Montanan, Winter 2009

montanan

A report on the university system in a struggling economy

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WINTER 2009

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content

WINTER 2009 Volume 26

Number 1

PUBLISHER

Rita Munzenrider ’83

EDITOR-in-chief

Brianne Burrowes ’07

DESIGNER

PHOTO editor

Eileen Chontos Todd Goodrich ’88

EDITORIAL TEAM Jacob Baynham ’07 Brenda Day ’95 Jennifer Sauer ’01 Cary Shimek Ashley Zuelke ’09

CONTRIBUTING

EDITORS

ADVISORY BOARD

Betsy Holmquist ’67, M.A. ’83 Jay Kettering ’82 Meg Oliver Basinger ’93 Laura Brehm Denise Dowling ’82 Jim Foley Daryl Gadbow ’75 Charlie Hood ’61, M.A. ’69 Bill Johnston ’79, M.P.A. ’91 Jed Liston ’82, M.Ed. ’00 Ginny Merriam ’86 Don Oliver ’58 Carol Williams ’65 Kurt Wilson ’83

Eric Elander ’77 406-360-3321 elander@montana.com

ADVERTISING

REPRESENTATIVE

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EDITORIAL OFFICES

University Relations 325 Brantly Hall The University of Montana Missoula, MT 59812-7642 406-243-2488 Voluntary Subscription:

On the Window Seat, an oil painting on canvas by Fra Dana, is only one of 10,000 pieces in UM’s Montana Museum of Art and Culture permanent collection.

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www.umt.edu/montanan themontanan@umontana.edu UM Web site: www.umt.edu Web site: E-Mail:

Change of address: 877-UM-ALUMS or support@UMontanaAlumni.org Please allow eight weeks for mailings to reflect changes.

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Photo by Todd Goodrich

The Montanan is a publication of University Relations. It is published three times a year

by The University of Montana for its alumni and friends.

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FEATURES

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Kendra Cousineau, a freshman in pre-journalism at UM, finds herself balancing two jobs while taking a twelvecredit course load. As money becomes scarcer for everyone, we take a look at the state of higher education in Montana.

The State of Higher Education

By Jacob Baynham As the economy dips, more people of all ages are making the decision to return to higher education.

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The Making of Meloy

By Nate Schweber The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy ’98 shares his story of success, memories of Montana, and hopes to return to Big Sky Country—one day.

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A Band for the Ages

By Ashley Zuelke In September 2008 the Alumni Band reunited to perform in UM’s annual Homecoming Parade for the twentieth time.

Learning Later

By Sharon Barrett In only its third year, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UM is enrolling a record number of students. As a result, it may receive $1 million in March 2009.

DEPARTMENTS 3 ON THE COVER: As enrollment rises and the economy stumbles, we look at the state of higher education in Montana. UM freshman Kendra Cousineau stands ready for her college education, despite an ongoing recession.

Cover Photo by Todd Goodrich

www.umt.edu/montanan

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Letters Around the Oval Bookshelf UM Foundation About Alumni Artifacts

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letters The original home of the Student Union in 1935, which is now the Fine Arts Building. The Student Union has moved many times and is now known as the University Center.

A TIMELY CONFESSION

The article in the fall 2008 issue of the Montanan regarding the Student Union Building brings to mind my days in Missoula County High School back in the early ’40s. There were many activities at the union that were open to the public and also to the school kids. Several friends and I used to go there and were very familiar with the building. In those days it was a stopping place for many big bands as they came from Seattle or the Twin Cities, stopping to play for dances in the Gold Room on the top floor.

My friends and I would walk up the back stairs and hide behind the bandstand some hours before the dance. Sometimes we would help the musicians carry their equipment up that long flight of stairs.

One night a band was appearing that we particularly wanted to see and hear, but we arrived late and the dance already had started. Coming up the back stairs, we found the back door to the Gold Room was locked—we were out of luck. Someone in our group remembered seeing a garden hose coiled up outside by a water faucet.

Knowing the layout of the building as we did, our prayers were answered. We went down, picked up the hose and went up the back steps to a dressing room down the hall from the Gold Room, which had a trapdoor in the ceiling allowing roof access.

There was a stepladder nearby that we used to reach the trapdoor. Up we went with the garden hose, crossed the roof, tied the hose around a pipe coming out of the roof, and dropped the end of the hose down to the balcony, which was used by dancers taking a breath of fresh air or coming out for a smoke. You can see it at the end of the building in the picture you featured.

Several of the people on the balcony were quite surprised to see four high school boys sliding down the hose. We strolled into the big room and made our way over to the bandstand hanging around in back, WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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listening to the music, and talking with the musicians. Nobody bothered us, and we had a great time. This was probably in fall 1941. I only wish I could remember the name of that band.

Regards, Leonard Coombs ’50

Via e-mail SENTIMENTAL SENTINEL

After reading the Montanan’s homage to The Sentinel, I am reminded of the hours and weekends spent meeting publication deadlines during the late ’60s. Cyril Van Duser was our adviser. Her dedication to quality outcomes and responsible, unbiased journalism was our mandate as a volunteer staff. Mareen Jacobs Stoffel contributed untold hours as editor, and we all worked to produce an interesting, relevant, and inclusive yearbook. My assignments always included the “Greek” pages, as I was an independent and therefore assumed to be impartial! We learned a lot during those years that was not credited to our transcripts!

Lynne Hogue Lansdon ‘70

Via e-mail

Studies program, originally called Black Studies. Ulysses Doss, Jibreel Khazan, and Tunde Adeleke addressed the founding days of the program.

I thought about all the people who should have been in that room. After a phone call to Judy McBride, the first secretary for the Black Studies program, I explored holding a reunion for the students, staff, and host families involved in the beginning of this extraordinary program.

With the support of the UM Alumni Association and President George Dennison, a Black Studies Reunion will be held in Missoula September 17-19, 2009.

The celebration will include all students, staff, and host families who participated in the program since its beginnings in 1968.

We are working hard to gather names of those who were involved in this program, and we need you! To be included in this event, e-mail me at dr59801@msn.com.

Sincerely,

Dianna Riley,

Black Studies host parent

Via e-mail

MONTANAN FAN

We recently received the fall Montanan and think it was the best since I started to receive it after graduating with the class of 1950.

The Montanan welcomes My wife is a real fan of The letters to the editor. Please sign and include your graduating Closer, and we both found the year or years of attendance, information on the Simmons home address, and phone family (About Alumni, fall number or e-mail address.

2008) very interesting. We get Send them to: Montanan Editor, back to Missoula every year.

325 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812 Keep up the good work. or themontanan@umontana.edu.

WANTED: YOUR OPINIONS

John Dunning ’50

Tucson, Arizona REUNION WORTHY

On September 9, 2008, UM honored the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of UM’s African-American

Because of space limitations, we are not able to include all letters sent to us. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. While universities are places of discussion where good people do not always agree, letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Opinions expressed in the Montanan do not necessarily reflect those of The University of Montana.

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PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM T T T T

Please send me the free Will Information Kit. Please contact me by phone.

I have included UMF in my estate plan.

I am considering including UMF in my estate plan.

Please send me more information.

Name(s): _________________________________

You have worked hard to accumulate assets throughout your life, but without a valid will or trust at your death, those assets will be distributed according to state law. Including a bequest in your will or trust to a charitable organization, such as The University of Montana Foundation, may be the best way to make a meaningful gift and leave your legacy at the University. Charitable bequests are easy, revocable, and tax smart. For more information, sample bequest language, or to request a free Will Information Kit, call or write Theresa today.

Address:__________________________________ City:__________________ State:____ Zip:_______ Phone Number:______________________________

MAIL TO

UM Foundation, P.O. Box 7159, Missoula, MT 59807

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Theresa Timms Boyer Director of Gift Planning GifPlanningUMF@mso.umt.edu (800)443-2593 As with any decision involving your financial or estate plans, we recommend you seek the advice of professional counsel when considering a gift or bequest to The University of Montana Foundation.

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NOTABLES | PRESIDENT‘S CORNER | HOMECOMING | GRIZ NATION

around the oval

BEYONDEXPECTATIONS Photo by Todd Goodrich

GRIZ NO. 2 IN THE NATION

OK,

so Griz Nation didn’t get its fantastic finish.

The Grizzlies lost to the Richmond Spiders 7-24 on December 19 during the Football Championship Subdivision title game in Chattanooga, Tenn. Despite some outstanding performances—junior wide receiver Marc Mariani snagged seven passes for 172 yards and junior linebacker Shawn Lebsock tallied thirteen tackles—the Griz left the stadium frustrated, finishing the season 14-2. The team is now 2-4 in FCS championship games.

No. 2 hurts, but when one considers that roughly 125 teams nationally vied for the crown, it’s not half bad—especially when taking into account how much this team defied expectations and improved during the year.

At the beginning of the season, many fans whispered “rebuilding year.” Twenty-four seniors had graduated from last year’s 11-1 squad, and three of those had landed in the NFL. Despite the steady leadership of senior quarterback Cole Bergquist and a monstrous O-line, many folks thought the running game and defense needed a little seasoning. Would the Griz finish 8-4? Was the string of fifteen straight playoff appearances in jeopardy?

The 2008 Griz squeaked out a 30-28 road win to open the season against nationally ranked Cal Poly and then dominated Southern Utah 46-10 at home. But they almost lost to Division II Central Washington in Missoula and then the wheels came off during a 28-45 loss in the rain to Weber State in Ogden, Utah.

A turning point came the next week when the Griz defense took on a new, tougher identity during a 19-3 stifling of Eastern Washington in Cheney. Suddenly the wins piled up.

During the 108th Brawl of the Wild, Griz players clad in throwback copper and gold jerseys sent the Montana State Bobcats yowling back to Bozeman with a 35-3 spanking.

Some wonderful plotlines emerged during the season.

Bergquist, from San Clemente, Calif., was outstanding as quarterback, throwing for 3,156 yards (8,442 for his UM

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Senior Offensive Guard Colin Dow gives his Grizzly teammates a pep talk after the disappointing 7-24 loss to the Richmond Spiders in the Football Championship Subdivision title game in Chattanooga, Tenn., December 19.

career). Mariani, a Havre product, had 1,308 receiving yards—the second-most ever for a Grizzly. Senior safety Colt Anderson of Butte, America, finished his career with 313 tackles—the fifth-best in UM history— putting him ahead of Tim Hauck, who went on to a lengthy NFL career. But perhaps the most exciting story was the emergence of Chase Reynolds, the sophomore running back from Drummond, who set single season records for touchdowns (23) and points (138).

The Griz roared into the playoffs with a No. 5 seed, earning two games at home. Texas State went down 31-13, and then UM avenged its only loss of the season with a 24-13 mauling of talented Weber State. Even the biggest doubters had to admit that something special was happening with the 2008 Griz.

It got better the next week when UM traveled to Harrison, Va., to face No. 1-ranked James Madison University. There the Griz took on outstanding JMU quarterback and Peyton Award finalist Rodney Landers, and an opportunistic Montana defense held him in check until he left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter. His backup, Drew Dudzik, played gamely, but the Griz held on for a 35-27 victory—UM’s first road semifinal victory in school history. A photo of Montana defensive tackle Craig Mettler upending Dudzik became a twopage spread in the December 22 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Then along came the Spiders and a tough loss in Chattanooga. The Griz couldn’t put the capper on their already spectacular season. After the game, coach Bobby Hauck had this to say: “I’m proud of this football team. They’re a great group of young men. They came a million miles from August.”

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HOMECOMING

2008

All photos by Todd Goodrich

The Montana Grizzlies received their sixteenth straight Homecoming win in Washington-Grizzly Stadium September 20, when they beat the visiting UC Davis Aggies in a 29-24 victory.

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The President’s Corner

Mohr Named Montana’s First Female Regents Professor

Photos by Erik Stenbakken

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hen it came to teaching awards, UM School of Business Administration Professor Jakki Mohr already had several in the bag. In 2002, after only five years teaching at the University, Mohr was named UM’s Most Inspirational Teacher of the Year. Three years later she was the Montana Professor of the Year. The following years brought more accolades for the UM educator. But it was at the Board of Regents meeting last November that she landed the big one.

To a standing ovation in a crowded University Center Ballroom, the Montana Board of Regents rewarded Mohr with the highest teaching honor in the Montana University System—the rank of Regents Professor.

Mohr is the first woman in Montana to receive the award and joins seven UM professors previously honored with the title.

“This is something that we do rarely in the Montana University System,” Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said in opening remarks for the ceremony. “It’s a moment of celebration and congratulation.”

UM Provost Royce Engstrom introduced Mohr, citing her excellence in teaching, research, and service. “She just does everything, and we are so proud of her to join the ranks of Regents Professor,” he said at the ceremony.

Mohr says she was flattered and honored to receive the award.

“The reason I do what I do is to make a difference in some way,” she says. “This institution has allowed me to do that.”

All photos by Todd Goodrich

WANTED: YO UR STORIES

Tell us your be st Montana co nnection, beca as you surely use know by now , ev er ywhere you you can mak go, e one. Send submissions, your date of along with graduation, or class years w appropriate, here to: themontana n@umontana Winning stor .e du. ies will be co mpiled into an Montanan fe upcoming ature. All entri es become pr University Re operty of lations, and w e retain the rig and publish th ht to edit e material.

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he time has come again to put words to paper and articulate the pride stirred by the latest issue of the Montanan. As you review it, I have no doubt that you will come away as I did even more fascinated by the remarkable people who constitute The University of Montana and their accomplishments.

You will learn about a new entity referred to affectionately as MOLLI, that brings to people fifty years and older in Missoula and Hamilton some of our most outstanding faculty members to speak about their passionate—even all-consuming—interests.

In addition, you can join in the twentieth anniversary of the Alumni Band, which always enlivens Homecoming for all. And what about Colin Meloy and The Decemberists, another alumni contribution—this time to help bring home the truly historic victory for Barack Obama in the presidential race? More recently, we heard about still another alumnus—Jim Messina—who helped guide the Obama campaign and will continue as deputy chief of staff for the new president. Montana alums turn up everywhere, seemingly in touch with all the major events of our time. We can with confidence expect them to have a hand in helping to rescue the state and the country from the current economic doldrums.

And what of higher education during these times of great trouble? Quite clearly the society stands in need of greater investment in public higher education as people across the country seek to chart a course to safety and security. Since the late 1970s opened the new era of the Human Resource Economy—sometimes called the Information Age—it has become increasingly clear that the society that fails to invest in its people will find itself in the backwaters, listlessly drifting along as the world passes it by. Think of the changes that have occurred in the last couple of decades when the United States surrendered its place as the educational leader of the world, measured by the educational attainment of its citizenry. We can only hope to recapture that standing by massive reinvestment in public higher education. In my view, therein lies the challenge for the United States and Montana in the twenty-first century. With the past serving as prologue, The University of Montana stands ready and poised to meet the challenge.

