Trustees moves forward with presidential candidate

TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) Board of Trustees voted to move forward with the process of appointing Dr. Jeffry Hawes as the new president of the school on Wednesday.
The board called the special meeting to order on Wednesday with a handful of community members and staff present at the meeting as others attended via Zoom.
After approving the agenda, the board went into executive session to consider the presidential candidate.
The executive session lasted for about two hours as the board also met with Callie Allred and Debbie Ocshner with EWC Staff Alliance as well as Kelly Strampe with Faculty Senate.

After moving out of executive session, Vice Chairwoman Judith Bartman made a motion to authorize Chairman Bob Baumgartner to follow up with the presidential candidate which was unanimously approved with one absence as Trustee Randy Adams left the meeting early.
Baumgartner clarified the candidate in the motion is Dr. Hawes.
In response to why the board felt Hawes was the right fit for the position, Baumgartner said his agriculture background was most important.
“His ag knowledge, the fact that he’s community oriented, he wants to get out into the community as well as communication skills,” Baumgartner said.
Trustee Kurt Sittner had a list of the pros and cons which the board received about the candidate from the community and said there were 48 strengths and 17 weaknesses. Sittner said there was nothing from the feedback which stood out to him about Hawes but the more strengths than weaknesses showed he was a good fit.
According to Baumgartner, he plans to contact Hawes immediately and will go into contract negotiations if he is still interested in the position.