Communiqué 2022, Volume 66

DIRECTOR’S

JUST BEFORE I started to write this note, my first as the director of the School of Journalism, I was coordinating with 16 students to cover the centennial march of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland, an event loaded with symbolism and po tential strife. It seems like the right spot to think about trying to step into this role. It’s the right spot, if not the most convenient time, because throughout the changes at the University and at the J-School, we have remained committed to the profes sion and craft of journalism, the impor tance of telling stories accurately, ethically and intelligently.

Leading a project like our reporting trip to Northern Ireland, twice delayed due to COVID-19, reminds you how the J-School changes students’ lives. There are stu dents with us who have not traveled far ther than Idaho and many more who rarely, if ever, have left the U.S. Along with Asso ciate Professor Jule Banville, who co-led the trip, we watched our students nerd-out on NI’s arcane voting system, track down feminist punk bands in Belfast and inter view strangers on tape about the ways the TV show “Derry Girls” reflects their country and their lives during the Troubles, the violence that killed more than 3,500 from the 1960s until the late ’90s.

No matter how strong their lead is, how evocative their photo, how moving their tape, these students came back changed journalists. And although that change is more dramatic when it happens thou sands of miles from home, it is the same change our students have gone through for generations—and will continue to go through—during their time at the J-School.

It’s my plan to make that a central focus of my time as Director, to remember that good journalism not only has the power to change those whose stories we tell, but the journalist as well.

Of course, this may all be the hopeful ramblings of a man who is not sure he is up to the task of trying to replace our for mer Director, Denise Dowling. Denise will be returning to the faculty full time and is already neck-deep in the kind of important projects that have always driven her at the school. She will have more to say in the coming months about some of those. And it was her leadership twice as our

interim dean and then as the J-School’s first director within the College of Arts and Media that want to spend a minute writ ing to you all about. See, Denise guided us through difficult times. Whether it was the merger into another college or the ongoing pandemic, many trials small and large all ended up at her feet.

At Dean Stone Night this year, we raised a glass to her, and I mentioned then that it seemed the right place because it was an event that reflected Denise’s leadership style. Whether it’s our partners in the profession, our donors, our alums, the faculty, staff or, most centrally, the students, Denise always put people at the center of how she approached the job. She wanted to know how you were doing as a person. How were you holding up teaching a class remotely? How were the students coping with the decision to come back into the classroom?

Many of you reading this already know all this about Denise, but it is still such an admirable quality in a leader, it’s worth repeating, I step into this role with a deep sense of history and responsibility to this school and its legacy, but also with a sense of optimism and purpose. We are more

University of Montana School

Journalism

summer

of

than a century in, but we are not a school looking back. We are a School of Journal ism training today’s journalists, a creative powerhouse that continues to outperform much larger schools with deeper pockets.

The coming year will bring new announcements of our commitment to innovative reporting and important proj ects, of collaborations with leading voices from across the country and of a renewed commitment to producing journalism that matters to places where that information is more vital than ever. Of course, I am just one guy and if this Northern Ireland trip has re-taught me anything, it is that I will need help.

And that is perhaps the most exciting part of this new job: the possibilities.

Denise has set us on a good course and I intend to continue to lead by always keeping an eye out for the people and the journalism. I pledge to defend its value in society, to critique it when we fail and to celebrate it when we get it right.

Like an overseas reporting trip, it will be a helluva ride and I’m so thankful to have you on it with me.

Lee Banville Director of the School of Journalism

clockwise from left: Sara Diggins, Andy Mepham, Sheena Pate)

Completed in 2007, Don Anderson Hall was designed to reunite the J-School and match the graceful lines of Stone Hall.

BY IZAAK OPATZ

BECOMES A WHEN A

AS THE 1990s rolled over to the new millennium, the J-School had outgrown Stone Hall, its beloved home since 1936. Named for the school’s first dean, Arthur Stone, the proud brick building conveyed journalism’s gravitas on anyone who climbed its steep staircases.

But most of the bottom floor had been ceded to Forestry after what then-Dean Jerry Elijah Brown called “a bad deal” by a former dean, as it forced the broadcast pro gram to make do in a range of odd venues across campus.

One class was taught in a drama depart ment wardrobe closet, while the radio and TV programs holed up in a 1920s bunga low known fondly as the Eddy house. Its basement was packed with a classroom, edit bays and the program’s first computers, former professor Ray Ekness remembers.

“It was a tight little space and from time to time there’d be a homeless student who would live there for a month.”

Spread across campus, the print and broadcast programs rarely interacted. Act ing dean Joe Durso proposed the school push for a new building to reunite the two programs under one roof, but the J-School’s foundation coffers at the time were nearly empty, says former professor Carol Van Valkenburg. “I think the faculty thought he was deluded. But he was very visionary.”

Durso understood that such a fundrais ing campaign could lead to more than a new building—it would remind people of the J-School’s importance and give them a reason to celebrate all it had accomplished since its founding in 1914.

Many news outlets, meanwhile, were moving online and shrinking their news rooms. Journalists increasingly had to wear multiple hats and employers sought grad uates with varied skills in different media.

“We were essentially asked to produce Swiss Army knives,” Brown recalls. “Somebody who would be adroit at writing, thinking, reasoning, video work, audio work, photo journalism—everything.”

The need was obvious for a headquar ters that would reunite the two programs,

The J-Schoolfaculty helps breakground for theconstruction of DonAnderson Hallin July 2005.

match the historic elegance of Stone Hall and meet the needs of a media landscape that was, as Brown puts it, “morphing be fore our eyes.” But the J-School needed the right person to tell that story and the right audience to hear it.

Durso died of a heart attack in the sum mer of 1998, and Brown was brought on as dean after 20 years at Auburn University. Durso’s building quickly became Brown’s priority. He assumed the role of chief sto ryteller and spiritual leader of the fundrais ing campaign, for which he was well suited.

“Being a Southerner and a Baptist, I could do the altar call and the closing,” he says. “I could do that pretty well and remind people about what the First Amendment meant to this country.”

— Dean Jerry Brown, on the increasing need to teach journalism students a diverse skill set

Some 15 years after a team of faculty, philanthropists, legislators and alumni pulled together more than $14 million to build a new home for the J-School, still no one will take credit. But everyone agrees it reunited a divided school.

“We were essentially asked to produce Swiss Army knives. Somebody who would be adroit at writing, thinking, reasoning, video work, audio work, photojournalism—everything.”

Brown leaned heavily on adjunct pro fessor John Talbot, former publisher of the Missoulian from 1970 to 1980. Tal bot had accrued an enormous network of friends and colleagues across the country who respected and admired him. It was not a mystery why. “He was a class act from the ground up,” Brown says. “And he was a tall man.”

The two became close friends, often traveling together in pursuit of donors. Brown brought charisma and zeal, and he says Talbot, “with his wonderful, su per-intelligent, rational, graceful self, handled the details and knew where the money was.”

The harder sell was at the legislature, where Brown had to convince lawmakers to approve annual funding for the build ing’s operation and maintenance. Jim Fall, director of the Montana Newspaper Asso ciation, lent his guidance, as did Sen. Jon Tester, who was head of the state senate at the time and, Brown says, “led me by the nose through the maze of Helena.”

But it was the personal relationships among faculty, alumni and those who loved the school that made the difference. Van Valkenburg, who worked at the jour nalism school for nearly 30 years, secured large donations from alumni and friends of the school with whom she had formed

close personal ties. Such efforts eventual ly yielded around $11.5 million, which Brown claimed at the time was the largest amount given by multiple donors for a public building in Montana.

Talbot, who died last December at the age of 91 (see “In Memoriam” on pg. 26), also brought a strong family connection.

After careers with the CIA and Trans World Airlines, he was recruited into the newspaper business by his father-in-law, Don Anderson. Sue Talbot says her hus band fell in love with the work and be lieved deeply that journalism was more than just a business—it was a civic service.

“He loved what a newspaper could bring to a community,” she says.

Anderson, Sue’s father, had gained re nown after he negotiated the purchase of most of Montana’s newspapers from the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1959 by Lee Enterprises, pioneering a new era of editorial independence in the state.

The faculty made the decision early on to name the new building for Anderson, whose sterling reputation, they hoped, would kindle widespread support. “We didn’t want it named for any compa ny,” Van Valkenburg says. The strategy worked, avoiding the need to lean on a large corporate donation that might have come with strings attached.

The Talbots made an important early donation to the new building and their mere involvement helped buoy the cause, Brown says. “So many people respected John and Sue, and so many people re spected Don Anderson, that we went in with clean hands.”

After Don Anderson Hall was complet ed in 2007, Brown stepped down as dean and taught for two years before returning to Alabama to be closer to family. Van Valkenburg, Ekness and others agree that Brown’s gregarious personality made him uniquely suited for the building project.

“He just is a genuine guy who gets along with everybody,” Ekness says. “He got that building built—what a great legacy.”

But Brown points elsewhere. “John and Sue Talbot were essential. They were the real leaders,” he says. “The success of Don Anderson Hall really reflects the whole history of the journalism school.”

For International Reporting class, third time’s the charm

Students (finally) head to Northern Ireland

THE PLAN had always been to meet up at Connolly Station in Dublin. That’s what Professor Lee Banville told his Internation al Reporting students for three spring se mesters in a row. And in 2022, the world re-opened and it finally happened. Lee and the trip’s co-leader, Associate Professor Jule Banville, met the students and got them on a fast train across the border, to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It felt like a big moment because it was.

In 2020, the idea was to report on the United Kingdom’s departure from the Eu ropean Union and what it meant in the only place the blocs meet on land, the 300-mile, troubled line between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Over the next two years, the stories evolved as Brexit dragged

on. Northern Irish voters headed to the polls in May 2022, an historic election. Those still loyal to Britain threw a COVID-delayed 100th birthday party for the divided region with one of the largest parades in Northern Irish history. The students covered all of that and more.

Sixteen students, two of whom were in the class all three years, spent a week in Belfast and a week in Derry/Londonderry report ing, writing, photographing and populating social media. One of the three-peats, senior Addie Slanger, found herself at Stormont, the impressive center of NI’s government, in terviewing the head of the Alliance Party and major player in NI politics, Naomi Long.

Other students dug deep on complex ed ucation stories, exploring how a country di

AT LEFT Twice canceled by COVID, the Journalism Abroad program finally was able to send 16 students and two professors to Ireland this summer to report on Brexit and its impact on the tense relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The class covered all that and more—including locals’ take on the TV smash hit “Derry Girls” (portrayed in the street art in the top photo) ahead of Netflix dropping the third and last season in the United States. (photos, clockwise from top: courtesy of Lee Banville, Andy Mepham, Clarise Larson, Andy Mepham)

vided along sectarian lines has responded to calls for integrating Catholic and Protestant students and teachers. They reported sto ries about how a tree disease, Brexit and the war in Ukraine affect the sport of hurling; about COVID and tourism; about domes tic violence and suicide rates—and about eel fishing. That eel story? It’s a great angle on how Brexit has both helped and hurt a mul tigenerational industry. By the end, sopho more Daisy Coyne was a known celebrity in the town of Toomebridge, having talked to just about everyone who had anything to do with eels there.

Post-travel, Lee and Jule opened their in box to a thank-you message from a student who thrived while reporting a story about a feminist punk band in Belfast. “It was truly one of the best experiences I have ever had and it got me so excited to be a journalist again! I feel like I learned so much and I real ly fell in love with NI.”

You can check out Allie Oendag’s piece about Northern Ireland’s changing music scene and all the students’ stories and pho tographs at journalismabroad.jour.umt.edu.