George M. Dennison, ’62, ’63 President and Professor of History

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UM Grad To Serve As Obama Deputy Chief Of Staff

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ames A. Messina ’93, Takoma Park, Md., who served as campaign chief of staff for President Barack Obama, was appointed deputy chief of staff following the election. Messina served as former chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana; North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota; and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York. This fall he was listed among “The Five Most Important People in American Politics Not Running for President” by Time magazine.

IF YOU ARE A PREMIER STUDENT SCIENTIST or prominent environmental journalist, it’s likely UM will be your destination of choice in 2010.

That’s because the University has earned the chance to host two prominent national conferences that year: the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (April 15-17) and the Society of Environmental Journalists Annual Conference (October 13-17).

NCUR will bring up to 2,800 students and their faculty mentors to UM. This is the second time UM has hosted this massive event. During the 2000 conference, people from 216 colleges and universities in forty-two states attended, pouring an estimated $1.5 million into local coffers.

The conference features about fifty simultaneous offerings in many academic disciplines.

Some of the best university students in the nation will present their work in fifteen-minute oral talks, poster presentations, live performances, or gallery exhibits.

“This is a feather in the cap for UM and the whole city of Missoula,” says Janie Spencer of Continuing Education, one of the conference organizers.

Society of Environmental Journalists “Every discipline will be board members, with Flathead represented—from dance Lake Biological Station Director and art to the sciences.”

Jack Stanford, tour the station on Montana has never their site visit in June 2007. before hosted the prestigious SEJ conference, which will flood Missoula with more than 700 journalists, scientists, and environmental leaders. SEJ members include Pulitzer Prize winners, and the conference is expected to generate many national stories about Montana’s breathtaking beauty, lifestyle, accommodations, and environmental challenges.

Before the main conference begins, many SEJ members will attend a news writing boot camp offered by UM’s highly regarded School of Journalism.

The conference co-chair is Jim Bruggers, a graduate of UM’s J-school and Environmental Studies Program who now works as an environmental reporter for the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.

Photo of Society of Environmental Journalists by Todd Goodrich

UM Attracts Big-Time Conferences

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Free Speech On Film

Photo of Society of Environmental Journalists by Todd Goodrich

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uring World War I, free speech died in Montana.

Fueled by wartime hysteria, state legislators in 1918 implemented the oppressive Sedition Act, which criminalized speaking negatively about the U.S. government or the war effort. The law was used to convict, fine, and imprison dozens of people. Montana’s Sedition Act was the toughest of its kind in the nation and served as the model for a U.S. law passed the same year.

Now a powerful documentary tells the story of those who were convicted under the draconian law. Jailed for Their Words: When Free Speech Died in Wartime America premiered at UM on September 30 and aired on Montana PBS in October and again in December.

The film was produced by West of Kin Productions and the UM School of Journalism. It is based in part on UM journalism Professor Clemens Work’s 2005 book, Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West.

Work co-produced the film, which was directed by filmmaker Gita Saedi Kiely and narrated by actor and UM alum J.K. Simmons.

Through interviews with free speech experts, historians, and descendents of the convicted, the documentary tells a cautionary tale of what can happen when citizens lose their rights as fear, super-patriotism, and hatred consume a nation.

In May 2006, based on Work’s book and the extensive research of UM journalism and law students, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer pardoned seventy-eight men and women who served time for speaking out against the war.

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That same year, UM School of Journalism Professor Jerry Brown approached Saedi Kiely about creating a documentary based on Work’s book and the pardons.

“I was immediately interested,” Saedi Kiely says. “And with Clem’s book and the sedition project under way, having the research completed before production was just amazing and so helpful in really putting together our story trajectory.”

Work began collaborating with Saedi Kiely and was involved in virtually every stage of the film’s making, from writing the narration and script to providing research and “…it is a conducting interviews with family message about members of the convicted. though we wanted to tell a free speech that story“Even about the Sedition Act,” Saedi Kiely says, “we felt its emotional goes beyond strength really fell onto the stories of Montana” the people most affected by the law.

So our film became a very personal one—about a handful of the men and women imprisoned under the Sedition Act and taking these stories and connecting them with our world today.”

Retail copies of the documentary were released in December, and Work says the filmmakers are now looking to screen the movie in other states and enter it in film festivals.

“At this point we are trying to get it beyond Montana,” he says, “because it is a message about free speech that goes beyond Montana.”

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A Passion For Painting

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enowned Montana artists and School of Fine Arts alumni MONTE DOLACK ’74 and MARY BETH PERCIVAL ’68 will be honored this spring during UM’s School of Fine Arts ninth annual Odyssey of the Stars—A Celebration of Artistic Journeys.

Scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, the event benefits the fine arts scholarship fund. Odyssey of the Stars showcases performing and visual arts alumni who have gone on to successful careers in the arts, in concert with current UM students.

Partners in life and art, Dolack and Percival have been fixtures on the Montana arts scene for more than thirty years. Both are native Montanans who were influenced from an early age by the landscape and culture surrounding them. Ask about their time at UM and the teachers who influenced them, and you will hear names of well-known art professors and artists such as Rudy Autio, Don Bunse, and Maxine Blackmer. While on campus, Dolack produced cartoons for the Montana Kaimin, sold his pottery at the first-ever UC Art Fair, and designed posters for Aber Day keggers.

Percival worked for Information Services designing covers for numerous campus publications and posters for campus events.

Desiring to be an abstract painter but facing the reality of making a living, Dolack painted signs and designed Odyssey 2009 will be an evening of T-shirts, album covers, art, music, and dance honoring Dolack posters, menus, and rubber and Percival and spotlighting students stamps. In his own words, from the departments of art, drama/ he went from “fine art to dance, and music, with assistance from applied art out of necessity.”

Department of Media Arts students. For Missoula in the ’70s had a sponsorship and ticket information, call vibrant alternative art scene. the School of Fine Arts dean’s office at Dolack’s logos for businesses 406-243-4971. such as Butterfly Herbs, the Trailhead, Rishashay, and the Crystal Theatre defined these ventures, and his work soon became part of Missoula’s identity. His famous posters of Bogart and Bacall, done for the Crystal Theatre, won him acclaim beyond the borders of Montana. Dolack opened his first studio with other artists in 1974, when he co-founded the Warehouse cooperative.

His Invaders Series, showing wild animals wreaking havoc on the human environment, helped build Dolack’s national reputation

Monte Dolack

Mary Beth Percival

and continues to attract collectors. He has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards in the course of his career, and his work is part of the collection of the Library of Congress, the American Association of Museums, and the National Wildfire Foundation. He has exhibited in locations that include New Zealand, Ireland, China, and Japan.

Percival was raised in a family brimming with artistic talents.

Her parents, both UM alumni, encouraged her interest in the visual arts. A third-generation Montanan, Percival grew up in the Big Hole and Boulder valleys. Arriving in Missoula in 1963, she was influenced by the times. Drawing inspiration from beatniks to the Vietnam War, she found Missoula’s art community diverse and exciting. After three years at UM, Percival went on to study at San Francisco State College, where she was exposed to both the art and the liberal thinking of 1960s San Francisco. Percival returned to UM to receive her art degree. After earning her teaching credentials, she taught art at Belgrade High School. She returned to Missoula in the ’70s and, together with Dolack, carved a very big niche in the Western Montana art scene. By the early ’80s, Percival and Dolack were publishing their own work, which led to the opening of their first gallery above the famous Missoula watering hole, the Top Hat. Percival is best known for her watercolor paintings, many of which show a strong bond to the country where she grew up. She chooses intimate views of that big country, scenes that are experienced by lingering near streams and riverbanks and exploring trails that beckon into hidden mountain worlds. Her paintings also celebrate simple pleasures of daily life. In the late ’80s, Dolack and Percival began traveling to exhibit their work and paint on location. Their journeys have taken them to all corners of the globe. Today, they operate a flourishing gallery in downtown Missoula, where they exhibit their own work.

WHERE’S YOUR GRIZ BEEN?

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on Brett Traxler (left), dad Mark Traxler ’91, and sons Tanner and Austyn Traxler (right) show off their Griz gear near the Motley Crue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this summer. “We had people in Hollywood ask us if we had just come from a game!” writes Nettie Powers Traxler ’91, wife and mom.

Congratulations, Traxler family. You’ve won a $50 gift card to The Bookstore at UM. Do you have a photo sporting your Griz gear in an amazing place? If so, send it along with a brief description to: themontanan@umontana.edu. Winners will receive a $50 gift card to The Bookstore at UM and see their winning photo published in the Montanan. To be considered, photos must be in focus with the UM or Griz logo clearly visible.

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GrizNation

around the oval SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED

Coach Selvig Appears On Commemorative Postmark After 700th Win

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Robin Selvig (above) celebrates his 700th victory with a commemorative postmark and envelope (left), which is available in Missoula from the U. S. Postal Service.

over the years isn’t as easily quantified. “I’ve learned so much from him, from high school until now, my senior year,” Morales says. “I mean, he’s got 700 wins, so he’s doing something right.”

To celebrate the historic benchmark, the U.S. Postal Service issued Selvig a rare honor—his own commemorative postmark and envelope. The idea was first floated by Missoula postal carrier and longtime Lady Griz fan Roger Hutchens.

Hutchens suggested the commemoration to his supervisor, Margie Snook, who was sure that Selvig’s 700th victory was a worthy occasion. Snook spent two months getting authorization from Washington, D.C., and finally arranged for 2,000 envelopes to be printed and for the postmark to be available for free until early January.

“When he brought it to my attention, I thought (Selvig) warranted it,” Snook

says. “(Seven hundred victories) is a great achievement. The record basically speaks for itself.”

Missoula’s main post office at 1100 W. Kent Ave. will sell envelopes for $5 while supplies last.

As for Selvig, he never imagined that he would one day appear on an official U.S. Postal Service envelope. “It’s kind of different,” he says. “But some very thoughtful people put that together, and we’re grateful.

“It feels good,” Selvig says of his 700-victory mark. “We’re proud of our program, and we’re proud of this year’s team.”

The Lady Griz coach says he is not striving for any particular additional coaching benchmarks. “Those milestones are something to look back on,” he says.

“Now we’re just focusing on winning our next game. That’s how we work around here.”

All photos by Todd Goodrich

he difference of the game was only one basket in overtime, but senior Mandy Morales’ jump shot clincher with 0.7 seconds left on the clock was enough to reel in history for her coach.

With the 59-57 win over Illinois on November 26 at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig left the court with a milestone number in his total-wins column—700.

When the team gathered around him after the game, sentiment was running strong. “Coach got really emotional,” Morales remembers. “He said that we were a great group of ladies and a great group of ballplayers as well.”

Now in his thirty-first season with his alma mater, Selvig is the fifth-fastest coach in NCAA men’s or women’s coaching history to reach 700 wins. Of all active Division I coaches, Selvig ranks seventh in games won. Among those, he is the only coach to have collected each victory for the university where he was once a student-athlete.

The impact he has had on his players

Meet Grizwald,

Up With Copper And Gold, Boys

The Grizzlies shocked fans when they ran out onto the field at Washington-Grizzly Stadium wearing throwback colors of copper and gold during the 108th meeting between the Griz and the Montana State University Bobcats. The Griz beat the Bobcats for the sixty-eighth time in a 35-3 victory November 22.

“Dad, tell me again the story about Goldilocks and the three Grizzlies.”

The University of Montana’s cartoon bear. In the last issue of the Montanan, we asked readers to submit captions explaining Grizwald’s actions in a funny way. This issue’s winning caption was sent in by Lynette Patterson.

Congratulations, Lynette, you’ve won a Griz stadium blanket!

Stay tuned! In the spring issue of the Montanan, a new cartoon featuring Grizwald will need a caption. You could be the next winner!

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1/12/09 2:10:45 PM

UM President George Dennison looks out on the Oval from the steps of Main Hall.

The

State of High e

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W

BY JACOB BAYNHAM

Photo by Todd Goodrich

hen Kendra Cousineau, nineteen, entered her first semester of the prejournalism program at UM last fall, the U.S. economy was headed for its most dramatic downturn since the Great Depression.

To cover the costs of life and a college education, Cousineau While admissions personnel say it’s too early to attribute it to works two jobs at seven dollars an hour—she’s now looking for the financial crisis, enrollment levels in the Montana University a third—and lives between Florence and Lolo where rents are System are rising across the board, especially in the two-year, careercheaper. The half-hour commute to campus in Missoula isn’t as bad track programs of the colleges of technology. now that the price of gas is down. On a good day, ten dollars will get her half a tank.

Until classes began in August, Cousineau was debating if it was a smart time to leave the work force as a waitress and become a student. In the end, the choice to go to college won out.

“I was worried about how I was going to pay rent,” she says. “But I knew if I didn’t go now I probably never would have.”

It hasn’t been easy. Cousineau works thirty-five hours a week while holding down a twelve-credit course load.

Spring semester she’ll have sixteen credits.

“I’ve pretty much become an insomniac,” she says.

Kendra Cousineau fills “I think that there should be other means out there her vehicle with gas. for me to pay for school, but since there isn’t, I guess She makes a half-hour I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.” commute to campus so she For now, that means juggling jobs, lectures, and But the challenges remain tall. With depreciating can save money by living studies. It also will mean graduating with at least university endowments, fewer state funds, wary where rent is cheaper. $14,000 in loans. “It’s definitely scary,” she says. lenders, thriftier prospective students, and declining “But in the long run, I think it’s worth it. You just numbers of high school graduates, no one is sure of hope you get a good job.” the future that awaits higher education in Montana. Perhaps only one thing is certain: College today isn’t what it used to be.

President Dennison photo by Erik Stenbakken

FOR ALL THE FRIGHT TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES BRING TO EMPLOYEES, businesses, and banks,

they can be a boon for colleges and universities, which often see enrollment figures rise during financial slides.

“What you sacrifice in going to school is the money you spend on tuition and books, but most importantly it’s the money you’d be making out of school,” explains retired UM economics Professor John Photiades. “When there is a recession and job options decrease, more people tend to go back to university.”

JED LISTON, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT AT UM, is generally a positive man.

This year he has cause to be even more upbeat than usual. Sitting at a table amidst the whir of phone calls and tapping keyboards of the admissions staff, he rattles off the fall 2008 enrollment figures: 14,207 students and an incoming freshmen class of 1,868. “It’s the highest we’ve ever been,” he says. “We’re very proud of those figures.”

As the economy continues to dip, more people of all ages are making the decision to invest in higher education.

