Torrington, WY (Lancer Live) January 29th, 2024 — On today’s episode of the Lancer Live podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Hawes, EWC President, talked about the past and future for Eastern Wyoming College.
Past
“We’re still celebrating the 75 year anniversary of the college,” said Dr. Hawes. “I’d like to walk through that history briefly.”
Dr. Hawes shared some important dates and historical events since the founding of Eastern Wyoming College:
- Established in 1948 as the Southeast University Center, an extension of the University of Wyoming
- Torrington Public School District voted to organize the Goshen County Community College District in 1956
- Name changed to Eastern Wyoming Community College in 1968
- Veterinary Center Established in 1975
- Fine Arts Center Established in 1982
- Student Center Developed in 1988
- Housing Expansion in 2007
- Lancer Hall Dorm Constructed in 2010
- Campus Facility Improvement Plan in 2013
- Douglas Campus Established in 2015
- CTEC Built in 2017
- ATEC Built in 2020
Future Planning
Looking towards the future, Dr. Hawes said that EWC and it’s stakeholders recently updated EWC’s facility master plan, and is looking to develop a strategic master plan.
“Just this past year, we had an opportunity to reach out to all of our internal and external stakeholders. We just updated our facility master plan. A facility master plan is something that is required by the state to complete every three years. We just submitted that to the state, and we will be bringing our final draft to our Board of Trustees for approval in February. This facility master plan was exciting because we had an opportunity to lay out some guiding thoughts for the organization.”
Dr. Hawes said that while they just finished a facility master plan, which looks at projects to consider in the future, they’re also working on a strategic master plan, which addresses the overall vision of the college.
“We’re currently working under our existing strategic plan, which was established in 2021, and it guides decision making here at the college for the Board of Trustees through 2025. In 2026, that plan will sunset, and it will be time to place another visionary piece about where this college is going from 2026 through 2030. So, as we get ready to take on another planning stage for the college, we’re working with a number of individuals to gain some insight.”
“Eastern Wyoming College is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges. EWC has recently contracted and secured AACC to help provide talent to help us think about our strategic planning process. The process will be broken into a number of stages: envisioning stage, evaluation stage, an empowering stage, an execution stage, and an energizing stage. So in February, we will be holding two sessions for our employees to start reevaluating our current vision, mission and value statements for the college.”
Dr. Hawes further expanded on the planning process for the College. To listen to the full episode, visit our Podcasts page: https://goconow.com/podcasts/
