MSU Student Guide 2024 by Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Welcome TO MSU

By AMANDA FULTON Editor-in-Chief of The MSU Exponent

Even before I’d reached Bozeman, I’d heard of its beauty. A famous Blackfeet legend names Gallatin Valley the “Valley of the Flowers” because of the wild blossoms that litter the towering mountains and sprawling plains of this region. I remember being quite excited to see those lovely views when I arrived in the city for the first time. However, the only thing I noticed when I drove into Bozeman was the burning late-summer sun beating down on the asphalt of I-90. It was an inauspicious arrival, and I admit I was already pretty scared to be here.

Originally from New Hampshire, I enrolled in Montana State University’s flagship campus having never set foot in the West before.

As I parked on Main Street to grab a bite to eat before finding my hotel, I distinctly remember thinking what did I get myself into this time?

was doing in Bozeman.

Now, as I prepare to head into my third year at MSU, I am happy to say that this city and this University have quickly become my home in countless ways. As such, I wanted to share some tips with my younger peers who are also making Bozeman their new home this fall semester. It seems scary, but I promise you can do it.

LEARNING ABOUT CAMPUS AT CATAPALOOZA

An essential part of my introduction to the campus was attending MSU’s annual Catapalooza on Centennial Mall. Catapalooza is a campus-wide tabling event organized by the University where dozens of campus offices, student organizations and local businesses introduce themselves to incoming students.

As my freshman year progressed, I became more confident in exploring Bozeman’s natural wonders.

But since this was going to be my home for the next four years, I was bound and determined to make the best of this strange new world.

My name is Amanda Fulton, and I’m currently the Editor-in-Chief of The MSU Exponent, MSU’s student newspaper since 1895. But two years ago, I was just a nervous freshman who had absolutely no idea what she

no shame in the caffeine game.

GET TO KNOW YOUR NEW HOME

This year, it’s happening on Friday, Aug. 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. My first Catapalooza was a wonderful chance for me to not only get involved in campus clubs and engage with the people who would be helping me on my journey through college, but also to gain a fuller understanding of the businesses I would frequent in the coming months. Spoiler alert: it was a lot of coffee shops, people. There’s

After settling into my dorm and saying goodbye to my parents, I realized I needed to know more about Bozeman’s history to fully understand this area. To achieve this, I visited the Museum of the Rockies, located just south of campus. This museum not only aims to educate people about the region’s natural history, but its cultural history as well. Through the detailed exhibits, Bozeman’s heritage becomes painted in an entirely new light, and it is a must-visit for anyone who moves here.

During my time there, I learned that long before the conquer and resettlement of this region by Euro-Americans, many Indigenous nations were the stewards of these lands. For more than 12,000 years,

this area was prized by various tribes such as the Blackfeet, Crow, Salish, Bannock, Shoshone, Nez Perce and others for its abundant natural resources. The first written description of the valley, however, was penciled in 1806 when the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through by way of Bozeman Pass in 1806. Later, in the 1860s, European settlers began to rush through the area following rumors of gold to the West. Many on the trail eventually returned to the valley, where the town of Bozeman was established in 1864. There are, of course, many other important epochs in Bozeman’s history, but these simple facts were a powerful catalyst for me to understand the region a little bit better.

BE PROACTIVE

I turned my attention back to campus as the school year began.

RACHEL LEATHE/CHRONICLE Sunflowers grow in front of Montana Hall on Thursday, October 4, 2018, on the Montana State University campus.

The most important advice I would give to any incoming freshman during this time is to make use of your academic advisors and get to know your professors. It’s easy to hop online and make appointments with your advisors whenever you need to. Remember to be proactive and take the helm of your own educational journey. College is not like high school — you are now held to a higher degree of responsibility when it comes to taking charge of your life. So, take advantage of the people who are at MSU to help you. It will only make the rest of your time here easier.

Involving yourself on campus is also a great way to immerse yourself in the community. There are lots of ways to get involved through MSU’s various clubs and organizations that cater to your specific interests. To discover the options, I recommend checking out MSU’s site CatsConnect. This is a platform where you can research, join and get involved with tons of campus organizations. Personally, I stalked this website a lot as a freshman to find clubs I was interested in joining. It led to me meeting many good friends and feeling more at home on campus.