H ER EDUCATION in Montana WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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For the admissions and enrollment staff, the record numbers But even though now it often means incurring debt, Hanson are the fruits of a lot of labor. Surrounding Liston are a half says the opportunities to get a higher education in Montana are dozen empty offices belonging to recruiters who are on the road better than ever. And given that a college graduate earns, on average, throughout the state and nation, looking to encourage more high $1 million more than a high school graduate over the course of a school graduates to study at UM. lifetime, he says the investment is sound.

“Our mission is to get the quantity of students we need at the “I tell students, ‘don’t be gun-shy about borrowing what you quality the campus deserves,” Liston says. need to invest in your future.’”

Student quantity is a lot more important to the vitality of a Economist Photiades agrees. “There are very few other ways university than it was when Liston first came to UM as a student of that you could make as much money as by spending for an speech pathology thirty years ago. At that time, UM’s enrollment education,” he says. was scarcely more than 8,300 and the University received forty And the benefits aren’t merely financial. “You will find ways of percent of its funding from better— “We’re no longer just in competition self-actualizing state appropriations. that’s beyond income. Not with Indiana; we’re in competition with getting a college education Now the tables have India. The best-educated work force turned; UM secures only stops that actualizing of wins in a flat earth.” — Gov. Brian Schweitzer thirteen percent of its potential.

“A college education is a value-added service, no different from using flour to make bread,” Photiades adds. “College processes a high school graduate into a human being that is more valuable.”

THAT VALUE DOES NOT STOP AT THE INDIVIDUAL, according to Montana Gov. Brian

Schweitzer. “Montana is no longer just in competition with Colorado; we’re in competition with China,” he says.

“We’re no longer just in competition with Indiana; we’re in competition with India. The best-educated work force wins in a flat earth.”

Financial Aid Director Mick In his efforts to attract businesses to the state, Hanson (left) discusses a Schweitzer says, he has to assure them there will be college payment plan with a a pool of highly trained employees to draw from. student alongside Assistant The university system is pivotal in providing that.

Vice President for Enrollment He adds that he wants to see the Montana Jed Liston (right).

University System become “learning centers of the twenty-first century.” That means increasing funding from the state and increasingly relies on efficiency by offering more online and distance learning tuition dollars to offset costs. Record enrollment levels enable the opportunities, which don’t require many additional resources but University to keep pace with its development goals. can extend the classroom—and the tuition dollars—significantly.

The manner in which these students get their degrees also is Schweitzer initially alloted $35 million to higher education changing. When Liston speaks in front of alumni gatherings, he in his mid-November biennium budget. “It’s the second-largest asks audience members to raise their hands if they were able to pay increase for higher education in Montana history,” he said at the for their degree by working as they studied. “Only the older alumni time. “These are austere times, but higher education is a priority.” raise their hands,” Liston says. “If students now were to fund their Of this $35 million, however, $23.4 million reflects the way through college like they did before, the minimum wage would continuation of funds already appropriated to the MUS within have to be thirty-two dollars an hour.”

As tuition increases and federal and state grant money decreases, the current biennium. The actual proposed increase over the last budget is $11.5 million—still only forty-three percent of what the students are taking out more loans to help pay for their degrees, governor’s budget office and MUS administrators deemed necessary says Mick Hanson, UM’s financial aid director. to counter inflation.

“In the early eighties, fewer students used financial aid, and When the national economic crisis began to hit Montana in when they did, about seventy percent of the money was in the mid-December, Schweitzer trimmed university appropriations by form of grants,” Hanson says. “Today about seventy percent is $13 million. While the final figure still awaits legislative decision, in the form of loans.” Twenty years ago, a maximum federal Pell Grant covered 158 percent of in-state tuition and fees at UM. Now UM administrators say the governor’s budget doesn’t offer any new state money to keep pace with inflation and continue the cap on it covers just ninety percent. in-state tuition.

Added to that is the fact that Montana gives less than half of its “At this point, for the university system, the budget is actually a regional peers’ average of need-based financial aid per student. In slight cut from the last budget,” says Bill Muse, UM’s associate vice the 2007 fiscal year, Montana ranked forty-seventh in the country president for planning, budget, and analysis. in appropriating state money for higher education.

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Photos by Todd Goodrich Eileen Chontos; ©istockphoto.com/William Schultz

Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns accessible. There are ways you can go to college, and we will help acknowledges the need to tighten the state’s purse strings. “It you figure it out.” was a cautious budget, understandably,” she says. “We have to be Montana State University President Geoff Gamble says that cautious with our own pocketbooks, so we understand the state his university is stepping up its outreach to high schools and even has to be thrifty as well. That said, we are very concerned about middle schools to ensure more Montana high school graduates enter the pressure on tuition rates that will result from the governor’s higher education in the state, a vital component to a university funding decisions.” system that relies on resident students to fill its classrooms.

Stearns says that the effects of the economic downturn on the Gamble is readying himself for the impacts the economic MUS are just beginning to show. Students are losing jobs, parents crisis will have on MSU. “I think we’re going to see a pretty lean are less able to assist their college-going children, and scholarships will be slimmer next year as university UM College of Technology endowments feel the slump. student Jenny Dame is looking “At the same time, we’re not like a car dealership to start a new carpentry career. where the very next weekend you have half as many Dame, a former Stimson Mill people coming in kicking tires,” she says. employee, went back to college Added to the economic woes are the decreasing last year. numbers of high school graduates in Montana.

There are currently 10,000 high school graduates each year in the state, of which fifty-four percent go on to higher education. But as Montana’s young population decreases, high school graduates are expected to decrease seventeen percent by 2015.

And those who are graduating aren’t taking their college decisions lightly, according to Tri Pham, a college counselor at Missoula’s Sentinel High School. Pham says the students he talks to are sincerely worried about the cost of a degree. financial situation and maybe some belt tightening,” he says.

“The thing I’ve heard most from students is, ‘Is there going to be Gamble admits that some new programs will have to be postponed financial aid available from the government?’ I don’t have the answer until the financial situation improves and that the university to that,” he says. will have to streamline its operations to cut costs. The MSU One student Pham counseled had $12,000 stashed away in her endowment was down 4.5 percent in the last fiscal year, a paper college fund. As the stock market collapsed, that sum shrank to loss of $5.4 million. At the same time, Gamble is not discouraged. $7,000 in four months. “She’s really confused about what to do “Patience will show that these things come back,” he says. right now,” he says.

Both university presidents agree that the returns are good for Pham says his students are asking him less about the experience investment in the university system, which not only prepares high of being in college and more about the careers that will come at school graduates for a career but also retrains adults looking to the end of it. “I’ve heard some parents and kids be very pragmatic acquire the skills to get a new job in tough economic times. about it. They say, ‘I want to go to a school that can get me into a “You have more and more displaced people joining the two-year good job.’” programs to get back into the work force,” Dennison says.

UM President George Dennison says that even in hard economic ONE WOMAN WHO CAME TO COLLEGE TO times, he advises high school graduates to pursue higher education.

KICKSTART A NEW CAREER is Jenny Dame. Dame is “Protect your options and go to college,” he says, “because the in her second year in the carpentry program at the UM College of twenty-first century demands at least some college.”

Technology.

Despite Wall Street woes that shrunk the UM endowment continued on page 18 by 6.6 percent ($7.9 million) in the last fiscal year, Through The Years Dennison remains optimistic about higher education The enrollment rate at UM has grown exponentially in its 116 years as in Montana. But the challenges underscore his sense of an institution. Fall 2008 enrollment levels were record high. mission.

“This is the only developed country where the older generation is better educated than the younger,” he says.

America has dropped from first place in the world to 135 1895 tenth in the overall education attainment of its citizens, he adds. The state’s colleges and universities have their work cut out for them, but Dennison says that the 8,363 1978 current financial troubles are survivable.

“I don’t believe that this financial crisis will mean student financial aid will dry up,” he says. “So what we do is keep doing what we’re doing to make college 2008 14,207 WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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B

COT 1500

2008: 1,276 1200

2007: 1,098

2006: 1,020

2005: 917 2003: 886 2001: 797 1999: 766 1997: 749 1995: 630

900

600

2004: 896 2002: 802 1998: 794 2000: 776 1996: 629 1994: 573

300

Offering practical skills in a plethora of fields, UM’s COT has grown faster than any other entity since joining the MUS in 1994. The graph above shows the amount of students per year taking a full-time equivalent course load.

outside, trailers serve as overflow office and classroom space for a college that has

continued from page 17 An employee at the Champion and Stimson mills for thirty years until Stimson finally shut down, Dame lost her job in summer 2007. She always knew how to pound a hammer, so she enrolled in the carpentry program in the hopes of starting a new career.

One frosty, sunny morning in November, Dame is in the attic of a house on Blue Mountain with a dozen fellow students breathing vapor in the cold air that smells like sawdust. She has a tool belt around her waist and lumber in her hand. Around her hammers pound, saws whir and students shout measurements to one another above the din.

“It was kinda weird going back to school after all these years,” Dame admits. “But everyone has been very supportive.”

When Dame finishes her degree in the spring, she’ll move into an apprenticeship with the Montana Carpenter’s Union. There looks to be plenty of work ahead, and Dame is pleased about what a college degree will say about her.

“It’s going to tell my employer that when I start something, I’m going to finish it,” she says. “It’s another feather in my cap. And plus, I’m learning.”

almost doubled its student population in ten years. The East Campus is hemmed in

by the Missoula County Fairgrounds and Sentinel High School.

“We can’t expand, we’re landlocked,” Good says wearily. “Do you think that people in higher education should be in trailers?”

The proposed building, designated a top construction priority by the Montana Board of Regents, would be constructed on the South Campus, now occupied by the UM golf course. It would take four to five years to complete.

“It makes a great deal of sense to provide these facilities,” UM President George Dennison says. “There has been no investment in the College of Technology for twenty years.”

COT’s thirty-five different programs are drawing large numbers of students looking to acquire the necessary skills to start a new career.

“I’m pointing a lot of kids to the College of Technology because it’s affordable, and it’s a great springboard,” says Tri Pham, a college counselor at Sentinel High School.

For now, however, the new building remains only a picture on Dean Good’s radiator. The facility is not mentioned in Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s new two-year budget and is unlikely to be introduced in the next legislative session.

“That’s asking for a lot in these austere times,” Schweitzer says.

Dame (far right) will graduate from COT in the spring and begin working as an apprentice with the Montana Carpenter’s Union.

Photo by Todd Goodrich

arry Good, the dean of the UM College of Technology, has a picture sitting atop the radiator in his office that he looks at wistfully from time to time. It is an artist’s rendition of a building that does not yet exist, a $32.5 million structure that Good hopes will house the future of his college.

For now, COT—the fastest growing single entity of the Montana University System—is quite literally bursting at the seams. Duct tape holds together the carpet in the hallways and student lounge area of the administrative building on the East Campus, which murmurs like a small-town high school cafeteria.

In the parking lot

Eileen Chontos; ©istockphoto.com/Dan Tero

UM’s College of Technology Fastest Growing MUS Unit

Jacob Baynham graduated from the UM School of Journalism in 2007. He spent the following year freelancing in Asia—from Hong Kong to Afghanistan—publishing his stories and photos in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Toronto Star, the San Antonio Express-News, and Newsweek. He is currently a news editor with University Relations.

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Eileen Chontos; ©istockphoto.com/Dan Tero

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a

Band F T A or

he

ges

Above: The Alumni Band celebrates its twentieth birthday during the 2008 Homecoming parade. Left: UM’s fight song, ”Up With Montana,“ is a staple of the band’s playlist. Opposite page: Fred Nelson (left in hat), the first UM Alumni band chair, helped jump-start the program.

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By Ashley Zuelke

Among a scattering of Griz hats and music stands, more than seventy current and former UM students spanning eight decades rehearsed for the twentieth time in a small basement performance room.

Photo of trombone and sheet music by Cary Shimek. All other photos by Todd Goodrich.

GIs, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials—they all were on the same page through a routine bookended by a twenty-first century rock-’n’-roll tune and a century-old fight song.

On the first and only day of practice for the 2008 UM Alumni Band, students joined their predecessors to fill out the drum, wind, and brass sections. Some snapped photos. And as the ensemble hit the punchy “bah dat-da-dah dat-da bah dat-da-dahs” of the UM Marching Band’s halftime number, more students poked their heads in the door. They began striking notes in the air and directing the percussion.

The alumni and current students, within the usual joking around, pointed out inconsistencies when the band practiced UM’s fight song “Up with Montana.” Lance Boyd, longtime director of UM’s Jazz Band, was amazed at the exchange.

“We didn’t do it that way, we did it this way,” Boyd says band members

Nelson led the initial band behind a makeshift banner on the traditional route up Higgins and down University Avenue.

“People knew who we were, we wanted to make sure of that,” Nelson says. “And they were surprised. We got a lot of older grads who were really thrilled because we played an old fight song from back in the ’50s and ’40s, ‘Hail Copper.’”

Nelson would be the first to see onlookers’ excitement upon the band’s approach as its parade leader for the next sixteen years.

“He was so dedicated to the project. He’s really the one that pushed us to work,” Cook says.

“He built a legacy.”

On a crisp mid-September morning, an hour before the Homecoming parade, almost eighty alumni formed five lines in the street next to the University Theatre.

“OK,” UM Director of Bands James Smart yells out, “We’ll do the Grizzly fight song, ‘Montana,’ and ‘Hail Copper.’”

“You’ve been through it before. It pretty much runs itself.

Just remember the last tune you played,” he says, garnering some snickers from older members.

After a lead-in drum cadence, the trombones and brass started off with some shaky notes, getting stronger with each one. The wind section easily fell into tune. By the time the band reached its second number, the excitement was palpable. “M-O-N-T-A-N-A!” they shouted while singing the state song. And the band carried its commented to one another. volume throughout the parade.

That dynamic melding of past and present students was an echo “Our aim is not to be the sharpest band in the parade because we of an event twenty years ago in that small basement performance know we won’t be,” Nelson says. “But our aim is to be the most fun.”

Spectators unfailingly give the Alumni Band a warm reception. room.

This year as the band turned onto the last leg of the parade, seated During Homecoming festivities for the College of Fine Arts in onlookers stood up to cheer and nearly everyone clapped along.

1988, then-Director of Bands Tom Cook asked Department of “These people are doing the same thing they’ve been doing since Music alumni to join a concert band rehearsal. “We read through the ’40s,” Boyd says of the Alumni some music together and had a wonderful time,” he says.

Band. (He was forced to join the Cook then requested that anyone interested in forming a band trombone section this for alumni stay after. About ten did.

Fred Nelson, a 1952 graduate of “Our aim is not to be year on a wager.) To it’s only natural the music program, was elected the the sharpest band in the him, that the crowd will first UM Alumni Band chair, and he parade because we know identify with the band. jumped right into the role.

“People always For days, Nelson and Hal Herbig, we won’t be. But our aim respond to tradition,” who would go on to direct the is to be the most fun.” he says.