The class also posted content all over so cial media, especially on Instagram with @mt_journalism_abroad. The Banvilles are continuing to pitch student stories to pro fessional outlets, so watch for those.

And stay tuned for audio news: After initial interest from NPR’s “Here & Now,” Jule and several students unleashed their mics on the streets and in the pubs to record locals on the popularity, impact and truth of the TV smash, “Derry Girls,” ahead of Netflix dropping the third and last season in the States. What the show gets right is what our students and faculty quickly learned: The craic (that’s Irish for “a good time”)—and the journalism—in Northern Ireland are unforgettable.

ABOVE After Jerry Brown became J-School dean in 1999 following 20 years at Auburn University, the new building became his priority. He proved to be ideally suited for the role of chief storyteller and spiritual leader of the fundraising campaign.

Stone Hall served as the J-School’s home for more than 70 years, named in honor of its first dean, Arthur Stone.

Next door to war

IN 2021, former J-School prof Michael Downs landed a Fulbright grant to visit Poland to write fiction based on Polish folktales. He and his wife, Sheri Venema (also a former professor), moved to Kraków last September, where at first their main concerns were learning the tram system, figuring out enough Polish to buy groceries and getting a COVID booster. But then they woke up on February 24 to a changed world. Here are diary entries from their experience.

Feb. 24, 2022

With sunrise today in Kraków, the trams are running outside our apartment window and a truck delivers sweet cakes to the piekarnia across the street. Yet there is again war on Po land’s doorstep.

We’re a few hours by car from the border with Ukraine, but we feel safe, because everyone says Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t challenge NATO countries like Poland. Still, wars are impossible to predict.

Tonight, just blocks from our apartment, we join a few thou sand people to protest at the Russian consulate. All around us are signs, songs and flags from Ukraine and Poland. We notice toddlers in Spider-Man hats.

Feb. 27

A couple thousand people gath er in the ancient market square, chanting “Slava Ukraina” and “NATO close the skies.” At a coffee shop, men collect items for the Ukrainian military. They

especially need combat tourni quets, they tell us. At a soccer stadium, volunteers fill pallets with donations for refugees: sleeping bags and camping mattresses, water, baby food, coats and boots. Notes from Poland reports some 100,000 Ukrainians have already fled to Poland. Eventually, they’ll be counted in the millions.

March 2

Friends from the U.S. tell us “stay safe.” Family expresses concern. We decide we might be wise to send some things back to the U.S. so we mail two boxes home.

March 5

At the Kraków train station, dazed and stunned Ukraini ans arrive with their lives in bags. Women, children, old men. They queue up for food, medical care, housing, tickets to elsewhere. The station’s pay toilets, usually about 50 cents, are now free.

March 8

Sheri: Twice today, women from Ukraine ask me for directions. We use maps and Google translate: English to Ukrainian and vice versa. I explain that trams and buses are free for them.

Only after we say goodbye do I remember the heavy load in my backpack. I’ve been shop ping for the relief effort—a doz en pair of women’s underwear, warm hats, hairbrushes, baby wipes and menstrual pads. And there I am, speaking broken Polish, translating into Ukrainian, with a backpack full of help but so helpless, really, as they set off into their new world.

We correspond with journal ists and photographers on their way here to document the ref ugee situation. A colleague in the U.S. puts us in touch with a young woman trying to escape eastern Ukraine. Can we offer a room if she makes it to Kraków? Of course, we say. But she finds a ride to Warsaw instead.

March 11

At the train station, we hand out soup and sandwiches, coffee and tea. Later, walking past dozens of families spread out on camping mattresses, Mi chael hands out boxes of milk along with smiley-face stickers. The kids who receive them fix the stickers to their jackets and give back grins. “Thank you very much,” the kids say, over and over.

March 13

Tonight at the Kraków Philhar monic, a 22-year-old pianist plays Chopin. The second movement of the Piano Con certo in F Minor can break your heart even in normal times. Now, when you close your eyes to listen, you can’t stop seeing those bodies rolling slow motion into a mass grave in Mariupol, or those preg nant women, bloodied. Then Beethoven, a resounding “Ode to Joy,” and you remember Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky—how he wills his people to survive. Finally, the Ukrainian national anthem: “The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished.”

March 15

We’re regularly seeing U.S. military troops: on scooters, in the markets, on park benches, clustered in front of a storefront offering Thai massage.

May 19

Today is Vyshyvanka (“Embroi dered Shirt”) Day, when Ukrai nians wear traditional clothing. In a plaza, women sing on stage and children play in foun tains. Meanwhile, outside the Russian consulate, we find a plush toy bear drenched in red liquid, as if in blood. In a cafe, a donation of 20 PLN ($4.50) gets you a set of stickers de signed by a Polish cartoonist, including the Statue of Liberty draped in a Ukrainian flag, with these words in Polish: “We are all now Ukrainians.”

Journalism school hosts more distinguished Pollners

TWO WORKING journal ists brought their talents to the J-School as T. Anthony Poll ner Distinguished Professors in the 2021-22 academic year. In the fall semester, Jan Win burn taught a course on cover ing trauma and tragedy. In ad dition to their own reporting, her students were assigned to interview correspondents who covered particularly traumatic events. The Q&As were writ ten and published on Neiman Reports Storyboards.

Winburn has spent more than four decades working in newsrooms as a narrative editor, writing coach and investigative editor and now teaches in the University of Georgia’s MFA program in Narrative Nonfiction. Win burn edited Lisa Pollak’s 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, and her writers have won many of the other top prizes in journalism. She led reporting teams at CNN, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hartford Courant and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Spring semester brought international photojournalist Daniella Zalcman to Don Anderson Hall where she taught a class on documentary photojournalism and the business of freelance photography. Zalcman is based in New Orleans. Her work focus es on the legacies of western colonization, from the rise of homophobia in East Africa to the forced assimilation education of In digenous children in North America. She’s won the Arnold Newman Prize, the Rob ert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the FotoEvidence Book Award among other honors. You can find her work in National Geographic, Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, Mashable, BuzzFeed, TIME, The New York Times and elsewhere.

The fall of 2022 will bring Jacob Bayn ham to the school for a turn in the Pollner Professor office.

Baynham won the 2020 National Magazine Award for profile writing for “Jer ry’s Dirt,” a piece about the remarkable life of his late father-in-law that ran in the Georgia Review. Baynham has spent much of his life covering Asia and has filed stories from Afghanistan, Laos, Hong Kong, Burma and Montana for Outside Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, Wend Maga zine, the Missoula Indepen dent and the Montana Kaim in. He writes about travel, adventure, food, mystery and conflict, and will teach a course on profile writing, focusing students on devel oping a robust journalistic toolkit that includes rigorous research, disarming interviewing techniques and de tail-rich scene development.

Podcaster Heath Druzin will join the Pollner Professor family in the spring se mester of 2023. Heath is a freelance re porter focused on covering the intersection of extremism and mainstream politics in the United States. In 2018, Druzin was Boise State Public Radio’s Guns & Amer ica fellow, joining 10 other NPR stations to report on extremist movements, suicide prevention and gun culture. He hosts and created the podcast, “Extremely Ameri can,” an inside look at militias and other far-right groups trying to remake Amer ica in their absolutist image. He covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for Stars and Stripes newspaper and has reported for NPR, the BBC, the Daily Beast and the Idaho Statesman. Druzin will teach a course called “Covering The Extremes In Extreme Times,” where students will re port using audio as their primary medium. Druzin is an Edward R. Murrow award winner and winner of the Public Media Journalists Award.

JACOB BAYNHAM

HEATH DRUZIN

Magazine capstone class explores topics of spiritual healing

THE J-SCHOOL published its second edition of the student-produced Byline Magazine as part of a fall 2021 magazine capstone class. In addition to the print publication, student reporters and editors posted throughout the semester on Twit ter, Facebook and Instagram, and created a website to share stories and photos that launched a few weeks before Christmas.

First-time Adjunct Erika Fredrickson joined Professor Keith Graham to lead the class. “I was so grateful for all her efforts,” Graham said.

This issue covered the topic of healing, including stories on Indigenous leaders helping to restore their land by return ing plants and animals to the places they belong; innovative thinkers finding ways to create more affordable housing during the current crisis; and survivors of Native American boarding schools and their ef forts to rebuild and preserve their cultures that these institutions tried to remove.

“Across our state we showed healers that are engaging in their communities to ad dress problems that have impacted our so ciety in this century,” Graham said.

Check it out at bylinemagazine.com, or to receive a hard copy of the magazine, email keith.graham@umontana.edu.

EVEN IF they don’t realize it directly, Montana’s tribes are proactively dealing with climate change issues, according to the findings of the students in this year’s Montana Native News Honors Project.

The Native News project sent its 30th annual publication to print this spring with tabloid inserts in all Lee Enterprise newspapers in the state on May 22. This is actually the project’s 31st year, but Native News did not publish a physical issue during the COVID shutdown in 2020.

Students reported on the climate change issues affecting the state’s tribes. How ever, this proved challenging as many sources initially dismissed the topic.

“People really were not ready to talk about how climate change affects their lives,” said Associate Professor Jason Begay, who co-teaches the class. “People tend ed to believe that either the issue didn’t affect people in Montana, or that tribes were dealing with a lot more pressing matters.”

Students had to conduct a lot of pre-reporting so they could target specific is sues that are touched by climate change, which helped sources open up.

“Climate change does, indeed, affect everyone, but it was hard to see it in a lot of cases,” Begay said.

Students found that drought is one of the biggest concerns, whether it’s because of skyrocketing hay prices for ranchers or the increase in wildfires.

For the first time, Native News sent a reporting team to the Fort Berthold Indi an Reservation in western North Dakota, which like eastern Montana next door is being heavily impacted by the Bakken oil boom. Other stories included a look at smoldering coal seams on the Northern Cheyenne reservation that are increasingly dangerous in drought conditions and a water project on the Fort Peck reservation that should finally give some relief to that long-parched region of the state.

To read more, visit nativenews.jour.umt.edu.

Media Lab hits road to teach journalism skills

THE MONTANA Media Lab traveled to far corners of the state this summer to teach high school students about audio storytell ing and news literacy. The four-week road trip included stops in Miles City, Harlem, Great Falls and Lodge Grass. As part of the workshops, students learned how to evalu ate the news they see on social media and the internet, and they practiced identifying tactics people use to spread disinformation on the internet.

Undergraduate student instructors also taught teens how to use audio reporting equipment, conduct interviews and edit audio stories. In Harlem, students created an audio profile of their hometown. Lodge Grass teens produced a story about the Ul timate Warrior Challenge at Crow Native Days. In Great Falls, a student reported on a city-wide mural project. Miles City students reported on the renovation of a historic the

High school students from Miles City, Harlem, Great Falls and Lodge Grass practiced the art of audio storytelling as part of the Media Lab’s efforts to give them a jump-start on journalism.

ater. Some of the young reporters’ final sto ries aired on Yellowstone Public Radio.

Lead instructor Mary Auld MA ’20 was joined by Dante Filpula Ankney ’22 of Laurel, Montana; JoVonne Wagner ’23 of Heart Butte, Montana; and Hunter Wig gins ’22 of Farmington, New Mexico.

The Media Lab also hosted virtual and in-person workshops all year long includ ing sessions in amping up social media, podcast production and promotion as well as lessons in effective writing for an online audience.

See more at montanamedialab.com.

J-School hosts crowd at Montana High School Journalism Day

AFTER A TWO-YEAR hiatus, nearly 150 high school students from as far away as Frazer (465 miles) and as close as Hellgate High in Missoula (seven blocks) gathered at the University of Montana School of Jour nalism on April 21 to revive Montana High School Journalism Day.

