Green & Gold – Spring 2014

GREEN & GOLD THEMAGAZINEOF ROCKYMOUNTAINCOLLEGE

VOLUME2 ISSUE1/SPRING2014

ROCKSOLIDFOUNDATIONS From the Editor: Spring is well underway on the Rocky Mountain College campus, despite several stubborn patches of snow. And with the appearance of spring comes a sense of anticipation, not just for students looking forward to summer break, but also for the entire campus community as we look forward to the graduation of our senior class.

As the semester and academic year close out, we reflect on what makes our students “Rocky students.” As an institution, we firmly believe that this comes from the embodiment of our mission. We’re proud to “educate future leaders through liberal arts and professional programs that cultivate critical thinking, creative expression, ethical decisionmaking, informed citizenship, and professional excellence.” Building Erica Wall on core themes of academic excellence, transformational learning, and shared responsibility and stewardship, Rocky Mountain College community members represent the best of RMC to the world.

Throughout this issue of Green & Gold, you’ll see that “good things are happening at Rocky Mountain College” as students, faculty, and alumni are making an impact ranging from here on campus to an orphanage in Kenya. Regardless of personalities, interests, or abilities, the people and programs featured here are examples of the effectiveness of RMC’s mission statement and core themes in action – from Daniel Parod’s academic excellence in physics, the transformational learning of students and a parrot in the psychology department, to the Enactus team demonstrating shared responsibility and stewardship across the world. And the core themes go hand-in-hand with one another as students are educated as “whole people” – Renee Seacor is not only transforming campus, she’s sharing responsibility with the College community; the PA program educates students rigorously and also helps shape them into wellrounded, caring physician assistants.

It’s true – good things are happening at Rocky Mountain College, and we invite you to be a part of it. Not only do our students and alumni exemplify the College’s mission, our entire community does – including our faculty and staff; we aim to continuously move forward while bringing our history and traditions along with us.

Spring has arrived, and like spring, we love the growth that’s beginning to bloom on campus.

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Erica Wall (‘12)

FEATURES RMC Psychology Takes Flight - p2 Psychology, animal cognition, and aviation come together through departmental research projects.

Student. Athlete. Mentor. - p4 Student Brittany Myers excels on the court and in the classroom.

Enacting Change - p8 RMC Enactus students are making a change in Montana and abroad – see what a dedicated student population can do.

Lyman’s Learning Legacy - p10 Longtime professor Jennifer Lyman has retired after an exemplary career. Here’s looking back.

For the Love of Learning - p14 Student Daniel Parod takes physics to another level at RMC. Physician Assistant Program - p16 An up-close and personal look at one of RMC’s standout programs.

Solar Power Spotlight - p21 Solar panels are coming to campus, due to the efforts of current student Renee Seacor.

New Name, Same Game - p22 The Physical Education Department is taking on a new name to meet the needs of the campus.

RMC Alumni in the News - p26 See four stories of RMC alumni succeeding in the community.

In Memoriam - p28 Harold Buck Elk.

Copy Editor Erica Wall (’12) Writer Jon Kohn Writer/Design & Layout Jillian Shoemaker Advisor Kelly Edwards, VP of Institutional Advancement

Contact Want to see something featured? Contact the RMC Media team at media@ rocky.edu Alumni News Contact Director of Alumni Relations Cody Rose (’11) at rosec@rocky.edu or 406.657.1007 Green & Gold is published quarterly

by Rocky Mountain College for its students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.

Rocky Mountain College Attn: Advancement Department Eaton Hall 1511 Poly Dr. Billings, Montana 59102 Other College phone numbers Directory Assistance: 406.657.1000 Admissions: 406.657.1026 Advancement: 406.657.1006 Annual Giving: 406.657.1005 Media Team: 406.657.1105 Green & Gold

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RMCPSYCHOLOGYTAKESFLIGHT Studies in animal cognition, student-led research, and engagement with the Billings community mark Ambrin Masood’s efforts to create real-world benefits for students and the Rocky Mountain College neighborhood.

In fall 2013, Masood took her Community Psychology class across the city to learn from and work with community social service organizations. Masood, an assistant professor of psychology since 2012, arranged field trips to support coursework on treatment of issues such as alcoholism, sexual assault, and teen pregnancy.

As they study the efficacy of interventions for communities, students begin to recognize similarities in behaviors among populations. Eventually, psychology majors can research their own hypotheses for situational, developmental, or genetic origins of specific responses to stimuli and stressors in a community.

Assistant Professor Ambrin Masood holds parrot “Shaka Zulu” with student Sky Gabel.

worked for decades with her African gray, Alex, who recognized 150 words. Reviewers judged that Alex Animal models of behavior may could offer original verbal answers help them. To that end, Masood to questions. supports an ethology [animal cognition] research opportunity on cam- In several different classes, students pus that may help students to dem- propose research to conduct with onstrate rational thought processes Shaka. Experiments run in spring in an exceptional bird.

2014 with students from Masood’s Behavior Management and 400-levShaka Zulu, a 10-month-old African el Directed Research classes. In the gray parrot, lives at home among meantime, Shaka Zulu is receiving Masood’s family and pets, but he plenty of appropriate enrichment spends many days working in her from young scholars. Sky Gabel is avian cognition lab in Alden Hall. As “a brilliant student,” said Masood. In a very young parrot, Shaka has a lot February, Gabel was teaching Shaka to learn; mature African gray par- to recognize a verbal instruction to rots may have the problem-solving turn around on her perch. skills of a 5-year-old. Irene Pepperberg, lecturer at Harvard University, “We are hoping to add experimental 2

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focus to our Cognitive Psychology course in Fall 2014,” Masood said.

Masood’s research students also coordinate efforts with other campus programs. “Aviation is a natural fit with psychology,” said Dan Hargrove, director of aviation. His curriculum takes cues from academic psychology as personal predilections may control outcomes in the cockpit. This spring, aviation senior Alisha Herron is combining Myers-Briggs personality inventories with data from scores of simulated crises in RMC cockpit simulator training. Her research will recognize whether pilots’ cockpit response to specific situations is more correlated to instruction and training or to personality.

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about how much she puts into her “Ambrin has had a very strong influ- job.” ence on my recent academic development – she challenges me to think Williams Burden has become Vice outside the box and demands my very President of the RMC Psychology best and knows when I’m not giving it. Club and brings community speakShe holds me to high standards, which ers to talk to students about perpushes me to do my best work,” Her- spectives on mental health, stress, ron said. and sleep, for example. “We [aim] toward doing things involved with For her senior research with Masood, helping others, from volunteering Gillian Williams Burden (’14) has in the suicide prevention walk to researched human subjects’ deci- learning how to help students who sions under stress. Williams Burden may be experiencing mood consaid, “When I first came to Rocky, I cerns.” The club even discusses thought I knew what I was going to psychological aspects of films they do with my life after school, but when watch together, she said. circumstances changed, I ended up feeling lost and not sure what to do in In her spring 2014 research, Wilmy academic career or a profession. liams Burden is investigating the Ambrin helped me find my way back extent to which people in a comtoward a goal, a true dream that I love mitted relationship diminish riskand have a passion for pursuing, and taking behavior when made aware that is research.” of their immediate mortality. Adults in midlife, for example, usually beFor two years Williams Burden has come more conservative in their been doing research with Masood. choices of activity when they recHer interests vary from risk-taking be- ognize limits imposed by aging on haviors and depression, to tattoos and their potential actions. Williams stereotypes in the workplace.

Burden looks at the risk aversion that rises from unwillingness to po“The greatest thing about Ambrin is tentially lose one’s life partner. that she is so supportive,” she said.

“She listens to all my crazy ideas, and The RMC Institutional Review if she didn’t, I don’t think I would be Board (IRB) oversees and coordias invested and determined to go into nates administration of all experiresearch. She is one that I will always mentation with human and other want to talk to even after my time animal subjects. Barbara Vail, prohere at Rocky, because she’s always fessor of psychology as well as inbeen there for me.” terim academic vice president at RMC, coordinates that board.

