Winter 2011 Montanan

montanan

The New Face of UM

President Royce Engstrom

History in His Genes Hugh Ambrose ’88, M.A. ’97 ‘Hack’ Reflects on Gearing Up the Griz THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA | Cover_Wtr11 2.indd 1

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PUBLISHER EdItoR-IN-CHIEF dESIGNER PHoto EdItoR

NUMBER 1

Jim Foley John Heaney ’02 Eileen Chontos Todd Goodrich ’88

EdItoRIAL tEAM

Brenda Day ’95 Rita Munzenrider ’83 Jennifer Sauer ’01 Cary Shimek Allison Squires ’07

INtERN

Colette Maddock ’11

CoNtRIBUtING EdItoR AdVISoRY BoARd

AdVERtISING REPRESENtAtIVE

Patia Stephens ’00, M.F.A. ’07 Laura Brehm Denise Dowling ’82 Jim Foley Daryl Gadbow ’75 Charlie Hood ’61, M.A. ’69 Bill Johnston ’79, M.P.A. ’91 Jed Liston ’82, M.Ed. ’00 Ginny Merriam ’86 Don Oliver ’58 Carol Williams ’65 Kurt Wilson ’83 Eric Elander ’77 406-360-3321 elander@montana.com

EDITORIAL OFFICES

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

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UM alum Hugh Ambrose autographs a copy of his New York Times and international best-selling book, The Pacific, at the Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula.

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nts

FEATURES 16

Nice to Meet You

By Bryan Di Salvatore, M.F.A. ’76 A proper introduction of Royce Engstrom, who became the seventeenth president of The University of Montana this past October.

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The Undaunted Son

By Nate Schweber ’01 Historian Hugh Ambrose ’88, M.A. ’97, earned praise as an “invaluable” consultant on the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries The Pacific. He also wrote the best-selling companion book for the show.

Beyond the Laundry

By Kevin Van Valkenburg ’00 Glimpse Grizzly Athletics through the eyes of Steve “Hack” Hackney, UM’s longtime equipment manager.

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Letters Around The Oval Bookshelf Raising Montana About Alumni Artifacts

ON THE COVER: President Royce Engstrom took over the University’s top office on October 15, 2010. He replaced George Dennison, UM’s longest-serving president.

The New Face of UM

President royce engstrom

History in His Genes

COVER PHOTO BY TODD GOODRICH

Hugh Ambrose ’88, M.A. ’97 ‘Hack’ Reflects on Gearing Up the Griz The Magazine of The UniversiTy of MonTana |

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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Thank you for your article on Chris Servheen (fall 2010). As area manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the very early 1980s, I was wise enough to employ Chris Servheen with the Chris as the newly grizzly statue on the Oval established grizzly bear coordinator.

The grizzly bear recovery plan had just been approved after several iterations and was ready for implementation. The recovery plan was controversial and publicly and politically sensitive. It also was scientifically sound. To get bears back into available habitat required both a good scientist and an individual who could relate to concerned citizens and politicians alike.

“To get bears back into available The FWS was fortunate to have Chris available when we needed him. habitat required both a good The movement of the coordinator scientist and an individual who position from Billings to Missoula was could relate to concerned citizens logical, but it also was predicated on the and politicians alike. The FWS FWS closing its Billings office, some political events within the staff at the was fortunate to have Chris University, and the availability of expertise [Servheen] available when we at the University. Sometimes bureaucracies needed him.” do not do logical things, but this time they Wally Steucke ’60 did. Since 1972 the Endangered Species Act has been met with successes and failures. The grizzly bear recovery plan is a success. I am proud to be an alum.

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BEAR NECESSITY

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keep up with us. h care that can wellness? Healt can depend My definition of been with your family from day one. You COMMUNITY your wellness Center has care for all of Community Medical Medicaid and to provide convenient Physician Group 14 locations; accepting on Community health care at comprehensive needs. We offer insurance providers. as most major Medicare, as well time living. waiting and more Spend less time 327-4221 y Physician Group Just one call. Communit

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| OF MONTANA

FALL 2010

WANTED: YOUR OPINIONS

The Montanan welcomes letters to the editor.

