University of Wyoming College of Education Spring 2018

Deb Beck enjoying hiking and taking photos.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK
By: Jason Harper
When describing the perfect UW
Cowboy or Cowgirl, words such as
intelligent, hard-worker, compassionate
and innovator are often used. Debra
Beck fit this mold through and
through as a Wyoming native, UW
alumnae four times over and dedicated
university employee.
Sadly, Deb passed away from lung
cancer in March 2017. Her passing was
unexpected as she was diagnosed with
the disease just four months prior. Her
memory will forever be in the hearts
and minds of her friends and colleagues
at the university and beyond.
Deb started her journey at UW
as a student studying journalism and
serving as editor of the Branding Iron.
After graduating in 1981, she moved to
Sheridan to become a reporter with the
Sheridan Press. It was in Sheridan that
she met the man who would become
her husband, Bob Beck.
IN MEMORY OF
Debra Beck
Bob was offered a job in Laramie
in the late 80s, and Deb followed.
Shortly after, she began her nearly
30 years of service to the university.
Deb served in various roles at UW
including: publications editor and
special assignments editor for UW
News Service, assistant director of the
Alumni Association, adjunct lecturer
in the Master of Public Administration
Program, and most recently as the PR
coordinator for the UW College of
Education.
Deb was a lifelong learner. Upon
her return to the university, she began
her masters in sociology, which she
While folks might assume that I know Deb’s husband, Bob (Beck), as the voice of politics
and the legislature at Wyoming Public Radio, few might know that I knew Deb far
longer. I started at UW in 1992 and quickly became associated with the Women’s Studies
Program (now Gender and Women’s Studies). One of the people who taught in the
program was Deb. Long before the advent of online classes, Deb taught our introductory
class via correspondence so that site-bound students could have access to women’s studies!
Over the years, Deb and I chatted regularly, and I watched with admiration as she
continued teaching, completed a doctorate, and then filled a well-needed niche for our
community and state by offering classes in nonprofit management. She often made me
laugh with her pithy (and political) posts on Facebook and the love of her “boys” ( furry
as well as Bob). I miss her and all she had to offer.
— Cathy Connolly – Wyoming state representative for District 13, associate director of the School
of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, and professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UW
completed in 1993. Deb’s quest for
knowledge was yet unfulfilled, and she
immediately started working toward
her masters in communication from
UW, which she earned in 1998. She
would later go on to earn her doctorate
in adult and postsecondary education
from UW in 2009.
Another quality that comprised
Deb’s personality was an innate drive
to help others. Unable to just sit back
and watch others struggle, she was an
active member of many local nonprofit
organizations and served on several of
the organizations’ boards. She worked
to provide support to victims of abuse
and sexual assault as well as to those who
cannot afford medical assistance. She
co-founded the Snowy Range Non-
Profit institute to share her knowledge
with others and provide guidance and
training to nonprofits across Wyoming.
The research she conducted
while earning her sociology degree
and her experience working with
nonprofit organizations led her to
become respected expert in the area of
nonprofit governance and leadership.
She was highly published in the field
and was invited to speak on the subject
throughout the country and in Canada.
Deb was passionate about
technology and was always searching
for the most innovative ways to connect
with others. She was an advocate
for online learning and utilized
podcasts, videos and social media to
share her knowledge with others. She
was extremely active on Twitter and
accumulated over 5,000 followers. Her
nearly 28,000 tweets centered on her
two passions: non-profit governance
and adult learning.
Dogs were a part of Deb’s life
since she was a young girl when she
participated dog shows. She never
missed watching the Westminster
Kennel Club Dog Show on TV and
she regularly sponsored the obedience
award at the local 4-H fair. Deb and
Bob always had a Labrador Retriever
during their time together.
Baseball was a passion of Bob’s. Early
on, Deb realized she would have to
study up on stats, teams and players so
she would be able to communicate with
her husband during baseball season.
Originally a Dodgers fan, she changed
her allegiance to the Rockies when the
team started in the early 90s. One thing
she could never understand was Bob’s
love for the Chicago Cubs.
A highly involved and intelligent
woman, such as Deb, deserved to
have a few guilty pleasures in life. She
would unwind from her busy days by
watching reality television. Some of her
favorite shows included Dance Moms,
Keeping up with the Kardashians and
MTV’s Real World. She also had an
obsession with pens. She had hundreds
of high quality pens some with special
inks stored all over the house. She was
excited to find out that were others like
her and that there was even a podcast
centered on the topic that she would
Deb Beck and
Dewey, her
Labrador Retriever.
PHOTO COURTESY
OF BOB BECK
Deb Beck and Dewey, her Labrador Retriever.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK
make Bob listen to while they were
driving.
Deb’s passionate attitude and talents
are certainly missed by her friends
and colleagues at the university and
throughout Wyoming. Her legacy will
always live on through the wealth of
knowledge she left behind as well as all
the many lives she touched.
I had the pleasure of taking a course taught by Deb in nonprofit leadership during my
undergraduate career, and in that course, she modeled what active learning could look
like online. She challenged myself and my classmates to engage in group-work, at a
distance, to plan and execute complex projects.
My experience as Deb’s student shaped how I came to understand and appreciate the
power of online learning. Sometime after I joined the UW Outreach School, Deb asked
me to collaborate with her on a presentation about her course at an online learning
conference at the UW campus (e-Volution). Again, she modeled for me how instructors
can perform action research in their classrooms. She impressed upon me her willingness
to experiment, modify and adapt when needed, and sharing those results with the
campus community. Better than anybody I know, Deb knew how to leverage technology
to connect with others —in the online classroom, social media, email, etc.
Even after I left the UW for Purdue, Deb stayed connected —often organizing web
chats and conferences with colleagues across the country. She was continually sharing
exciting technologies and finding ways to use them in education. I learned so much
from Deb, but perhaps most striking was her curiosity, and willingness to share and
foster virtual communities.
— Cody Connor, previous student at UW and current
manager of course design and development at Purdue University
4 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 5