“When I first met Ambrin, I felt intimidated … as if I would not become RMC hosts its annual Student Reclose to her. But later on in the year search Symposium April 9, 2014, … she became one of my best friends where Masood’s students typically at this school. I was able to feel more present. In 2014, the facilitator, Ascomfortable knowing that I could tell sociate Professor of Biology and my professor things that most don’t Associate Academic Vice President care about. She genuinely cares about Phil Jensen, brings a natural science her students, if you care about her and emphasis to the conference.

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Innovation.

Inspiration.

Research.

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STUDENT.ATHLETE.MENTOR Brittany Myers (’14) originally chose Rocky Mountain College to support her basketball career.

Since her first day, though, she dove into student activities and into her biology major. Contributing to RMC’s 88 percent placement rate for medical school applicants, Myers will head to the University of Washington Medical School WWAMI program after graduation.

The RMC community gave Myers the support to discover new academic and personal strengths, as well as find a great career, Myers said. She had a suburban child-

hood for 14 years south of Detroit near Adrian, Mich., where her father was a physician. Her Cody, Wyo., high school held about 1,000 students, close to RMC’s size.

avoid being “just” in sports. “I was well-rounded in high school, and I worried that at RMC I might be sacrificing involvement in other clubs and groups. When I got here, I saw how welcoming Rocky is. I have had the opportunity to An all-conference forward wear many hats … because of peothrough high school, she graduat- ple like Katie [Carpenter, associate ed in Cody in 2010, 95 windy miles dean for student life] who encourfrom the Yellowstone River valley aged me to get involved, helped where she would attend college. me to prioritize.”

She knew little of Billings, except as “where you went to the mall and For the Campus Compass proto box stores. I wanted to be closer gram her freshman year, Carpento home, near my three younger ter led Myers’ group. Entering siblings,” she said.

RMC freshmen meet the first eight weeks of the year in CamMyers’ three-year participation pus Compass groups to learn best in the RMC peer mentor practices to deal with homework, program and biology pro- loneliness, and “all the elements of gram have nurtured her college you might not be prepared appreciation for RMC for,” Myers said. and its setting. “I really like the campus At the end of Myers’ freshman – it’s gorgeous,” she year, Carpenter’s office initiated said. “The second I a new peer mentoring program, got offered a [four- LEAP (Leadership, Engagement, year] scholarship, and Achievement Program), that I pretty much pairs freshmen and upperclassmen signed,” she said. for structured and mutual support.

Carpenter invited Myers into the Coach Brian Hen- first group of peer mentors. derson has supported Myers’ Myers works each year with freshgrowth across all men that are conditionally admither activities, she ted to the College with a requiresaid. “Coach has ment to demonstrate academic been an ad- growth. RMC has a strong tradivocate for tion in advancing progress for stume.” dents who enter needing academic support. “Each year I have five to Myers nine students. Peer mentoring bewant- gins very structured. A lot of times ed to it becomes more of a friendship.”

“Peer mentoring has events structured to help students be more effective,” Myers said. “One helps

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[students] register for classes; one is before finals for stress relief, for example. Our approach has gotten better each year.”

“I learned a lot from Katie about listening, especially for a career in medicine, and about personal relationships. It’s helped me a lot when they say, for example, ‘Everything’s good,’ but their grades don’t reflect it.” Myers works 10 hours each week in the LEAP office, “surrounded by fellow peer mentors and mentees, all of whom have differing world views.”

“Peer mentoring shows a lot about RMC and its students,” she said. “I loved working with this program, to see the commitment they have to the students here.”

control of your own learning experience,” she said. “He has a dry sense of humor I really enjoyed.”

Her senior advisor, Professor of Chemistry Cristi Hunnes, taught Myers’ microbiology and biochemistry classes with lots of lab experience, she said.

“She’s always trying to get me opportunities outside of the classroom, shadowing different positions that apply to pre-med. She has such a passion for what she teaches.”

Myers takes control against University of Montana Western.

through the stress and pressures of applying to schools.” He applied to and interviewed at ocMark Osterlund, associate profes- cupational therapy schools across sor of biology, “explains concepts the country and will attend Masso well,” Myers said. Teaching mo- sachusetts General Hospital Instilecular genetics, cell biology, and tute of Health Professions in Bosfreshman biology, “he was always ton, his top choice. willing to work with me when I was gone for basketball.”

In the Wyoming WWAMI pro-

“I see it work. I’ve seen students grow from unprepared, immature decision-makers into responsible students and adults. Ultimately,” she said, “they end up becoming those very involved people on campus who work for the betterment of RMC.” She also really enjoyed Professor Dan Albrecht’s electives in As a biology major, Myers said ornithology and vertebrate zoolshe was fortunate to jump into a ogy, she said. “That’s fun stuff, not major she appreciates. “I took bi- strictly lab.” ology since my first day here,” Myers said, who was scared that it’d Myers said she recognizes the “be a lot harder than high school.” tension seniors feel before they She “really likes” her professors, confirm a post-college career. though, who all differ in their She said, “I’ve really been nervous teaching styles. these last few weeks with applications.” Dominic Lloyd Randolfi Associate Professor of Biology Phil (’14), a fellow peer mentor, has Jensen taught her evolution class been applying to occupational and the scientific writing class re- therapy school, “so working toquired of all science majors, as well gether has been a support,” she as freshman biology. “He’s one of said. those wonderful, very hard teachers because he wants you to make Lloyd Randolfi agreed that Myers your own connections, to take “has been incredibly supportive March, 2014

gram to which she has been accepted, Myers was one of 42 applicants to even receive an interview for one of 19 seats. WWAMI students, such as Myers, receive one year of medical school curriculum in their home state, then complete two more years in Seattle before they match with a hospital in their home state to begin their residencies as young physicians. “[I think] they chose me because I was well-rounded [and] was involved on campus even though I played a college sport,” Myers said.

With her holistic and well-rounded approach to life, Myers is poised to succeed wherever she may “leap.”

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COMMUNITYDRIVE Calling for success: RMC community drive helps fund all aspects of student life, on campus and beyond It starts with you – our current students, alumni, staff, faculty, and friends – who have put in the hard work to make Rocky Mountain College the premier collegiate experience in Montana.

“It’s amazing what professors can accomplish when they know that the school is in a financially solvent position to be able to support that work.

At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.” - Community Drive Chair Megan Kongaika (’03)

As Montana’s first and finest institution, we reaffirm our core themes of academic excellence, transformational learning, and shared responsibility and stewardship each day – but also look to the commusonally reaching out to Billings businessnity for assistance in maintaining those es, alumni, and friends of RMC. It’s also standards. a way for the community to once again have personal involvement with the sucThis year, under the steam of new Director cesses of the College. Our successes are for Annual Giving Jill Hirschi, RMC is reyour successes. focusing efforts to unite the surrounding community through a community drive The two-dozen volunteers are each a event. With the goal of raising $100,000 unique snapshot into the RMC commuby the end of April, we are looking to you nity, each with their own stories of how to help us achieve our goal.

Rocky Mountain College changed their lives. Kongaika, who has stepped up as the “When you give to the community drive, event chairperson, reflected, “When I was you help provide a foundation for the a student at [RMC], I remember meetschool that empowers the faculty to foing many of the community partners who cus on what matters most, which is makmade my education at Rocky possible. I ing meaningful connections with stuserved as the student chair for the Black dents and creating lifelong learners who Tie Blue Jeans event, was often involved will eventually grow up to lead the next in the Candlelight Dinner, and worked in generation. It’s amazing what professors arenas that allowed me to be exposed to can accomplish when they know that the people who really believed in the school, school is in a financially solvent position even if they, themselves, weren’t alumni. I to be able to support that work. At the always admired that kind of commitment end of the day, that’s what it’s all about,” to higher education, especially because it said Community Drive Chair Megan was specifically directed toward my expeKongaika (’03). rience as a student. To be on the other side, now, 10 years after graduation, kind Donations to the Community Drive go of makes me feel like I’ve come full circle. toward addressing all current needs on It’s an honor.” campus, including curriculum growth, technological advances, facility renovaIf you would like to be involved, make tions, groundwork, and student scholara donation, or learn more about what ships. makes Rocky Mountain College special, call Jill Hirschi at 406.657.1005, or visit us The community drive is a volunteer efon the web at www.rocky.edu/giving. fort, said Hirschi, with 25 volunteers per6

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Greetings. As the new Director of Annual Giving, I am excited to be a part of Rocky Mountain College. In my short time that I have been here, I am deeply impressed by the dedication of the administration, faculty, and staff at RMC. Each Monday, there is a general staff meeting here on campus, and all staff and faculty members are welcome – the room is often so full that the tables are packed and people are sitting around the edges. It is so wonderful to see them all and the large variety that attend, everyone from President Wilmouth to admission counselors to IT staff.