Students and advisers got crash courses in writing, design, drone photography, audio storytelling, TV production, social media and student press law, just to name a few. They also took home statewide awards. Bigfork High School’s Elizabeth Hyde was named the Montana High School Jour nalist of the Year, with Montana Journal ism Education Association President Beth Britton and Missoulian publisher Jim Strauss hailing her work and promise as a young journalist.

In the “pacesetter” categories, The Hell gate Lance won for online publications among AA schools, and The Norse Code

from Bigfork High won for Class B schools. Eagle TV at Big Sky High School took home the broadcast pacesetter award for AA schools, and the Norse Code at Bigfork High won the category for Class B schools.

For newspaper pacesetters, The Hellgate Lance won the AA category, The Signal Butte at Custer County High School won for Class A, The Florence Chronicle at Flor ence-Carlton High won Class B and The Sagebrush Saga from Garfield County High School won in Class C.

Kendall Boehm of The Florence Chron icle won the Student Free Press Award for coverage of a club that formed to support LGBTQ+ students.

“It is always tricky for student journalists to cover controversial issues in your school, but even more difficult to cover a topic that has exploded into the divisive world of so cial media beyond the schoolhouse gates,” the judges wrote.

Professor Dennis Swibold helps enlighten students who came out in droves this April for High School Journalism Day.

The event attracted nearly 150

Montana after a two-year

to the pandemic.

Montana Kaimin breaks stories, wins awards

BY GRIFFEN SMITH Kaimin Editor-in-Chief for 2022-23

AFTER A FULL RETURN to in-person operation, the Montana Kaimin broke several statewide stories during the last ac ademic year, while also nabbing the title of second-best newspaper in the north western region from the Society of Profes sional Journalists.

The Kaimin, UM’s independent, stu dent-run newspaper, published 29 weekly issues. Reporters also worked all semes ter to put out “In the Crosshairs,” a spe cial edition examining the implications of House Bill 102, state legislation that would permit open and concealed carry of firearms on college campuses. It drew funding and collaboration from the Poyn ter Institute’s College Media Project.

Reporters also broke several UM sto ries, including evidence of an increase in date-rape drug use to the University’s fail ure in providing a promised endowment to the Kyiyo Pow Wow student group. Perhaps no story got more attention, though, than one on former UM profes sor Rob Smith, whose controversial blog was uncovered by the Kaimin, prompt ing anger statewide over its sexist and homophobic material. Other award-win ning stories covered bears roaming cam

pus and UM’s college athletes who make money off their likeness.

Two COVID-19 spikes during the school year complicated college life, with mask mandates in-place from September to March. The Kaimin provided insight on case trends through a weekly COVID-19 brief and published an obituary of a stu dent who died from the virus.

The Kaimin sports department hit pay dirt during the football season, making the historic trip to Seattle to watch Mon tana upset then-nationally ranked #25 Washington. Videos from Kaimin report ers reached the desk of ESPN, and thou sands more watched the coverage online.

“The Kaimin Cast,” a weekly pod cast launched this year, placed top-10 in NPR’s student podcast awards. It debuted

KBGA creates new mix of shows, events

OVER THE 2021-22 school year, KBGA has been celebrating a return to in-person events. In addition to providing the Univer sity of Montana and wider Missoula com munity with a variety of programming, they put on a series of concerts raising money for a variety of local nonprofit businesses. “Play It Forward” has partnered with the Mon tana Natural History Center, Make Your Move Missoula, Homeward and more. A podcast was released in tandem with each concert, where the organization had the op portunity to spread their message while the

bands chimed in with their experiences in the field.

KBGA also brought back its annual fundraiser, “Radiothon,” although the Feb ruary show took on a different name: “The Lovesick Ball.” The Badlander was decked out in Valentine’s decorations for the event, and it featured tunes by local bands Tusk ers, Cosmic Sans, Transcendental Express, and Sugar Colt. A variety of goodie bas kets were raffled off, all stocked with goods from local businesses. Four staff members participated in a tattoo raffle and got four original designs permanently inked on their bodies by partner Bound by Glory.

Overall, the fundraiser brought in over $2,000 for the station.

After finally returning to a full newsroom of student reporters, the Kaimin’s 2021-2022 editorial team (left) helped break major stories on campus and beyond. The Society of Professional Journalists recognized those efforts by awarding them the title of second-best newspaper in the northwestern region.

in September, and was later complement ed by its partner segment, “The Second Look,” this spring.

The print side of the news operation won second place for all-around newspa per in SPJ’s Region 10 Mark of Excellence Awards. Kaimin Photo Editor Antonio Ibarra swept two photography categories and was runner-up in a third. Other re porters also garnered awards for their work in explanatory reporting, feature and sports writing.

“The Kaimin has had one of its best years yet, and that’s all thanks to the tire less efforts of the student journalists who make up this staff,” said Addie Slanger, 2021-22 editor-in-chief “I can’t wait to see how next year’s team takes the momentum we’ve created and runs with it.”

Graduate program receives influx of gifted students, grant funding

portunities for people with physical and mental health limitations, the challenges facing aging farmers in the West and Cali fornia’s efforts to regulate groundwater use.

GRADUATE PROGRAM

LANDS BIG GRANT

In November 2021, a 5-year, $500,000 grant from the Orange County Communi ty Foundation fortified the J-School’s grad uate program. The gift supports graduate scholarships and sustains the Crown of the Continent Reporting Fellowship and asso ciated networking event. It also expands opportunities for training undergraduates in reporting in extreme circumstances. This project anticipates the needs of young jour nalists covering news amplified by climate change: human migration, severe weather events, social unrest and armed conflict.

CROWN REPORTING FELLOWSHIPS

The Crown of the Continent Reporting Fellowships supports two students whose story ideas are selected during an annual pitch competition in February.

When not bringing live music to students and community members alike through concerts, the station has been diversifying its on-air content. Aside from the regularly released podcasts, KBGA broadcasts special Halloween and Valentine’s Day programs. As usual, the station partnered with the School of Journalism’s intermediate audio class for a daily 5 p.m. news segment in the fall.

The entire staff also traveled to Boise for the Treefort Music Fest both fall and spring semesters. At that event, the station creat ed original audio and visual content, met bands they hope to bring to Missoula, and met with Boise State University’s Pulse ra dio station to exchange secrets of the trade. Overall, it was a busy year for KBGA.

THE “PANDEMIC” CLASS of J-School graduate students proved the power of the peer. In all, 11 earned master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Natural Re source Journalism in 2022. They were accepted to this program led by Director and J-School Professor Nadia White just weeks before COVID-19 sent students online to finish the year. No one knew what the future held for classes that fall. But months before they started at UM, this group began finding strength in each other.

They met regularly online over the sum mer before their first semester. They took their first journalism classes on the tennis courts for social distancing. They used Zoom and group chats to stay connected through long periods of remote learning. They held weekly social Zooms during winter and sum mer breaks and served as each other’s best ed itors and cheerleaders as they pitched stories and pursued ambitious field reporting trips.

“If there are obstacles in change, then there is grace and strength to be found in community,” said Lena Beck MA ’22 at commencement. “A community that sees the world the way you do, as a series of stories to be told. A community that will brainstorm story pitches and take a red pen to your rough drafts. A community that will lift you up on your good days and will talk down your critical voice when you don’t feel like you can.”

Celebrating each other’s success, the group published and aired stories at an im pressive rate, despite—and perhaps because of—the pandemic. Their work appeared in The Guardian, Earth Island Journal, Mon tana Public Radio, Interlochen Public Ra dio, Coastal Review, Idaho Press, Missou lian, Merced Sun-Star, Grist, xylom…the list goes on.

Their master’s work examined the hu man side of wildfire policy, marine science, the accessibility of outdoor recreation op

The Crown Reporting Project started in 2015 in memory of Ted Smith, a leader of philanthropy, who thought deeply about conservation and wild places. It was sup ported by Ted’s brother, Roger Smith, and Roger’s wife, Libby. The project has been bolstered by additional support, including the grant from Orange County highlighted above. The goals of the program are to en courage insightful coverage about climate change, conservation and community in the region that stretches north of Missoula and into British Columbia. Each year, win ning reporters are paired with mentors who help develop, pitch and report the stories for publication or broadcast.

The 2022 Crown Reporting fellows are Keely Larson, who will be working with Jessica Reed of The Guardian, and Kath leen Shannon, who will be working with Nick Mott of the podcast Threshold.

The 2021 Crown Reporting Fellows were: Bowman Leigh, who published a feature on a trout-stunting algae known as “rock snot” with the Montana Free Press, and Sierra Ci stone, who wrote about a major land deal with impacts for the Blackfeet Nation, pub lished in The Guardian in early July.

Bitter cold is no match for AJ Williams as she gathers footage for her master’s in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism from the Badger-Two Medicine area. (photo: Leo Pollock)

Boom or bust? Advanced Audio students report on state’s housing crisis

AFTER THE average price of a home in Missoula jumped nearly 30 percent from 2020 to 2021 and rental availability shrunk to 1 percent, the 2022 Advanced Audio capstone created the series “Finding Home: Montana’s Housing Crisis,” focused on those most in need during the historic home price increase and severe housing shortage.

Students produced seven stories that aired on Montana Public Radio during NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The sto ries were also published to the Public Radio Exchange, PRX.org, where they were licensed by other member stations. On PRX, these now join nearly 150 other stories produced by Associate Professor Jule Banville’s audio students at the Journalism School.

Stories featured voices of low-income residents facing the hard est choices. That work included coverage of new homeless shelters in Browning and Hamilton, the displacement of mobile home residents at Missoula’s recently sold KOA campground, the impact of the “felony checkbox” on rental applications, lack of stable housing for wildland firefighters, an experimental co-op and land trust meant to help renters stay in their building and a lapsed cell-phone giveaway that had been connecting unhoused people with services they need. MTPR News Di rector and J-School alum Corin Cates-Carney worked with Banville in a professional collaboration to bring these important stories to Montana’s public radio listeners.

Doc class hams it up with shortwave radio

AS PART of UM’s recently created Certif icate in Documentary Film, students from the School of Journalism and the School of Visual & Media Arts worked together to produce a half-hour documentary entitled “HAM,” which explores the small, yet ac tive, community of amateur radio operators in Montana.

Completing a non-fiction film in a semes ter has its challenges. Real life narratives do not often unfold in such timeframes. Nev ertheless, students in Ryan Weibush’s doc umentary production course worked close ly together from pre- to post-production, combining their unique voices and talents to create all aspects of the documentary. This not only included planning, filming and ed iting, but members of the class also recorded an original score and created all the graphics. Students realized early on that by telling the

story of a small group of “hams,” they had tapped into a long-overlooked community. Although the popularity of this hobby has waned in recent years due to new forms of communication and aging enthusiasts, it still exists as a last line of communication in states of emergency. From CW and moon bounce to Elmers and QSL cards, the many niche aspects of amateur radio are explored using archival footage and vérité filmmak ing. Character-profiles included a French town man who was the first to make contact with a space shuttle, and a Stevensville man who sets up remote stations in state and national parks to communicate with other parks around the country. Word of the film has already spread among ham operators, and is set to air on Montana PBS this fall. The documentary was supported by the Greater Montana Foundation.

Business Made in Montana pulls focus on new subjects

THIS YEAR Professor Jeremy Lurgio took the Intermediate Video Jour nalism project, Business Made in Montana, in a slightly different direc tion. Instead of just showcasing a variety of businesses that operate in Montana, the class brainstormed more narrowly focused and creatively angled themes to explore. Then students in the class researched, pitched and produced stories within that theme.

