UW, Heart Mountain Sign Cooperating Agency Agreement

The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF) and the University of Wyoming have signed a cooperating agency agreement that will enable each institution to share resources and plan future collaborations.

Under the agreement, UW will provide HMWF staff with professional development and undergraduate or graduate credit opportunities, such as credited courses and online workplace training, and access to select online databases and educational platforms that may be contained on the UW domain.

HMWF will provide access to UW students at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and Mineta-Simpson Institute to participate in experiential learning activities, including internships, work study, place-based learning, service learning, field research, digital and online initiatives. The foundation also will waive admission fees for UW students and employees and rental fees for UW use of the Mineta-Simpson Institute.

Main areas of collaboration will include Wyoming/Japan relations; civic engagement; civil discourse; leadership, business, tourism and joint grant activities; and community engagement and outreach.

"Heart Mountain and UW have partnered on multiple programs over the years, but formalizing our relationship promotes deeper and more consistent engagement," says HMWF Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin, a 2003 graduate of UW's College of Arts and Sciences. "As both a UW alumna and a descendant of Heart Mountain incarcerees, I am filled with pride in launching this agreement."

UW President Ed Seidel visited Heart Mountain frequently during the development of the memo and came away inspired by the foundation's commitment to history and its ethical values.

"During my years as UW's president, I have been impressed by the work taking place at Heart Mountain and the Mineta-Simpson Institute," says Seidel, who concludes his tenure as president this week. "I'm delighted that we were able to complete this agreement before I leave office, and I'm excited for the opportunities it will provide for UW's students, faculty and staff."

The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a Smithsonian Affiliate, preserves the site where some 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 through 1945. Their stories are told within the foundation's museum, Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, and its affiliated Mineta-Simpson Institute located between Cody and Powell. For more information, call the center at (307) 754-8000 or email [email protected].