These people come for many reasons, but their priority remains making sure Rocky Mountain College students receive the best possible education that they can.

Rocky Mountain College donors also have this same commitment and dedication. Their gifts ensure that our students receive the best possible education. Gifts from donors help in every area of campus, from providing scholarships to maintaining facilities to making sure that the best faculty are hired to teach.

It is the generosity of the community that keeps our doors open, our campus beautiful, and helps prepare our students to go out into the world and succeed at the tops of their fields of study.

As we kick off our 2014 Community Drive, I hope you will join this commitment to make Rocky Mountain College be the best for our students.

My door is always open, and my phone is always on. Please feel free to stop by any time, and we can look to the future together.

Jill Hirschi

Director of Annual Giving 406.657.1005 March, 2014

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ENACTINGCHANGE

Current RMC Enactus students: (front row) Mike Eggen, Samantha Cook, Suzanne Davis, Sam Walton, Fellow Dr. Karen Beiser; (back row) Zach Pietrocarlo, Mariah Gondeiro, Tessa Fraser, Kyle Breschini Imagine an organization that looks at the world around it and purposefully makes a change for the better.

Now, imagine a group of students that want to make a change in their community.

Meet Enactus.

Enactus is an international nonprofit organization, as well as an upper-division academic class and club offered at RMC. Enactus is student-led with the mission to create, develop, and implement “projects that empower people in the community, are economically sustainable, and promote environmental responsibility.” The name is a play on a three-part description of the spirit of the group – entrepreneurial, action, and us.

they use “innovative approaches to find and fix problems in the community” by applying what they learn in the classroom to real-world situations. (Pietrocarlo is in the 3:2 accountancy program and anticipates graduating in 2016 with So what does RMC Enactus do? a bachelor of science in business management, master of accounThrough various projects focused tancy, and minors in organizational on entrepreneurship, RMC Enac- leadership and economics.) tus students are making a change on both a local and global level. And those innovative approaches They help teach financial litera- are bringing RMC and the global cy during the freshmen seminar community closer together. New course Campus Compass, assist this year, Enactus has started community members with explor- working with Pamba Toto, a small ing job opportunities, host small business based out of Missoula, business seminars, distribute pro- Mont., that creates and sells jewfessional clothing to current stu- elry and crafts to benefit Sanctudents heading for job interviews, ary of Hope, a Kenyan orphanage and even work with small business (in Swahili, “Pamba Toto” means owners to streamline their business “adorn a child”). practices abroad – and that’s just Kenya has approximately two milthis year. lion orphans out of a population something and the commitment to see it through even when the outcome is not guaranteed;” and us as “A group of people who see themselves connected in some important way; individuals that are part of a greater whole.”

The international Enactus website describes entrepreneurial as “Having the perspective to see an opportunity and the talent to create value from that opportunity;” Current RMC Enactus Student of 30 million people, Pamba Toto action as “The willingness to do President Zach Pietrocarlo said owner Debbie Lee wrote. “Some of these children can be found in 8

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead Mathare Valley, the pit of heartbreak and despair and home to some 90,000 people within three square miles of Nairobi, Kenya. At the bottom of this human heap of misery are abandoned babies, AIDS orphans cowering in abusive relatives’ homes, and ragged street kids sniffing glue to escape hunger – physical and emotional.”

Lee had been running her small business for seven years and had been taking trips to Kenya for the past 17 years as part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). When she started to realize that she was going to need to expand her business and make some technological purchases, she said to her husband, “God’s going to have to do this,” and then she received a phone call from RMC Enactus student Samantha Cook. Cook, a current RMC senior and the Vice President of RMC Enactus, had traveled on one of the IVCF trips with Lee to Kenya, and wanted to see how she, and Enactus, could help.

“I wanted Enactus to assist Pamba Toto because I believe in the work Pamba Toto is doing. I had the privilege of seeing first-hand the devastating poverty of the slums in Kenya, but I was also able to see the Sanctuary of Hope homes and how these young children are being given a second chance at life. I love how Pamba Toto is helping to fund Sanctuary of Hope, and I think the business has lots of potential for growth to be able to donate even more money to the cause,” Cook said.

Enactus is now developing marketing strategies, inventory management, website development, and organizational ideas to help Lee succeed. Lee said ultimately she would like to double or triple her current business, not for personal profit, but to help create ad-

ditional housing opportunities for the Kenyan children. Because of her efforts, 24 children are “now out of danger,” Lee explained.

Lee said the experience in Kenya has been “transformative” for the students who have joined her on her journey.

“The students go and come back and make changes” and they “really lean into the hard stuff.” Enactus is just another example of this kind of change: “these students can make a difference even here in small, rural Montana,” Lee said.

Local initiatives The RMC Enactus students are also implementing change and empowering people on a local level as well. Other projects currently in the works include a “micro-business brew,” a small business seminar for companies with less than 10 employees to help empower them with the information necessary to run a small business. Pietrocarlo said that means bringing in a banker, a CPA, and motivational/inspirational speakers to assist the small business owner Photos courtesy of Debbie Lee

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(or potential owners). It’s something they have done for a few years; sometimes it’s had a farming and ranching focus, but this year it’s specifically about the small business model.

Pietrocarlo and fellow Enactus students fundraise to “earn their way” to national conferences.

A particularly successful program implemented by the students is “Suit Up!,” an initiative that provides advice on professional wardrobes and a free interview outfit. In its third year, Suit Up! is located in the lower level of Tyler Hall and is packed with suits and professional clothing. Advisor Karen Beiser said they continue to look to the community for professional clothing to provide to the students – particularly women’s outfits that are modern and age-appropriate for college students.

They have also worked with the local Montana Passages pre-release center to help women explore their future career options.

“I know it changes their lives,” said Beiser. The students work tirelessly to plan, develop, and implement their projects in the community and have the opportunity to present their work at a national expo with teams from across the country.

And the companies that support Enactus have a history of hiring these students (big names, such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Coca-Cola, and Unilever.) The Enactus students have already demonstrated their leadership abilities, and their ability to produce results, Beiser said. And the results – well, you can see them from Billings to Kenya.

LYMAN’SLEARNINGLEGACY In her final semester at RMC, Professor of Environmental Science and Studies Jennifer Lyman graciously spoke to Green & Gold about her career, during which she was instrumental in the creation of RMC environmental programs. She celebrated her impending retirement with her husband, Tom, by sailing in the Gulf of Mexico on their sailboat, Castilleja.

G&G: What challenges did you experience, both personally and professionally, when you started at RMC? Lyman: Teaching at a small college is always an amazing adventure because departments are small and require one to teach a variety of courses. I was hired as one of two biologists in the science program.

And in fact, because I had taken a great deal of chemistry, biochemistry, and genetics, I also taught bio10

chemistry and genetics in my first two years. So, I had to become quite resourceful and also continue to learn and teach in areas ancillary to my degree.

position at Rocky Mountain College, but the grant lasted only three years, and then our connection with the other institutions died, much to my frustration.

G&G: What has been particularly satisfying regarding the freedom in teaching, program and community development, and fieldwork?

Designing the environmental science curriculum was one of the most creative and inspirational parts of my career at RMC. I spent several months researching programs at other institutions and found that Williams College in Massachusetts had a program that seemed to be the best fit for RMC. The goal was to have a curriculum that was solidly grounded in science but also, like the environmental consulting background that I had acquired, included a great deal of expertise in environmental history, philosophy, and law.

