Peter K. Simpson

BA 1953, MA 1962, History		Pete Simpson has been a major contributor to the study of Wyoming history and to the advancement of his alma mater. After his U.S. Navy service, he returned to UW for a graduate degree, and later earned a PhD in history at the University of Oregon. He won the Colonial Dames Outstanding Graduate Work in American History Award, and has been listed among Outstanding American Educators. He's taught at Eastern Oregon College, the University of Oregon (where he earned the Outstanding Teacher Program Award), Lane Community College, and at UW. He is a professional member of the Wyoming Historical Society, has published in the field of history, and been awarded for his work in promoting historical preservation. In the early '70s, he turned his teaching and administrative skills to community colleges in Casper and Sheridan. In 1980, he was elected to the Wyoming State House and was Republican gubernatorial candidate in 1986. In 1984, he assumed direction of the UW Development Office and helped guide the Centennial Campaign. As UW's Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Foundation Director, he is a tireless and effective worker in behalf of UW. His testament to the value of a liberal education: 'To say what the enduring values of an A&S education have been in my life is easy. That education was the most civilizing influence of my entire life. It freed me, as it frees us all, from certain slaveries -- slaveries of the mind, of our particular time and of our parochial place, all of which inevitably limit our horizons and reduce the scope of our vision. It unshackled me and it made me free. What else does a liberal education intend? Nothing less! The extent to which I have been able to use that freedom is the extent to which I have been able to succeed To the extent I have enjoyed any success at all, I owe much of that to the UW College of Arts and Sciences."