Alumni Jazz Band for eighteen years, Fittingly, the UM Marching Band sifted through hundreds of concert programs dating back to the 1930s, plucking out names and connecting them to addresses. With kicks off the parade and the Alumni Band brings up the rear—the current the help of the Alumni Association, they sent letters to dozens of students welcome the graduates back alumni. More than forty of them came back to participate in the home.

Alumni Band’s inaugural Homecoming parade march in 1989. www.umt.edu/montanan

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So alumni come every year to make music again, to relive

UM alumni of all majors, spouses, and guests are welcome to join the Alumni Band. For more information, visit http://www.umt.edu/alumni/ events/Alumni%20Band/default.aspx or e-mail Scott McKenzie at smckenzie@hellgate.k12.mt.us.

the good old days.

After seeing the inaugural band’s two cheerleaders—Nelson and Herbig— trombone player Don Stanaway decided his section needed to do its part. “So I got the trombone section to do push-ups,” he says. And Stanaway, in his late 70s, led his section in push-ups at the football game during the band’s twentieth meeting.

What brings him back? “The feeling that you get when you come to support your school,” he says. “How many alumni can do what we do?”

Virginia Vinal, a 1950 graduate of UM and Alumni Band member for nineteen years, has seen the group’s participation fluctuate, but she’s quick to point out that new alumni have taken the older members’ places in line. She insists the band won’t lose steam. “If people didn’t enjoy it, they wouldn’t come back,” she says.

Top to bottom: Scott McKenzie, When the band began, the majority of the the current Alumni Band group was from the graduating classes of the president, recruited his family late ’40s and early ’50s. Now, most members are to join the band this year; Don from the classes of the ’80s and ’90s, Nelson says.

Stanaway, led the trombone Because of a hiatus in the UM Marching Band section in push-ups at the game to get the crowd energized; program during the late ’60s and ’70s, the Alumni The Alumni Band transcends Band has few members from those years. age with members ranging Phil Doty, another original member and ’64 from their twenties to their graduate, says he and other alumni saw the need eighties involved in performing for a boost in UM’s marching band when the at UM every fall.

Grizzly football team made it to the playoffs in 2001. The Grizzlies had little musical support compared to team rivals, Doty says.

Shortly after, UM began its scholarship program for marching band members.

But throughout the past twenty years the Alumni Band has consistently provided a support group for students. The Alumni Band has donated music stands, instruments, or “whatever the director thinks they need,” Doty says.

Every year, Nelson estimates, alumni contribute about $2,000 in small donations to the UM bands.

“It’s our way of saying thank you,” Stanaway says.

For some members, marching with the Alumni Band is the highlight of their year. For others, such as Grant and Diane Thraikill, participating has added a new dimension to their marriage. And a good portion of members makes the band a family tradition.

New Alumni Band President Scott McKenzie, a ’94 alumnus, recruited his family for the band this year. His grandson, three-month-old Benjamin, became the band’s youngest member as his son, Peter, packed the baby while playing the trombone. McKenzie’s daughter-in-law played the clarinet. And her mother? She was the baton twirler.

The Alumni Band is the sum of its parts. It’s people like nineteen-year member Linda Morkert who provides the band with maroon gear to buy for the parade.

It’s the dozen members and UM faculty who meet at a corner table at Finnegan’s restaurant four to six times a year to coordinate each Homecoming and gather enough instruments. And it’s the new members who come back and replenish the organization’s spirit.

To Nelson, the band transcends age. “Members range from their twenties to their eighties,” he says, “but that doesn’t mean they cannot relate.

“I’ve always believed that in music, there are no generations.”

Ashley Zuelke ’09 is an assistant news editor with UM’s University Relations. She will graduate with degrees in print journalism and international relations/comparative politics, as well as a French minor.

She most recently worked as a copy editor in Tacoma, Wash., through the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund.

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alumni profile

The Makin g of Meloy Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy was born and raised in Montana. And yes, he’s making it as a rock star.

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I

By Nate Schweber

n May 2008, Colin Meloy stood in front of his band, The Decemberists, under a sapphire blue sky in Portland’s Waterfront Park as more than 75,000 people including one future president listened to him sing his unique and fanciful songs.

Such is the influence of those songs, which feature a sideshow cast of characters, including a whale-swallowed sailor, a child ghost, and a chimney sweep, that Barack Obama took notice. In 2007, campaign workers contacted Meloy and introduced him to the candidate.

“It’s a testament to the campaign knowing that the arts, music, and film are really important as a way of energizing a base,” says Meloy, thirty-four, during a phone interview from his home in Portland.

While opening for Obama may have meant the most to Meloy politically, it was a much more intimate concert three years earlier and 600 miles away that meant the most to him personally. On a crisp Tuesday night in April 2005, The Decemberists—their popularity beginning to soar worldwide—rocked out the humble Helena Middle School auditorium.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Meloy, who was born in the capital town and as a cherubic youngster began imagining the phantasmagoria of stories that would propel his music career.

Mostly, says Meloy, it was a chance to give music fans in Helena something he yearned for growing up—cool music and inspiration.

“To see somebody who grew up in Montana and went to school in Montana being known in a nationally known band, it’s good that kids in Montana know that’s possible,” Meloy says.

The Decemberists are adored by critics and fans alike for their baroque pop featuring words that could stump a spelling-bee champ and literary references more likely heard in a college classroom than on college radio. The band’s 2005 album was titled Picaresque, which means an epic Spanish form of storytelling. The album The Crane Wife, from their 2006 major label debut on Capitol Records, was based on a timeless Japanese folktale.

Songwriter Meloy, who graduated from UM in 1998 with a degree in creative writing, has distinguished himself as one of the more original voices in popular music today. He sings with a distinct, reedy tenor and sports lamb-chop sideburns and blackrimmed glasses.

David Fricke, a senior editor at Rolling Stone, says Meloy has “a literate soul.”

“He’s trying to take the storytelling in popular music to a level that is both enjoyable and a bit fantastical, but doesn’t violate the qualities of good storytelling,” Fricke says from his office in Manhattan.

Fricke compares Meloy’s creative impulses to those of another literate songwriter, the Frankenstein-faced chronicler of New York noir, Lou Reed.

“But where Lou Reed was inspired by William Boroughs, Colin’s stories can be more like Canterbury Tales,” Fricke says.

That a kid from Helena became a rock star by writing songs in a lexicon more suited for the fourteenth century is a curious fact best explained by Meloy’s relationship to his home state, and his decision to leave it.

“Colin always struck me as a kid who was born in Helena who wished he grew up in England,” says Andy Smetanka, a Missoula journalist who penned the liner notes to a 2006 compilation of songs by Tarkio, Meloy’s college band.

“If that’s part of your fantasy life,” he adds, “you have to leave Montana.”

C

olin Patrick Henry Meloy was born a fifthgeneration Montanan in a valley once populated by colorful western characters such as buffalo hunters, gold miners, railroaders, and the Shoshone and Blackfeet tribes.

Yet as a boy he was captivated by the work of fantasy writer Piers Anthony and the Elfquest series of comic books, says his sister Maile Meloy, now a writer living in Los Angeles.

“When he was really little he was into superheroes and wore a cape for months,” she says. “I fell from a second-story loft when I was seven and he was five, and he was first on the scene and told me I should have borrowed his cape and flown down.”

Colin and Maile’s father worked as an attorney, and their mother worked for a stint at an alternative high school. Music coursed through their household. Melodic and lyricdriven rock by the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen played on the stereo, as did The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper Feast, a rock opera based on a children’s book that Meloy would later use as the intro music for Decemberists shows.

When he hit middle school, Meloy was inspired to start writing music thanks to a hip uncle in Eugene, Oreg., who sent Meloy mix tapes with intriguing titles such as “Radio-Free Montana.” The mixes turned Meloy on to sounds rarely found in mid-1980s Lewis and Clark County. He heard the shiny electricity of R.E.M. and Husker Du and the sass and style of English pop acts XTC and Squeeze.

“I would pore over them like they were sacred texts,” Meloy says.

“They were kind of my lifeblood.”

Despite his interest in high school drama and hours spent acting at Helena’s Grandstreet Theatre, Meloy opted to study English in college. Like plenty of ambitious and artistic young people from Montana, he also wanted to leave. He enrolled at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

In two years he discovered, like many of the state’s expats, the particular pang of pining for Big Sky Country.

“I missed the mountains,” Meloy says. “I definitely had a longing to be back in Montana.”

In 1995, Meloy split the difference between the hippie haven of Eugene and the Helena valley and enrolled as a creative-writing major at The University of Montana.

He also delved into the music scene.

Gibson Hartwell, the guitarist in Tarkio, remembers Meloy coming over to his house early on to record songs on a four-track tape machine.

Photo courtesy of Red Light Management

“To see somebody who gre w u p in Montana and went to school in Montana bein g kno wn in a nationall y kno wn band, it 's good that kids in Montana kno w that 's possible”

www.umt.edu/montanan

MeloyMontanan_wtr09.indd 25

Montanan winter 2009 |

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Photo by Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian

“I remember being “We sure had a lot more young girls coming in,” she says. surprised about how young he was,” Hartwell By 1998, Meloy was again says. “He had patience, itching to leave Montana. He articulation, and all these set his sights on Portland. Tarkio other mannerisms that kind had played some well-received of made him seem like an shows there and in Seattle, and older person trapped in a Meloy was anxious to reach a younger body.” wider audience.

Early Tarkio rehearsals “You can only go so far as a were held at the house band out of Missoula, not to be south of Missoula owned downplaying being in a band

by Pearl Jam bassist Jeff in Missoula,” Meloy says. “But Ament. (“Jeff was really just the amount of travel to sweet to let us do that,” get to your nearest metro area Meloy says.) Soon the band was really time-consuming began to draw scores of fans and expensive.” to shows at the Top Hat and Decemberists songwriter and frontman Colin Meloy plays at a rally for Democratic After graduation, with Tarkio presidential candidate Barack Obama on May 18, 2008, in downtown Portland at the Ritz (now the Badlander). at a crossroads, Meloy made the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. At right is Decemberists' band member Chris Funk.

They toured the state, hitting gamble that lost him his band joints such as Bert & Ernie’s in Great Falls, the Silver Dollar in and his bearings, but found him his voice. Convinced that he had Butte, and the Dire Wolf in Whitefish. Meloy says his most vivid enough friends and contacts in Portland to get established quickly in memories of these times were watching frozen mountains through the city’s competitive music scene and hopeful that at least some of the window of the band’s tour van and a bizarre after-show scuffle his Tarkio bandmates would go with him, Meloy moved. with skinheads at a bar in Bozeman.

He found, to his disappointment, that the friends he’d counted “It was one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen,” Meloy on would not return his calls. Alone and bandless, Meloy worked says. “We were this kind of bookish alt-country band, and here we at a pizza parlor to make rent and went back to square one of the were getting in fights in bars with skinheads.” music scene, performing at open mics.

Tarkio released its first EP, Falleness, in 1997, and the next Louis Stein, the bassist in Tarkio who did not move to Portland year it released a full-length album, I Guess I Was Hoping For for personal reasons, remembers talking to Meloy on the phone Something More. In 1999, the band put out its final EP, Sea Songs during this period. Meloy told him it was “tough starting from for Landlocked Sailors. In 2006, a Tarkio compilation CD, titled scratch, going to open mics,” Stein recalls.

Omnibus, was released by the well-known independent record label “But it helped in the long run develop what his style is now,” he Kill Rock Stars, which also put out three Decemberists releases. says. “The Decemberists and Colin have a very specific sound. A lot of musicians aspire to it, but few get it.”

Meloy says the difficult reboot led to an epiphany. He recalls several early gigs in tiny clubs when there was no one else in the room save usic provided Meloy a creative escape from his studies at UM. He says he had a difficult time the bartender. And sometimes the bartender went outside for a smoke.

“When I was in that position, with nobody to appeal to or scare connecting to his course work, which entailed reading gritty western writers such as Richard away, I thought, ‘I might as well do whatever I want to do,’” Meloy says. “And that created a new thing.”

Hugo, Annie Dillard, and William Kittredge.

In Portland, Meloy cultivated and followed his fantastical muse.

It is perhaps indicative of Meloy’s shift of focus from attaining an M.F.A. in creative writing at UM to becoming a full-time musician Though it often led him to old England or the high seas, Montana that of three faculty members he recalls taking classes from, none wasn’t entirely absent. “The Apology Song,” a tale of bicycle theft remember him. One, Earl Ganz, gave an example of the type of from The Decemberists’ 2001 EP, 5 Songs, features a Meloy name check of two Missoula-centric landmarks—the Orange Street Food assignment compared to which making up a rock-’n’-roll song Farm and Frenchtown Pond. would have surely been a relief.

“I assigned my students to imitate Kafka,” Ganz says in a phone Though today Meloy, his wife, Carson Ellis, and their ninemonth old son, Henry “Hank” Meloy, call Portland home, Montana interview from his home in Lake Charles, La. “I maintain you learn to write by imitating better writers.” still beckons. Meloy says his grandfather told him that “Meloys While Meloy’s mind didn’t seem to be on school, it certainly move around a bit, but they always come back to Montana.” wasn’t at work either. Esther Chessin, who from 1993 to 2004 “I think that’s true for me, too. I’ll probably come back,” Meloy owned Bernice’s Bakery, a favorite hangout near the banks of the says. “I’m a proud Oregonian, but a temporary Oregonian.”

Clark Fork River, hired Meloy near the end of his tenure at UM. Nate Schweber is a freelance journalist who graduated from “He was a good employee, but he wasn’t absolutely one-hundred UM’s School of Journalism in 2001. His work has appeared percent dedicated,” she says. in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Budget Travel, Chessin, who calls herself a “huge Tarkio fan,” did note a and the Village Voice. He lives in Manhattan and sings in particular business advantage to having Meloy in her employ.

M

a band called the New Heathens.

26 | WINTER 2009 MONTANAN

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1/15/09 4:20:18 PM

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1/12/09 2:22:14 PM

learning LATER Program at UM offers adult education for those fifty and older

T

he Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UM, a successful new program at the University, has given a whole new meaning to the notion “Adults Only.”

Anyone fifty years and older can become a member of the institute, commonly known as MOLLI, for just $20 a year. Then, for $60 a course, these adults can choose from an array of classes offered every fall, winter, and spring. Courses are taught by top-ranked faculty and have no homework and no exams.

At first glance there is nothing extreme about any of that. Except maybe the rock-bottom price of admission to courses such as Global Warming, team-taught by Steve Running— who shared in a Nobel Peace Prize for his research on climate change—and Dane Scott, director of UM’s Center for Ethics.

Or History and Literature of WWII, another course team-taught by former UM and Old Dominion University President James Koch and his wife, Donna, whose credentials in writing and teaching take up half a page in MOLLI’s class registration booklet.