Lyman: Many summer projects took me to California, Idaho, and other places far from home, so I was glad to accept an offer from Rocky Mountain College in 1994 to develop an environmental sciences program. The College had received a grant as part of a consortium of colleges, including Little Big Horn College and Salish Kootenai College, to develop environmental science programs that would encourage participation by American Indians.

This three-year grant was one of the most satisfying parts of my new

Several faculty at RMC were instrumental in helping with the design of the program including Tim Lehman, David Strong, and Bernie Rose. The

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program today still retains most of the elements that we designed in those early years. We quickly saw that there were many students who were not interested in a broad and deep science program but were much more interested in environmental history, literature, politics, or philosophy, so we added a second major in environmental studies that required less science. And now we have added an environmental management and policy major that is very popular with RMC students.

What was and is still remarkable about RMC is that we are free to develop courses that suit our interests and that focus on specific areas of interest in environmental science.

I took students to the Teton Science School for three-week courses during winter break for several years to study the ecology of ungulates in winter in the Snake River Valley.

And during spring break for several years I took students to a field station on Andros Island in the Bahamas where we studied tropical reef ecology, and then we went to Costa Rica. Recently I have taken trips to the Galapagos and Cuba.

to see that the science programs at Rocky Mountain College, including the environmental science program, are burgeoning. One of my challenges, always, was that summer is the time when environmental students could do field work, but there was no mechanism for funding them and no college support to do so. Over time, colleges throughout the U.S. have come to recognize that undergraduate research is the way to get students solidly onto the pathway to a science career, and RMC has responded with the SEED (Science Education Enhancement and Development) Program and the YRRC (Yellowstone River Research Center) that encourage research year-round. It is a huge step forward and should be expanded to all undergraduate departments on campus including history, English, and so on.

The efforts of the science faculty to get students involved in undergraduate research has really helped students recognize the opportuni-

ties that are open to them, and the students’ expectations have risen to meet the challenges.

G&G: Overall, you’ve had an amazing and lasting impact on the environmental programs at RMC. What is it you’ll take away from your time here?

Lyman: My experience at RMC has been an incredibly interesting, challenging, frustrating [at times], and satisfying one. I appreciate the fact that this is a small institution striving to stay alive in a relatively small city in a state with a relatively low population. But it is a jewel in the private liberal arts system that should be attracting students from other parts of the U.S. that recognize its quality and low price, compared to many other institutions.

Rocky Mountain College is clearly moving forward, and I will enjoy watching it develop and helping where I can from my house in Red Lodge.

Another of my favorite courses is teaching Montana Spring Wildflowers. Students in all majors have enjoyed taking the class in May and becoming well acquainted with the beautiful spring wildflowers.

G&G: Currently, what department and College efforts do you see as being especially meaningful?

Professor Lyman led field courses in botany and the mutualistic relationships of species both around Billings and internationally.

Lyman: I am pleased

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CommonReadLecture Remarkable and renowned au-

said, when he read the first line of an Adrian C. Louis poem: “Oh, thor Sherman Alexie will give Uncle Adrian, I’m in the reservathe 2014 Common Read Lecture tion of my mind.” at Rocky Mountain College this au“I didn’t know Indians wrote books tumn. or poems…” he said to the Atlantic.

The author of 24 books, Alexie will “But as soon as I saw that poem, I speak Thursday, October 23, after knew I could write about myself the RMC campus community has – my emotional state, the narraread and discussed his 2007 novel, tive of my emotional life. When I The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- wrote before, I was always wearing a mask – I always adopted a pose.

Time Indian.

I was always putting on a white guy “I am exceptionally pleased to an- mask. And all of a sudden, I could nounce that Sherman Alexie has ac- actually use my real face.” cepted our invitation,” said Stephen Germic, associate professor of Eng- Alexie uses sharp observation lish. “Alexie is one of the premier and humor in unity to comment writers in America today … he is one on social mores. In November 2013 of the premier writers in the world.” on Small Business Saturday, he organized more than 1,000 famous Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award writers to each staff an independent for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud bookstore for a day.

Award for Short Fiction, a PEN/ Hemingway Citation for Best First Publisher Little, Brown wrote, Fiction, and the National Book “Heartbreaking, funny, and beautiAward for Young People’s Litera- fully written, The Absolutely True ture, Alexie is a poet, short story Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which writer, novelist, and performer. In is based on the author’s own ex2013, he published the 20th anniver- periences, coupled with poignant sary edition of his The Lone Rang- drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen er and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Forney that reflect the character’s Smoke Signals, the film he wrote art, chronicles the contemporary and co-produced, won the Audi- adolescence of one Native Amerience Award and Filmmakers Trophy can boy as he attempts to break at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. away from the life he was destined A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, to live.”

Alexie grew up in Wellpinit, Wash., on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The novel is taught in Billings Public Joe Fassler in the Atlantic cited the Schools, where three parents object“balance of plaintive lyricism and ed in November 2013 to its inclusion pained, wry humor” in Alexie’s “in- in the curriculum. Billings media redispensable and versatile American ported that at school district board meetings, students packed the voice.” room to explain the values and valid Alexie began writing in 1987, he perspectives in the book.

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One book each year receives analysis from all RMC freshmen as well as faculty and staff in the College’s Common Read program. The 2014 selection committee met often to consider 14 books nominated by the RMC community for the Common Read. The list was initially reviewed according to several criteria, including availability of the author, appropriateness for a wide audience, and disciplinary range.

The committee read and closely reviewed a “short list” of eight books and contacted authors’ agencies to establish availability for dates in the fall of 2014. “Topping our list of authors was Sherman Alexie,” said Germic. “Although it’s a quick read, the novel offers plenty of critical, literary, and social insights in its layered understanding, cultural commentary, eloquent format, and acceptance of the pain of finding one’s voice.”

Seven RMC faculty members

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combined with staff, students, and alumni to deliberate on the choice of the 2014 Common Read. The selection committee thanked Jacquee Dundas, associate professor of English and coordinator of freshman composition, who first

suggested Alexie’s novel. The committee consisted of Dundas; Nick Plunkey, assistant professor of English and writing center director; Precious McKenzie, assistant professor of English; Andy Farkas, assistant professor of English; Mat-

thew O’Gara, associate professor of political science; Emily Ward, assistant professor of geology; Carolyn Coefield, instructor of voice; Cara Lohrenz, director of student activities; student Maryrose Milkovich; and alumnus Kyle Pratt.

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Email us at media@rocky. edu.

(Above) RMC recently hosted the 105th annual Candlelight Dinner in honor of the first dinner on the RMC campus.

(Left) It was a packed house for RMC’s Senior Night and Blackout Game in the Fortin Center. Students rushed the court after a win against the Montana Tech Orediggers basketball team.

March, 2014

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FORTHELOVEOFLEARNING Back in 2002, Daniel Parod (’15) knew he was ready for college.

Then he hoped he was. In downtown Phoenix, Ariz., Parod had completed a magnet high school International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. An IB offers globally standardized, relatively rigorous academic preparation for collegebound students.

He lasted half a semester at Arizona State, working two jobs. Then as his parents moved near Columbus, Mont., he drifted as a library aide, a security guard at impound lots, a car salesman, a bartender, and finally as a polisher at Montana Silversmiths in Columbus.

“That’s a heck of a company that’s been good to me,” he said. While working the counter there in 2011, he had his epiphany.

“I’d been wasting my life. I’ve been given a certain amount of potential. What I really love is physics. I realized I needed to concentrate on that. I had a goal in life,” he said.

“Knowing what I wanted was important.”

A brother’s girlfriend working at Rocky Mountain College “did all she could to make my college research good. She explained that the financial support I could get from RMC was going to make it more feasible for me to attend here than Montana State!” he crowed.