In the fall 2021 semester, the class focused on businesses that oper ate under the state’s Native American Made in Montana program. The 27-minute video program, “Indigenous Business,” explores five unique Native American businesses in Western Montana. From candles to stirfry, basket weaving to fish keeping, Native American business owners find ways to channel culture and heritage into trades that sustain them selves, their tribes and their families. These stories document the resil ience, creativity and passion of Indigenous business owners. The film premiered on Montana PBS in June.

Student Austin Smith re-produced an online multimedia package from his story about a Little Shell basket weaver. His project was award ed a 16th place finish in the Hearst Competition’s category Digital News/Enterprise Multimedia Story.

In the spring semester, the class jokingly came up with the idea of bee tle businesses. They decided a 30-minute program all about beetles might be a bit too much beetle. So, with a little more brainstorming, Professor Lurgio and the class narrowed it down to the idea of small organisms that drive businesses in Montana. From beetles and bacteria to worms and fungi, small organisms fuel the creation of unique products across the state. The 26-minute program, “Unseen Engines,” follows stories about fermentation, taxidermy, mushrooms, compost and beer making to showcase Montana businesses that harness the power of natural pro cesses. The program premiered on Montana PBS in early September.

UM News reaches widest audience yet

TELEVISION NEWS students from the School of Journalism reached a wider audience during the fall 2021 semester than ever before. For the first time, the weekly “UM News” broadcast was carried by Montana PBS, reaching an audience across the state. KTMF, the ABC-Fox affiliate in Missoula, also broadcast the program. Reporters, producers and photographers focused on ongoing research at UM.

Led by Professor Ray Fanning, students covered efforts by the College of Health to create a universal flu vaccine, which could mean five years between flu shots. And they reported on a phone app that records the sounds of bees to analyze the health of the colony. That story was nominated for a student production award from the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ences. UM television students also won recognition from the Hearst Journalism Awards and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Working with Professor Denise Dowling, stu dents also wrote, anchored, produced and directed daily 30-second news updates for Montana PBS. These “Newsbriefs” cover stories from across the state and air on the station during primetime on weeknights.

“Indigenous Business” premiered on Montana PBS in June, exploring five unique Native American businesses.

Tune

to Montana PBS this fall for the latest student documentary,

profiling amateur

Student-produced stories aired on Montana Public Radio during NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things

SELECTIONS FROM ALUMNI PHOTOJOURNALISTS

DECADE AFTER DECADE, UM’s Journalism School has helped launch the careers of some of the world’s most talented and capable photojournalists. As you’ll see in this selection of images submitted by alums, that tradition lives on. Under the guidance of professors Keith Graham and Jeremy Lurgio, and back to Patty Reksten and beyond, our students leave the J-School as ready reporters ascending to the top of their profession. We are proud of the work they do, and proud to share it here.

LIDO VIZZUTTI | CLASS OF 2003

Lido shoots photos, produces videos, writes and manages creative assets as Marketing Director for the Boy Scouts of America, Montana Council. He says he feels lucky (and thankful) to continue his freelance work for local and national publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Montana Quarterly. He assists his wife, Jessica, in their company, Cou Cou Studio, to create lifestyle and architec ture images. He is the proud papa of two.

and Carol Williams sit for a

in Missoula on Aug. 30, 2018.

surrounded by political keepsakes and Butte memorabilia on display in their home

Khen Rinpoche Ngawang Gelek, the abbot residing at The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas near Arlee, Montana, stands for

at

at the spiritual site on Sept. 29, 2020.

Bundy, center, stands with his son, Ryan Bundy, left, and wife Carol during the singing of “The Star-Spangled

of the “Freedom

Property”

Paradise, Montana, on January 20, 2018.

1) Iowa State Cyclones forward Aljaz Kunc (5) misses the rebound on a loose ball while playing an away game against the Texas Longhorns at the Erwin Center in Austin on Feb. 5, 2022. Texas won the game 63-41.

2) Isabel Moeck flies through the air after a toss from her dad, Brandon, while playing in the giant bounce houses at The Big Bounce America in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2021. The touring event is the largest of its kind and features giant inflatable slides and bounce houses, as well as bounce sessions separated by age group.

3) Haley Dahl, lead singer of rock band Sloppy Jane, dances while performing in the Saddest Factory Label Showcase at the Mohawk in Austin, Texas, on March 16, 2022, during South by Southwest.

SARA DIGGINS | CLASS OF 2021

Sara is a staff photographer at the Austin American-States man. In addition to serving as an editor and photographer for the Montana Kaimin while at the J-School, she’s worked at the Missoulian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While her work encompasses most aspects of daily news, Sara particularly enjoys photographing sports and concerts, and has recently been focused on video production as well.

TAILYR IRVINE | CLASS OF 2018

Tailyr Irvine is a Salish and Kootenai journalist born and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Her work focuses on providing in-depth representations of the lives and complex issues within the diverse communities that make up Native America. Tailyr worked in newsrooms across the country before beginning her career as an independent journalist and documentary pho tographer. She is also a National Geographic Explorer currently working on a project that examines the complexities of blood quantum and Native identity. Her work takes a critical look at how the legacy of colonialism has damaged relationships between marginalized communities and the media industry. With each project and assignment, she emphasizes the importance of the relationship between the media and the communities they work in.

1) Michael Irvine hunts with his son Michael and grandson Andrew. Members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Irvines hunt each year on Thanksgiving and meet for a meal, but do not celebrate the history of the holiday.

2) Over the course of four days in Montana, Blackfeet Nation members honored Chief Earl Old Person, who led the tribe and preserved its history for more than 60 years. Chief Old Person, the longest-serving tribally elected official in the United States, died on Oct. 13, 2021, at 92 after a long battle with cancer.

3) Aiyanna Highwolf helps place her mother’s grave marker in Busby on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation on June 26, 2021.

UPDATES FROM FACULTY AND STAFF

DURING THE past two years, Associ ate Professor JULE BANVILLE report ed, hosted and produced the narrative podcast “An Absurd Result.” Over seven episodes, she told the deeply researched story of the rape of a child in 1987 by a stranger who broke into her house in Billings. The crime led to a wrongful conviction followed almost 15 years later by an exoneration, and highlighted prob lems in the law when it comes to pros ecuting older sexual assaults, even with DNA evidence. Jule reported the story while on an academic year sabbatical and completed production while teaching in Fall 2021. It released internationally via Mopac Audio, charting in the top 100 of true-crime podcasts and was covered in multiple publications. Her recent work with students includes advising the Montana Kaimin, which racked up nu merous awards; producing a series about Western Montana’s housing crisis for Montana Public Radio; and co-leading the J-School’s International Reporting trip to Northern Ireland.

This past year has been one of prepa ration for Professor LEE BANVILLE, whether it was developing a new course on information literacy entitled “Call ing Bullshit,” or readying 16 students to report on the ground in Northern Ireland (for the third time, but the first actually going). He also spent a lot of time with Denise Dowling, trying to sop up as much knowledge and experience on the job of director as he could before taking over from her in that position this July. Still, he found some time to serve as a political analyst and media law source for MTPR, Lee newspapers and other outlets around the state and region.

Associate Professor JOE EATON developed a new class that explores the depiction of war correspondents in pop ular culture including Hollywood and international films. The class, which he taught for the first time in 2021, fulfills a university general education credit and aims to expose non-majors to the

School of Journalism. Joe continues to write about fraud and white-collar crime for AARP and published an architecture piece on a Bitterroot Valley “fishing cabin” in Dwell Magazine. His old car hobby has crossed over to hoarding.

Associate Professor RAY FANNING serves as the Associate Director for the School of Journalism. He just finished a three-year term on UM’s General Ed ucation Committee. And in the fall, he will begin representing the College of the Arts and Media on the Faculty Senate.

Ray teaches upper-division electives in television reporting and producing, as well as several of the lower-division core courses. During the summer break, he planned to shoot video for a Montana PBS documentary on architect A.J. Gibson. Gibson designed and built many iconic buildings in western Montana, including UM’s University Hall and the Missoula County Courthouse.

Professor DENISE DOWLING served as J-School director for the past four years and handed the reins to Lee Banville on

July 1. Denise focused on recruitment and retention, fundraising, alumni outreach, diversity/equity/access and curriculum in her last year at the helm in addition to teaching one or two classes per semester. She’s excited to return to the classroom full-time and especially to the broadcast journalism courses close to her heart and right in her wheelhouse.

“It’s been my honor to serve as interim dean and director these past four years and I hope I leave the School of Journal ism in a stronger position than I found it. It’s been challenging and rewarding and it’s the perfect time for a new leader with a fresh vision. I’m thrilled Lee has accepted the position and will support him in all ways, as I know you will too.”

Denise is active with the Montana Broadcasters Association and the As sociation for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication where she’s just wrapped up a six-year stint on the AEJMC’s Accrediting Committee.

Professor KEITH GRAHAM says his fall is always fun because he gets to teach Freelance Photography where students

stretch their journalistic skills and explore commercial and advertising assignments as well. All the work is grounded in strong documentary approaches yet gives them a view into the world of freelancing and leading a business while exploring different niches. Students learn studio lighting, get to shoot on location and see as much of Montana as they desire. Keith also taught the Magazine Capstone class, which was packed with talented editors, art direction and a terrific social media team. Together they published Byline as a print magazine with a strong presence on social media and a website. In the spring his video and photojournalism class had students from Italy, France and Japan—plus two-thirds of the class were not journalism majors—so it was enjoyable watching them all grow and produce some terrific final video projects. But he says his favorite part of spring was working with two amazing graduate students, Sarah Mosquera and Abbie Lauten-Scrivner, as they completed their master’s projects.

Professor JEREMY LURGIO earned promotion to full professor this year. The foundation of his creative activity included an in-depth multimedia project about the Whanganui River in New Zealand, the first river in the world to be granted personhood, which published worldwide in The Guardian, and “River Queens” and “The Hard Way,” two award-winning documentary films select ed and screened at film festivals around the world including the Banff Moun tain Film Festival in Canada and the DocEdge Film Festival in New Zealand. This year, Jeremy got to put his commercial drone piloting license and skills to work while shooting footage for a Business Insider producer who was working on a two-part series about Butte, Montana, for the publication’s se ries, “World Wide Waste.” The highlight of his teaching was mentoring students both fall and spring semesters in the Intermediate Video Journalism courses, where they produced two 30-minute programs. One covered unique Indige nous businesses and the other explored businesses that harness the power of

small organisms. Both premiered on Montana PBS this summer and early fall. In addition to those courses, Jeremy taught many courses this year including Beginning Photojournalism, Intermedi ate Photojournalism and he continued to co-teach the Native News Honors Project with Professor Jason Begay, mentoring students who produced the 31st annual print and online edition.

Professor DENNIS SWIBOLD spent the summer watching Montana politi cians and citizens’ groups sort themselves out for the November midterm election.

Dennis and Professor Lee Banville will once again lead the J-School’s “Cover ing Elections” course reporting on the candidates and ballot issues for Montana news organizations. They’re also planning a collaboration with Indian Country Today correspondent Kolby Kicking woman ’15 to cover the implications of the election for Montana’s tribal nations.

Dennis also spent part of the summer interviewing retired Montana journalist

and J-School alum Chuck Johnson ’70 for UM’s Archives. Johnson’s 45-year career included covering Montana’s 1972 constitutional convention and 22 Montana legislative sessions as Lee Newspapers’ bureau chief and statehouse reporter in Helena. Last year, Dennis’ “Ethics and Trends in News Media” class wrestled with the biggest questions facing an industry in a constant state of change. Professional visitors to that class included alums Amanda Eggert ’09, Mike Fegely ’00, Anna Rau ’00 and Keila Spzaller M.A. ’03. His News Editing students kept it real by working with the school’s much-honored Native News Project.

