of action – an impressive performance, which gives renewed optimism to Wyoming’s inside game if Waddell’s health continues to improve over the course of the season.

“We had no post that could guard Waddell,” New Mexico head coach Steve Alford said.

“Waddell did a heck of a job.”

“To have a healthy Adam Waddell, it really makes a difference,” Schroyer added.

Still, despite the efforts of Harrison, Waddell, and Desmar Jackson, who added 15 points of his own, it appeared as though it would be all for naught for the Cowboys when senior Lobo guard Dairese Gary, who led New Mexico with 24 points, sank two free throws to give the Lobos a 66-65 lead in the game’s waning moments.

A year ago in Laramie, UW went the distance with a leviathan New Mexico squad which finished the season 30-5, only to falter in the game’s closing moments and lose a 70-68 heartbreaker.

The Cowboys never recovered from the loss, struggling throughout the rest of the season and finishing with a 3-13 conference mark.

This year was different though, and only time will tell just how significant of a win it was.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The group will be conducting some basic training on using location beacons, survival strategies in avalanche conditions, and will conduct a discussion on the implications of snow pack on the possibility of an avalanche occurring.

Chris Laursen, one of the leaders for the avalanche awareness course, explained that despite the relative scarcity of avalanche occurrences in the Snowy Range, there is a need to be aware of these dangers when participating in any kind of outdoor activity in an at-risk area. 

“These things are dangerous. If you are hit by a serious avalanche, you have roughly 15 minutes of air to breath before you die. Our goal is to provide resources to students so they can be prepared in how to handle these situations,” Laursen said.

The training session will focus primarily on prevention and response. 

“Avalanches are dangerous, and the survival rate is low for people who face them. The main goal is obviously to avoid them entirely. But there are some steps you can take if you find yourself facing an avalanche.”

The session will cover basic use of beacons, which are used to find the location of someone who is trapped in an avalanche. 

These beacons are available for rental, along with a variety of other outdoor winter gear, at the Outdoor Program office, which is located in Half Acre Gym.

According to Laursen, there are four environmental factors that can create ideal avalanche conditions. 

“First you have the angle and slope of the terrain. Second, there is the way in which the snow is compacted. Third, there is the critical loading of the snow, or the amount of mass on the slab of snow. Last, you have the natural triggers, like sunlight or temperature,” he said. 

Laursen said the group would also cover how to handle whomping, which is a term for when a weak layer of snow breaks, causing the snow to collapse or crack.

There will be a more technical training session available in the spring for students looking to become Avalanche 1 certified. 

“The spring course will provide students with more in-depth knowledge on working with beacons, handling risky terrain, and how to react in the case of an avalanche,” Laursen said.

The program has received very good reception, “we have our training session on Saturday filled up, and we are expecting an equally good response next semester,” Laursen said.

Email the author: rkubiche@uwyo.edu

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Rivalry.

The venerated tradition of college football; a game between two celebrated foes, where emotions run high as the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, and where the significance of the matchup is transcended only by each team’s inexorable will to win.

All of the antecedent circumstances surrounding Saturday’s Border War matchup between Wyoming and Colorado State would seem to indicate a game of relative inconsequence.

The bowl aspirations of both teams fell along with the leaves weeks ago and have since been swept off in the November wind, leaving both teams with the barren realities of enormously disappointing seasons.

Wyoming (2-9, 0-7) is still winless in conference play this season, and the Cowboys were beaten handily by UNLV last Saturday–one week after falling 34-31 on the road to a previously winless New Mexico team.

The Rams (3-8, 2-5) were crushed 49-10 by BYU in their home finale last Saturday, and a once-proud Colorado State program, which appeared to be on the rise two years ago—after CSU won the 2008 New Mexico Bowl—now stares directly at the prospect of a second consecutive three-win season.

And yet, united by the frustrations of fruitless seasons and by the history and tradition of a rivalry more than one century deep, Wyoming and Colorado State will indubitably step onto the field of War Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon and play as intensely and as passionately as they have all season.