Parod wanted to study physics, but RMC doesn’t offer a physics major. Director of Student Records Carole Peterson, who has aided thousands of students in college planning, told him, “No major? No problem. You want to do this, you can do this.” That summer he was taking statistics and public speak14

At the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wash., Parod paid respects to astronaut Michael Anderson, who died aboard the Columbia space shuttle in 2003. Parod noted, “Before the launch of Columbia, Anderson said: ‘There is always that unknown.’ It made a rather great impact on me.” ing classes to apply to his individual- “At the start, I didn’t like college deized program of study (IPS) major in bate,” Parod said, “because policy physics. debate was too nitpicky. I moved sophomore year to world style, which In the fall, Parod signed up for 19 se- deals with value judgments. It’s not as mester hours. His second and third fact- and figure-based; [it] is based semesters, he took 18 and 17 hours of on answering whys instead of whats.” classes. Meanwhile, he was working He has remained on that team into at Little Caesar’s and waiting tables his senior year, when the team travat Red Lobster. As a non-traditional eled internationally to compete student, he did not want to waste his against Trinity College [Dublin], Cambridge, and Oxford. college opportunity.

His first semester, debate team coach Shelby Jo Long-Hammond asked Parod to join the debate team.

“As I was going to study an abstruse subject – physics – I wanted to be able to communicate,” he said, so he joined her team.

“The skills I learned through that have been more valuable than any of the physics, math, or history I’ve learned,” Parod said. Even so, Parod expects to receive two RMC degrees: a bachelor of science in physics and mathematics and a bachelor of arts in history and political science.

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“No matter what you choose to study, if you study it for the right reasons [to be functional], you’ll be a success ... I’m studying physics because that’s what I wake up in the morning thinking about.” - Daniel Parod

His honors project in physics investigated a math conflict between special relativity and quantum mechanics theory. The 1935 Einstein Padlowsky Rosen (EPR) paradox found insufficiencies in Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle (the idea that an object’s state cannot be measured and cannot be known until it is observed, yet that the act of observation creates that state). Under advisors Toby Anderson, associate professor of physics, and Ulrich Hoensch, associate professor of mathematics, Parod explored objections of the EPR paradox to what Einstein famously called “spooky action at a distance.”

“When I started, I saw such a lack of kids who should be studying physics.

The way it’s taught in textbooks is almost designed to scare people away.

I thought, ‘as a college student, I can do something to fix this,’” said Parod.

The Physics Club grew from his wish to make physics accessible. They presented at the “Chicks in Science” event in Billings in 2013.

Getting the most out of school really is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, as Edison said of invention, Parod noted.

“As a non-traditional student, the one big difference I notice in students is that some want to be here to get an education and will do anything to Anderson said, “Daniel is a wonder- that end. The others are here just ful student and an exceptional per- to go to college. I truly think most son. Knowing Daniel, I expect him should wait, get out and see what to accomplish whatever goals he the world is like, see the alternatives,” sets for himself. He sees possibilities Parod said. where others may see impossibilities.”

“No matter what you choose to study, if you study it for the right reaAnderson designed Parod’s indi- sons [to be functional, to make a difvidualized program of study. Parod ference], you’ll be a success,” he said. said, “They put two courses I need- “If you graduate with a B.S. in physed into the catalog [Photovoltaics ics, unemployment is 1.5 percent, I and Thermodynamics], and offered think. But that’s not why I’m studying four others as either an independent physics.” study or special topics course [Electricity & Magnetism, Circuit Theory, “I’m studying physics because that’s and two others].” what I wake up in the morning thinking about. Many students are not “I can think of no better thing than ready to go, because they don’t that a school offer itself on that lev- know what they want.” el,” Parod said. “Toby agreed to do all that while teaching five classes, as Parod has not abjured his liberal arts the only physics professor, teaching study, though. “Matt O’Gara [associmore than 100 students. ‘You want to ate professor of political science] and do it; we’ll enable your work,’ he said. Tim Lehman [professor of history That made such a powerful impres- and political science] make you write sion on me.” just a one-page paper – I thought it was pretty easy until I knew betMarch, 2014

ter – then they make you cram a whole bunch of deep thought into one page, and revise it and revise it, so that what you’re saying is exactly what you mean.”

As he delves into senior year, Parod has made incisive preparations for life after undergraduate education.

He is president of Equilibrium Energy Solutions, a company that he hopes can commercialize integrative applications of small-scale renewable energy production. Synergies in energy generation and use offer all kinds of commercial application, he said. And speaking of generation, Parod is also working on generating a non-profit organization called “Energy Equality” to effectively distribute some of the knowledge base and applications he is also pursuing commercially. “A million and a half die each year from the effects of burning dung in open fires in homes,” he said. “Imagine the change in lives if we bring in a hotplate and a light bulb.”

He is also comfortable sharing his research. In 2013, he presented at the Montana Space Grant Consortium Research Symposium on using a static airfoil to augment wind turbine efficiency. In January 2014, he spoke before the Billings Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship on “Exploration of Vertical Integration of Renewable Electrical Generation Methods,” or how to combine renewable energy production with its distribution and use, on a local and small scale.

Despite studying and having a passion for an abstract discipline, there’s nothing abstract about Daniel and his initiative.

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PHYSICIANASSISTANTPROGRAM While proud of the praises and

on the whole patient,” she said, “be- the College. cause for many professionals, that placement of its strong graduates, was their own objective and plea- Both PA and medical faculty bring the Rocky Mountain College Masstrong qualifications. David Klein, sure when they entered medicine.” ter of Physician Assistant Studies a general surgeon who earned his program will not dilute its strength “We have a core faculty of PAs and M.D. at Harvard Medical School, by expanding too fast. In 2014, the physicians to teach our required serves as medical director for the first class of 36 students will enter, up curriculum,” she said, “but we also PA program, and retired cardiolofrom 32 in prior years. “We keep the have practicing professionals come gist Jeff Lakier focuses on teaching program small because we educate in” who support that curriculum by first-year students. the whole person,” Director Heather questioning and responding to stuHeggem said. dents. “We impress them with the Professors who are themselves level of our questions and profes- physician assistants work closely The Master of Physician Assissionalism. Our students are dressed with students. Michael “Yorgy” Yortant Studies program at RMC has up not to impress but because they gensen, an Army Special Forces become more and more popular care. From their first day, they are veteran and civilian PA for 13 years, among both applicants and health works as assistant professor and acearly to class and never absent.” care providers, not only because of ademic coordinator. Assistant proincreased use of PAs, but because Medical faculty and adjunct fac- fessors Jennifer Beverly and Carrie the RMC program stands out naulty include retired surgeons such as Hall teach first-years and then guide tionally for quality. Rising from John Dorr, orthopedic surgeon, and clinical placements. “Our PA faculty about 200 applications in 2009, the Bob Wilmouth, cardiothoracic and is really the core to all we do,” said RMC PA program received more vascular surgeon, former director of Heggem. than 500 applicants in 2014, for an the PA program, now president of acceptance rate of less than eight percent. Entry is about as competitive as to undergraduate programs at Princeton, MIT, or West Point.

Graduates excel in evidencebased care because the program demands that students from their first days take appropriate responsibility to think on their feet. RMC PA students analyze the cases that instructors and model patients bring, develop diagnoses, and meet patient needs as they process vast amounts of information.

The regional reputation of the RMC PA program has engaged local physicians and clinical sites fervent to participate with its students, to enjoy the energy that the program design creates. As regional physicians retire from practice, they clamor to help RMC educate the next wave of primary care providers, Heggem said.

First-year student Patrick Erley takes his turn presenting complex topics in front of PA program classmates, with an eye on both medicine and patient care.

“They admire our program focus 16

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...developscompassionandtalent “The students help each other learn rather than compete,” Dorr said.

The mission statement of the program explains, “Our graduates distinguish themselves through an emphasis on patient safety and quality improvement.”

RMC President Wilmouth continues to teach in the program he once directed. As director, Wilmouth dissected the program as a surgeon would, engaging continual improvements in process and in measuring outcomes. He created hours of new instructional time each week for students by dividing the class in a flex-time schedule. Half receive smaller-group instruction upstairs with preceptors while half are downstairs, thinking on their feet in “the box,” in the spotlight of assembled instructors and students. They are put on the spot, beyond their com-

fort level, as they explain concepts and apply their studies.

No other PA program operates with identical small-group didactic flex-time, although other institutions have come to study the RMC model. The program is designed to develop the students themselves as whole people while they broaden their knowledge base and apply new skills. The curriculum lasts a summer and a further two years: a didactic “learning” year and a clinical “practicing” year. The first summer, students begin their program in July with study of biostatistics, anatomy and physiology, genetics, and other introductory material.