Please sign and include your graduating year or years of attendance, home address, and phone number or e-mail address.

Send them to: Montanan Editor, 325 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812 or themontanan@umontana.edu.

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

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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Wally Steucke ’60

Woodland, Wash.

LONGTIME READER

What an excellent fall 2010 issue of the Montanan! Since I got my life membership after I graduated in 1941, I’ve gone the whole route. It used to be weddings, births, and About Alumni were the first items I read. Now I check In Memoriam and the many fine articles! Thanks for a great magazine.

Elizabeth Wood Tullis ’41

Ogden, Utah CONTINUING EDUCATION

Little did I know—when I was at school there fifty years ago—that my education at UM would turn out to be a lifelong

letters

experience. A page in the fall 2010 Montanan brought this lesson home for me. It described the dedication of the new Payne Family Native American Center.

If I would have read this fifty years ago, I would have been in disbelief. Native American studies? Are you kidding?

Where are they, those Native Americans?

Fifty years ago, it wasn’t hard to get the impression that Native Americans were not welcome on campus or, for that matter, anywhere else in Missoula.

I am truly glad to have gotten this lesson, to have learned that in Montana the worth of the human individual, regardless of ethnicity, would finally come to be recognized.

Peter Margolin ’61

Pisgah Forest, N.C. MONTANA PRIDE

Thank you for producing a publication that consistently makes me proud to be a Montanan and a UM graduate.

It was a moment of serendipity when your magazine arrived in the mail the same day that I received a letter from a college friend reminding me of the terrific times we’d had as UM Advocates in the early 1980s. I truly loved participating in new student orientations and conducting UM campus tours for prospective students, their families, and visiting alumni. As a young student volunteer, walking the campus with alumni gave me some of the best history lessons ever.

Yvonne Lucero ’84, ’02

Spokane, Wash.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Several years ago some person unknown to me placed prominent “Go Griz” signs on each side of Interstate 90 between Laurel and Billings. I’m sure they delighted many Griz fans as they did me. They were undisturbed for years.

Then about two years ago, someone painted “Cats” over the top of both signs.

I repainted the signs, and within a month they were vandalized. Again I repainted both signs, and again they were vandalized.

Recruiting my “Cat” friend Bill Hanson from Laurel, we repainted both signs, this time saying “Go Griz, Go Cats” on one side and “Go Cats, Go Griz” on the other.

They have remained there undisturbed for the past six months.

Jerry Nordstrom ’60

Billings MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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NOTABLES | PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE | THE BOTTOM LINE | FACETIME

Photo by Jun Wang

Photo by Doug Davis

around the oval OPEN DIALOGUE:

Annual trip gives opposing groups the chance to learn from one another

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ight years ago in the midst of a heated battle between The she says. “I’m really interested in learning more about ranching and University of Montana’s Environmental Studies Program and rural Montana lifestyles.” conservative Montana legislators, a congenial meeting between This year the group toured the East Boulder Mine of the ranchers, miners, a conservative state representative and UM Stillwater Mining Company and met with multiple cattle and environmental studies students seemed impossible. sheep ranchers.

But for the past seven years, such meetings have occurred.

Koshere says she learned the most at the East Boulder Mine, These days, students and former UM EVST where platinum and palladium, which Professor Tom Roy spend a long weekend each are used to make catalytic converters for fall with state Representative John Esp (R-Big automobiles, are produced. She says it Timber) learning about ranching and mining in was a good reminder that mining is a vital Montana. While they may not agree on all issues, part of the Montana economy. the meetings have produced a mutual respect and She says the trip also filled a lot opened dialogue between the two groups. of holes in her knowledge about The primary purpose of the trip, Roy says, environmental issues and reminded her of is to give students a better understanding about the many things she doesn’t yet know or Students listen to Rick Jarrett, what it means to make a living as a rancher or a understand about Montana and the West a fifth-generation Montana miner, especially because many EVST students in general. Koshere acknowledged that rancher whose ancestors aren’t Montana natives. policies often affect ranchers and miners differently and homesteaded in Sweet Grass During the 2003 Montana legislative says the experience served to temper any immediate County in the late 1880s.