Associate Professor NADIA WHITE is director of the master’s program in Envi ronmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism. She teaches global current events and undergraduate reporting, as well as courses in the graduate curricu lum. In recent summers she has taught the “Cycle the Rockies” course for the Wild Rockies Field Institute. It teaches

Denise Dowling received a toast and standing ovation from peers and students at Dean Stone Night this past spring for her work as interim dean and J-School director over the past four years.

Nadia White once again helped lead the “Cycle the Rockies” course for the Wild Rockies Field Institute. This summer class teaches about energy production and climate change issues as students and instructors bicycle 600 miles from Billings to Whitefish, stopping at coal and copper mines, ranches and wind farms along the way.

about energy production and climate change issues as students and instructors bicycle 600 miles from Billings to White fish, stopping at coal and copper mines, ranches and wind farms along the way.

Associate Professor JASON BEGAY helped design and launch the inaugu ral Underscore Indigenous Journalism Fellowship, a 10-week program that will be focused on UM J-School students. It will welcome a J-School Indigenous student to Portland, Oregon, every sum mer, financing housing, a weekly salary and a scholarship upon completion. The student will work and produce content for Underscore, an online, nonprofit news outlet. Jason, who has served on the Underscore advisory board for several years, helped design the program from its initial proposal. “My biggest concern was to make sure the program would be financially accessible for students,” Jason said. “I stressed the need to provide hous ing for the student, especially in such an expensive city.” He also selected Mckayla Lee, who completed her first semester in May, as the program’s inaugural fellow. Lee worked for five years at the Ute Drum, a tribal newspaper in southern Colorado, before enrolling at UM.

Adjunct Professor and Director of Media and Engagement COURTNEY LOWERY COWGILL just finished her first year of a master’s program at Johns Hopkins University, where she is focusing on creative non-fiction and is already 90 pages into a collection of essays about loss, land and longing 10 years after moving home to rural Mon tana. She’s cranking out those pages between teaching “Writing the News” and “Social Media and Engagement” online for the J-School and leading our recruiting and outreach efforts, includ ing journalism summer camp for high school students. This winter will mark the sixth Montana Legislature where she’s led student reporters as part of the University of Montana Legislative News Service, something she says she weirdly looks forward to every two years.

Broadcast engineer JAKE WILLIAMS joined the J-School team this sum mer in a position split between the Broadcast Media Center (Montana Public Radio & Montana PBS) and the J-School. He recently worked for Montana PBS in Bozeman where he served as broadcast communications analyst and engineer-in-training. Jake

holds a degree in music technology and is a trained sound editor/mixer/master ing engineer, a composer, songwriter and musician.

Program Coordinator/Office Manager

MARISSA MCCLINTOCK joined the J-School staff in June. Marissa comes to us from Missoula County Public Schools where she was a librarian, keyboarding instructor and tutor. She is currently working on her master’s de gree in education and earned a B.A. in English Literature from UM in 2008.

Montana Media Lab Program Manager

MARY AULD has led the Montana Media Lab since June 2021. This year the Lab held public workshops on pod cast production and promotion, work ing with reporters and the news media, and using social media to expand online presence. Lab staff taught high school students about news literacy and audio storytelling during a fourweek road trip to Indigenous and rural communities across the state. Mary also taught the first-year journalism seminar in Fall 2021. She currently reports on the environment and Indigenous affairs for KUAC-FM in Fairbanks, Alaska, and has created podcasts about glacier science and river conservation.

SUMMER CAMP

FOCUS

FOR A WEEK in July, the halls of Don Anderson Hall were full of the sounds of high school students fussing with audio equipment for the first time, prepping for their first interviews, figuring out their camera settings and talking about student press freedoms, the future of media and their generation’s fight against misinformation.

The energy these 25 students brought to the 2022 UM Jour nalism and Media Summer Camp was boundless. At least a fourth of them were return campers from last summer’s camp. They traveled from as far away as St. Louis, from Miles City and from as close as Hellgate High just a few blocks away. They told us they came back to meet up with friends, try a new medium and advance their skills. New campers, meanwhile, said they were hoping to learn the basics, expand their knowledge and connect with other student journalists.

By the end of the week, they’d covered a Missoula Paddle heads baseball game, interviewed people at Missoula’s Out to Lunch festival at Caras Park, written stories, edited photo graphs and produced audio pieces that blew the instructors away with their vibrance and depth.

The J-School relaunched the camp in 2021 with the help of a sponsorship from Humanities Montana’s Informed Citizen project. It has three goals in mind: to encourage high school

students to be judicious as both consumers and producers of information; to help students in high school journalism pro grams develop their skills and to help students without a high school journalism program (which is increasingly common) build those skills; and to recruit the best and the brightest by allowing them to get to know the J-School up close. (We know that’s always the best recruiting tool. When students set foot on this campus and meet our professors and see what we do and what we’re about, they’re hooked.)

In a post-camp survey, 100% of campers reported that they came away with a better understanding of the role that jour nalism plays in fostering an informed citizenry and that they intend to become a more critical consumer of media.

One student wrote: “Journalism is vital to a complete de mocracy. The right to honest, accessible and meaningful press is critical to an informed public.”

Another wrote: “My favorite part of camp was learning about new ways to tell the news. I was used to printing on paper and I was not aware of the media, audio and movie aspects of journalism.”

As for the third goal, several 2021 campers are joining us this fall, and of the small group of seniors who came to this year’s camp, at least three are also starting at the J-School.

Courtney Lowery Cowgill, an adjunct professor and director of media and engagement, inspires an enthusiastic throng of high school students at the UM Journalism and Media Summer Camp.

Mary Auld took the reins as Montana Media Lab’s program manager in June 2021, and taught first-year journalism seminar last fall.

Riley Ottesen

OBITUARIES

STERLING “JIM” SODERLIND ’50, veteran, Rhodes Scholar and former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, died at age 95 on May 11, 2022. Soderlind was born in Rapelje, Montana, in 1926 and served in World War II as an electrician aboard the USS Wasp aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Jim earned degrees in both journalism and history from UM, graduating in 1950. He was a reporter and business manager for the Montana Kaimin and often told the story of getting three minutes with President Harry Truman in a train car after a campaign stop in Missoula. He attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from 1950-52, studying philosophy, politics and economics. Soderlind continued his newspaper career in 1952 reporting for the Minneapolis Tribune. He joined The Wall Street Journal in Chicago in 1955 and was moved to Florida a year later, leading the Journal’s southeast news bureau. In 1957, the WSJ transferred him to New York where he served as Page One Editor, Managing Editor, columnist and Economics Editor. Jim was named

Vice President for Planning at Dow Jones in 1977 and played a key role in starting Wall Street Journal editions for Asia and Europe. He was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by UM in 1986. Soderlind is survived by his wife, Helen Boyce, at their family home in Short Hills, New Jersey, and by daughters Lori and Sarah of New York City. He was preceded in death by son Steven in 1987.

CLAUDE R. “BOB” WATKINS

’51 died at age 92 on September 21, 2021, in Fort Bragg, California. Born in Glendive in 1929, he spent much of his youth working on farms in the area. He also worked part-time at the local newspaper while attending Sidney High School. That’s where his interest in journalism began. After high school, Bob attended Stanford but transferred to UM after a year to be closer to family. He graduated from the J-School in 1951 and worked in small-town newspapers in Montana and Oregon before landing an editor position at the University of Washington where he

worked for 25 years. Bob is survived by son Mark, nephew Pete and sister-inlaw Ann Marie, who remembers him as a kind, loving, funny and patient man.

EDWARD JOSEPH KING ’58 died at age 85 on September 8, 2021, in Bakersfield, California. Ed began his journalism career while serving in the Army right out of college. After his two-year stint ended, he worked as managing editor at California news papers including the Madera Tribune, Antioch Ledger and Ridgecrest Daily Independent. He retired as editor of The Bakersfield Californian. Ed and wife Maureen had 60 years of marriage and raised six children in the Catholic faith. Ed was active in the church throughout his life. He was preceded in death by wife Maureen, daughter Courtney and grandsons Theron and Max. He is sur vived by daughter Diane and sons Dan, Paul, Steve and John.

ROBERT MARTIN AMICK, JR. ’61 died on December 12, 2021. Bob was a longtime Montana Power Company

IN MEMORIAM

GENTLE GIANT JOHN TALBOT departed this earth on December 16, 2021. John was a lifelong supporter of journalism, the arts and charitable or ganizations in Missoula and western Montana. He founded the Missoula International Choral Festival, was pub lisher of the Missoulian, taught at the J-School and gave his time and tal ents to countless civic organizations.

John attended Harvard where he met Susan Anderson at a Harvard/ Radcliffe mixer. John and Sue wed in 1952 and had been married 70 years at the time of John’s death. The two were devoted to each other and had the most loving, supportive relation ship imaginable.

John worked for the CIA from Paris in the 1950s but came back to the States for a job with TWA. John man aged flight operations as the airline moved from propellers to jets. In the late ’50s, father-in-law Don Anderson convinced John there was a career to be made in newspapers. John went to work for Lee Enterprises in Wisconsin, Iowa and Billings, Montana, before taking the job of publisher of the Missoulian. He worked for Lee until the mid ’80s.

John was instrumental in raising funds for a new building for the School of Journalism, which opened in 2007 (see cover story on pg. 4). Don Anderson Hall was named in honor of his father-in-law who negotiated the purchase of the Anaconda Company

newspapers by Lee Enterprises, freeing the peo ple of Montana from the “copper collar” of the Ana conda Co.

In the ’90s, John taught a media management course at the J-School, and in 2013, UM bestowed Honorary Doctorates in Hu mane Letters to John and Sue.

John loved to sing, was a great tell er of tales, a most gracious host and an all-around excellent human being. He’s survived by wife Sue, son Peter (Leah), daughter Deborah Frandsen (Chris), three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

employee, working as a department manager, director of information & planning and as a marketing and public relations staffer. Amick was the editor of the Choteau Acantha, an editorial writer for the Des Moines Register and Tribune and a professor of journalism at Eastern Montana College before joining MPC. He is survived by his wife, Nikki, and four children.

Complications from Alzheimer’s took the life of JERRY COLNESS ’62 on November 16, 2021. He was 82. Jerry was born in Bozeman, raised in Red Lodge and graduated from UM with honors. He served in the Army after earning his journalism degree and settled in Washington D.C. for a time, working as the Director of Commu nications for the National Paint and Coatings Association. After moving to Denver, Jerry took public relations roles in a number of non-profits, including National Jewish Health, The Denver Museum of Natural History, the Red Cross and Easter Seals. He is survived by his wife, Andrea, and son, Drew.

JANET TRASK COX ’63 died at age 80 on March 8, 2022, after living with Alzheimer’s Disease. Janet earned degrees in journalism and history at UM and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. Upon graduation, she was hired as the society editor for the Billings Ga zette where she had the power to decide if brides and grooms were worth one column or two.

Janet moved to NYC in 1964 and was turned away from her job at Life Magazine for refusing to learn short hand, which was not required of her male colleagues. She took the position of editor at McCall’s Yarn & Notions. She and husband Leslie, also a Montana native, married and moved to Minneapolis, then Billings. Janet kept her NYC job and commuted back east quarterly. Eventually Janet opened her own agency in Billings, Exclamation Point Advertising, which she owned and managed for more than two decades. She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington

in 1996, and in 2014 self-published a book, “The Pinioned Birds.”