Or The Next President and the Middle East, taught by Mark Johnson, whose resume includes serving as U.S. ambassador to Senegal and postings in Egypt, Iran, and Kuwait.

No wonder MOLLI’s fall 2008 classes—in only the third year of the program—enrolled a record 641 students. No wonder MOLLI already has received $300,000 from the Osher Foundation and, because of its burgeoning enrollment, could receive $1 million in March 2009. It stands a likely chance of yet another $1 million the following year as long as enrollment continues to grow.

Meanwhile, students’ enthusiasm for MOLLI is overwhelming. Member Jean Bowman’s experience with the program is typical of other MOLLI students. A UM alum with degrees in political science in ’82 and law in ’85, Bowman completed her fourth MOLLI course this fall. So far she’s learned about China, Iraq, constitutional law, and freelance writing. She first heard about MOLLI through a brochure the program mailed her. And now she’s one of the many satisfied MOLLI members who recommend it to others. Word of mouth has become MOLLI’s best marketing tool.

Bowman, like many other MOLLI students, enjoys the program because it gives her “the chance to meet people I would otherwise not know.” She also likes MOLLI for the opportunities it gives to people who have “never lost the love of learning and now have time to learn something unrelated to their profession.”

Skeleton photo by Dannette Fadness

BY SHARON BARRETT

Alexander, not one to let any grass grow under her feet, started acting on the president’s request. First, she learned all she could about the Bernard Osher Foundation, which would become the main source of money for UM’s project.

Then she recruited prominent local citizens to help with the project: Tom Huff and Rustem Medora, longtime UM faculty; Sue Talbot, a well-known supporter of the arts, conservation, and youth homes; Daniel Kemmis, former state legislator and Missoula mayor; Herbert Swick, a physician, who at the time was director of the Institute of Medicine & Humanities, a program of St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center and UM; and Ann Boone, an energetic supporter of many community and University activities.

By fall 2005, Continuing Education hosted an open house at the University Center for people aged fifty-five and older and asked them for ideas. (Until fall 2008, the age requirement for UM’s institute was fifty-five. It is now fifty.) The department also offered what Alexander calls two “appetizer courses” taught by Mehrdad Kia, UM’s associate provost in charge of international programs, and Rafael Chacón, UM art history and art criticism professor.

The idea for MOLLI was born around Christmas 2004, when UM President George Dennison was on an airplane, reading the in-flight magazine. An article about a lifelong learning institute at a university in Utah caught his eye. Dennison kept the article and sent it to UM Continuing Education Dean Sharon Alexander with a note reading, “Why don’t we have one of these?”

Photos by Todd Goodrich

EYE IN THE SKY

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MOLLI courses are taught by distinguished UM faculty, including former UM President James Koch.

Left: MOLLI students have the opportunity to study skeletal remains in an anthropology course taught by UM Lecturer Garry Kerr.

Below, opposite page: Regents Professor Steve Running offers a course on climate change.

Photos by Todd Goodrich

Skeleton photo by Dannette Fadness

Far left:

GOING AND GROWING

In January 2006, barely a year after President Dennison’s “Why don’t we have one of these?” question, the answer was simply, “We do.” Wintersession and spring semester courses combined attracted 180 students. And that enthusiasm prompted the Bernard Osher Foundation—which Alexander had been courting—to offer financial help.

The Osher Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco and a longtime supporter of education, had begun turning its attention to programs for mature students. According to the foundation’s Web site, older students are “not necessarily well served by the standard continuing education curriculum.”

Those courses, says the foundation, attract students of all ages whose goals are to complete degrees or to upgrade career skills.

“By contrast, the interest of more senior students, many of whom are at retirement age, is in learning for the joy of learning— without homework or examinations,” the site says.

Alexander found joy in learning about the $300,000 that Osher would grant UM to keep its lifelong learning institute going and growing. The money would come in $100,000 installments—the first in August 2006, the next in August 2007, and the final in August 2008.

Osher didn’t stop there. If MOLLI could enroll a total of 500 members by the end of those three years, it would be eligible to apply for a $1 million endowment from Osher. “The money,” says Alexander, “would be in endowment funds to the UM Foundation to subsidize subsequent years of operation.

“The very good news,” she says, is that MOLLI currently has 735 members, which may result in the receipt of $1 million in March 2009. Even better news is that if MOLLI can reach 1,000 members by the WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

MOLLIMontanan_wtr09.indd 29

end of its granting period, December 2009, it will be eligible to apply for another $1 million endowment in January 2010.

The Osher Foundation presently supports lifelong learning institutes on university and college campuses in fortynine states and the District of Columbia.

All of these institutes (122 at last count) require membership. Fees vary, but UM’s, at $20 a year and $60 per course, are “pretty standard,” Alexander says.

Osher funding comes with a couple of strings attached. One is that membership age must be fifty and over. UM’s institute had to adjust downward last fall because it had begun with a minimum age of

“…the interest of more senior students, many of whom are at retirement age, is in learning for the joy of learning— without homework or examinations” – Osher Foundation Web site fifty-five. Also, Osher requires that all its institutes follow this pattern: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of X. So, technically MOLLI is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UM, but the University has been permitted to keep as an informal acronym—the one it’s had since Alexander first heeded Dennison’s request: MOLLI. And a third string is that MOLLI must offer “a diverse repertoire of intellectually stimulating courses.”

None of those conditions is difficult to comply with. “We have the best faculty,” says Alexander, noting that the “intellectually stimulating courses” offered by MOLLI come from both active and retired UM faculty, as well as from community members who are experts in certain fields.

“In my view,” says President Dennison, “MOLLI has done remarkably well during the initial period.

All of this has become possible because of the huge public interest in lifelong learning in the surrounding communities and the aggressive effort to deliver programs.”

In addition to the financial boost MOLLI brings to UM, there are other rewards. Both Alexander and Dennison agree that MOLLI is a great way to expand relations between the University and the community.

“The benefits to The University of Montana,” says Dennison, “include tangible ones having to do with the involvement of more and more people from the surrounding communities in the programs the University offers. Involvement generates greater awareness of the possible contributions the University can make, as well as an understanding of our efforts to respond.

Remaining responsive will require that we pay more attention to needs in the area, requiring much more interaction with clientele groups to see what interests them and what they need.

“I have always believed,” Dennison says, “that getting more Montanans involved with the excellent faculty we have makes a huge difference, and the experience so far with MOLLI supports that belief.”

Alexander echoes that sentiment.

“MOLLI brings people from the community who would never have set foot on the campus, and they’re coming here in huge numbers.”

For registration information, call 406-243-2905 or visit the MOLLI Web site at www.umt.edu/ce/plus50.

Sharon Barrett, professor emeritus of UM’s School of Journalism, has taught two MOLLI courses and loved them.

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bookshelf

BY GINNY MERRIAM

THE BAKER’S BOY

By Barry Kitterman, M.F.A. ’81 Southern Methodist University Press, 2008, 323 pp., $22.50

Barry Kitterman earned his M.F.A. in creative writing at UM. Here he gives us his first novel. His character Tanner Johnson has left his pregnant wife for night-shift work as a baker while he tries to make peace with painful memories of teaching at a boys’ reform school in Belize.

DARK SPACES: MONTANA’S HISTORIC PENITENTIARY AT DEER LODGE

By Ellen Baumler

GETTING READY TO WIN

University of New Mexico Press, 2008, 117 pp., $24.95

By Don Read

Montana Historical Society historian Ellen Baumler began this book with Missoula architect James McDonald’s 1981 Historic Structures Report on the old prison. From there, she picked up the feeling of the place and carries it into her new book: “It is not a place of hope, but a place with a dark past.” She tells its story in words and in pictures by J.M. Cooper.

Vantage Press, Inc., 2008, 253 pp., $15.95

Football coach Don Read, who led The University of Montana Grizzlies to their first national championship in 1995, brings forty years of coaching wisdom to his readers. It all comes down to motivation, effort, and heart. His fans will recognize him through quotes such as: “All things are possible if you believe they are.”

THE DRAMA TEACHER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE: A COMPLETE TOOL FOR THEATRE ARTS

By Margaret Johnson, MA. ’71 Meriwether Publishing Ltd., 2007, 256 pp., $19.95

Drama teachers can believe Margaret Johnson’s tips, which run from the best way to remove blood from a costume (peroxide), to how to manage a box office or how to pick your battles. Johnson led the drama department at Sentinel High School in Missoula for thirtyseven years, where she was revered as a tireless creative force.

If you are a UM alum with a recent book release, don’t forget about your alma mater. To be considered for Bookshelf, you must send a copy of the book, along with any press materials and contact information, to: Montanan, University Relations, 325 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812.

Submission of materials does not guarantee that your work will be featured.

JACKALOPE DREAMS

By Mary Clearman Blew, ’62, M.A. ’63 University of Nebraska Press, 2008, 448 pp., $24.95

Mary Clearman Blew grew up in the big landscape outside Lewistown and has given her readers short stories, essays, and a story of her frontier childhood. Here she debuts as a novelist with a story of a rural schoolteacher starting over and coming of age at nearly sixty in the Western landscape.

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CONDORS IN CANYON COUNTRY

By Sophie A. H. Osborn, M.S. ’99 Grand Canyon Association, 2007, 150 pp., $18.95

UM graduate Sophie Osborn lives in Wyoming and won the National Book Award with her engaging prose and photographs of this astonishing bird and its return from near-extinction to the Grand Canyon, where its nine-foot wingspan again graces the skies.

FREEMAN WALKER

By David Allan Cates, M.F.A. ’92 Unbridled Books, 2008, 297 pp., $25.95

Missoula writer David Allan Cates tells a story of freedom and spirit in his third novel.

Freeman Walker, freed from slavery as a young man, journeys to England and back in Civil War times to learn about himself and the ironic responsibilities of freedom.

MALE ARMOR: THE SOLDIER-HERO IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CULTURE

By Jon Robert Adams, M.A. ’94 University of Virginia Press, 2008, 160 pp., $17.50

The image of the war-going soldier as the apex of American masculinity shows up in literature from the novels of Ernest Hemingway to the theater stage of Streamers. These portrayals draw us to war and make soldiers’ re-entries into normal life a challenge, UM graduate and English professor Jon Robert Adams shows in his new book.

HOW TO HAVE THE BEST TRAINED GUN DOG CANYON SECRET

By Patrick Lee Patrick C. Lee, Inc. Publishing, 2008, 277 pp., $16.95

The construction history of Hungry Horse Dam and the boomtowns of the nearby canyon are the backdrop for this second novel. Patrick Lee, who grew up in Butte’s Dublin Gulch and lives in Kalispell, tells the story of a dying man who faces confession of the crime he committed fifty-five years ago.

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Bookshelf_Montanan_wtr09.indd 31

By Joan Bailey, ’56, M.A. ’58 Swan Valley Press, 2009, 117 pp., $23.95

Can just ten minutes a day for three to four months produce a canine companion fully trained to be the working partner of a human bird hunter? Yes, says Joan Bailey, award-winning upland bird and waterfowl hunting writer and UM graduate, and she shows you how.

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1/15/09 4:25:21 PM

In this bear market there’s no better time than now to

invest in the bear.

The University of Montana is a solid investment. Our state’s economic engine runs on an educated workforce. Supporting higher education today will result in the teachers, researchers and leaders of tomorrow.

The University of Montana is financially sound and continues to produce the strong minds needed to solve today’s complex problems.

Your support will help UM students through undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships. These eager young minds need your help, now more than ever.

To learn how to invest in the bear, please call the UM Foundation at 800-443-2593 or go to www.umt.edu/umf.

FoundationMontanan_wtr09.indd 32

1/12/09 2:30:02 PM

Photo by Geomatrix

UM foundation K. Bill Clark, a senior hydrogeologist at Geomatrix in Missoula, says the company wants to help UM recruit and retain top graduate students.

“Geomatrix always wants to invest in good people, and we have a deep sense of gratitude to The University of Montana,” Clark says.

Clark, a UM alumnus, says Geomatrix recognizes the value of higher education in developing a high-caliber work force. The company provides similar scholarships to other universities.

As part of its gift to UM, Geomatrix has offered to mentor master’s students and lend its expertise to the geosciences department.

Professor Bill Woessner, chair of the UM Department of Geosciences, says Geomatrix knows that UM’s graduate students are among the best in the world.

“Geomatrix’s gift helps us to give our students the education and critical thinking and tools they need in today’s world,” Woessner says.

UM Provost Royce Engstrom says Geomatrix’s gift is significant. It will help the University strengthen and expand its graduate programs, help its graduate students prepare for productive careers, and help the world protect its water resources.

Engstrom says gifts from private industry are increasingly important for attracting top graduate students. Geomatrix’s gift “allows more of our graduates to go on to careers that address the critical issue of how Montana, the United States, and the world can protect our precious water resources,” he says.

Perry Brown, UM’s interim associate provost for graduate education, says gifts from Geomatrix and other corporations allow graduate students to focus on their classroom studies and field research rather than worry about paying their bills. “It really allows us to attract the best and brightest students,” he says.

Johnsen will use part of his scholarship money to buy a computer to analyze research data he collects this summer. “This gift allows me not to have to worry about rent and food and other things, so I can concentrate on my fieldwork,” he says.

To learn how you can help support UM students, call the UM Foundation at 800-443-2593 or go online to www.umt.edu/umf.

– John Cramer

Private industry gifts help grad students learn real-world skills Senior hydrogeologist Doug Rogness, right, of AMEC Geomatrix and a local mine employee collect a water sample in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa.

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

FoundationMontanan_wtr09.indd 33

C

ome June, James Johnsen was going to get a generic summer job to pay the bills while studying for his master’s degree in UM’s Department of Geosciences.

But thanks to a recent scholarship gift from AMEC Geomatrix—a diversified technical consulting and engineering firm—Johnsen will devote this summer to researching the impact of the Milltown Dam removal in the Clark Fork River.

“My fieldwork is very intense and I have to work sixteen-hour days in May and June, so this gift is a big help,” says Johnsen, who will sample river-bottom sediment during runoff as part of research into the nation’s largest Superfund project.

AMEC Geomatrix has offices worldwide, including one in Missoula, where five graduates of the UM geosciences master’s program now work. The company recently gave an annual gift of $10,000 for 2008-09 to the University’s geosciences department to support students working toward a master’s degree in applied water science. Johnsen, along with UM student Tabetha Lynch, each received a $5,000 scholarship.

The AMEC Geomatrix Student Fund in Applied Water Science scholarships are earmarked for students interested in issues ranging from contaminant transport and groundwater modeling to stream processes and restoration. A UM geosciences department committee selects the scholarship recipients, who then submit a summary of how the gift has expanded their knowledge of water science.