Above: Students enjoy a tour session, questions were raised by conservative reactions she would, as an EVST student, be prone to of the ranch near Big Timber. lawmakers about funding for the EVST program have toward environmental policy. at UM, and Roy was brought in to defend it “Now when I think or hear of an issue that affects and address concerns. Esp and Roy met following the legislative ranchers, I have ranchers in my mind that I’m thinking of,” Koshere session and agreed that many EVST students didn’t have a working says. “I remember the jokes that Rick said or the comments that Bill understanding of life in rural Montana. offered—I think of real people and real families and real places.”

“Our students had no idea what it was like to live in rural Roy agrees with this sentiment.

Montana or to live off of the land,” Roy says.

“Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the rhetoric of a Esp invited Roy to bring his students to Big Timber the specific side of an issue—we somehow become detached,” he says. following fall, and they’ve continued the trip ever since.

“The trip to Big Timber gives students a chance to put faces on the “We keep learning from each other,” Esp says about why he other side of the issues they’re tackling.” continues to find the trips valuable.

While students and ranchers may hold differences of opinion, Lauren Koshere, a twenty-four-year-old EVST student from “we have not visited anybody who hasn’t been welcoming and Wisconsin, had a chance to make the trip with Roy and eleven gracious,” Roy says. “It’s not always us versus them. [The trip] has others this past October. Going into the trip she was open to created a chance for dialogue.” whatever experiences she was afforded. “I’m not a Montana native,” —Colette Maddock WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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esse Filingo enrolled at UM for the same reason as many other students, and that’s the incredible fly-fishing western Montana has to offer. While the Bitterroot, the Blackfoot, the Clark Fork, and Rock Creek are what lured Filingo to Missoula, attending UM presented him with an opportunity to fish in a place he’d never dreamed of: Ireland.

Above: Jesse Filingo, an environmental studies student from Filingo and a Nashville, Tenn., and University staff member Lough Corrib brown trout Tony Tomsu teamed up to represent UM at the inaugural World Varsities Fly-Fishing Championship on Lough Corrib Left: A gillie leads in Ireland last August. The Griz duo fared well, placing an Tony Tomsu, left, impressive third out of fifteen teams in the competition. and Filingo out “It was incredible,” Filingo says of the trip. “It was my onto Ireland’s Lough Corrib. first time out of the country. When we pulled up to the Corrib, it took my breath away. Truly amazing.”

Filingo earned his spot on the UM team by going through a rigorous tryout last spring. The first part was to Filingo write an essay about the role fishing has played in his life figures that and how it got him to where he was. The next step was a fish jumped live casting audition, which took place on a windy day on the UM squad the Oval. Prospective team members cast—both seated and into third standing—to Hula Hoop targets that place, besting the likes of the ranged in distance from thirty-five to tradition-rich Finnish and seventy-five feet away.

Scottish squads, which had “When we set out on inaugurating this event, what “Jesse effectively conveyed the current and former members we wanted the most were passionate fishermen to breadth of his fishing experience, as of their national fly-fishing well as his genuine love of fly-fishing,” teams competing. Ireland’s fish on the Corrib so that this unique fishery could Tomsu says of Filingo’s performance.

Galway Mayo Institute of “The guy showed he really knows how be fully appreciated. We knew we had to attract a Technology won the event, to fish.” while Limerick Institute of team from the United States’ spiritual home of The catch-and-release competition Technology, the host team, was held on Lough Corrib, a 44,000was second. fly-fishing, and that is Montana.” acre body of water in western Ireland.

David Sutton, a lecturer The name of the game was to catch at LIT who helped organize as many fish as possible, the bigger the better. Teams ventured the competition, says there was no point in staging a world out on a boat with a “gillie,” or boatsman, who was in charge of championship without world-class anglers. And he wasn’t keeping track of each angler’s haul. disappointed in UM’s offering.

