UW’s Office of Industry and Strategic Partnerships Has Real Impact across campus

The Office of Industry and Strategic Partnerships is industry’s liaison—dedicated to connecting companies with the University of Wyoming and fostering meaningful partnerships. The team is a collaborative venture between UW’s Research and Economic Development Division and the UW Foundation. It works to understand UW partners’ goals and to create mutually beneficial relationships that foster innovation and economic impact throughout the state and beyond.

During the 2025–26 fiscal year, the office continued to foster and facilitate connections between the University of Wyoming and industry, creating new opportunities for collaboration across research, philanthropy, student engagement, workforce development, sponsorships, and university programs. These partnerships demonstrate the many ways industry and UW can work together to address real-world challenges, support students and faculty, and create lasting impact across Wyoming and beyond.

Accomplishments reflect both the direct work of the office and that of campus partners whose engagement makes work with industry at UW possible. Hundreds of companies engaged with UW. Industry partners also participated in advisory boards, career fairs, campus visits, sponsorship opportunities, and yearlong partnership programs—helping connect students with employers and strengthening relationships between academic programs and the industries they serve.

Across campus, partnerships produced meaningful results. Corporate philanthropy impacted support for nursing education, agriculture, energy research, emerging technologies, student enrichment, community outreach, and more. Company-supported research collaborations advanced work in wildfire preparedness, artificial intelligence, transportation safety, critical minerals, carbon innovation, and other areas important to Wyoming’s economy. New and expanded partnerships also strengthened workforce development, experiential learning, alumni engagement, and UW Athletics.

“Together, these efforts illustrate the growing role of industry partnerships in advancing the university’s mission,” says Angela Ver Ploeg, senior director of corporate engagement. “By connecting companies with UW’s people, programs, research expertise, and resources, OISP continues to cultivate collaborations that create opportunities for students, support innovation, strengthen Wyoming’s workforce, and generate long-term value for the university, industry partners, and communities throughout the state.”

Here are some of the numbers. A total of 671 companies supported or invested in UW this past year. Fifty-nine percent or $5.5 million of those transactions were philanthropic gifts, thirty-five percent or $3.2 million were private grants for research, and six percent or $546,000 were from contracts with industry. Companies have set up 47 endowed funds and 77 non-endowed funds. One hundred seventy companies engaged with campus advisory boards, and 499 companies came to career fairs. One indicator of research success was that 24 patents were granted.