MONTANAN WINTER 2009 |

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1/15/09 1:53:39 PM

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aboutalumni ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS President

Patrick M. Risken ’81 Spokane, WA

President-elect

Sharilyn McGuire Campbell ’87 Redmond, WA

Vice President

Thomas J. Dimmer ’85 Williamston, MI

Past President

Marcia Ellen Holland ’76

Missoula Photo by Todd Goodrich

Board of Directors

James Bartell ’63

Kildeer, IL

Eric D. Botterbusch ’87

Everett, WA

Brandon Byars ’93 Portland, OR

Craig W. Crawford ’79 Darien, CT

Susan C. English ’72

Billings

Scott Horsley ’73

Scottsdale, AZ

Dawn Craven Lochridge ’85

Missoula

Jon I. Mathews ’84 Boise, ID

Keli Wenz McQuiston ’00 Missoula

James A. Messina ’93

Takoma Park, MD

Erin Rogge Niedge ’05

Class Of 1968 Holds Fortieth Reunion At Homecoming 2008 Front row, left to right: FRANCIS STACK,

THORSON, Vacaville,

Missoula; Missoula;

CA;

Chester;

JANE ROWLAND CROUCH,

PAULETTE FORSYTH FISHER,

Missoula;

Golden, CO;

RICHARD

BECKY HAZELBAKER DESCHAMPS,

Helena; LIZ GILBERT, Spokane, WA; CAROL RUDE FLEHARTY, Polson; LYNN STETLER SCHWANKE, Missoula; IRA ROBISON, Billings; CAROLE DODGE HOFFMAN, Redmond, WA; DON FINDON, Billings; LYNN FINDON, Billings; CATHY O'HARE SANDELL, Hope, ID; DIANNE POPHAM HUHTANEN, Hamilton; MICKEY CUMMINGS SOGARD, Bigfork; CAROL NELSON GULLARD, Missoula; KATHIE HARSTAD NYGAARD, Missoula; CHANNING J. HARTELIUS, Great Falls; LARRY DREYER, Helena; DIANNE BROWN DAVIS, Sammamish, WA; RUTH SILVIUS DOBSON, Beaverton, OR; SHARON RAINS POTENZA, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; JUDY STOWE COLBO, Lolo; CONNIE MELDAHL ANDERSON, Livingston; SUSAN EMRICK, Missoula; SUSAN HOVE-PABST, Spearfish, SD. Back Row, Left to Right: GALE GLASCOCK, Atlanta, GA; JESSE PARKS, Conrad; DONALD DAVIS, Polson; JIM SALVO, Dallas, TX; JOHN ”DOC“ HOLLIDAY, Lovettsville, VA; WALT BRIGGS, Missoula; CARL SANDELL, Hope, ID; JOHN KNORR, Layton, UT; TOM MCELWAIN, Columbia Falls; PHILLIP VAN NESS, Savoy, IL; MICHAEL MARTIN, Washington, DC; RON MCKAY, Havre.

MADELEINE MARTIN NEUMEYER, DENISE PETERSON,

Miles City

Susan Pirrie-Munsinger ’90

Robert D. Ross ’71

Keep Us Posted. Send your news to Betsy Holmquist, The University of Montana Alumni Association, Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812. E-mail your news to alumni@ umontana.edu, FAX it to 406-243-4467, or call 877-UM-ALUMS (877-8625867). Material in this issue reached our office by November 7, 2008. Note: the year immediately following an alum’s name indicates either an undergraduate degree year or attendance at UM. Graduate degrees from UM are indicated by initials.

Bernd A. Schulte ’65

Snowbirds/Sunbirds—Anyone! Whenever you change your mailing address, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations. Let us know where you are and when. Thank you.

Kalispell

Marnie McMeel Prigge ’73 Butte

Geannine T. Rapp ’92 Great Falls

Salt Lake City

Ocean Ridge, FL

Zane G. Smith ’55

Springfield, OR

Gregory K. Stahl ’82

Missoula

UM Alumni Association

Bill Johnston ’79, ’91 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 406-243-5211 877-UM-ALUMS www.grizalum.org

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 35

’40s

The sixtieth reunion for the Class of 1949 will be held on campus May 14-16, 2009. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations for further details.

ALBERT C. ANGSTMAN

’41, J.D. ’46, and his wife, Frances, live in Kingwood, Tex., where Al spends much of his time mowing, trimming, and edging his yard and playing eighteen holes of golf twice a week. “I have

begun to fully understand the meaning of the saying, ‘There’s no place like home,’” he writes. “I am living my life happily, doing what I enjoy.”

HEATH BOTTOMLY ’41 writes, “My wife, Penny, and I live in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California.

I have just published my second adventure book, Blind Glory, and have two more books with publishers: one a WWII journal of our

early military aviation and the other of my Vietnam experiences.”

Col. Bo adds that he would “be glad to come home to speak as a rep of

the Greatest Generation with memories of the Montana Frontier when my pop was on the Supreme Court and seven Bottomlys were Grizzlies.” You may e-mail him at colonelbo@idyllwild.com or visit his Web site at www. colonelbowarstories.com.

ROY E. JUNE ’48, LL.B. ’51, J. D. ’52, Joshua Tree, Calif., was honored with a 600-word tribute

June (taken 1969)

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aboutalumni in the April 23, 2008, U. S. Congressional Record.

Roy served as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot during World War II and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with oak leaf clusters. He practiced law in Montana and California until retirement in 1995 and served on the San Bernardino County Grand Jury for its 200304 session. Roy and his wife, Laura, are active volunteers at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Their children, PATRICIA JUNE ’74 and RICHARD JUNE ’77, graduated from UM.

1988. He then worked and retired from Morton Thiokol and Boeing.

Since 1998, John has provided pro bono services via the Federal Indian Programs Oversight Office in Skagit Valley, Washington.

NEIL H. ELIASON ’54, M.Ed. ’63, was honored at Flathead Valley Community College in July with a reunion of athletes he’d coached there, beginning with the college’s first women’s track team in 1968.

Often referred to as the “Father of Girls’ Track in Montana” and an induct-

’50s

The fiftieth reunion for the Class of 1959 will be held on campus May 14-16, 2009. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations for further details.

JOHN A. FLEMING ’52, La Conner, Washington, has written a hornbook,

Fleming

The American Indian Dilemma. “I have noted less and less coverage for my class of ’52,” John writes. “Age takes its toll for certain, and I do realize how fortunate I am for being able to get a book published, passed by a curriculum committee’s scrutiny, and included in a course syllabus as ‘recommended reading’ during my seventy-seven and seventy-eight years of age.” John retired as a hospital director for the Indian Health Service in WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 37

Eliason

ee into the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1983, Neil came out of retirement to help coach cross-country and track at Bigfork High School in the late 1990s.

He and his wife, Carol, have been married for fifty-three years and live on Swan Lake. “I love coaching,” Neil says. “I just love being with the people. It wasn’t ever a job to me. It was just really fun to do.”

DEAN HELLINGER ’56, Shelby, and LARRY EPSTEIN ’71, J.D. ’76, Cut Bank, oversaw the grinding at the twenty-

Hellinger and Epstein

eighth annual Hellinger Horseradish Grind in October. “We started with 110 labels,” Dean reports, “and used most of them.

No tally on the tonnage.”

PAT DUNCAN O’BRIEN

’57, DALE O’BRIEN ’52, Shelby, and DON FISHER ’77, Shelby, were among

those who helped dig, wash, peel, grind, and bottle the horseradish.

Dean designs and provides labels for each year’s crop. Patricia Hellinger provides a chili lunch, and guests listen to the broadcast of the day’s Grizzly football game.

Lipke

’60s

’63 worked with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for more than thirtythree years as a refuge and wetlands manager, principally with migratory birds. Howard retired in 1997 and in 2000 moved with his wife, Alynn, to Estes Park, Colorado.

For the past seven years, he has volunteered with recovery efforts for the threatened greenback cutthroat trout in the twenty mountain lake and stream systems where the trout reside.

HOWARD LIPKE

Kappa Alpha Theta members of the class of 1964 gathered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for a reunion in July. Left to right: KARLA CHANDLER BAILEY, Napa, CA; MARILOU DWYER LEWIS, Missoula; ROSALIE GYNN ALFORD, Kimberling City, MO; GWEN CALVIN LETSON, Hayden, ID; MARG DOYLE CONWAY, Missoula; CATHY RYAN BOWER, Billings; ILO VIESTENZ MURPHY, Bend, OR; NITA KELLOGG PREWETT, Conrad; and JOAN BACHMAN KUKLENSKI, Seattle.

Bill Beaman (right) poses with Pete Geren, secretary of the U.S. Army, at the Pentagon.

BILL BEAMAN ’67, M.A. ’72, Helena, was sworn in at the Pentagon as a civilian aide to Pete Geren, secretary of the Army, in September. Appointed for each state and U.S. territory, civilian aides serve two-year, unpaid terms with duties that include promoting good relations between the Army and the public and acting as a liaison between the secretary, the Army, and Guard units in their state. Bill is a Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm veteran.

He retired as a colonel in the Army Reserve in 1998 after a thirty-year career during which he commanded the Army Reserve units in Montana and worked closely with the Army National Guard. Bill retired from D.A. Davidson in 2000 and is currently the owner and president of Grizzly Capital Management. He is president of the Helena Ambassadors and a member of Rotary Club. Bill serves on the UM President’s Advisory Council and is a former president of the UM Alumni Association Board of Directors.

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ROGER M. SIEMENS ’64 retired after a thirty-five year career with the U.S. Forest Service and in 1985 moved to Silver Star, where his interest in reptiles took hold. Today he and his wife, Rita, operate a natural resource consulting firm and specialize in damage control of nuisance animals– including rattlesnakes.

Roger spoke this summer at Bannack State Park on

Siemens

the realities, myths, and importance of this oftenmisunderstood snake.

’70s

Hosko and Hackett Buker

the Bitterroot Historical Society and the Victor Heritage Museum, features articles about Victor’s history and nearly 200 stories of early-day area residents. Joann taught school in Montana for thirty-eight years, retiring after twenty-eight years in the Darby school system. Helen started at UM in 1946, took time out to raise a family, and returned to complete her degree in history in 1988.

Joann and Helen have spent time as volunteers and travelers of the world.

JERI SCHAEFFER GUTHRIECORN

’72, M.A. ’76, is

NANCY BECK

’71, M.Ed. ’99, Seattle, held an exhibit, “Beck and Baraz: Of the Earth,” this past summer at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena. “My geologist husband, RAY BREUNINGER, Ph.D. ’71, and I hike a lot,” Nancy writes, “and on the hikes a few years ago I started taking photos of patterns on rocks, of the stains and marks that looked interesting. I tried lots of things with the photos, finally settling on collage with acrylics, the style of the paintings in this show.”

Photo of Colleen McGuire courtesy of William McGuire

BREUNINGER

JOANN WHITE HOSKO

’71 and HELEN HACKETT BUKER ’88, both of Hamilton, are contributing authors and editors of Bitter Root Trails IV, The Victor Community.

Their book, published by WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 39

Guthrie-Corn

the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania.

A career Foreign Service officer with the rank of counselor, Jeri also has

aboutalumni served in Algeria, Russia, France, and at the United States Mission to NATO. Before joining the Foreign Service in 1987, Jeri was an assistant professor of French at UCLA and Smith College. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in French language and literature with a specialization in medieval civilization. Jeri is married to Dr. Tony Corn and has two daughters.

DONALD R. REAVIS,

M.B.A. ’73, is managing director/special assets for First Community Bank in Richardson, Texas.

He began at Republic National Bank in Dallas in 1973, moving to Allied Lakewood Bank (now Wells Fargo), and then to Canyon Creek National Bank. In 1999, he teamed up with the First National Bank of Crockett and opened First Bank of Canyon Creek in Richardson as a branch of that bank.

DOUG BETTERS ’78 was inducted into the Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor on December 14. The former UM Grizzly football star and member of the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame played for the Dolphins from 1978 to 1987. He was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1983 by Betters

BIRTHS Lincoln William McElwain to PATRICK C. MCELWAIN ’96 and Anne Marie Rose, September 2, 2008, Missoula.

Alyssa Kay Norman to TRACY OPSAHL NORMAN ’97 and GREGORY C. NORMAN ’97, July 24, 2008, Olympia, WA. Kane Michael McQuiston to KELI WENZ MCQUISTON ’00 and Adam L. McQuiston, July 14, 2008, Missoula.

Jilian Jayne Sweeney to TIFFANY JO JOHNSON SWEENEY ’01 and CRAIG K. SWEENEY ’01, July 1, 2008, Grand Blanc, MI. Willem Anthony Roark Loveless to DEBORAH HAUBRICH LEWIS ’95 and Derek Loveless, May 22, 2008, Denver, CO. Carsen Kay Wenz to THOMAS WENZ ’98, M.B.A. ’99, and RENO WITTMAN WENZ ’96, M.B.A. ’00, April 12, 2008, Denver, CO. Drew Gregory Sundberg to GREGORY CARL SUNDBERG ’01, M.B.A. ’03, and JACLYN SUNDBERG ’01, March 24, 2008, Missoula.

Benjamin Augustus Sears Rapkoch to CLAUDIA L. RAPKOCH, M.B.A. ’01 and DANIEL J. RAPKOCH ’89, March 22, 2008, Butte.

Lane Addison Wegher to VINCENT J. WEGHER, J.D. ’02, and HEATHER LANE HARTUNG WEGHER, J.D. ’03, March 9, 2008, Denver, CO. Ryan Jon Gorton to MICHAEL JON GORTON ’96, M.B.A. ’99, and KELLY ANNE CARTER GORTON ’97, November 3, 2007, Walla Walla, WA. Jordan Tyler Wallace to KURTIS MICHAEL WALLACE ’00 and REBECCA CHASE WALLACE ’00, February 26, 2007, Missoula. the Associated Press, played all of his 146 career National Football League games for the Dolphins, and accumulated sixty-five and a half sacks, which ranks him third in team history.

“It was an amazing ride coming from the Big Sky Conference then being coached by Don Shula,” said Doug.

“It’s a great honor to be associated with these Dolphin legends.” Doug, and his wife, Jennifer, live in Whitefish. He is in a wheelchair after suffering a spinal injury in a 1998 skiing accident. He initiated the Doug Betters Winter Classic twenty-

McGuire

five years ago and has raised more than $2 million for Montana youth in need of pediatric care.

COLLEEN L. MCGUIRE ’79, Alexandria, Virginia, was promoted to general in the U.S. Army on December 5 at the Pentagon.

Colleen’s daughter, Maggie Harris, is currently a student at UM. MONTANAN WINTER 2009 |

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’80s

TERRY L. ATWOOD ’80 writes from Helena, “I retired from working for the state of Montana on December 31, 2007, (after nearly twenty-eight years) to purchase my own accounting business, Atwood Accounting Services, LLC. I keep quite busy through tax season and then go into partial retirement mode the rest of the year— exactly what I had hoped it would be. My wife, ANDREA GERLACH ATWOOD ’79 helps during tax season, but she loves to work on her art most of the time. Her emphasis is painting animals on dried leaves and making scenic fabric wall hangings.”