“It was difficult fishing,” Filingo says. “It was completely “When we set out on inaugurating this event, what we wanted different from what I’m used to here. There were huge waves. It the most were passionate fishermen to fish on the Corrib so that was almost like fishing in the ocean.” this unique fishery could be fully appreciated,” Sutton says. “We Tomsu caught three fish on the first day, while Filingo netted knew we had to attract a team from the United States’ spiritual two to put the UM squad in fourth place. The second day home of fly-fishing, and that is Montana. produced the biggest fish Filingo caught, a twenty-inch brown “It was obvious that they had a great pride in representing the trout weighing close to three pounds.

USA, The University of Montana, and fly-fishing in Montana,” “It came out of a wave and just nailed my fly,” Filingo says. “It Sutton says. “They engaged with every aspect of the competition, fought hard, and it was a good battle. But I won.” and made the most of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Photo courtesy of Tony Tomsu

UM Anglers Shine at World Fly-Fishing Championship

Photo courtesy of Jesse Filingo

around the oval

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Photo courtesy of Tony Tomsu

Notable and Quotable Photo by Todd Goodrich

Photo courtesy of Jesse Filingo

The President’s Perspective

Top Obama administration officials, leading scientists, business leaders, and environmental advocates convened at UM in October for the twentieth annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference. The prestigious gathering explored a wide range of environmental and scientific issues and offered training in new media skills for working journalists. Nearly 800 people participated in the conference. Highlights included a tour of Glacier National Park with Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service; a plenary session exploring lessons from the Gulf oil spill with Jane Lubchenco, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and a discussion titled The Changing West featuring UM Professor and Nobel laureate Steve Running and Executive Director of the Nez Perce Tribe Rebecca Miles. UM alum Jim Bruggers ’81, M.S. ’87, who serves on the SEJ board of directors, says, “Our members have been telling us they found the conference to be a very rewarding and worthwhile experience. I’m personally so grateful to the leaders at UM who made this conference happen and to those on campus and in the community who supported them.” Bruggers adds: “SEJ conferences are also in the inspiration business—and in that, UM and the larger community also excelled. There is no doubt in my mind that participants went home better equipped to cover the environmental issues of our time, with new sources and new ideas, and with memories of Missoula to last a lifetime.”

UM has been awarded a $1.5 million federal grant to support the preclinical development of low-dose methamphetamine as a treatment to limit the damage caused by traumatic brain injuries. The Department of Defense grant was awarded by the Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to David Poulsen, a researcher in UM’s Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “This grant will help us optimize the dosing regimen and determine the maximum window the drug can be therapeutically applied,” Poulsen says. His research has demonstrated that rats suffering severe traumatic brain injuries show behavioral, cognitive, and neuromotor problems thirty days after the injury. However, injured rats treated with low-dose methamphetamine experience profound improvements. “After thirty days, we can’t differentiate them from normal rats,” he says. “It’s like they never had an injury.” He says the military seeks a drug that can be administered to soldiers exposed to blast-force energy waves from explosions such as those experienced during warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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fter just three months “on the job” as president of The University of Montana, I am delighted to have the opportunity to share some of my early impressions and the major directions in which we are headed. I have been pleasantly surprised by the tremendous sense of optimism about the University and the outpouring of expressions of interest. In the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet with a wide range of individuals and groups who have a stake in the University. People literally from coast to coast have taken time to convey their thoughts and experiences with me on topics ranging from academics to Grizzly Athletics to facilities. No matter the topic, it is clear that they are grateful for their connection to the University and they see the University as key to the future of our state and nation. I believe few institutions enjoy the intensity of feeling evoked by The University of Montana. The past twenty years of leadership of George M. Dennison have positioned us strongly.

What are the key directions for the future? The University has a broad mission, being one of the few institutions that covers the educational range from two-year through doctoral education.