Janet is survived by her husband of 55 years, Leslie C. Cox, son Adam and daughter Megan Cox Simmons.

EDWARD CHARLES NICHOLLS ’64 died on August 13, 2021, at his home in Omaha. He was 78. Ed grad uated from UM with degrees in both journalism and political science. While at the J-School, he was the business manager at the Montana Kaimin and went on to report for the Missoulian after graduation. He had a successful career in journalism, working for the Madison (WI) State Journal, Fishing & Hunting News and the Associated Press. His AP career took him to Seattle, West Virginia, Salt Lake City, Des Moines and Omaha. He married fellow journalist Marles (Larson) Nicholls in 1966 and they were days away from cel ebrating their 55th wedding anniversary when Ed passed. Ed is also survived by children Brent and Lisa.

HARALD “PETE” SKIBSRUD ’70 succumbed to kidney failure and died on November 2, 2021. Pete was born in South Dakota in 1945 and graduated from UM in 1970, the same year he married his wife, Linda. They eventually settled in Kalispell and gave back to that community over the decades. Pete was passionate about music, talking on the phone, meeting new people and helping char itable causes too numerous to list. He had a 33-year career at the Job Service in Kalispell and was a champion of those in need, especially the unhoused in his community. Pete is survived by sons Gabriel and Boone, and brothers Jake and John.

A true artist and renaissance man, STEVE HELMBRECHT ’74 died in Seattle of complications from cancer on October 21, 2021. He was 70. Steve was a lauded and accomplished pho tographer, serving as president of the

Professional Photographers of Montana and as Montana’s representative to the national organization for many years. He was bestowed the National Award for Service to the Pho tographic Profession in 2010. Steve was born and raised in Havre and earned his BA from the School of Journalism in 1975. He served his country in the Army Reserve and was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 1973. Steve bought Helmbrecht Photography in Havre from his father in 1983 and was active in Havre’s Eagles and Elks Lodges and the Chamber of Commerce. He taught ceramics at MSU-Northern, was an avid and enthusiastic cook, and felt honored to capture the beauty and grandeur of Montana through his photography, especially along the Hi-Line. Steve is survived by sons Keegan and Anders, daughter Jade and sister Kathy.

Missoula’s longest-serving mayor JOHN ENGEN ’88 died on August 15 after a short, fierce battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. John grew up in Missoula, attending Hellgate High School where he began his journalism career writing a column for the Mis soulian. He continued working for the Missoulian during his time at the J-School and upon graduation worked full-time for the newspaper. John ran a travel agency, a public relations firm and served a term on the Missoula City Council before being elected mayor in 2006. He served as mayor right up until his death. John was a champion of non-profits and human services in the community and will be remembered for sticking up for the underdog. His wit and optimism were ever-present at the hundreds of events he hosted and emceed through the decades, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for community charities and programs. More than a thousand people attended the memorial service for John, including Senator Jon Tester and former Gover nor Steve Bullock who both spoke of

IN MEMORIAM

BELOVED FORMER professor and mentor BILL KNOWLES has died. Bill was a professor at the J-School from 1986-2006 and was famous for teaching the Intro to Journalism and television news courses. He served as chair of the Radio-Tele vision Department and chaired the Faculty Senate.

Bill also launched the J-School’s student documentary unit, which con tinues to this day as an award-win ning student effort. His J100 lectures showcased his breadth of knowledge and his ability to engage an audience.

Born William LeRoy Knowles on June 23, 1935, in Los Angeles, he was the youngest of two children. Decades before the Dodgers and Giants came to town, Bill became a young baseball fanatic listening to the radio bursting to life with the crack of Stan Musial’s bat—or more precisely, the play-by-play descriptions of Stan Musial at bat. Night after night, he would listen to announcers in St. Lou is use nothing but words and a micro phone to transport him to the Major Leagues. He never stopped being a Cardinals fan, and he never stopped loving what the radio could do.

He honed his craft as a young man at the copy desk of San Jose State’s Spartan Daily, then for the Army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper. Bill won the Army Commendation Medal for his teaching in the service and for creating a military print-media style guide. Bill then continued graduate studies in journalism at the University of Southern California. He started a family with his first wife, Susan, with whom he would have five children.

It wasn’t long before ABC News took notice of a rising star, and in 1965, Bill embarked on a two-de cade broadcasting career with the television network as a producer and bureau chief in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington. He reported on American history as it unfolded live, from Vietnam War pro tests and Watergate to the death of Elvis and the rise of Reagan. He flew on Air Force One with three different

presidents. His travels around the country earned him a perspective on the life of the na tion that few professions could match. And yet, Bill had more to give. In 1986 he joined the faculty of the J-School, where he shared all he had learned to new generations of news gatherers. He also learned a few new tricks himself, keeping up with the times as the media business went online. In 2006, as he was retiring from UM, his contributions to broadcast education were recog nized with the prestigious Edward L. Bliss Award, given by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

In retirement, Bill kept in touch with former students, cheering them on as their careers progressed. He stayed active and involved in his profession, even teaching journalism overseas for a year in Amman, Jordan, as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Jordan and the University of Petra. The first installment of his two-volume history of Montana broadcasting is due to be published by the University of Montana Press later this year, with the second slated for 2023.

Just two weeks before his death, Bill managed to attend one final Cardinals game with his sons Frank and Dan. Only this time, he wasn’t in the dark, alone with the radio. He was right there in the crowd, an eyewit ness live on the scene. Where he always wanted to be.

Bill is survived by his wife, Sharon Weaver-Knowles; his five children Frank, Irene, Dan, Joe and Ted from his previous marriage; and 12 grandchildren. To give in his memory, the family requests donations be sent to the School of Journalism’s Bill Knowles Scholarship Fund: UM Foun dation, PO Box 7159, Missoula, MT 59807 or by visiting supportUM.org and clicking GIVE. Be sure to desig nate Journalism and Bill Knowles on your check or on the electronic form.

John Engen ’88 died on August 15 after a short, fierce battle with pancreatic cancer. Engen, elected in 2006, was Missoula’s longest-serving mayor.

his deep love for his hometown and his dedication to its citizens. He’s perhaps best known for his fight to purchase Missoula’s water system but was also the champion of Montana’s first munici pal non-discrimination ordinance and worked tirelessly on infrastructure and social support systems, personally serv ing at Missoula’s homeless shelter each week. UM President Seth Bodnar said in a press release that John also worked hand in hand with the University of Montana, knowing the success of UM and Missoula were deeply intertwined.

John’s mission each day was to make someone else’s burden a little lighter. In a videotaped message at his memorial, John himself said, “At the end of my life, if I can look back, I will have taken some pride in the shiny and the cool and the new. But I will care more about the folks who suffered less, or not at all, because we were able to work together.”

The University of Montana lost one of its most devoted Griz fans with the passing of MELANIE CONNOLE ’99

on October 23, 2021.

Melanie fought the cancer that took her too early at the age of 45 with the same passion she showed her family, her friends and

her sports teams. She was born in Butte in 1976 to Jay and Judy Kohn. Her early years were spent in Montana City, Helena, Oregon and Washington D.C. She was not happy when the family moved back to Butte but found lifelong friends at Butte High. Melanie went to Montana Tech for a year, then followed in her father’s footsteps to Missoula, earning a degree in journalism from UM in 1999. She worked in television news in Billings for more than two decades. Melanie was a devoted mom to her son Caleb and hated the thought of leaving him with her passing even though she knew she raised a strong, independent young man. Melanie is survived by Caleb; her partner, Chad Flynn; parents Judy and Jay Kohn; brothers Jeff and Andy and their spous es; aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews; and her many friends across the country.

The J-School lost a bright light on Jan uary 6, 2022, when ELYSE WHITNEY HUGHES ’06 died of colorectal cancer at age 36. Elyse was a one-woman welcom ing crew in New York City, taking Griz grad after Griz grad under her wing to help them begin their lives in the Big Apple.

Born in Billings, she spent her early years in Butte learning to be tough while laughing and smiling through out. A week after graduating from the J-School, Elyse took off for an intern ship in New York City where she knew just one person. With her dazzling smile and her love of a good laugh, she made many friends quickly and made New York her home. A huge Griz fan, she hosted watch parties for UM football games at various bars in NYC, including the Griz/Bobcat “Brawl of the Wild” matchup every year.

Her innate ability to keep up relation ships kept her close to friends from grade school, high school, college and beyond. Her honesty and grace were never more on display than the last two years when she took us all on her

diagnosis and treatment for cancer. She explained the medicine, shared her many victories and consoled us when hard news came. Ever the caregiver, her words comforted and inspired us while we struggled to do the same for her.

Elyse wanted us to know that for the past 30 years, colorectal cancer has been on the increase for people under 50. While survival rates are rising, she would tell you that a colonoscopy is a simple procedure, particularly when you consider the alternative.

Elyse’s life was too short but one well lived. She loved to travel and saw much of the world, including Costa Rica to rescue baby turtles, Belize to do danger ous things that made her mother ner vous, and Ireland where she learned to pour the perfect Guinness and sing Irish ditties with her dad. She was working at her dream job as a line producer for a documentary film company when she was diagnosed, the staff of which also became extended family in the end. She had created a lovely life in New York.

From high school until just recently she volunteered at Planned Parenthood because she adamantly believed good healthcare is a human right everyone deserves.

Elyse is survived by her father and mother, Edward Hughes and Bobbi Anner-Hughes; her brother and brotherin-law, Bryce Hughes and Wade Lewel lyn Hughes; her grandparents Elaine Hughes, Robert and Mary Ann Anner; and numerous beloved aunts, uncles and cousins. She is preceded in death by her grandfather, Edward “Mickey” Hughes. Her family held a celebration of Elyse’s life in New York City in the spring and hosted a gathering on the “M” Trail in her beloved Missoula in July. The family has commissioned a memorial bench in Elyse’s honor that will be placed in front of Don Anderson Hall and dedicated this fall at Homecoming.

Elyse wanted us to grieve but not for too long. She asked us to live life, have fun, donate time and money where we’re needed, take care of one another, and make the world a better place than we found it. Her words until we are all re united: “Be excellent to one another.”

Students bring home more awards

SPJ MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

• Antonio Ibarra, General News Photography

• Weathering the Storm (Becca Olson, Sydney Hanson, Maiya Fleck, Hazel Cramer, Hailey Monaco, Trevor Reid), Television In-Depth

NATIONAL FINALISTS

• Hazel Cramer, Feature Videography

• Native News, Independent Online Production

HEARST AWARDS

TOP 20

Nikki Zambon, Investigative Reporting

• Griffen Smith, Feature Writing

• Peyton Butler, Audio

• Antonio Ibarra, Photo Story

• Hazel Cramer, Photo Story

• Austin Amestoy, Multimedia/Enterprise

• Austin Amestoy, TV Feature Reporting

• Antonio Ibarra, News/Feature Photography

• Antonio Ibarra, Personality/Profile Writing

NW REGIONAL STUDENT EMMY AWARDS

• Weathering the Storm, In-Depth Television

• Austin Amestoy, TV News, TV Feature

NPR STUDENT PODCAST COMPETITION

• Austin Amestoy, The Kaimin Cast

AP SPORTS EDITORS STUDENT AWARDS

• Jack Marshall, Montana Kaimin Sports Editor

s

JOHN SCHULZ ’62, Distinguished Alumnus ’95, and his wife of 58 years, Linda, have resided in a charming Vic torian home in Cape Charles, Virginia, since John’s retirement. They are both active in local politics and John still does speaking engagements around the country. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. John is a decorat ed Vietnam veteran and F-100 Super Sabre pilot. He worked for Voice of America in Japan and was professor and dean at Boston University. This spring, John’s sister Patricia Coulter donated an Underwood typewriter to the J-School. John and Pat’s mother Al ice typed all five children’s high school and college papers on this machine, now in a place of honor in the Don Anderson Hall library.