“It’s important because it’s our rivalry game and that makes it the most important game on our schedule,” Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen said in his Monday press conference. “It’ll always be the most important game on our schedule. It’s big to the people of the state of Wyoming, it’s big to everyone in our fanbase, our alumni and the kids in our program.”   

It’s perhaps of escalated importance to Colorado State, as the Rams still feel the sting of last season’s 17-16 defeat to Wyoming – a contest in which then-true freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels guided the Cowboys on a thrilling game-winning drive which culminated in a 33 yard Ian Watts field goal with 1:27 remaining.

Colorado State players, on the other hand, sat at home watching on television as Wyoming celebrated in jubilation, and the Rams could only have been thinking about what could have been if they would have stopped Carta-Samuels and spoiled the Cowboys’ bowl hopes. The Rams, doubtlessly, were thinking ahead to November for another shot at Wyoming.

Pete Thomas has turned some heads in the conference in his first season at the helm for the Rams, passing for 2,565 yards and 11 touchdowns, and although Thomas has been inconsistent at times—also throwing 12 interceptions—he is a formidable challenge for a Cowboy defense, which has been torched each of the previous three weeks.

On the other sideline, Carta-Samuels is still looking for a definitive performance in 2010, a season after winning MWC Freshman of the Year honors.

It isn’t that Carta-Samuels has struggled—he’s completed 59.1% of his passes—but the Cowboy offense has been stagnant for most of the season, and while Carta-Samuels hasn’t surpassed the 200 yard passing mark since week one, it’s in rivalry games where great players often rise to the occasion and etch their legacies definitively into the histories of a program. 

There’s no shortage of reasons to believe that players all over the field – wearing brown and gold and green and gold – will be up to the occasion on Saturday. 

It’s the final time outstanding senior contributors Chris Prosinski (366 career tackles, fourth all-time in Cowboy history), David Leonard (147), and Marcell Gipson will take the field as Cowboys.

It’s the opportunity to hoist the Bronze Boot in triumph and hold bragging rights over a fierce rival. 

It’s the Border War, and it’s still about as good as it gets for college football in November. 

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“At this point we think that the investment portfolio is strong and that the opportunity for full funding of scholarships are also strong, but we will continue to monitor it,” Richards said. “I don’t think that this is a high probability concern at this point.”

Though no consensus has been reached on the severity by the state Legislature, it is certain that UW will keep monitoring the program intensely as they see it as extremely important.

“The Hathaway Scholarship has been the single most important program to help students go to college because it funds such a significant part of tuition,” Sara Axelson, vice president of Student Affairs, said. 

“I know it has impacted the freshman classes, and not only with high-achieving students from Wyoming, but with students who were looking at bordering schools and decided with that kind of tuition to stay in state.”

Since it was first implemented, the program has continued to change its standards.

Originally, when the Hathaway was first awarded for graduating high school students in 2006, there were no curriculum requirements for students graduating high school, just GPA and ACT requirements. 

For those graduating in 2011, students will have to fulfill the full course requirements as well as the GPA and the ACT. 

The curriculum requirement in high school includes foreign language, social studies, science, language arts and math, which each meet different levels of requirements for the different levels of the Hathaway Scholarship.

 “It has changed over the last four or five years as it has changed to what the Legislature wants it to be,” Danee Hunzie, a UW admissions representative and former Hathaway recipient, said.

Email the author: mdonofri@uwyo.edu 

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The UW program also received recognition for its research publication, which the review ranked as first in the nation.

Department Chair Jason Shogren attributed the success of the department to the small size of the program and the specific nature of its research. 

When asked what set the UW program apart, Shogren credited his predecessors with building a successful model for the department.  

“In the mid -1970s, Professors Bill Morgon, Ralph d’Arge and Tom Crocker set a goal that the department should focus on one primary research area: Applied microeconomics,” Shogren said. “The idea was to specialize and create an environment to promote synergies across professors and students.”