Here are some of the major opportunities we must address: 1) student success: helping to ensure that students who begin their education at UM have a high likelihood of graduating; 2) twoyear education: providing an even more responsive and effective College of Technology that can help meet work force needs and give students a cost-effective way of beginning a college education; 3) the baccalaureate experience: restructuring the undergraduate experience to produce the citizens and leaders for the twenty-first century by incorporating greater exposure to the “big questions,” increasing opportunity for “beyond the classroom” learning, and developing more interdisciplinary problem-solving; 4) strategic growth in graduate programs: identifying and resourcing those programs that have high student demand, strong placement opportunities, and capacity to strengthen; 5) research and creative scholarship: building our competitiveness as a research institution and increasing our focus on the application of research through technology transfer; and 6) building one of the most effective learning environments in public higher education with the support of cultural richness, winning athletics, and our stunning environment.

We have much to do, and we will call upon the partnership of all readers of the Montanan. What an exciting time for The University of Montana! I am proud to be a part of its future.

Royce C. Engstrom President

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Odyssey Strikes Up the Band

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he UM College of Visual and Performing Arts will Strike Up the Band when Tim Holtan, M.M.E. ’83, returns to campus Saturday, March 19, as the featured guest artist and alumni honoree at Odyssey of the Stars—A Celebration of Artistic Journeys.

Odyssey of the Stars, now in its eleventh year, features UM students and faculty and honors outstanding performing and visual arts alumni, telling the stories of Holtan their artistic journeys. This year’s production, Strike Up the Band, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theatre.

In 1983 after earning a Master of Music Education degree at UM, Holtan became director of bands at Great Falls High School, a position he held for five years. In 1988 he was accepted into the U.S. Army band program and began a career filled with many prestigious military assignments that would take him all over the world.

Holtan now picks up his conductor’s baton as Lt. Col. Timothy J. Holtan, commandant of the U.S. Army School of

Music, a position he assumed in July 2010 after serving five years as the leader of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point.

An active conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, he has presented concerts and clinics in forty states, Canada, Japan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Europe. His ensembles have been seen on national network television broadcasts and have performed on diverse stages such as the Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, DAR Constitution Hall, the Mormon Tabernacle, and the Myerson Symphony Center.

Odyssey of the Stars, an evening of entertainment spotlighting UM students studying music, art, theater and dance, and media arts, benefits the College of Visual and Performing Arts scholarship fund. For ticket and sponsorship information, call 406-243-4971.

Photo courtesy of Tim Holtan

around the oval

Horizon Air’s UM-Themed Plane Takes Flight To celebrate the plane’s unveiling, UM, the Missoula International Airport, and Horizon Air held a tailgate party November 19 at the airport. When the aircraft arrived from Seattle, UM mascot Monte rolled out a Griz-themed carpet to welcome all passengers, including UM Executive Vice President Jim Foley and his wife, Julie, and Dan Russo, Horizon’s vice president of marketing and communications. The pep band played “Up With Montana” as they exited the plane.

Photo by Todd Goodrich

It’s a bIrd! It’s superman! No, it’s a maroon and silver University of Montana-themed plane!

If you live in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere in between, there’s a chance you’ve recently looked up to the sky and exclaimed these exact words. That’s because a freshly painted Horizon Air Q400 turboprop with a Griz theme took to the skies in late November, and it stops in many of the forty-five cities Horizon serves throughout the western United States, including— that’s right—Bozeman.

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Photo by Scott Debnam, Bee Alert Technology Inc.

UM Bee Researchers Find Major New Suspect for CCD UM HONEYBEE RESEARCHERS AND The first of the THEIR PARTNERS recently discovered a suspect pathogens, insect one-two punch combination that may cause iridescent virus (IIV), Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious is similar to a virus first malady that is depopulating beehives reported in India twenty around the globe. years ago, as well as a UM biology Research Professor Jerry virus found in moths.