The following fall and spring semesters, academics come in waves of intense modules of specialty medicine, such as immunology, ophthal-

mology, endocrinology, hematology, and oncology. Each module ends with a Monday exam. The first-years spend most waking moments processing information and learning to think on their feet. “It’s the most demanding year most students have had,” Heggem said, due to combinations of academic rigor, financial strain while in school, and crunched time for family. Students laugh as they repeat Wilmouth’s dictum: “We plan the work; you work the plan.”

“We have a tremendous focus on history taking and physical exam skills,” said Heggem, “as only two or three students work with each preceptor.” Students begin fall semester with a course in evidencebased medicine. Throughout their curriculum and then in summative evaluations [tests], students read [interpret] EKGs, X-rays, and lab panels of blood draws, then perform differential diagnosis of model patients. “It’s problem-based learning,” said Heggem.

Health care networks from the region have engaged with the RMC program. “We bring in a Parkinson’s support group,” said Heggem, “that talks about how compassionate our students are. When you graduate from RMC, you may not have memorized every single dose of each medicine, but you’ll know how to treat each patient; you’ll know when to hold their hand.”

Preceptors continuously evaluate student work at the same time as the students evaluate their teachers’ effectiveness, so program improvement remains data-driven.

Students get a lot of compliments, though. “Preceptors say ‘They get along so well with my patients!’”

Heggem said.

March, 2014

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specialty of their choice. The ro“Physicians are impressed by their tations can remain at one site or, ability to learn,” said Dorr. more often, send PA students to clinics and hospitals in widely vary“The most exciting and rewarding ing locations. part of the program is our patient encounters,” said first-year stu- Medical students pursuing an dent Kelly Stocks. “We are lucky to M.D. degree take identical rotahave the opportunity to apply our tions but often with less personal classroom knowledge to hands-on placement and less opportunities patient care before moving to the for skill development, said Carrie Hall, director of clinical educaclinical year.” tion. The best rotation sites are located in rural communities, she Rotations and Placements said, because they most closely reIn the program’s last 12 months, semble the primary care that many students in their “clinical year” graduates will offer, and because pursue eight focuses in rotations rural regional sites have an affinall over the U.S., including family ity for RMC students they may practice, internal medicine, emer- see in practice after graduation, as gency medicine, general surgery, RMC hosts the only PA program obstetrics and gynecology, psy- in Montana or Wyoming. chiatry, pediatrics, and an elective Clinical year PA students from RMC are in demand. In 2014, nearly 500 clinical sites contacted Hall to request that RMC students rotate in their clinics. An Idaho site told her that henceforth, they accept only RMC PA students, rather than any medical students or students of other PA programs.

Associate Professor Dr. Jeffrey Lakier teaches the didactic year and helps PA students develop their differential diagnoses.

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Heather Heggem, the director of the PA program since June 2013, graduated as a physician assistant in the RMC class of 2005.

The program started in 1998 and has graduated about 230 practitioners, each donning a white coat in an August ceremony as they receive their Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree.

Many of the graduates find jobs in Billings and across eastern Montana. The Billings Gazette quoted Heggem saying the regional medical community centered in Billings has “really embraced our little program. They help us educate our students.”

Applicants Because it is a master’s level program, applicants bring rich life experiences to bear on their curriculum. Admission counselor Margia Pretlow loves the diversity of applicants’ personal histories. Ninety percent of applications come from outside Montana. “Just the other week, a military registered nurse in Guam, retiring at the end of 2016, saw our web page of our student in the military. He called at 3:15 a.m.

Guam time, getting himself ready to apply next year,” said Pretlow.

Pretlow said, “I’m passionate about getting good PAs in our program and getting them out to work in the world. Last year when they graduated, I was so moved because I saw how ready they are. I would be privileged to have one of our PAs work on anyone I know, because they are so well prepared.

I know we make a difference.”

“I get thank you cards and phone calls all the time [from graduated PAs],” said Pretlow. Only graduates from ARC-PA- (Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant) accredited programs are eligible to sit for the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination) and become nationally certified and licensed to practice.

The average national pass rate is 93 percent, but 100 percent of RMC students have passed their PANCE in five of the last seven

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Current PA students Patrick Erley, Elliy Phillips, Carley Buttleman Hennessy, Kelly Vincent, and James Dassel engage in a lively discussion during class. years. Their performance ranked lispell, in western Montana, and above the national average for the earned his biology bachelor of arts last seven years. degree at Carroll College. He then worked as an EMT in Helena’s St. More than 160 American colleges Peter’s Hospital emergency room, and universities host PA programs, on ambulances, and for three years including elite medical schools at Shodair Children’s Hospital, an such as Yale and Weill Cornell. in-patient psychiatric hospital for They all use the same standard- children. ized application. RMC students self-select, according to Heg- Van Brunt said, “I heard first about gem. They are humble, practical, this program through an RMC PA and experienced, qualities that student that was doing a rotation their program furthers. “They can at Shodair. The appeal of RMC for do whatever they want to” after me had to do with the faculty-tograduating, she said, “it’s a great student ratio and the environment career.” The RMC program ex- of the classroom. I felt confident cels in old-fashioned virtues, which in the liberal arts model and with Heggem calls its “culture-based a school that had a sterling repuapproach to be safe and proficient tation for producing exceptional providers.”

PAs working in many fields.”

Current Students Current first-year students bring varied backgrounds, but must have practiced 2,000 hours of direct, hands-on patient care (1,000 hours before applying) and hold a bachelor’s degree with specific coursework.

Ross Van Brunt grew up in KaMarch, 2014

Mont., Kelly Stocks said, “I’ve seen the need for rural healthcare.”

Stocks received a bachelor’s degree in athletic training at Boise State University and then worked as a trainer and an emergency department scribe before applying.

She said, “Rocky Mountain College was always my first choice for PA school. I was fortunate to know a previous RMC PA program graduate who had nothing but wonderful things to say about the program. I was eager to attend a school that puts such an emphasis on placing PAs in rural settings where they are needed most.”

Van Brunt said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to be receiving my training at Rocky in providing qualVan Brunt appreciates and credits ity patient care. The atmosphere the character of the students in of the classroom is … a mecca for his program. “The culture is one learning. This culture and environof rigor, high demand, and [is] ment has been the high point.” incredibly fast paced. [Yet] the manner in which the students and Stocks chimed in, “The program is faculty support one another is out- very demanding and has pushed standing,” he said. me beyond my perceived lim its. The best part about tackling A student with family living in Wis- this endeavor is the support and dom, Dillon, Baker, and Volberg, friendship of fellow classmates.”

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The Bair Family Student Center will have the first stateof-the-art solar panel system on the RMC campus.

SOLARPOWERSPOTLIGHT Solar energy helps fuel Bair Family Student Center, promotes sustainability “Educating students on sustainability from a textbook is one thing, but educating students on sustainability through the implementation of sustainable practices on campus is real education,” current Rocky Mountain College junior Renee Seacor wrote in a recent grant proposal.

A New York native, Seacor came to RMC to experience what the West had to offer with an eye on riding horses in the equestrian program. But a course with Associate Professor Kayhan Ostovar in Environmental Science – Sustainable Communities has shifted the focus of her education toward building sustainable communities. And now the Bair Family Student Center will be the only building on campus to boast a $65,000 solar panel system to offset some of the building’s energy usage.

take to help power a building on campus.

She initially estimated a system would cost approximately $30,000 and quickly realized the hardest part of the project would be finding sufficient funding, and so began her race to make the project a reality.

“This project aims to foster sustainable development on campus in the form of solar energy and in the process, educate the Rocky Mountain College community on environmental responsibility and the importance of sustainable practices,” Seacor wrote to the Associated Students of Rocky Mountain College. Her proposal highlighted not only the positive effects of using sustainable energy, but also that it would fit in with numerous departments Seacor describes herself as across campus. The solar panalways being interested in the els can be used to supplement outdoors, an avid hiker and laboratory exercises and handsbackpacker. She revamped the on experiments across scientific RMC Environmental Club and disciplines and raise awareness started looking for ways to be in the local community, Seacor wrote. involved.

