TORRINGTON – With a minimum of pomp and circumstance, Eastern Wyoming College’s new Trustees Thomas McCreery and Darrell Wilkes were administered their oaths of office to take their seats Tuesday on the EWC Board of Trustees.

McCreery and Wilkes won their seats in the November General Election. McCreery fills the seat previously held by Area 4 Trustee Angie Chavez. Wilkes takes over the Trustee-At-Large position held by George Nash, who decided not to run for another term.

Following the swearing in, trustees turned their attention to additional housekeeping chores, namely electing their board officers and making appointments to various outside board and agencies.

Trustee John Patrick was re-elected as board president on a nomination by trustee Marilyn Fisher, seconded by Mike Varney. Fisher was nominated by Varney to continue her role as board vice president, seconded by Patrick.

“Trustee Varney has asked to be allowed to vacate the position of treasurer he’s held for 10 years,” Patrick told the board. 

Wilkes moved and McCreery seconded to elect Varney as board secretary and Varney nominated trustee Bob Baumgardner, seconded by Judith Bartman, to the role of treasurer.

In other business, college President Lesley Travers told the board she met Monday with various staff and student groups regarding the now-vacant post of Vice President of Student Services. The college administration is still studying options regarding the position vacated last month with the resignation of Don Appiarius.

Following a special meeting of the board called to accept Appiarius’ resignation and approve releasing him from his contract, Travers told The Telegram there were several options regarding the VPSS position. Currently, the duties of the position are being split between Travers and Vice President of Academic Services Roger Humphrey.

The college could begin a national search for a new VPSS, or “look within EWC and promote from within, grow our own VPSS,” Travers said following the Nov. 30 meeting. 

“A third option – and there are plenty more, but these are the three we’re really looking at – would be to promote Roger Humphry to executive vice president to cover both student and academic services and to hire a dean of students.”

Travers told the board on Tuesday she invited the groups representing staff and student organizations to meet to “open the door and encourage people to come talk to me.”

Travers also told trustees she wanted to find three people within the college community to assume oversite of counseling, diversity and safety committees and establish stipends to cover the additional duties, including organizing committee meetings and making sure ongoing efforts of the groups continue, as required by Higher Learning Commission guidelines.

“I’d like someone to get a little extra pay, to ensure (the groups) meet, something we’re going to be working on as we start the new year,” Travers said. “Safety has kind of been all over the place, but these are three areas I think are incredibly important.”

The board also approved on final readings revisions to two policies as part of an ongoing periodic review. The first, covering board meetings, was revised to clarify specific administrative rules.

The second, governing the college’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, was amended to include genetic information, pregnancy and gender identity under a listing of traits that may not be used when considering employment, promotions, discipline or a host of other employment practices.

Human Resources Director Ed Meyer told trustees the revisions were taken directly from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and guarantees the college is in compliance with federal labor laws and standards.