Bromenshenk says his research group It afflicts the abdomens has learned that a honeybee virus of bees and is called iridescent “It’s a work in because infected host tissues previously unknown to North America, as well as a fungal progress, but may take on a bluish-green or pathogen, were found in all their hue. it may be the purplish samples collected at hives afflicted The fungus is called Nosema

by CCD from 2006 to 2009. Those most important ceranae. With this pathogen, two pathogens were not found in advance in the the bee ingests spores that allow the control groups—colonies with the fungus to spread in the gut. search for the Either the iridescent virus or the no history of CCD in Montana and Australia. cause of CCD fungus by itself can make bees “We truly don’t know if these but together they might be in the previous sick, two pathogens cause CCD or too much for most bee colonies. three years.” whether the colonies with CCD “From our data, there seems are more likely to succumb to these to be a correlation between the two pathogens,” Bromenshenk says. “It’s a presence of these two pathogens together,” work in progress, but it may be the most says Robert Cramer, a research partner important advance in the search for the and fungal pathologist at Montana State cause of CCD in the previous three years.” University. “We envision the bee gets an The research was published in October infection from one or the other, and this in PLoS ONE, a scientific journal found causes the bees to become stressed, which online at www.plosone.org. then allows the second infection to come The story created quite the media in and more effectively cause disease.” buzz. It was featured on the front page Bromenshenk says most researchers of The New York Times and Missoulian worldwide investigating the cause of CCD newspapers, as well as in a segment on studied RNA viruses associated with CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. honeybees. The insect iridescent virus his

UM Research Professor Jerry Bromenshenk, left, and a beekeeper

team correlated with the disorder is a DNA virus.

“This is a fundamental difference that takes CCD research in a whole new direction,” he says.

The research group’s samples of ground-up honeybees were analyzed at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, a U.S. Army-backed laboratory based at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. Edgewood has developed a liquid-chromatograph proteomics massspectrometry device, which identified and quantified as many as 30,000 proteins in each sample. This voluminous dataset revealed the iridescent virus and fungus were present in all CCD samples.

The team of UM bee specialists and MSU fungal pathologists eventually grew to include insect virus specialists at Texas Tech University and the Instituto de Ecologia, A.C., in Mexico. Much of the work was done at Bee Alert Technology Inc. in Missoula, a private company Bromenshenk and his partners started that licenses honeybee technologies discovered at UM.

WHERE’S YOUR GRIZ BEEN?

MARK BELLIS ’05 proudly dons his Griz jacket on a recent visit to the Galapagos Islands. The bird next to him is a blue-footed booby.

“It was the most incredible trip of my life so far,” Bellis says. “I even celebrated my fiftieth birthday while I was there. Go Griz!”

Congratulations, Mark. You have won a $50 gift card for The Bookstore at UM. Do you have a photo of yourself wearing your Griz gear in an amazing place or while on an incredible adventure? If so, send it along with a brief description to: themontanan@umontana.edu.

Winners will see their photo published in the Montanan and will receive a $50 gift card to The Bookstore at UM. To be considered, photos must be in focus with the UM or Griz logo clearly visible.

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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GrizNation

around the oval

THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA IS STAYING PUT. President Royce Engstrom announced in November that Grizzly Athletics will stay in the Big Sky Conference and the Football Championship Subdivision. University officials had the opportunity to consider a move to the Western Athletic Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

“It was a complex issue with many pros and cons,” says Engstrom. “In the end, the better course is to stay with the conference we helped establish in 1963 and to continue building on its solid foundation.”

Engstrom says three principles guided his decision.

First, he wanted to maintain the cross-state rivalry between UM and Montana State, which he regards as essential to the state’s cultural fabric. The two institutions played their first college football rivalry game in 1897. Now nicknamed the Brawl of the Wild, it’s the fourth-oldest active rivalry in the FCS and the oldest west of the Mississippi River.

Second, Engstrom wanted UM to compete with more mission-similar institutions.

He says the addition of the University of North Dakota strengthened the Big Sky Conference in that regard.

Finally, he wanted to ensure that UM athletic teams can compete successfully and maintain the prestige and integrity the program has demonstrated over the years.

