In 1869, the territory of Wyoming was the first jurisdiction in the United States to grant women the right to vote. This was more than a half century before women were granted voting rights nationwide.
In 1886, the University of Wyoming was founded. Now 130 years later, the University of Wyoming has named its first woman president. On July 1, 2016 Laurie Stenberg Nichols will become the 26th president of the University of Wyoming. She has been offered a three-year contract, with base pay of $350,000 annually
Dr. Nichols is provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at South Dakota State University. She has served in that role since 2009. Earlier in her career, she taught for six years at the University of Idaho. In 1994, Dr. Nichols was named dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at South Dakota State University. For the 2008-09 academic year, Dr. Nichols was the interim president of Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Dr. Nichols is a graduate of South Dakota State University. She holds a master’s degree in education from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.