Shogren explained that the core principles are to be small in design and to focus on strength.

The research conducted by the department has focused on five central issues, which have a direct relevance to Wyoming’s economic development.

“… how to manage financial risks in markets and non-market choices, evaluating risks to human and environmental health, integrating better economics with biology/ecology and other social sciences, how to develop a cost-effective mix of non-renewable and renewable energy, and how to promote economic development and social order without environmental degradation,” Shogren said.

Shogren added that the future implications of the research at the university are three fold. 

“First, the department will continue to produce new Masters and PhDs who will be leaders in applied economics,” he said. “Many of these students will help set the national agenda for how society can provide more environmental protection at less costs to society. 

He added that their faculty will continue to advise decision makers around the globe on economics and new policy options in the field. 

Finally, he said that their current work will attract students and other scholars to Wyoming.

The National Research Council releases its review of PhD programs once every decade.

Email the author: rkubichek@uwyo.edu 

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Weight Watchers now has a program at UW. The program, dubbed Weight Watchers at Work, started at the end of September under a provisional trial period. 

“Weight Watchers at Work is a slight spin on the traditional program to help members lose weight,” Tammy Scott, Weight Watchers liaison to UW, said.  

The program is the outcome of the UW Wellness Committee, she said. “There were some budget cuts; our hands were tied. We’re thrilled to have a program on campus.”

To work around the cuts and other stipulations, Scott and others brought Weight Watchers to UW apart from the school. UW does not aid the group financially. 

Weight Watchers at Work is in the middle of its first 17-week program, which ends in February. After that, the group will have to find a means to continue to pay for its space on campus. 

“We’ve been sponsored for six months, but after that, we have to find a way to pay for our room,” Scott said.

Currently, 23 staff and faculty members attend the weekly meetings.

“We have a good support group. It helps to keep people accountable,” Scott said. 

She also said that having the program at UW has cut down on the time she has to devote to it. So far, only staff and faculty have become members, but the program is open to students as well. 

“Anyone can still join, even though we’ve started our first program,” Scott said. 

 Meetings for Weight Watchers at Work are every Tuesday at noon.

Email: Rhaden Lind 

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Comprised of two separate donations, the money will be used to add several new works of modern or contemporary art to the outdoor exhibition in the coming year.

This will contribute to many of the other sculptures that have been an addition to campus since “Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational” was started in 2008.

One of the donations to the UW Art Museum of $25,000 was awarded by the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

The other donation of $50,000 was anonymous. 

The Art Museum has already planned to use some of the money to invite an artist from Great Britain to UW in November to create a sculpture specifically for campus

According to Susan Modenhauer, director and chief curator of the UW Art Museum, the sculpture program has broad reaching importance.

“It certainly enhances the cultural life of our community. If you look at Prexy’s, it transforms the campus to a creative place,” Modenhauer said, “Also, a number of those works have been used in a variety of courses on campus, and we use them in our K-12 education program here at the museum.”

Modenhauer said that the art has an economic benefit, as people come from outside the city to see the exhibition.

She said she believes that it encourages and fosters culture and art not just in Laramie and at UW, but across the entire state.

“Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational” was launched by the UW Art Museum in response to the interests of the university and Laramie communities for art in public places and to enable the museum to remain active during a year-long closure of its galleries for renovations. 

Initially planned as a one-year program, the project now has no planned date to finish, as it has become a staple in the community and campus.

Originally, the exposition was composed of 18 works with 12 works created or lent by artists, five from the Art Museum permanent collection, and one created by the artists of ARK for their new Creative Arts Center.

Since then, five pieces of art on loan have been removed, but, according to Modenhauer, the donations will allow UW to add at least two new works to campus.

According to its website, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund supports Wyoming’s culture and heritage through grant funding of innovative projects for the, “Enjoyment, appreciation, promotion, preservation, and protection of the state’s arts, cultural and historic resources.”

Email the author: mdonofri@uwyo.edu

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