“At this time, FCS football presents the best overall fit for the University, it provides our student-athletes and fans with a great experience, and it is consistent with the strategic direction of the University,” Engstrom says.

“I agree this is the best course for The University of Montana at this particular time,” UM Athletic Director Jim O’Day says. “Right now, Grizzly Athletics needs to concentrate on building its athletics infrastructure. That should be our top priority and where we should be allocating our energy.”

UM will compete in an expanded Big Sky Conference starting in 2012. On November 1, UND and Southern Utah University accepted invitations to become core members of the conference. California Polytechnic State University and the University of California, Davis, also joined the conference in recent months as affiliate members for football.

“We are thrilled that The University of Montana has decided to stay in the Big Sky Conference,” says league commissioner Doug Fullerton.

“Montana’s athletics programs have flourished in the Big Sky Conference, and its football program is the standard bearer in the Football Championship Subdivision. Our presidents have a vision for the future of the Big Sky, and I thank Dr. Engstrom for helping define and believing in that vision.”

CHASE REYNOLDS:

BY THE NUMBERS

Photo by Todd Goodrich

UM Elects to Remain in Big Sky Conference

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is college career may not have had the ending he wanted, but CHASE REYNOLDS will go down in Griz lore as one of the best running backs to ever play at UM. He battled numerous injuries during the 2010 season, when the Griz finished 7-4 under first-year head coach Robin Pflugrad and missed the playoffs. Reynolds, who hails from Drummond, was a bright spot for the Grizzlies and left his mark on UM’s record book. Here’s a look at a few of his statistics:

59: Career touchdowns for Reynolds, a UM record 52: Career rushing touchdowns for Reynolds, also a UM record 2: Steve Carlson Awards, given to the most valuable player of the Griz 4,067: Career rushing yards gained by Reynolds, three shy of the UM record set by Yohance Humphrey from 1998 to 2001

UM HARRIERS CLAIM FIRST BIG SKY TITLE SINCE 1984

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he UM women’s cross country team won the Big Sky Conference championship in October, the school’s first title since 1984. The Grizzlies became the first team other than Northern Babcock Arizona University or Weber State University to win the championship since 1995.

Senior Katrina Drennen paced UM, taking second place in a time of 15 minutes, 51 seconds in the fivekilometer race. Drennen, whose father, Scott, also ran at UM, placed in the top three in the Big Sky Championships for the third consecutive season. Keli Dennehy, a freshman from Butte, earned All-Big Sky honors with a fourth-place finish.

UM coach Courtney Babcock, who is in her third year leading the Griz, was named the Big Sky Conference Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

The award was based on voting by league coaches.

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Photo courtesy of Nick Ferrington

Holding Court: UM Student Interns with Boston Celtics NICK FERRINGTON CALLS THE WHOLE THING A SURREAL EXPERIENCE. He went Christmas shopping with Shaquille O’Neal. He interviewed Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and other NBA stars. He was right in the action when LeBron James and the Miami Heat were in town to open the season.

Surreal? Yes. But such is life for an intern with the storied Boston Celtics.

Ferrington, 24, is a UM student from Whitefish who will graduate in May with a B.A. in communication studies, a certificate in entertainment management, and a minor in media arts. His career goal is to land a full-time gig working for an NBA team, and he’s getting the hands-on experience he needs to make it a reality.

“My responsibilities vary,” Ferrington says. “I help put media packets together,

UM student Nick Ferrington, who interned with the Boston Celtics this past fall, poses with the team’s 2008 NBA championship trophy.

check in the media before the games and get their credentials, answer questions.

And when games are over, I go into the

locker rooms and get quotes from the players and distribute them to the media.”

He also got to help O’Neal—who was dressed as Santa Claus—shop for presents at Toys R Us to donate to Toys for Tots.

Ferrington calls the home opening game against the Miami Heat one of the highlights of his internship.

“I can honestly say that when LeBron James was announced, the booing from the Celtics fans was one of the loudest things I’ve ever heard,” he says. “It was almost traumatizing to hear.”

