WEST is proud to recognize the πππ«π’ππ€π₯ππ§π π ππ¦π’π₯π² π π’π¬π‘ ππ§π ππ’π₯ππ₯π’ππ ππ’π¨π¦πππ«π’ππ¬ ππ§ππ¨π°ππ ππ«π¨πππ¬π¬π¨π«π¬π‘π’π© (Professorship), established by Dr. Dale Strickland and his wife, Paula Strickland, of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The endowed Professorship will help the University of Wyoming (UW) recruit and retain a full-time faculty member specializing in fish and wildlife biometrics, the application of mathematical and statistical methods to biological data.
The Professorship will advance research while providing important resources and mentorship for faculty and graduate students. Matching funds from the State of Wyoming doubled the gift, expanding its long-term impact on UW students, faculty, and communities.
Dale and Paula moved to Wyoming from Tennessee in 1972, when Dale began pursuing a Ph.D. in Zoology and Physiology at UW. After graduating in 1975, he joined the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and later became Assistant Chief of the Wildlife Division. He also served on the faculty of UWβs Department of Statistics in 1990 and 1991. Paula served Wyoming communities as an elementary school teacher for more than 36 years before retiring.
In 1990, Dale and Dr. Lyman McDonald co-founded WEST to provide environmental and statistical consulting and contract research for industry, government, and private organizations. Their work combined ecology and statistics to solve environmental challenges, establishing the quantitative foundation on which WEST continues to grow. Today, WEST employs hundreds of professionals across the United States and Canada, maintains a long history of research collaboration with UW, and has hired many UW graduates.
βMy professional career has been committed to using science to solve natural resource problems and to mentoring young professionals, and the Strickland Professorship is another way to help achieve this goal,β Dale said.
UW plans to begin its search for the biometrician soon, with the goal of filling the position for the fall 2027 semester.
WEST extends its deepest appreciation to Dale and Paula for their generous gift and the lasting opportunities it will create for future scientists and natural resource professionals.
