PROFESSOR EMERITUS NAMED AT CWC; HONORARY DEGREES TO BE CONFERRED ON TWO

Wayne Montgomery

There were Two nominees for honorary degrees: 

Last year no names came forward for the CWC honorary degree, the Associate of Humane Letters. President Tyndall has the authority to confer the degrees and two individuals were selected.  Tyndall informed the trustees that CWC has a committee and a process for selecting community members for this honor. The criteria for the awardee:

• Made significant contributions to the culture or quality of life in the communities CWC serves.

Contributions should impact a community at large, not CWC specifically

• Be a person of great integrity.
• Be an inspiration to students through their example
• (Special consideration if) the nominee does not have a formal higher education degree

Nominated this year are:

Deanna Trumble: She has done many service activities such as volunteering for the Christmas Basket Program in Lander since 2012. The program delivers 250-300 baskets of food and gifts to families in need every Christmas. Deanna orders the food, organizes the assembly of the baskets, solicits volunteer youth and adults from the community to help, and oversees the actual day of delivery and pickup. Deanna is the Director of First Stop Help Center in Lander. She respectfully and kindly interacts with the clients coming to First Stop for help with everything from rent to utilities to referrals to other agencies. She manages the intensive paperwork involved in qualifying for and distributing grant money, and she works every year to engage the community in donating to First Stop through the Lander Community Foundation. She often speaks at organizations in town about the work of First Stop. Deanna co-founded Almost Home Wyoming dedicated to preventing homelessness including hands-on work for giving hot meals to homeless individuals such as most Fridays at the Good Samaritan Community Meal, checking on them, settling them in; teaching swimming to kids and adults and more. It was explained that Trumble was most recently in Poland, helping refugees from the war in Ukraine

John Wadda: He has been instrumental in encouraging and assisting people to pursue education, including identifying training opportunities and service gaps, finding funding, and implementing programs. As Program Director of the Eastern Shoshone 477 Program, he oversees implementation of job-training programs for youth, work skill training for unemployed and underemployed individuals and higher education for individuals working toward earning college degrees. He supports student efforts, at all levels of learning, by meeting with them individually to provide success coaching, resource support and referrals. He serves on the Tribal Preservation Office Advisory Board and is one of the few surviving fluent speakers of the Shoshone language. He shares stories about his experiences growing up, attending college and the importance of carrying on traditional practices. He is a U.S. Army Veteran, having served in the Vietnam War and currently serves as the Vice Commander of the American Legion Post #81. In addition, John served as a member of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, worked in the field of education at the elementary school level and served as the Higher Education Director for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe for many years.

Shared from WYO Today Media