The “Greener Campus” group project was simple initially: develop a project to help make campus more sustainable. Intrigued by solar energy in the Big Sky state, Seacor started to investigate what it would March, 2014

Renee Seacor al demonstration for the public.

With all the controversy about the negative effects of coal and other energy sources, solar energy seems to be the ideal energy for the future, having no downfalls. I think that an educational center is the perfect place to demonstrate such a thing.”

It will be a “beacon in the larger community,” Lehman said, showing that RMC students, and the College as a whole, are embracing new technologies.

Seacor reached out to the local community, hopeful that those around her would see the value in the project, and her efforts Tim Lehman, professor of his- were wildly successful. tory and political science, said, “Renewable energy is some- Through grant writing, Seacor thing we talk about in a few of was able to raise over $65,000 to my classes. Having solar panels fund her project. She received on campus would be a perfect over $1,500 from local busiteaching opportunity as well as a nesses; a $5,000 grant from the perfect example and education- Cinnabar Foundation (a “closGreen & Gold

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ing grant” that would only kick in if she raised $10,000); $3,000 from RMC; $7,000 from the Associated Students of Rocky Mountain College; and over $40,000 from the Northwestern Energy Universal Systems Benefit grant program.

Local company Winpower West, which will be installing the system, reduced the cost of the system by $10,000 as well.

“I had the power to make a change here on campus,” Seacor said. And the effects from her project will be far-reaching across campus. She anticipates that the panels will offset approximately $1,800 in yearly costs to run the Bair Family Student Center. RMC is then returning those savings to the Environ-

mental Club to continue with their efforts.

SOLARPROJECTBUDGET

Winpower West will install the panels when the winter snow melts, anticipated sometime in late March or early April.

Total System Cost: $65,025

Northwestern Energy $41,251 The 13kW Photovoltaic System Winpower West Donation $10,025 ASRMC Contribution $7,000 will be installed on the south roof RMC Contribution $3,000 above Fraley Lounge at the center Cinnabar Foundation $5,000 of campus. The location was choOther Donations $2,000 sen because it will be visible to the RMC Environmental Science students, Seacor explained. And a Program $300 serendipitous surprise was that the RMC Environmental Studies roof has the “perfect pitch” for soProgram $100 lar panels, she said.

environmental studies. She hopes Seacor has since declared an en- to continue her work to eventually vironmental science major and is help build sustainable communiconsidering double majoring in ties.

NEW.NAME.SAME.GAME. Name change at Health and Human Performance department shows program growth at RMC Visitors to the Fortin Education Center at Rocky Mountain About one-third of the 118 HHP College notice a lot of students now concentrate in exercise student activity.

The action springs in part science. “This career field is predicted from substantial growth to grow 27 percent in the next 10 in the athletic training years.” – Amanda Botnen, assistant and exercise science professor of physical education concentrations in the newly renamed Health and Human Performance department. The new department departmental focuses have made a in 2014, two-thirds are in either the name change imperative, said the exercise science or athletic training program’s professors. programs, even in a department Until the 1990s, the longstanding Physical Education and Health program at RMC focused on physical education and health education. Personnel in PEH have re-crafted the program focus in response to two evolving and expanding cynosures of society: fitness and sports, said Professor Paul Roper. Of 118 students in the 22

with four major concentrations and four minors. “We feel it’s time to change the name to Health and Human Performance, to rightly shift the focus that folks have of our area – PEH to HHP,” said Professor Clarece Lacy.

About one-third of the 118 HHP students now concentrate in

exercise science. They follow a course of study that points them toward careers in physical therapy, athletic training, or a pre-med or pre-health focus. “This career field is predicted to grow 27 percent in the next 10 years,” said

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“We feel it’s time to change the name to Health and Human Performance, to rightly shift the focus.” – Professor Clarece Lacy Amanda Botnen, assistant professor of physical education. Botnen teaches courses focused on athletic training, strength and conditioning instruction, biomechanics, and therapeutic modalities. She also works at Billings Clinic as a certified athletic trainer, and she coordinates strength and conditioning programs for RMC athletic teams.

exercise science, and athletic training, with a few in a coaching minor. In 2014, just 10 of the 118 students are physical education majors. Roper is excited though: “Not only have we seen significant changes in the distribution of students, but we have a new growth area in our sports management degree, which points to a continuation of these changes.”

Athletic training, the department concentration with the highest enrollment, has two prongs through which students can undertake their career path, “Best of both worlds we like to call it,” said Lacy with a laugh.

After all of the hands-on experience and career-guiding internships they get within the program, students can either enter the workforce using a bachelor of science degree or stay longer and complete a master’s degree. The M.A. in athletic training is offered in conjunction with Montana State University Billings.

Lacy elaborates, “One really nice thing about our M.A. offering is that it is completed, along with the bachelor’s, in five years rather than the normal six.”

While they commit to continuing to better their existing programs, Lacy said the department hopes to capitalize on the growth in sports management, a program that integrates courses from the RMC business department. She explained, “Sports management looks to classes in ethics, accounting, economics, marketing, and introduction to coaching.” As the look and feel of the department evolves, RMC stays ahead of these trends that Roper and his colleagues call “exhilarating, demanding, and refreshing.”

Roper celebrates the change in departmental focus. When he started at RMC in 1990, the modest program had students spread within three concentrations: physical education, March, 2014

“We have magnificent students in our program,” said Roper, “such as soccer player Oliver Gore, first RMC student in the major league soccer draft, who plans to play semi-professional soccer. In his standout career at RMC, he was NAIA [National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics] Player of the Year, honoring his character.”

The devoted faculty themselves carry health practice forward with heart and soul as well as academics.

Roper remained undefeated for life in his years-long challenge to both male and female RMC students to defeat him in a tournament of racquet sports. He never lost the $50 bet he offered to scores of upstart sports team members who hoped to beat him across a slate of games chosen from pickleball, squash, badminton, and racquetball. Sixtyeight-year-old Roper only retired his challenge after having both his knee joints replaced a few years ago.

Lacy, an Army veteran who in her 34 years at RMC has served students as Director of Academic Advising and on a score of committees, teaches anatomy and physiology classes along with sports sociology and management courses. Meanwhile, she shares her hobbies of endurance horse and bicycle racing with her students.

As the department changes focus, the professors continue to practice what they teach. A hallmark of RMC health education, Lacy said, remains the development of the whole person in social, emotional, and practical skills, as well as academic mastery.

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GREEN&GOLD SCRIMMAGEWEEKEND April 12 - 13, 2014 RMC has a longstanding tradition of bringing students, fans, and the community together for a Battlin’ Bear Green & Gold football scrimmage each spring. It’s a time to dust off the cobwebs and come see what RMC football has in store for next season!

Tickets for Bear Bash are $100 and support all aspects of student life on the Rocky Mountain College campus.

Please RSVP in advance, however, tickets will also be available at the door.

• Location: Fortin Education Center

Kick off the weekend with a mini Re- • Time: Starts at 6:00 p.m. with lay for Life event from 9:00 to 11:00 cocktails and a silent auction. Dina.m. on the RMC campus. All proner and calcutta start at 7:00 p.m. ceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

Kick back and relax on Sunday with the annual RMC FOOTBALL Then make your way to the south GOLF TOURNAMENT. Hosted end zone of Herb Klindt Field on the at EagleRock Golf Course in Billings, RMC campus for a TAILGATE be- tickets are $100 per person and diginning at 12:00 p.m., and bring your rectly support the RMC football profriends and your RMC spirit! Food gram. Tee time is 10:00 a.m. and beverages will be available. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

If you would like to participate in both Bear Bash and the golf tourStick around after the game, because nament, RMC is offering a reduced Saturday night is the annual BEAR per-person total rate of $150.

BASH – one of our biggest fundraising events of the year, which is always For more information, or to RSVP, a great time. Come show your sup- contact Director of Alumni & Parport for RMC and the athletic pro- ent Relations, Cody Rose, at rosec@ gram at the silent auction, calcutta, rocky.edu or 406.657.1007. and live raffle, and enjoy a catered dinner and an evening of music and GO BEARS! dancing. It’s all about supporting RMC!