BRADLEY E. DUGDALE JR.

’80 has written Munny Journey: A Keepsake Journal for Baby’s First Money. A financial consultant for more than twenty-five years, Brad modeled his book after traditional baby journals with an emphasis on recording money “firsts,” including information on how to turn a new baby into a millionaire for only a dollar a day. Brad published his first book, Let’s Save America: Nine Lessons to Financial Success, in 2000. In 2007 he produced U.R. Pre-approved, a documentary on the credit card industry.

Brad, his wife, Shariae, and their two sons live in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. For more information, go to www.munnyjourney.com PETER A. DEA, M.S. ’81, is a founder and CEO of Cirque Resources LP, an oil and gas exploration company based in Denver, Colorado. Peter previously served as CEO of Western Gas Resources and Barrett Resources.

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 41

aboutalumni He currently serves on the boards of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Western State College of Colorado,

Dea

and the Alliance in Choice Education. Peter recently founded the Don Winston Field Geology Scholarship at UM. He, his wife, Cathy, and three sons live in Golden, Colorado.

JAMES V. GALIPEAU ’84, a shareholder at Junkermier, Clark, Campanella, Stevens, P.C. in Missoula, served as president during 2004-05 for the Montana Society of CPAs. He

Galipeau

recently was selected as ex-officio for the 2008-09 board year and will mentor the current president, RYAN T. SCRENAR ’96, Helena, through his term.

Ryan is the senior vice president/audit director for Glacier Bancorp and its ten subsidiary banks.

He is also the president/ chair for the Montana Food Bank Network.

CHANGING TIMES

I

am writing this after the historic general election in November. Besides the excitement of the actual political races, the election cycle was interesting to many of us because it demonstrated that we are in a period of communication transition.

I am speaking specifically about how we electronically communicate with one another.

Sending and receiving messages via the Internet or text messaging is no longer used by just a few or the “younger generation.” It has become a way of life for the majority of us. We understand this changing landscape in the Office of Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association, and we are offering programs to get you on that electronic communication highway.

We recently launched our new Web page. Check it out at www. grizalum.com. I know you will be impressed with the links to campus, our services, your classmates, and alumni events. We have designed the Web site to be your information desk 24/7. It is there when you need it.

We soon will launch our social networking page. We realize that our former students want to be able to connect with friends and classmates on a personal level. There is a need to facilitate the sharing of photographs and stories, old and new. There needs to be a way for former students to create their own groups in whatever ways they define.

Alumni also have told us they would like to have a permanent e-mail address that would connect them to the University.

All these components are part of the social networking program.

Again, our launch is coming soon, so watch for more details. Until then, keep in touch so we can keep you updated on our challenges and accomplishments. And know that very soon you can keep in touch with one another in a more easily navigated communication system.

Please contact the UM Office of Alumni Relations at alumni@umontana. edu or call us at 877-UM-ALUMS, and we will be happy to answer any of your questions.

BILL JOHNSTON

Alumni Association Director MARY MCLEOD CRAIGLE

’88, Clancy, is an economist with the Montana Department of Revenue, where she specializes in tax policy. Mary is secretary for the Montana Community Foundation Board of Directors and is one of two Department of Revenue recipients of the 2008 Governor’s Award.

KELLY RAE SMITH

Screnar

MORROW ’88, Kalispell, a teacher at Flathead

High School since 1990, received the 2007-08 Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year Award at the National Science Teachers Association Convention.

The award recognizes excellence in science teaching for students with disabilities. Kelly has taught at-risk, specialneeds, and gifted students throughout her career.

She also has worked for eleven years as a seasonal

biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, taking many of her students into the field to help collect and record data.

HELENA WOLFE ’88 completed a Master of Public Health degree in health promotion at Portland State University in November 2007 and received the Certified Health Education Specialist credential. A MONTANAN WINTER 2009 |

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aboutalumni

’90s

’90, Bismarck, North Dakota, was promoted to lieutenant colonel at Joint Force Headquarters, North Dakota National Guard, in September. Adj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk presented his new rank. Rick was accompanied by his father, mother, and children, Jordan and Sydney.

JEFFERY R. WEHR ’92, ’96, was named the 2007 American Star of Teaching recipient for the state of Washington. Nearly 5,000 nominees were considered for this award based on RICK JAMES SMITH

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 43

resource director of the Odessa Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home.

STEPHANIE WALLACE IVES ’94 is a freelance writer for the Colorado Springs Gazette and several regional magazines in Colorado. Her husband, JOHN D. IVES ’93 is the director of pharmacy at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have three children, ages twelve, eight, and six.

MARY ANN COTTER ’95 was one of fifty winners in Google’s Android Developers Challenge, a contest to create applications for Google’s mobile operating system. A multimedia developer living in San Francisco, Mary Ann and her international team then won a spot among the top twenty winners with Cooking Capsules. This application presents Android viewers

12 12, 26 17, 24

3, 10 17, 24 9

Yates

and recently completed a term on the UM Business School Accounting Advisory Board.

CHRIS FAIRBANKS ’98, Venice, California, was a regular (until the paint-ball episode) on Comedy Central’s Reality Bites Back. A stand-up comic, actor, and illustrator, Chris also starred as Randy on MTV’s The 70’s House. He received first runner-up in Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots contest and has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live

THERESA K. RAGSDALE

’99 and her husband, ADAM RAGSDALE ’99 live in Tucson, Arizona, where Theresa is the operations supervisor at Casa Paloma’s Women’s Center, a day drop-in hospitality

ALUMNI EVENTS 2009 FEBRUARY

teacher at Thompson Falls High School, Andrew was the assistant coach for the school’s cross-country team, the Blue Hawks, who won the 2007 State B championship. He also coached the Class B pole vault record holder and Montana state champion.

M.S. ’98, an instructor in physical education at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, is completing a doctorate in health pedagogy at Purdue University.

Kelly served on the faculty and coached the women’s volleyball team at Ancilla College from 2003 to 2008. She previously taught and coached at Tennessee Wesleyan College, Montana State University, and the University of Lethbridge.

SCOTT STIEGLER ’98 and his wife, MELISSA ANN STIEGLER ’00, Florence, announce the April 13, 2008, birth of their

MARCH

Gideon (top right, in hat)

KELLY GREEN HELM,

daughter Sophia Lynne.

She joins sister, Anna, eight, and brother, Jacob, five. “I am in my tenth year (ninth at Florence) teaching middle school and coaching high school wrestling,” Scott writes. “Melissa is in her third year working for the nonprofit Western Montana Chapter for the Prevention of Elder Abuse.” A former Monte himself, Scott adds that he was proud to help celebrate Monte’s fifteenth birthday at Homecoming 2008.

12 21-29 21-30 24

Charter Day, UM Campus U to You Lecture Series, Great Falls Community Lecture Series, UM Campus Community Lecture Series, UM Campus Alumni Social, Palm Desert U to You Lecture Series, Great Falls International Travel: Paris & French Riviera International Travel: Israel Alumni Social, Lewistown

APRIL

their success in improving academic performance.

Jeff and his wife, JULIE HANSEN WEHR ’93, live in Odessa, Washington, with their sons, Kiegan and Thorsen. Jeff teaches high school science and Julie is the human

and Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. Catch some clips at www.chrisfairbanks.com.

7-15

MAY

Julie and Jeffery Wehr

a short video stream of a cooking show, identifies the nearest markets for the ingredients with GPS-enabled mapping, and includes an ingredient checklist and recipe.

“It empowers people who don’t cook to have the confidence to cook,” Mary Ann says.

TRACY JOHNKE ’96 writes, “My husband, Aaron Engler, and I are now the proud parents of Leif Anders Engler, born May 8, 2008. Leif is a good little broadcast baby. He even arrived a little early so he could get a head start on the hard work of being a baby. I’m heading back to work at the MarketWatch Radio Network in Washington, D.C., in November.”

RONALD J. YATES JR. ’96 M.Acct. ’98, was appointed secretary/treasurer of the Montana Society of CPAs Board of Directors for 2008-09. Ron is a tax partner in the Billings office of Eide Bailly, LLP

14-16

Class Reunions: 1939, 1949, 1959, UM Campus

15-25

International Travel: European Train Journey International Travel: Dalmatian Coast

JUNE

faculty instructor for Oregon State University Extension Service, Helena also manages the Oregon Family Nutrition Program on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon.

ANDREW GIDEON ’89 has written Harrier Hawks Fly High, a motivational book about the dream of a high school cross-country state championship. An English and journalism

16-26

International Travel: Canary Islands

For more details, call the Office of Alumni Relations, 877-UM-ALUMS, or visit www.grizalum.org.

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aboutalumni center and transitional housing program for the homeless. Theresa is also vice president of the Dequenesh Mobile Health Clinic Board of Directors, a board advisory member for the Health Education Project, and co-chair of the Education Committee of the Tucson Planning Council on the Homeless.

’00

M.M. ’00, M.A. ’05, and EVE LLEWELLYN JAMES ’01, aka Uncle-B and Auntie-E, introduced their first CD, Uncle-B & Auntie-E & J-Dog, in September.

“We started this kids’ stuff about ten years ago,” Bill writes. “We also play around Portland under the name ‘Floating Pointe.’ For the most part we have been playing at summer festivals, parties, WILLIAM P. JAMES,

banging on pickle barrels, etc.” Bill and Eve have a two-year-old son, Daniel Douglas, whose voice is the first sound heard on their CD. Check out their music at www. unclebmusic.com and www.floatingpointemusic. com.

TRACY TOWNSEND MANGOLD ’00 writes from Combined Locks,

Tracy and Jess Mangold

Wisconsin, “I just started my own freelance writing/ political consulting business, The Inky Twig. My husband, JESS MANGOLD, Pharm. D. ’01, is working at Health One, a long-term care pharmacy in Appleton, Wisconsin. Jess and I had our first child, AnneShirley Avonlea Mangold, in November 2007.”

BRIAN GREEN

’01 and SALLIE WILLIAMSON

William and Eve Llewellyn James

Oregon Country fair, and McMenamins’ pubs. We are also regulars at UM alumni events out here in Portland and especially look forward to the PSUUM football game in November.” Bill teaches at Fir Grove Elementary School in Beaverton, “where I sing these songs with kids when we’re not playing violins, trumpets, WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 45

’01, Portland, Oregon, were married May 5, 2007. They welcomed their first child, Elora Green, on March 10, 2008.

KRISTA BREE BIRKELO

’01 graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in May. Krista plans a residency in general surgery at Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia.

LINSEY JUNE GEURIN ’02 has been a high school English teacher for four years in Phoenix, Arizona.

“I’ve had the lucky fortune of falling in love with another high school English teacher, Jake Heermans,” Linsey writes.

She and Jake became engaged while cruising in

create weightlessness for people to experience.”

Krysta is engaged to TRAVIS COSSITT, M.B.A. ’06.

ANNA HILLMAN “HILLY“

’07, Arlee, has worked with human rights since graduation, primarily through the Genocide Accompaniment Project of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala.

Go online to the June 8, 2008, San Francisco Chronicle to access her article and photo about a proposed dam project in Guatemala.

MCGAHAN

NEW LIFETIME MEMBERS

Geurin and Heermans

the Caribbean and will be married in Phoenix on March 19, 2009.

ALEXANDRA “ALEX“ ROSCH ’03 writes, “After living in London and Los Angeles, I have decided to come back to my hometown of Houston, Texas. I am working (and loving) my career as a residential real estate agent at Greenwood King Properties. I have five dogs: Lucy, Albert, Hank, Gus, and Maggie. I miss Missoula and am looking forward to Homecoming 2009, seeing old friends, and the one-hundredth anniversary of Kappa Alpha Theta!”

AARON B. ADELSTEIN,

Birkelo

the nation’s second-largest residential green building program—recently recognized as the National Association of Home Builders’ Program of the Year. A member of Seattle’s Leadership Tomorrow, Aaron and his wife, Tina Wang, live in Seattle.

KRYSTA LYN BREM ’07 writes from Washington, D.C., “I have a new job with Space Adventures.

I am the operations coordinator for ZERO-G, the only company approved to do commercial parabolic ... that basically means they

M.S. ’04, was named one of 2008’s “40 Under 40” business leaders by the Puget Sound Business Journal. A leader in the green building industry, Aaron is executive director of Built Green,

The following alumni and friends have made a commitment to the future of the UM Alumni Association by becoming lifetime members. You can join them by calling 877-862-5867 or by visiting our Web site: www.grizalum. org. The Alumni Association thanks them for their support.

This list includes all new lifetime members through October 15, 2008.

MICHAEL L. AKIN, Rochester, MN MARK A. ARVIDSON ’07, Columbia Falls JAMES R. BILLINGTON ’01, Tucson, AZ A. DEAN BOHNSACK ’85, Missoula TERI PEPPENGER BOHNSACK ’89, Missoula RUTH ROLLINS BROCKLEBANK ’67, Spokane, WA LISA LARIMER BURTIS ’84, Mendocino, CA CHRIS HALKO ’95, Fort Benton ERIC M. HANSEN ’75, Anchorage, AK THOMAS Y. HITESMAN ’92, Springboro, OH JANET BOWER HULME ’68, Missoula AMANDA DONALDSON JESSOP ’01, Victor BARRETT L. KAISER ’99, Billings AL KEMPFERT, Missoula REBECCA A. LIEBE ’88, Ridgefield, CT MICHAEL J. MCGIBONEY ’65, Great Falls SARAH MARIE NICOL ’07, Missoula STAN NORDWICK ’92, Missoula

LINDA D. OSLER, M.I.S. ’93, Missoula MIKE GENE OTIS ’03, Great Falls KAREN JOHNSON ROWELL ’71, Bellevue, NE RUDOLPH M. RUANA ’60, Vienna, VA BRENT P. RUSS ’95, Missoula CRAIG P. SCHIEDERMAYER ’80, Tacoma, WA KAREN ROOK SCHIEDERMAYER ’84, Tacoma, WA MYRNA KRONMILLER SIMON ’60, Polson RONALD C. SIMON ’60, Polson B.A. ROSS SMITH ’63, Calgary, Alberta CHELSEA LYNN STUBB ’05, Lolo SANDRA R. WILLIAMS

Missoula

’95, M.Ed. ’97, Ed.D. ’00,

MONTANAN WINTER 2009 |

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Most shipping companies see you as a seven-digit number — Not Unishippers. To us, you’re an individual with individual shipping needs. We work with world-class partners like USF Reddaway, Midwest Motor Express, Roadway Express, Estes Express and Old Dominion Freight Lines to create a customized program for your shipping needs.

