The University of Wyoming Foundation has awarded its prestigious 2025 Stewardship Awards to Shane Epping, assistant professor in Communication and Journalism, and Li Teng, director of student success in the Honors College. This marks the first year staff members were eligible for the award. 

“Li and Shane both epitomize what great donor stewardship is and what it can do,” says Kristin Morrison, UW Foundation director of Donor Relations. “Their efforts of building genuine and lasting relationships with UW donors are inspiring to see.” 

Epping serves as the first Bobby Model Photojournalism Professor, a position honoring late UW graduate and National Geographic photographer Bobby Model. Created by Bobby’s father Bob Model in 2019, the professorship and excellence fund commemorate Bobby, who died in 2009 at age 36. 

Epping has maximized the impact of Model’s generous donation in a number of ways. This includes purchasing equipment, including cameras, computers, and a professional printer. Student competition fees were covered, which led to international awards. The Bobby Model Photojournalism Award for students was created to support them attending the prestigious Missouri Photo Workshop. He has also subsidized visual communication conferences, organized photography exhibitions, and secured matching donations for students to travel to Peru, Rwanda, and Namibia. 

Additionally, Epping administers the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship and launched the first UW Giving Day campaign for photojournalism in 2024. He maintains regular communication with donors, ensuring they understand their gifts’ impact on students and programs. 

Teng revolutionized stewardship for the Honors College’s Summer High School Institute (HSI), a three-week program for rising Wyoming high school juniors. Recognizing that many HSI alumni wanted to give back regardless of where they attended college, Teng built a comprehensive alumni database from scratch that contained 1,400 names from the program’s 40-year history. 

Teng developed campaigns for UW Giving Day. She included testimonials from current UW students who are HSI alumni, and she asked HSI alumni Pete Simpson Jr., an actor and Blue Man Group performer, and Chris Rothfuss, a Wyoming state senator, to participate in the campaigns. 

The first campaign took place in 2022 and raised approximately $4,000, the 2023 campaign raised $7,000, and the 2024 campaign raised $22,000. The 2024 total included a $10,000 gift from HSI alumnus Storm Duncan, founder and managing partner of Ignatious, and a $5,000 gift from an anonymous donor. Neither donor was a UW alum, and neither had given to UW previously. 

In addition to her stewardship efforts with HSI, Teng has made valuable contributions to the Honors College’s Giving Day campaigns in the past three years. In 2022, 33 donors gave $7,000; in 2023, 133 donors gave $15,000; and in 2024, 169 donors gave $43,000. 

Both recipients will receive $5,000, with their departments receiving $2,500 and the ability to direct another $2,500 to other university units. 

We continue to build on our already-substantial foundation of thanking donors. On November 4, 2024, the UW Foundation hosted the inaugural Stewardship Summit, an event that brought together leaders from across the UW academic community to explore the critical role stewardship plays in the long-term success and sustainability of our institution. UW deans, directors, and department heads collectively explored best practices in stewardship as well as shared innovative strategies that have helped them build meaningful relationships with their donors. Three UW donors participated in a donor panel and shared the role stewardship plays with their giving.