Finally, reading local publications is an amazing way to stay up-to-date on community news and current events. Local newspapers like the Bozeman Daily Chronicle are even planning to offer students free online subscriptions to their content in the near future. This will be an awesome opportunity for college students to gain access to local news. Additionally, keep an eye out for MSU’s own student newspaper the Exponent and our own excellent reporting on various community events and issues. We print weekly on Thursdays during the academic year and distribute on and around

campus for free, and we currently have a weekly newsletter designed to deliver top stories straight to your inbox.

MAKE TIME FOR SOME FUN

Events of all kinds pretty much never stop coming all year long, and they’re all worth attending. A few notable mentions are the annual Homecoming Parade on Main Street; Gold Rush — a Bobcat tradition that occurs on the first football game of every season in which fans come fully decked out in gold — and the Bozeman MADE fair, a biannual art market featuring over 100 artists in MSU’s Brick Breeden Field House. This year, the fall dates of the MADE fair are Oct. 18-19. More excellent annual events include Huffing for Stuffing, a Thanksgiving 5K that raises money for HRDC’s Gallatin Valley Food Bank, the Brawl of the Wild — the much-anticipated football game where the ‘Cats square up with UM to see who’s truly the best college in Montana — the Christmas Stroll on Main Street, a lovely event to go to with friends (and a great way to distract yourself from finals) and finally, the MSU Spring Rodeo. Make sure to bring your friends along and let yourself decompress from the demands of schoolwork for a little while.

NATURE BECKONS

As my freshman year progressed, I became more confident in exploring Bozeman’s natural wonders. Bozeman is an amazing place for all sorts of outdoor activities such as fishing, hiking and mountain biking — basically, if you can do it outside, you can do it in Bozeman. Hiking the “M” is a classic freshman must-do, but other beautiful places to explore include Hyalite Reservoir, Fairy Lake, Missouri Headwaters

State Park, Paradise Valley and obviously Yellowstone. Trust me, these places are worth the drive. If you don’t have a car, though, fear not. Just east of campus is the Gallagator Trail, which runs from the Museum of the Rockies to the Bozeman Public Library. I personally love getting out of class and simply going on a walk to Burke’s Hill from the easily accessible path.

Lastly, I would be utterly remiss if I didn’t mention the skiing culture of this town. The most popular areas are Bridger Bowl, Crosscut Mountain Sports Center and Big Sky Resort — which offer opportunities for both downhill and cross-country skiing — but there are many areas to backcountry ski as well. I recommend checking out the MSU Exponent for tips on where to backcountry ski (sorry, shameless plug — I had to), and Outside Bozeman also has some awesome articles about backcountry skiing opportunities nearby.

When I first arrived in Bozeman, I was worried about whether or not

I would belong here. Now, I’ve come to realize that belonging somewhere is as simple as engaging with that area. College is a great time to learn and explore, and in my opinion, there’s nowhere better to do it than Bozeman. Go to the big football games, get involved in campus clubs and explore the great outdoors — but also remember that college is a great time to start truly discovering who you are. I encourage you to jealously guard these upcoming chances to learn, grow and immerse yourself in our community.

I also want to take a quick moment here to give thanks to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle for its support of MSU and its students — after all, an informed community is a successful community. The Daily Chronicle will soon unveil a way for MSU students to get free online newspaper subscriptions.

And finally, please let The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the Exponent and I be the first to welcome you to Bozeman and to MSU. Trust me, you’ll fit right in.

PATRICK BOUMAN/CHRONICLE

Students from the Bridger Solar Team stand by their solar-powered car, May 2, 2024 in Norm Asbjornson Hall.

Catapalooza SLATED FOR AUG. 23

Students and families welcomed to 22nd annual event

By CHRONICLE STAFF

Montana State University will soon celebrate the 22nd year of Catapalooza, a free event to welcome new or returning students and their families.

Catapalooza will be held Friday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on MSU’s Malone Centennial Mall and Romney Oval. Approximately 350 clubs, campus and community organizations, and businesses will participate. Music, entertainment,

food, information and giveaways will be offered throughout the day. Thousands of students, family members, faculty and staff are expected to attend.

Last year’s Catapalooza drew hundreds of students, parents and staff to the MSU campus for the second day of the fall semester move in, and the residence hall lobbies were filled with high-energy welcomes and heartfelt goodbyes from family.