DEAN BAKER ’65 is writing his third novel, a dystopian comedy featuring climate change, war and the pandemic. He treasures memories of the “justly famous” journalism school, headed by Dean Nathaniel Blumberg. He retired from journalism in 2019 after reporting with the Missoulian, Eugene Regis ter-Guard, Oregonian and Vancouver (Washington) Columbian. He took detours for the U.S. Army in Germany, Newberg (Oregon) Graphic, Oregon Business magazine and the failed Salem (Oregon) Times. He and his wife, Barba ra, have four children, five grandchildren and a lot of tulips and roses.

LES GAPAY ’65, long-retired from daily journalism ranging from the Missoulian to The Wall Street Journal, now uses his reporting skills on gene alogy research. Born in Hungary and reared in Miles City, Les found a diary

in the Hungarian National Archives written by an ancestor during Hungary’s 1848-1849 war of independence against Austria, and also discovered that several other ancestors published books in the 19th century ranging from poetry to medicine. Les was inspired by his old J-School professors to set up the Les Gapay Journalism Scholarship, awarded for two years now to encourage students to go into the news business.

CHERYL HUTCHINSON ’66 rescued a national historic site from a state “surplus property” public auction in 2000 and donated a granite bench for it in 2021. Tower Rock is on the Lewis and Clark Trail between Cascade and Craig, Montana, and became a state park in 2005. Cheryl is an expert on area history and helped identify the site where expedition members moved into the canyon after the portage around

1960 PROFESSOR STILL BLOGGING, AUTHORING ROMANCE NOVEL

DEAN REA, who taught at the J-School in the 1960s, is not only still alive and kicking, but is still writing at age 93 and got remarried this year after a two-year courtship to a woman he met at a retirement home in Eugene, Oregon.

Rea’s colleagues at the J-School such as Dean Nathan Blumberg and professors Ed Dugan, Dorothy Johnson, Warren Brier, Phil Hess and others have all long ago passed on. But until this past February, Rea was still a reporter and columnist for an online weekly newspaper in Ore gon before finally retiring, though only from that job. He still regularly writes on his blog, “Dean’s Mus ings,” at deanrea.wordpress.com, and is working on a novel about “a romance centered in a retirement home.” But he says he still misses reporting and is looking for another newspaper gig.

“You ain’t dead until you spend all your time watching TV,” he blogged earlier this year.

Rea taught basic reporting, public affairs reporting, journalism law, photojournalism and advertising at the J-School between 1963 and 1966. He was known as a somewhat strict teacher, but also had a quirky side. He says he would be fired and arrested today for some of the incidents he staged in his classes at UM and later at the University of Oregon. More than once, he fired a cap gun or a track starter’s pistol in a classroom to awaken slumbering students. Rea also used to stage events for his classes, like fake car accidents in Missoula with the help of police, so students could write about them.

Besides blogging and working on his romance novel, the indefatigable Rea wants to get another newspaper

reporting job “to continue my lifelong career as a journalist.”

“No reason to quit meeting dead lines just because folks consider you too old to ask a few questions, to write a story, to meet a deadline,” he wrote on his blog. “So, grab your cane, activate your wheelchair and shake a leg.”

— submitted by Les Gapay ’65

the great falls. In 1805, Capt. Meri wether Lewis named the mile-long rock formation and wrote the location was “…the point where the Missouri River first enters the Rocky Mountains.”

Cheryl is retired on Hardy Creek from 30 years of public service in Helena and Washington, D.C.

PATRICIA MORAN KENNEDY ’66 recently published her second book, “Requiem for a Dancer And Other Es says.” One essay, “An Irish Odyssey,” was featured in the Christmas edition of the Lewistown News-Argus. It recounts the solo journey at age 13 of her Irish grand mother from County Cavan in the north of Ireland to Washington D.C., before homesteading in Winifred, Montana, and raising six daughters. Kennedy’s first book, “The Loving Tree: A Story of Love, Loss and Transformation For All Ages,” is dedicated to her sister, Kath erine Marie Kennedy, Lt. Col. USAF/ JAG (’76), who died in 1996 of brain cancer at age 42. Kennedy is president of Dancer’s Communication Company, which provides training and consulting in workplace communication skills, and lives in Olympia, Washington.

you die.” He lives inside the Beltway with his writer wife, Bonnie Goldstein. Son Nathan works in the service indus try and daughter Rachel is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker.

WILLIAM MARCUS ’74 retired last November after 30 years as host of the Montana PBS series “Backroads of Mon tana.” Fellow J-School graduate John Twiggs took over as host in May.

After working in radio and television around the country including in Mon tana, Iowa, Utah, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota—most notably at Minnesota Public Radio in Saint Paul for seven years—JOHN WEAVER ’75 landed at Arizona Public Media in Tucson 10 years ago. Now he hosts “All Things Consid ered” for AZPM. John writes, “I’m still doing what I love and I get to ride my bicycles and motorcycles year-round now. Life is grand!”

Butte native RICHARD KAUDY ’76 has been elected president of the Col orado chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Kaudy reported on local government and energy for The Montana Standard from 1976-1978.

In 1977, the Montana Associated Press recognized him with an Excellence in Writing Award for his article explaining MHD, a magnetic method of extracting electricity from coal. He reported for the Daily Business Journal in Denver before matriculating to the University of Den ver School of Law, graduating in 1982.

MARLEE MILLER ’85 officially retired on April 1 after working for 37 years— starting out doing publications and communications for nonprofits, then managing nonprofits, and finally spend ing the past 12 years managing a D.C.based consulting firm with all nonprofit clients. Marlee and her husband, retired journalist Jim Asendio, are enjoying life by “hanging out and causing trouble” in the mountains of Maryland during the summer and fall, and on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands in winter and spring.

GINNY MERRIAM ’86 is in her 17th year of service as the City of Missoula’s Communications Director. After work ing as a daily newspaper reporter at the Missoulian, she followed fellow J-School grad John Engen ’88 (see John’s obit on pg. 27) to the City when he began serv ing as mayor in 2006. Ginny also writes the Bookshelf feature for the Montanan, UM’s alumni magazine.

1990s

JAMES GRADY ’71 published a new novel, “This Train,” in May. The story unfolds on the Empire Builder train during its 47-hour run between Seattle and Chicago, with a stop in Grady’s hometown of Shelby. Grady’s first novel, “Six Days of the Condor” (1974), was the basis for both the Robert Redford movie (with three fewer days) and the streaming TV series “Condor.” In 2015, The Washington Post compared his prose to George Orwell and Bob Dylan. Booklist’s review of “This Train” called it “an absolute compelling read.” In 2008, London’s Daily Telegraph named him as “one of 50 crime writers to read before

1980s

PAMELA HIPPE BENNETT ’82 has a new position with Sinclair Broadcasting Group. She left the Wendt Agency in 2021 to pursue a new career as a sales/ pricing analyst within the Yield Man agement corporate office. The company uses data science and optimization to forecast and plan rates and budgets. Pamela primarily works with stations in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, and she calls the work “fascinating.”

KARL ROHR ’90 is department chair of Social Sciences, Languages, Art and Music at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM), a public residential high school for academically accelerated juniors and seniors. He has taught American history for the past 20 years, earning a doctorate in history from the University of Missis sippi. He says his Montana experience has been a fountain from which he con tinually draws, with his Native American Studies minor inspiring him to bring the first NAS course to GSSM, which has expanded into summer student research projects. Karl says his students have learned to tolerate his wistful slides and stories about Montana, and especially love it when he looks west and says he is moving the class outside.

JOE KOLMAN ’92 succeeded J-School alum Sonja “Lee” Nowakowski at the Office of Research and Policy Analysis at the Montana Legislature. Joe also serves as director of environmental policy for Montana’s Legislative Services.

1970s CHUCK JOHNSON ’70 received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Montana State University in Boze man in May.

MELISSA JENSEN ’98 recently start ed her own business, Sapphire Com munications, based in Helena. After spending 20 years working in broadcast newsrooms across Montana, and a few years doing community outreach for a statewide nonprofit, Melissa decided to branch out on her own to help other nonprofits and business entrepreneurs tell their stories through video. She has also developed a course and taught it through the J-School’s Montana Media Lab on working with the media to help those interested in learning more about how to garner media coverage.

2000s

GINGER DINUNZIO MA ’00 is excited to announce the publication of her first photography book: “Ginger Snaps, A Photographic Exploration of Redheads across England.” She writes, “Don’t miss the acknowledgments where I thank Keith Graham and Jackie Bell for their incredible mentorship at UM back in 2000 when I graduated with my MA.” More info can be found on her publisher’s website, inspirebytes.com/ product/ginger-snaps.

CHRISTINE TUTTY JOHNSON

’03 is celebrating 13 years of owning Clover Creative, a business strategy and corporate event planning company. She helps companies write business and marketing plans to get funding, and she has organized events from presidential candidate press conferences to corpo rate fundraising events to multi-day conferences. She is also celebrating more than seven years of being the majority owner in Nine Mile Venture, Logging & Forestry, one of the only certified woman-owned logging companies in the Pacific Northwest. She serves as vice president on the Montana Wood Products Association board, treasurer of Frenchtown PTA and Frenchtown Little Guy Wrestling, and on the boards of the Cancer Support Community Missoula and the College of Arts and Media. She resides in Huson with Justin, her hus band of more than 17 years, and their

three children, Eamonn (10), Annilise (4) and Eirnin (2).

After years producing and directing traditional sports features and docu mentaries, MARINA MACROW ’04 has entered the streaming world as a producer for a major video game and software developing company. She’s working on animated trailers as well as producing the live broadcast of one of the world’s largest esports tournaments. She recently won a National Sports Emmy for Outstanding Esports Cham pionship Broadcast. Marina currently lives in Denver.

ALYSSA WOLFE ’04 was named leader of the newsletter subcommittee for the Graduate Student Council of the American Association of Applied Linguistics for March 2022-March 2023, a role that doubles as a Memberat-large on the six-member Graduate Student Council. In this role, she will put her J-School background to good use coordinating the publication of two newsletter issues (Fall and Spring) along with three co-editors. She is currently working on her doctorate in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University.

MARITSA GEORGIOU ’07 is working as a national correspondent for Newsy, owned by Scripps. She and her work partner, Eric Gaylord, are based out of Missoula and still covering COVID-19, wildfires and politics, among other is sues. She also serves as a backup anchor for the network, which launched a free 24/7 over-the-air channel last October.

After spending more than 15 years as a TV news reporter and photogra pher, HEATHER HINTZE ’07 is now working for the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska in Juneau. As the media and communications specialist, Heather uses her journalism storytelling skills to highlight the work Tlingit & Haida do for people in Southeast Alaska. One of her latest trips was to Prince of Wales Island to document the commercial

harvest of herring roe, a traditional Indigenous food that was distributed to tribal citizens. Heather also received her commercial drone pilot’s license, which gives her another tool for creating engaging content. She and her hus band have settled down in Juneau and recently purchased their first home.

KELLY HANSON ’09 has worked al most nine years at NBC affiliate KING 5 News in Seattle. Kelly is the produc tion manager, directing, producing, ed iting and shooting branding spots, and managing sales accounts. This spring Kelly won her third regional Emmy for a promotional campaign. She is also the creator/host of “Local Lens Seattle,” KING 5’s flagship YouTube series. Han son has been a regional Emmy nominee three years running for best host based on her work on “Local Lens.”

