Wyoming Business: VP lends support to UW fund campaign

LARAMIE — Vice President Dick Cheney returned to his alma mater, the University of Wyoming, on the final weekend of September to help launch a major extension of the university’s fund-raising campaign.

Joking about his “spotty” and undistinguished early academic career, Cheney told students, faculty and UW supporters from around the state that UW gave him a “fresh start.” He said the school nurtured his interest in politics and public service that propelled him to the second-highest seat in the nation.

“It really started here at the University of Wyoming,” he said. “By the time I got here, I really wanted to go to school. I’d fooled around a lot and I was motivated to get an education. I had an opportunity to get a first-rate education here.”

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After graduating from Natrona County High School in Casper, Cheney attended Yale University and then Casper College and seemed destined to end up building power transmission lines for a living, much to the dismay of his high-school sweetheart, Lynn Vincent of Casper.

“Lynn made it clear she didn’t want to marry a lineman for the county,” he said during a public UW forum.

Cheney’s interest in government at UW led to a legislative internship, then an internship with Wisconsin’s governor, then a succession of jobs in Washington, D.C., including serving as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford.

After Ford’s defeat, Cheney returned to Wyoming, and in 1978 was elected to the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House, the first of six terms. He then served as secretary of defense and was CEO of Halliburton before being chosen as President George W. Bush’s running mate.

Cheney’s appearance on campus helped UW kick off the public phase of the largest private fund-raising campaign in its history, and the first in more than a decade.

“DISTINCTION: The Campaign for Wyoming’s University” was initiated in July 2000 to raise $100 million over five years in support of an Academic Plan completed by UW in 1999. With $78 million already raised, UW trustees decided earlier in September to set a new goal of $125 million.

The objectives of the academic plan and the fund-raising campaign are building the university’s national reputation through academic distinction, bolstering its financial position, and increasing student enrollment and retention.

The first phase of the fund-raising campaign drew 20 gifts of $1 million or more. In its entire history, UW has received only 36 such gifts.

Retired U.S. Sen. Alan K. Simpson is the campaign chairman, and Cheney is the honorary chairman.

Coal, gas bode well for state

CHEYENNE — Wyoming has weathered the nation’s current economic slowdown because of the strength of its energy and mining industry, according to Michael J. Orlando, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, Mo.

Orlando told audiences in Cheyenne, Casper and Sheridan that “significant changes” in the electric power generation industry, coupled with Wyoming’s abundance of coal and natural gas, bode well for Wyoming’s future.

“The Wyoming economy has been a prime beneficiary of these changes, and it stands to enjoy additional gains over the coming years,” Orlando said.

“Basically, Wyoming avoided recession in no small measure due to the performance of the mining sector in this state.”

Speaking at Federal Reserve economic forums, Orlando said the evolving electric power generation market is being driven by market restructuring, environmental regulations and technological innovation, and those changes “are having a profound impact on energy markets in general.”

“Given Wyoming’s energy resource endowment, the state’s economic fortunes are closely tied to developments in this one industry,” he said.

Cheyenne lures Kiwanis

CHEYENNE — Kiwanis International has committed to holding its Rocky Mountain District Convention in Cheyenne in 2005. The gathering will bring more than 500 Kiwanians to Cheyenne for four days, according to the Cheyenne Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. The CVB helped facilitate the gathering along with Cheyenne Kiwanis Club 2005 President Rick Abernethy.

The Rocky Mountain District has 120 Kiwanis clubs and about 4,600 members in Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska. Cheyenne’s club, with more than 400 members, is the largest in the district and the second largest in the world, after Birmingham, Ala.