“Every year, the endowment at this university is just unbelievable,” said

Alex Chung at the time. The father from Great Falls had been helping his freshman son move into North Hedges Hall.

“They keep building, after building, after building, and the departments are just expanding,” he said. “It’s a real testament to the quality of the education that they have here and the kind of students that they produce that can give back to the university so generously.”

Catapalooza is the premier opportunity for new and returning MSU students to connect with

student clubs, organizations, MSU offices and the local Bozeman community, according to Chris Pruden, leadership and engagement program manager at the Office of Student Engagement.

“Enjoy a wide variety of engagement opportunity throughout the day. We look forward to seeing you there,” Pruden said.

For more information about Catapalooza, visit montana.edu/ catapalooza or contact Pruden at christopher.pruden@montana.edu or 406-994-5821.

USING BOZEMAN’S

TransiT Service

Bozeman has a zero-fare public bus system that picks up passengers on Montana State University’s campus. It has a fleet of buses that zip all around Bozeman and Belgrade, with seasonal commuter service to Livingston.

Streamline’s canary yellow buses follow five fixed routes around and out of town every day. The service offers bidirectional routes — meaning the service will travel in both directions instead of a loop, as it has done for more than a decade — and with multiple stops in west Bozeman.

THE ZERO-FARE SERVICE

The local nonprofit Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) operates Streamline at no cost to passengers. All buses are wheelchair accessible. The bus service also accommodates cyclists. Buses are equipped with bike racks.

The Goldline goes from MSU

to west Bozeman, including stops at the Gallatin Valley Mall and in neighborhoods on Fallon Street, North Ferguson Avenue, West Durston Road and West Babcock Street. The Purpleline stops at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital, in downtown Bozeman, at the Gallatin Valley mall and west to Cottonwood Road.

The Brownline stops downtown, at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds then west along Durston Road and Oak Street to Gallatin High School. Weekday service in Bozeman runs from around 7 a.m. to around 9:30 p.m., depending on the stop. Weekend service operates from around 9 a.m. to around 5 p.m.

The Pinkline to and from Belgrade — the home of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport — stops at Walmart in Bozeman, a park and ride in Belgrade and Belgrade High School. Streamline also offers seasonal trips to Livingston, a town of about 8,000 and gateway to the Paradise Valley

along the Yellowstone River. The service runs seasonally Monday through Friday from 5:50 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. from Oct. 18 through April 15.

A full schedule of Streamline’s daytime stops are available online at StreamlineBus. com.

Connecting to the mountains Skyline is a year-round bus service that connects Gallatin Valley to Big Sky Resort. It stops in Bozeman at Walmart, MSU, Four Corners and Gallatin Gateway Inn before heading up Gallatin Canyon. The

route is called The Link Express and is scheduled to make two trips back and forth from Big Sky in the morning and the evening every day until Nov. 21. Skyline also offers routes that make stops in Mountain Village in Big Sky, at area hotels and at Moonlight Basin.

More information and pass

About 4,600 students are expected to move into residence halls at Montana State University on Aug. 18-19 as the university welcomes students back for fall classes.

“We’re excited to welcome all of our new and returning students to campus,” said Korrin Fagenstrom, senior associate director for University Student Housing. “We’ve worked hard with our campus partners and our campus community to make sure parents, students and their families’ members feel welcome to campus and begin to make MSU their home.”

Incoming students register for two-hour time slots to move into their assigned residence halls between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on

MSU TO HOST fall move-in

PLANNED FOR AUG. 18-19

Sunday, Aug. 18, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 19. Students can register for a time slot on the housing portal.

Early move-in is available for some students who are attending orientation sessions or are members of certain programs. Details on early move-in are available on the University Student Housing website.

The Move-In website can be found at montana.edu/housing/ halls/moving_in. A map of the campus and residence halls is available at montana.edu/ campusmap. A map of alternate routes during move-in day can be found at montana.edu/housing/ halls/moveinmaps.

Montana State has 12 residence halls with a variety of living options, including single and co-ed buildings and floors. Students also

have a chance to choose special living options or living learning communities, which allow them to be grouped with those of similar lifestyle. More information can be found at the University Student

Housing living options page. For more information and further question about the movein, contact Fagenstrom at 406994-3822 or korrin.fagenstrom@ montana.edu.