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

RMCALUMNIINTHENEWS Four RMC alumni featured in Billings Gazette’s 40 Under Forty Four Rocky Mountain College alumni received accolades as members of the 2013 class of “40 Under Forty,” which honored local business and community leaders in a recent issue of the Billings Gazette.

The four related for Green & Gold how the leadership skills developed at RMC have served them since, in specific and holistic ways.

Cory Albin’s (’04) successful

career as a Farm Bureau Insurance agent and financial services advisor is built on trust. “In insurance, you take care of your clients and maintain that relationship,” he said. He developed his mature outlook in part at RMC. Albin is a Sidney, Mont., native who transferred from University of Montana after a year focused on football. “I wanted to play now, not in a couple of years, and being at Rocky let me do that. At the time, I was more focused on football than on my career path so I took business classes because that is what came easiest to me.

RMC was a great experience and I gained a lot out of the relationships I established there.”

Albin does not trumpet his own role in maturing in his goals. He sold cars through college to earn a little money. “I have loved to buy and sell ever since I was little; anything from cars to cattle to houses. When I was 12, my dad took me to the bank to get my first loan to buy six cows. I had the characteristics of a kid who would

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quit school to start a business or Science and Technology Consorsomething of that sort,” he said. tium. “It was one of the first and best online educational experiBut he didn’t quit. “I would’ve, ences in the college classroom,” but the teachers put up with my Hanel said. stuff and wouldn’t allow me to fail.

They were really eager to help Hanel originally tried to avoid me. They made it so that if I com- his two RMC semesters of Cisco mitted, they would support me as networking courses, “yet they are far as I could go.” absolutely necessary in today’s world. Networking turned out to He continues to try to pay back be my greatest love.” the support he received.

All-encompassing social effects Albin said, “I try to give back to of current technology were not the school that helped me achieve as apparent when Hanel commy goals by supporting RMC stu- pleted his work. “I studied Pascal dents as much as I can.” programming language at MSUB and Perl at RMC. Now continuAdam Hanel (’04) completed ing education is mainly in Cisco his information technology major networking. Most of what I deat RMC and now works as a se- sign will be obsolete in five years. nior network engineer and client When I finished, 10-megabyte service manager for Eide Bailly connections were the basic stanTechnology Consulting. He helps dard. Now standard network concompanies from Billings to Lon- nections are 100 times faster. If don with network and other tech- there were an RMC master’s program, I would go back to RMC in nological consulting. a heartbeat.”

In his first college experience at Montana State University Billings, Yet Hanel noted how much he ap“I went to college because that’s preciates his work as a client serwhat you did,” he said. “I wasn’t vice manager. He said, “I find that sure what I wanted to study. After really rewarding, working to serve two years, my new wife and my people’s needs.” job created an opportune time to pay off loans.” He held a tech- A transfer student to Rocky nology job for four years before Mountain College, Drew Hedcoming to RMC to complete his rick (’08) took a business mandegree, which he finished while agement degree from RMC while working in network administration he gained regional press as quarfor Billings Public Schools. terback and captain of the football team. Though he did not choose Hanel’s IT major was offered in a career while in college, Hedrick the 2000s as a combination of has found success as a realtor with classroom and distance educa- Century 21 Hometown Brokers in tion coordinated by the Montana

Green & Gold

Volume 2, number 1

Cory Albin

Adam Hanel

Courtesy of Farmers Bureau Insurance

Billings. In 2011, he received an award for his sales volume as one of his company’s top 50 producers in a five-state region.

Drew Hedrick Courtesy of Eide Bailly

wants to help the post-collegiate transition for RMC students. He said, “We have a lot of very good professionals in town who are RMC grads. Many of us must be He did his first three undergradu- eager, like I am, to talk with curate years at University of Montana rent students. The best career adbefore coming to RMC. “There vice is from those who are living was definitely a big difference be- what you want to do.” tween a big state school and getting a lot more attention at RMC,” Megan Kongaika (’03) works Hedrick said. “Coming out of high in public and media relations for school, I thought a college was a Billings Clinic and has managed college. Right away at Rocky I no- communications for Employee ticed the community feel, things Benefit Management Services like class size, and willingness of (EBMS) in Billings. However, Konprofessors to help you out.” gaika got her start in PR as a high school theatre rebel in Glendive, Hedrick adapted to challenges Mont. throughout college and as he entered the professional world, and She majored in English at RMC, RMC helped him learn to stay taking theatre and education adaptable, he said. Like many stu- classes as well and received her dents, Hedrick focused on getting teaching certificate for high school his degree without overanalyzing English. his next steps.

“RMC takes higher education “I came out of RMC like a lot of back to its roots,” Kongaika said. business majors might, not know- “You really develop a mentorship ing exactly what I wanted to do,” with your professors that extends he said. “It’s a very open degree. I beyond the course content. That could have easily taken it on my- helped me navigate through life.” self to go explore options, but I may have benefited from a little RMC Professor of Education more prodding.” Thus Hedrick Shelley Ellis became one of many

March, 2014

Megan Kongaika Courtesy of the Billings Clinic

guides to life lessons. “She is the perfect person to teach the teacher. When I handed in my first paper for her, I was overly confident in my writing skills. She didn’t go easy on me, though, and I was the better for it. I left her class a better writer,” Kongaika said. “My English professors Andrew Kirk, Jim Raines, and Linaya Leaf instilled within me a lifelong love of literature, storytelling, and poetry that comes in handy today.”

“RMC really catches students where they are and takes them to the next level,” said Kongaika.

In one introductory freshman class, various professors were encouraged to check how every young arrival was doing. “Mine called me in my dorm when I was missing from a group,” she said.

“I don’t know where, other than RMC, you’d get that attention. It’s not handholding; it’s accountability.”

Kongaika’s RMC connection continues to grow as she works with President Wilmouth’s wife, Liz, at Billings Clinic Foundation and has agreed to chair the 2014 RMC Community Drive.

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

INMEMORIAM Harold Buck Elk (’79) ing stories and laughing, and would never let you live down any embarrassing moment. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, hide-tanning, baking, cooking, and sewing and was a self-taught carpenter. Harold was very caring and generous. He liked to pass on traditions and was always willing to help those in need. He believed that everyone deserved a chance. He encouraged and was a huge believer in bettering yourself through education.”

His family has deep RMC ties. He wrote of his parents, “They didn’t have much education, but they sure understood the value of it.” They worked as dishwasher, cook, janitor, and jailer to send him and his two siblings to Rocky Mountain College, where all three prospered.

Older brother Warren graduated from RMC in 1973.

Sister Eileen Buckman (’79) is a nurse and now financial management analyst for the Indian Health Service regional office in Billings. This spring, Buck Elk’s two Rocky Mountain College alumni lost an outstanding daughters, LaToya and Lesley, are in the senior and jufellow when Harold Buck Elk (’79) passed away on nior class at RMC, both with majors in exercise science February 2. Buck Elk was raised in Fort Kipp, Mont., and earning respect from their professors. and graduated from Brockton High School. He received his baccalaureate degree in accounting as well “He was constant in his support of the importance of as his associate’s degree in business management from education,” Undem said. “His business has done very Rocky Mountain College. After he took an MBA, well for the Fort Peck Tribes, most recently manufacBuck Elk returned to the Fort Peck Reservation where turing materials for the Bakken oil development.” In 2012, Buck Elk was honored as regional Minority Small he founded Fort Peck Tech Services in May 2004.

Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Busi“He was a star in many ways,” said Obert Undem, RMC ness Administration. His family wrote, “His goal was director of planned giving, who has kept in touch with to create jobs for the reservation and give back to the people.”

Buck Elk’s family for decades.

His family wrote for his memorial, “Harold enjoyed His memorial webpage is http://claytonstevensonmetraveling for work, spending time with his family, morialchapel.com/obituaries/harold-buck-elk-agecatching up and finding out ‘what’s the latest,’ tell- 49-of-fort-kipp-mt/.

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Green & Gold

Volume 2, number 1

March, 2014

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE Office of Institutional Advancement 1511 Poly Drive Billings, Montana 59102

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An inside look at Jerry Wolf, RMC Men’s and Women’s Head Ski Coach