The economic slowdown doesn’t have to slow down our students Our students count on you. The 1,000 Promises to Keep program has been created to give you an opportunity to help UM students who rely on privately funded scholarships.

In today’s challenging economic climate, as many as 1,000 students may be at risk of postponing or discontinuing their education at The University of Montana. With your help, we can provide the funds needed to keep our University family intact.

The UM Foundation, along with University Relations and the Alumni Association, ask you to consider joining the efforts of the 1,000 Promises to Keep program so hundreds of students are able to stay on track to success. To learn how you can help, please call The University of Montana Foundation at 1-800-443-2593 or go to www.umt.edu/umf.

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 46

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aboutalumni IN MEMORIAM To be included in ”In Memoriam,” the UM Alumni Association requires a newspaper obituary or a letter of notification from the immediate family. We extend sympathy to the families of the following alumni, faculty, and friends. Names without class or degree years include UM alumni, employees, and friends.

RUTH SOUTHWORTH FIGGENS ’33, Homer, AK MARION CALLAHAN ANDERSON ’35, Great Falls AMORETTA JUNOD WILKINS ’35, Billings THOMAS STUART WILKINS ’35, Billings JEAN RUSSELL WILCOX ’36, Missoula FLORENCE MCCART BAKKE RIEL ’37, Missoula JEAN WRIGHT GILBERT ’38, Helena LOIS HENDRICKSON HUBER ’38, Hamilton MARY JANE HOTVEDT WARREN LARSON ’39,

Fort Benton

SYLVESTER “SIV” SEIDENSTICKER ’39, Twin Bridges RUTH MAURINE SHAFFER ’39, Missoula MERLE B. BRUNSVOLD ’40, Missoula HENRY WESLEY MCCALL ’40, Billings FREDERICK E. BARRETT ’41, Great Falls KENNETH BRUCE KIZER ’41, Edmonds, WA PAUL THOMAS O’HARE ’41, M.Ed. ’48, Hope, ID DORA DAILEY WOOD ’41, Missoula MARIBETH DWYER ’42, Missoula FORREST F. SPENCER ’42, Libby CARVER R. ANDERSON ’43, San Diego MARGARET REGAN GANS ’43, Helena LAEL OLCOTT MANN ’43, Encino, CA ROY CHESTER STROM ’43, Eugene, OR RUDOLPH D. SWARTZ , M.Ed. ’43, Thornton, CO RICHARD V. VICK ’43, Missoula BARBARA REINBOLD MILLER ’44, Hamilton JEAN STRIPP ZEPP ’46, Great Falls CHARLES T. BURGESS ’47, M.Ed. ’65, Stevensville JULIE BARNES GRANT ’47, Missoula PAULINE SCHALLER LEE ’47, Billings HENRY C. LOBLE , J.D. ’47, San Francisco MARJORIE MCFARLAND MATHESON ’47, Conrad RICHARD R. MCELROY ’47, Grand Junction, CO WILLIAM GAVIN MOUAT , J.D. ’47, Billings HU N. WILLIAMSON ’47, Bozeman LLOYD V. ANDERSON ’48, Yakima, WA PETE CERNAZANU ’49, Gold Beach, OR ROBERT C. DAVENPORT ’49, Helena JOHN BURTON SPAULDING ’49, Helena RONALD RAYMOND CLOTHIER, M.S. ’50,

Mesa, AZ

CHRISTIAN KAFENTZIS ’50, Helena MARJORY MCVEDA KELLER ’50, Lewistown JOHN A. MELANEY ’50, New York City RUSSELL ROBERT NIELSEN ’50, Reno, NV KENNETH A. RATHBONE ’50, Lander, WY TURNER E. ROSS ’50, Tucson, AZ ROBERT B. ANDERSON ’51, M.Ed. ’55,

Auburn, WA

JARVIS H. “LICK” LEUCHAUER ’51, Vallejo, CA MILA HOPKINS MORFORD ’51, Miles City ARTHUR M. BURCH ’52, Kalispell NEIL HAIGHT, J.D. ’52, Helena RAE VIRGIL KALBFLEISCH ’52, J.D. ’57, Shelby WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

AlumniMontanan_wtr09.indd 47

RICHARD LAFAYETTE SMITH ’52, Oro Valley, AZ CHARLES W. DAVIS ’53, Butte GLADYS LEWIS MAYNARD ’53, Denton, TX HOWARD EUGENE BARRETT ’54, Carson City, NV ANDREW VESETH ’54, Bigfork T. ELAINE ALMOS ’55, San Diego ROBERT L. CRUMLEY ’55, Idaho Falls, ID DONALD MARVIN MILLER ’55, Missoula NORMAN L. JOHNSON ’56, Missoula RICHARD FORREST JOHNSON ’56, Virginia City HARRY J. BROWN ’57, Billings BERNICE SCHUTROP NELSON ’57, Billings JOHN EDWARD WORDAL ’58, Missoula SANDRA FISK YOUNJ ’58, Erie, CO MAVIS ROBERT “BOB” BAZE ’59, M.Ed. ’63,

Missoula

CHARLENE RENEE DAVIS COLLINS

Lakewood, CO

HOWARD THOMAS JOHNSON

North Bend, OR

’59,

’59,

LYNN ROBERT BOE ’60, Longview, WA GARY M. FINK ’60, Decatur, GA HENRY C. MEIER ’60, Centennial, CO DOUGLAS GALE “D.G.” HENRIKSEN ’61,

Post Falls, ID

HELGA MCARTHUR MCHUGH, M.Ed. ’61, Missoula HAROLD W. MCPHERSON, M.Ed. ’61, St. Ignatius RICHARD S. DENECKE ’63, Bozeman JEFFREY MILLARD EDGMOND ’63, Billings ARTHUR C. KNIGHT ’63, Clinton ROGER BURR PORTER ’63, Great Falls GARY C. BOUNOUS ’64, Billings LINDA WOOD BRUNS ’64, Flagstaff, AZ LOWELL O. BURGETT ’64, Scobey MAYO JOSEPH LAWRENZ ’64, Spanaway, WA KEMP J. WILSON, J.D. ’64, Red Lodge PHILLIP STANLEY BENSON ’65, Missoula JOAN IRWIN FITZGERALD ’65, Hohenwald, TN JOHN J. SEAMAN JR. ’65, Ennis CRAIG KENNETH CHUTE ’66, Kalispell ART H. LINDSTROM ’66, Polson CATHERINE PHEBE BROWMAN ’67, Guilford, CT DENNIS LEE “BORIS” OLIJNYK ’67, ’89, Ronan RONALD M. SETHRE ’67, Simsbury, CT LESLIE KOHN CLEMENS ’68, Billings CHLOE SCHNEIDER MURPHY CORLETT ’69,

Drummond

JOEL GERHARD ERICKSEN, M.Ed. ’69, Great Falls JAMES M. FARRELL, M.S. ’69, Rapid River, MI ARLIE P. HUTCHENS ’69, Oregon City, OR A. JUNE ATKINS, M.Ed. ’71, Helena NANCY HODGSON HAMMER, M.Ed. ’71, Kalispell OTTO DEAN LARSEN ’71, Columbia Falls FRANK LLOYD SONNENBERG ’71, Missoula EVELYN M. PETERSEN ’72, Missoula HUGO R. “BUD” SCHATZ ’72, Pasco, WA LUCILLE G. GOOD ’73, Colleyville, TX ROSEMARY GLEASON INGHAM ’73,

Fredericksburg, VA L. RAY WICKS ’74, Columbia Falls ROBERT D. MARTINA ’75, Butte DEENA KATHERINE BARBER ’78, Spokane, WA EMILY GESAS SWEENEY ’78, Oshkosh, WI VERNON L. THISSELLE ’78, M.B.A. ’81, Missoula RICHARD E. KIMMER, M.M.Ed. ’82, Anderson, IN

WENDY JO SMITH ’83, M.B.A. ’85, La Crosse, WI ERIC JON YURKO ’83, Helena MARTIN CARL JACOBSON, J.D. ’84, Helena DONALD W. TORGENRUD, J.D. ’84, St. Ignatius JOHN NEWTON GARLINGHOUSE ’85, Butte ANDREA ZOJOURNER, M.A. ’85, Ph.D. ’87, Butte DOYLE JAY SOUSER, M.B.A. ’86, Carmarillo, CA DAVID ROSS SANDE JR. ’87, Kansas City, MO GARY A. FISHER ’88, Missoula WILLIAM H. FRANDSEN, Ph.D. ’89, Helena THOMAS M. MORRIS ’94, Lincoln CODY ALAN DWIRE ’96, Sacramento, CA WILLIAM CALVIN JENKINS ’96, Scottsdale, AZ JOHN KENNETH KURTZ JR., J.D. ’97, Helena LOLINDA RAY LOGAN TAYLOR ’06, ’07, Stevensville CHARLES RAYMOND “CHASE” DYER ’07, Missoula ZACHARY DAVID BENSON ’08, Colstrip MATTHEW SCOTT EMSLIE ’08, Yellow Bay MICHAEL MACDONALD ’08, Browning SEAN MICHAEL PURCELL ’08, Bigfork SAMUEL COOPER HOWELL SYLVESTER ’08,

Colrain, MA

CHRISTOPHER MARCUS JENKINS’09, Missoula DARYL VERNON BOYD, Helena DANIEL FRANCIS CONNORS, Seattle HARLAN T. CORY, Great Falls JAMES CRUMLEY, Missoula STEVEN FRANCIS CURTISS, Billings PATSY MOORE DECKER, Great Falls MICHAEL CARRINGAN DOWLING, Hamilton MARGIE LOVELACE DUNBAR, Great Falls KATHRYN BROGAN GIACOMETTO,

Belle Fourch, SD

LISA HETTICK GLASS, Missoula DAVID M. HANSON, Missoula KAREN FLINT HILLIARD, Rhinelander, WI CHARLES N. “CHUCK” JOHNS, Kalispell BETTY OBERHOFER JOHNSON, Missoula CLIFFORD E. JONES, Whitefish BETTY GASTON KAFENTZIS, Helena WILLIAM WAYNE KOSKI, Butte JAMES D. KRILEY, Missoula GARY BYRON LEE, Ferndale KATHERINE “KAY” LUCY, Missoula THOMAS BENJAMIN MADSEN, Billings JACK M. MCGOWAN, Ennis MARILYN LEE MCHUGH, Butte MATTIE THERESA MURPHY, Missoula JOHN FRANKLIN PAMBRUN, Cut Bank ROY A. NELSON, Gillette, WY JACKIE ROPER OLSON, Hamilton COURTNEY A. PHELPS, Anaconda ELIZABETH ANN RAFTERY, Helena PAUL DOUGLAS RAHDERS, Missoula LINDA KUKKOLA REARDEN, Great Falls GLENYS STOLER ROCKWELL, Littleton, CO NORMA DESJARDIN ROSS, Renton, WA JON A. “TONY” RUDBACH, Hamilton KERMA SILVERNALE SHANAHAN, Great Falls DARRELL WILLIAM SPENCER, Billings RALPH L. STARR, Missoula FRANCIS L. TRUCHOT, Choteau EUGENE WINTERMOTE, Las Vegas, NV DAMIEN LAEL WINTERS, The Dalles, OR LOIS JOY ZUPANIK, Baker MONTANAN WINTER 2009 |

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reek fraternities and sororities, like those who have belonged to them, have changed with the style and times of the past century.

In January 1904, fraternity Eta Phi Mu took in four initiates in a rented house on South Sixth Street. The fraternity then petitioned to become the Beta Delta Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity in 1906.

In the meantime, Missoulian John M. Evans petitioned UM to form a chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity that would become UM’s first national fraternity. A local sorority, Delta Sigma, formed its own chapter in 1905. Many Delta Sigmas became members of Kappa Kappa Gamma when that sorority received its UM charter in 1909—the same year Kappa Alpha Theta received its charter. Other Greek houses that received charters at UM around that time included Delta Gamma in 1911, and Alpha Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1918.

Greek life provided an immediate community for its members. Strong study habits were encouraged. Philanthropic projects Top to bottom: Sisters in Delta bespoke the inherent promises of helping others in Delta Delta, known as the Greek life.

Tri Delts, spending a quiet And the social life was nonstop. House duties, night in the house in 1951. pledge duties, and study tables were balanced out Hopeful pledges enter the by songfests, hayrides, intramural sports, the annual Delta Gamma house during Greek Olympics, Derby Days, the Violet Ball, and Rush Week in 1952; The Little Sisters of the Maltese Cross countless functions and firesides. stand in front of the Alpha Tau The Greeks hold a quieter presence on campus Omega fraternity in 1965. The today with nine Greek houses at the University brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon and a total membership of 310, including fall 2008 spend time outside of the pledges. Active houses include fraternities Kappa house in 1968.

Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, and Sigma Phi Epsilon and sororities Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Dedicated alumni continue to raise funds, recruit new members, help with house maintenance, and look for ways to keep the Greek system alive.

The Greek Task Force, an organization of UM Greek alumni, holds regular meetings and conference calls, manages a scholarship fund, and maintains a regular newsletter.

Greek Life Adviser Tyson McLean oversees Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic activities from his office in the University Center. McLean foresees a Greek presence on campus for many years to come. The system still delivers the deep bonds many students seek when they come to college, he says. And a Greek connection still provides one of the strongest ties to UM an alum can have. He admits, though, that many students don’t have the extra time it takes to participate in a sorority or fraternity. Many students work up to forty hours a week, as well as attend classes. Student loan debts and cheaper off-campus housing also can trump the choice to go Greek.

But ask a Greek alum returning to campus for a football game, Homecoming, or a reunion, and most wouldn’t trade their years as a house member for anything. Something happened to them then. Something they still carry with them. Something they treasure.

Greek Through the Generations

Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae will hold centennial celebrations for their chapters’ chartering at Homecoming 2009, October 9-10.

Kappa Alpha Theta alumnae can email alphanu100th@gmail.com for more information; Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae may e-mail Marlys Nelson Barrett at mbarrett@nwi.net.

Take a video tour of UM’s Greek houses by clicking on http://umgreeks.blogspot.com.

Top to bottom: Delta Delta Delta, The Sentinel, 1952. Delta Gamma, The Sentinel, 1953. Alpha Tau Omega, The Sentinel, 1966. Still life of Greek pin by Todd Goodrich. Sigma Phi Epsilon, The Sentinel, 1969.

artifacts

G

BY BETSY HOLMQUIST

48 | WINTER 2009 MONTANAN

ArtifactsMontanan_wtr09.indd 48

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This il Please record all tec

Top to bottom: Delta Delta Delta, The Sentinel, 1952. Delta Gamma, The Sentinel, 1953. Alpha Tau Omega, The Sentinel, 1966. Still life of Greek pin by Todd Goodrich. Sigma Phi Epsilon, The Sentinel, 1969.

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