MSU NEWS SERVICE

UNDERWAY MAJOR BUILDING PROJECT

School of computing named after governor

By CHRONICLE STAFF

Athree-story building that will house the Gianforte School of Computing and other computer-related fields is being constructed on the MSU campus.

This new building, Gianforte Hall – named after the state’s current governor – is made possible by a $50 million donation from the Gianforte Family Foundation.

Students can expect to see this

new facility open in fall 2026.

The 57,759 square foot building will be located next to Norm Asbjornson Hall off Grant St. and 7th Avenue and feature two large classrooms, in addition to lab and studio spaces for students to learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, cybersecurity, data science, robotics, digital film and photography, and more.

“The impact of this building will go far beyond its walls. Bobcat graduates who emerge from the new building will take on scenarios that we cannot even imagine today,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado during an April groundbreaking ceremony. “These students will build upon the Bobcat tradition of using their education and expertise to change our world for the better.”

The Gianforte School of Computing currently had 577 students enrolled in its programs last semester, but the goal is for that number to grow to over 1,000, according to John Paxton, director of the Gianforte School of Computing. The school supports three undergraduate degrees in computer science and five graduate degrees in computer science, data science, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Gianforte has continually helped support the program through donations and worked as an adjunct professor for MSU

computer science classes in 1997. Gianforte Hall will be the first “mass timber” structure on MSU’s campus and incorporate sustainability features for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification. For example, the building will have geothermal walls linked to MSU’s South Campus Energy District so energy to heat and self the building is renewable, and smart lighting systems for energy conservation. Paxton said the building plans to have an interactive robot in its lobby to provide guests with directions. The computing school will also bury a time capsule when the building opens in 2026, to be opened by students a century later in 2126.

SAMUEL WILSON/CHRONICLE

A robot holds a shovel from Gov. Greg Gianforte during the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Gianforte Hall, held inside Inspiration Hall in Norm Asbjornson Hall on the Montana State University Campus Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The building will house the Gianforte School of Computing.

SAMUEL WILSON/CHRONICLE

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte holds up a shovel during a groundbreaking ceremony for the future Gianforte Hall, held inside Inspiration Hall in Norm Asbjornson Hall on the Montana State University Campus Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The building will house the Gianforte School of Computing.

A rendering of the design for Gianforte Hall on Montana State University’s campus.

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Wellness Center NEW STUDENT

to open this semester

By CHRONICLE STAFF

Students this semester will have access to a brand-new, one-stop-shop location for all student fitness, recreation, and physical and mental health services.

The new Student Wellness Center, which is along Grant Street between 11th and 7th avenues, will be open for tours during a grandopening event beginning at 3 p.m. Aug. 19.

The facility will combine all aspects of wellness in one location, according to the MSU News Service. In April 2020, MSU students voted 66% for and 34% against to pass a fee to construct the Student Wellness Center.

“One thing that MSU has heard from our students is that they value having access to not only medical services, but mental health services as well,” said Michael Becker MSU News Service director.

“Like other universities around the country, MSU has seen a growth in demand for those services, and so what having the Student Wellness Center does is it makes it possible for us to provide the service that our students are asking for and to provide them in a modern space.”

The building includes a threestory climbing wall with up to 24 ropes, an updated swimming pool, indoor sports courts and spaces for fitness and group exercise. This is anticipated to benefit the more than two dozen club sports and intramural leagues and provide indoor training facilities for athletes who must practice or compete during the chilly spring semester.

The new pool will be suitable for open swim, lap swim, kayak and canoe training, water-safety training, water aerobics and other activities.

SEAN BATURA/BELGRADE NEWS

This semester, students will have access to a new wellness center that will integrates all student health services in a single facility alongside recreational and fitness spaces.

The center also will house labs for research in the College of Education, Health and Human Development and provide space for graduate research students, according to the news service.

Students will be able to access counseling and psychological services by appointment. If a student is in a mental health crisis situation that doesn’t involve risk to life, a professional will be able to see them immediately, according to Becker.

“But if it’s an emergency, people

should call 911,” he said.

The wellness center, which broke ground in fall 2021, also will house medical and dental health facilities.

“Students will have accessible and inclusive wellness resources that contribute to their overall health and well-being,” reads MSU’s website. “Each student has their own path to health and well-being, and this facility will empower students to tend to the different dimensions of their holistic health in a convenient, modern and inclusive space.”