2010s

JAIME BERG CADY ’10 recently joined Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation as a manager on the mar keting and communications team. She had previously held a role in the media department at Children’s Hospital Col orado where she did PR and was a key member helping with communications as part of the hospital’s COVID-19 response. Prior to working for the Chil dren’s Hospital Colorado health system, Jaime was an Emmy award-winning news producer who worked at news stations in Washington and Colorado.

JULIA CUMMINGS ’12 welcomed spontaneous triplets in 2021 and is currently the senior executive customer programs manager at Zscaler, a cloud security company. Last year she was also awarded a WIZE (Women in Zscaler Engage) Award that honors women in Zscaler who exemplify the company’s leadership principles.

In March, JONATHON AMBARIAN ’13 was named one of two new senior political reporters for Montana Televi sion Network. He works out of Helena

Rise Rigging in San Francisco. When he’s not traveling for work, he calls Oak land home.

MEDERIOS BABB ’17 worked for KBZK in Bozeman for a year. In May 2019, she moved to Fresno, Califor nia, to work for the KSEE24/CBS47 Nexstar duopoly. Mederios is the lead general assignment reporter for both stations covering wildfires, COVID-19, mass shootings, local and state govern ment, and education.

TIFFANY FOLKES ’18 is in her fifth year of employment at Warm Springs Productions in Missoula. She start ed logging footage part-time at the company during her senior year at the J-School and is now a full-time edi tor working on shows like “Louisiana Law,” “Mountain Men,” “How America Works” and more. When she’s not edit ing, Tiffany is toting her camera around Montana and beyond.

2020s

After being a news anchor and Emmynominated journalist, Ariana Lake ’16 began a new chapter in health care communication with Providence, where she has earned national recognition for social media strategy and content, and for managing national media campaigns including with The New York Times, PBS NewsHour and CNN. She lives in Spokane with her husband and two rescue cats.

covering Montana politics and govern ment and other statewide news for eight stations. In this position, he’s succeed ing longtime political reporter Mike Dennison ’81, who retired in February. Ambarian had spent the last five years with MTN as a general assignment reporter at KTVH in Helena.

RUTH EDDY ’14 is working on the third season of a podcast about small business, “Call Paul,” and hosting a local radio show, “Radio Hangout,” on KGVM in Bozeman.

SAM WILSON ’14 is working as a photographer and Report for America corps member with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Sam says, “It’s not Missoula, but it is Montana and that’s pretty cool.”

WINTER RAMOS ’16 is working on rigging and shooting photographs for aerial dance company Bandaloop. He is also photographing, composing video and completing building inspections for

LUCY TOMPKINS ’17 is in the middle of a two-year fellowship with the New York Times Headway Initiative. She’ll be joining the Texas Tribune to report on housing and homelessness for both the Tribune and the NYT. Lucy began at the Times reporting for the National desk, contributing to live coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020 and early 2021, and jumping in to cover major news events from winter storms to bombings and mass shootings around the country. Her work with the Headway team began in spring 2021. For Headway’s launch series, Hindsight, she reported on the progress of global efforts to roll back extreme poverty, supply clean drinking water and end deforestation. Lucy grew up in Boze man. After studying journalism at UM, she began her career at the Missoulian covering education. A series she report ed on unregulated youth treatment programs led to a change in state law and one program’s closure. She went from Montana to Berlin for a Fulbright Fellowship, where she followed the experiences of Syrian refugee women as they integrated into German society, and studied German and photography.

MARIA ANDERSON ’18 lives in Missoula and reports for “Wake Up Montana,” a statewide morning newscast. She covers all things in the Missoula/Flathead region, from hard-hit ting breaking news to the Planters Nut Mobile’s visit. Maria writes, “Waking up at 2:30 a.m. can be tough, but it’s worth it when I’m done with work and on the Clark Fork River by noon.”

HANNAH ASHTON MA ’21 was hired this summer to be the science writer for Oregon State University College of Sci ence. She told Professor Joe Eaton when she started the master’s program that her dream was to write about science for a research university and that’s just what she’s doing. Writes Hannah, “The interview committee loved the reporting I did during my time at UM and asked lots of questions about my thesis. I was a much stronger applicant because of the program.”

NOELLE ANNONEN ’21 spent a year living in France and traveling Europe af ter her graduation. She is now a govern ment reporter for the Falmouth Edition of The Enterprise newspaper on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Noelle writes, “I’m beyond thrilled to be working as a journalist again and looking forward to launching a podcast with my coworkers in the coming weeks.”

NEWS UPDATES

Shoot us an email and let your classmates know what’s up in your world.

journalism@mso.umt.edu 32 Campus Drive Don Anderson Hall Missoula, MT 59812

Thank you to our donors!

AS I WRAP UP my first year as director of development for the UM School of Journalism, I want to thank you for your warm welcome. It’s been great getting to know many of you over the past year, and I look forward to connecting with more J-School donors in the future. I appreciate your dedication and enthusiasm!

For 2022, the J-School is launching a new initiative called Report for Montana. This multi year program will train and apprentice UM journalism graduates to work as news reporters to increase the number of trained journalists in Montana covering state and local issues. We are raising private funds to pay the salaries and benefits for these reporters so local news rooms will not incur the costs of adding additional staff.

If you are interested in learning more about this innovative new program, please email me at beth.cogswell@supportum.org or call me at (406) 243-5354

— Beth Cogswell

BETH COGSWELL

Margaret Vallejo Seigle

Margot Aserlind

Marilyn and Mark Dues

Marjorie Bennetts

Mark and Barbara Thompson

Marlee Miller and James Asendio

Mary Cottor

Mary DeNevi

Matthew Boggess

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.

Metcalf Charitable Trust; Lee and Donna

Michael and Betsy Wood

Michael and Deborah Mitchell

Peter Johnson

Randall and Elizabeth Williams Raymond Dominick

Raymond Ekness and Pattie Corrigan-Ekness

RBC Wealth Management Rebekah Welch

Richard and Joan Wohlgenant

Richard and Susan Bangs

Beth Cogswell and Rick Phillips

Robert and Bonnie Speare

Robert Myers

Robin and William Nichols

Robin Bulman

Roger and Libby Smith

Thomas Mullen

Timothy and Moraine Byrne

Timothy Goessman

Timothy San Pedro

Tom and Pam Rybus

Tor Haugan

Travis and Jacqueline McAdam

Vicki Gale

Victor Bjornberg and Marilyn Richardson

Walter and Margaret Parker Wendy Stokes

William Phippen

Zazula; Estate of Zenon

HELP SUPPORT THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM

Donor support plays a major role in fostering the success of our journalism students.

The following individuals and organizations contributed to the

UM School of Journalism between April 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022:

Adam Eschbach

Amberlee Schwanke

Amy Stahl

Anastasia Cates-Carney

Barbara Williams Perry and Martin Perry

Bart Brazier

Bartley and Shelley Freese

Berma Saxton

Beth Sutter

Bradford and Peggy Gary

Brian and Sandra Shepherd

Brian Hood

Brian McGiffert

Bryan Ganno

Candace Rojo Keyes

Charles Johnson and Patricia Hunt

Cherry Billings

Cheryl Marple

Christa Handford

Christine Tutty Johnson

Denise Dowling and Christopher Johnson

Colin Anderson and Stephanie Krebs-Anderson

Colleen McGuire

Courtney Robles

D.A. Davidson

Daniel and Lela Foley

Daniel Ryan

David Fenner and Nikki Walter

David Glass

David Guier

Dayton Foundation Depository, Inc.

Deborah Potter

Dennis and Julie Swibold

Donald Nicoll

Douglas and Patsi Morton

Douglas Moher

Dustin Blanchet

Edward and Stephanie McLoughlin

Eileen Sullivan

Eric Troyer

Erik Cushman

Evan Barrett

Felice Stadler and Matthew Logan

Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

Fred and Shirlee Martin

Gary and Hazel Sorensen

Gary Boe

Glenn Chaffin

Greater Montana Foundation

Gwen Spencer

Holt Foundation; Stella P.

ImpactAssets

J. Bart Rayniak

J.F. and Francine Purcell

Jack and Barbara Cloherty

Jaclyn Van Natta

Jaime Berg

James LaCorte

Jan Weiner

Jana Hood

Jane Weaver

Janet and Robert Koostra

Janet Brown

Janus Henderson Investors

Erin Billings and Jay Driscoll

Jeanne and James Rolph

Jeffrey Stevens

Jeremy Pool

Jeremy Sauter and Rebecca Jasmine

Jerold Vincent

Jerry Holloron

Jill Thompson Black

Jim and Dee Strauss

John and Ellen Counihan

Hadley and John Ferguson

John and Teresa Kafentzis

John Engen

John Saul

John Shook

John Twaddell

Jonni Fischer

Joseph Sample

Judith Morgan

Julie and Jeffrey Michael

Julie Hahn

Julie Omelchuck

Jyl Hoyt

Kasey Faur

Kate Ripley

Kathleen Stone

Keith Graham

Kelly Buechler

Ken and Janelle Dunham

Kenneth Robertson

Kevin Glanz

Kimberly Reed

Kristen Inbody

Kristina Jeske-Miller

Kristy and Mario Madden

Kyle and Natalie Krueger

Kylie Richter

Larry and Lysandra Bruce Leilah Isaacson

Lexie and Steve Barr

Linda Lynch

Louise Fenner

Lyle Harris

Michael and JoAn Cuffe

Michael Billings and Patricia Haffey

Michael Dahl

Microsoft Corporation Mike and Dawn Lopach Milo Moucha

Mitchell Tropila Mollie Bond

Montana Broadcasters Association Montana Newspaper Foundation Inc.

Morgan Cowper

Nancy and Blake De Pastino Neomi Van Horn

Newell and Kaye Gough Nicky Ouellet

Norma Tirrell

Norman Netzner

Orange County Community Foundation

Orville and Vera Grasdock

P.J. Wright

Patricia Murdo

Patrick Graham

Paul and Teresa Billings

Paul Johnson and Linda Robbins Paul Queneau

Roger Hopkins

Roman Stubbs

Ron Reason Roy and Eloise Nollkamper

Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving

Scot and Kathey Schuckert Scott Colunga

Shane Gillette

Sheena Jarvey

Sheila Gary Shirley Oliver

Solomon Levy Stablish Foundation Stephanie Kind Susan Lubbers

Suzanne Ives

Teddy and Marcie Roe

The Benevity Community Impact Fund

The George Keith Graham Revocable Trust

The Hearst Foundations, Inc.

Theresa Knight

Diana and Thomas Dowling

Thomas and Lisa Cordingley

Thomas Barnett Thomas Cheatham Thomas Dean Thomas Edward Ciprari

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the UM School of Journalism. Visit jour.umt.edu/alumni/giving.php.

In the fall semester of 2021, buildings at UM were “draped” with photos helping new students and visitors find their way around campus. Senior Antonio Ibarra was chosen for the outside of Don Anderson Hall, and he was thrilled about it.

“Being at the School of Journalism has definitely been the journey of a lifetime, and one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life and professional career,” Ibarra said. “This twostory poster was definitely one of the many cherries on top during my time at the school, and I’m forever humbled and honored to be the face of the school.”

School of Journalism 32 Campus Drive Missoula, MT 59812-0648

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MIS SOULA , MT PERMIT NO. 569

The University of Montana acknowledges that we are in the aboriginal territories of the Salish and Kalispel people. We honor the path they have always shown us in caring for this place for the generations to come.