Dean Kyle Washut Named 4th President of Wyoming Catholic College

Professor Kyle Washut, whose career at Wyoming Catholic College has been both lengthy and varied, has been selected by the College’s Board of Directors as its next president, the fourth in the college’s history.

“The Board was impressed by the candidates who applied,” says Marie Wilmer, Board Member and Chair of the College’s Succession Committee. “The range of abilities and experiences they brought to the table made this a difficult decision—something for which the Board was very grateful. But as the search progressed, Dean Washut’s extraordinary institutional knowledge and the administrative and communication skills he has displayed during his time in Lander brought his candidacy to the fore. His commitment to the College is unquestioned, and his ability to articulate her unique vision to the world is vital for her future success. God has brought us the right man for the job!”

Washut, a Wyoming native currently serving as Academic Dean, has been with Wyoming Catholic College since its inception. Growing up in Casper, Wyoming, he worked in nuclear missile silos and coal mines during his teenage years, receiving an AA in Political Science and a second in Spanish from Casper College in 2003. While in Casper, he studied under two of WCC’s eventual founders, Dr. Robert Carlson and Fr. Robert Cook, and began his journey toward Wyoming Catholic by serving as a dishwasher at the annual Wyoming School for Catholic Thought, where the idea for the College was first proposed.

He graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in 2007 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and returned to Wyoming Catholic, joining her administrative team as the inaugural Assistant Dean for Student Life—a position he held until departing in the Fall of 2009 to pursue a graduate degree in Sacred Theology from Austria’s International Theological Institute (ITI). While in Austria, he continued to work for the College, coordinating its inaugural high-school (PEAK) and adult education (WSCT) summer programs, before returning as a full-time professor in early 2012. Washut has taught across the curriculum since his return—theology and philosophy, primarily, as well as her distinctive Trivium and Humanities courses. He has worked closely with a number of the College’s Administrative offices, including Admissions, Advancement, and the Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP). In the fall of 2019, he was named Academic Dean, and has served in that capacity for the past four years.

“Wyoming Catholic College has truly been a lifelong pursuit for me,” says Washut, “and I am humbled to be asked to serve her in such an important role. My last few years as Dean have shown me first-hand and up-close the many challenges that lie ahead. They have also shown me the extraordinary value of this education and the importance of our mission. Life at a school as proudly counter-cultural as this one will never be easy, but the students and graduates Wyoming Catholic College is forming are one-of-a-kind, and I’m eager to continue the work of bringing greater attention to her efforts and greater stability to her operations. I know that work, so ably undertaken over the last seven years by Dr. Glenn Arbery, will be demanding and difficult, but I’m up to the task; Wyoming Catholic is worth it!”

“I’m glad that Dr. Arbery will continue to be part of the Wyoming Catholic College community,” continues Washut, “both as a professor to our students and as a mentor to me. And I look forward to joining him in those conversations he’s been holding with so many of our friends and supporters. So often, presidential transitions bring fracture, discontinuity and a loss of intuitional memory along with them. I consider it a great blessing that such will not be the case with this transition.”

“No one knows Wyoming Catholic College better or loves it more than Kyle,” says Dr. Arbery, who will be returning to the faculty when Washut takes office. “I am grateful to be able to turn over the leadership to a man I have known and admired for the past ten years, and I know of no one who can better preserve our unique mission and ensure our future. His story—from dishwasher to president—is fantastic and feels deeply Providential to me. And I am confident that his presidency will usher in a new era for Wyoming Catholic—an era rooted in the principles of her founding and in that philosophical vision which makes her such a unique and transformative place.”

Washut’s term will begin at the College’s Matriculation Ceremony on August 20th, with a formal Inauguration to be held later in the year.