Ferrington landed the job with the help of Cheryl Minnick, internship coordinator at UM. “This is unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” Ferrington says, “and a lot of it has to do with the help Cheryl gave me. She’s an invaluable tool, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”

Business Students Get Chance to Grill Warren Buffett

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Buffett’s positive impression of the business school originated hen Daniel Byrd, a student in UM’s School of Business through his interactions with Montana Senator Max Baucus and Administration, has the chance to ask Warren Buffett any J.J. Adams, who received his M.B.A. at UM and is currently the question he wants, he’s not going to waste the opportunity. economic development adviser for the Senate Finance Committee, “I would ask him to give advice on what he would recommend which Baucus chairs. for any young business professional entering the world of business Those selected for the opportunity today,” he says.

“UM really has a first-class business school are strong students committed to Byrd is one of twenty Master of Business building a career for themselves, says Administration and Master of Accountancy and M.B.A. program. I look forward to UM Associate Professor Simona Stan, students who will travel to Omaha, Neb., in director of the M.B.A. program.

March to meet the legendary investor. While meeting these bright students in person.”

—Warren Buffett To prepare for the trip, participants there, students will engage with Buffett during enrolled in a specialized spring semester M.B.A. elective course an extended question-and-answer session and also tour two on business strategy. Six guest speakers will present different Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries. perspectives on the world of Buffett, Stan says.

Buffett personally extended the invitation to UM students in “[The students] did extensive research, educated themselves September at the Montana Economic Development Summit in about Buffett, and have very positive personalities,” Stan says.

Butte, where he addressed more than 2,000 Montanans as the The selection process required applicants to provide a brief keynote speaker. proposal on how they plan to use the knowledge they gain on the “While the most important things in life aren’t about money, trip to give back to the community. After the trip, each participant UM’s business plan competition and entrepreneurship programs will be required to disseminate the information to the rest of the are preparing these students to be successful and to be community in some way. competitive,” Buffett says. “UM really has a first-class business “We chose students who are socially involved and care about school and M.B.A. program. I look forward to meeting these the community," Stan says. bright students in person.”

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around the oval Portrait de Nini, 1874,

by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

▲ Miranda— The Tempest, 1916,

by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) ▲ Monarchs of the Forest, circa 1895-97, by Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) Portrait d’Homme, 1884, by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

▲ Emma Hart, Later Lady Hamilton, as “Absence,” circa 1786, by George Romney (1734-1802)

Masterworks Exhibit a Smashing Success

Missoula residents and visitors to uM are taking advantage of the rare opportunity to view paintings by some of the world’s most prominent artists. Renior, Magritte, Gaugin, and Other Masterpieces from a Private Collection is on display in the Montana Museum of art & Culture at uM through March 12. the exhibition features works from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century by renowned artists alexander archipenko, rosa Bonheur, William Bouguereau, Max ernst, Paul Gaguin, rené Magritte, Pierre-auguste renoir, George romney, théo van rysselberghe, and John William Waterhouse.

More than 500 people attended the opening reception on november 12, and seventy to eighty people have visited the exhibit each day since then.

MMaC has had an overwhelmingly positive response since the exhibition opened. People have commented that the exhibit “raises the cultural bar for Missoula and Montana.” “i feel like i’m in london or rome,” another viewer of the exhibition says.

The

Bottom

Line:

#23:

and rightly so.

Featured works include three portraits by renoir, which provide compelling evidence of the evolution of his styles throughout his lifetime; romney’s romantic painting of emma Hart, a woman considered one of the most beguiling beauties of the mid-1700s; and Bonheur’s double-portrait of her favorite pet stag. in addition to the masterpiece exhibition, Three Centuries of European Prints, a collection of works from MMaC’s Permanent Collection, are on view in the museum’s Paxson Gallery. these prints were drawn from the same time period as the masterworks, and have never before been displayed at uM. “We are incredibly heartened by the response to the print collection also on view,” says MMaC director Barbara Koostra. extended gallery hours for the exhibitions are from noon to 3 p.m. Monday, tuesday, Wednesday, and saturday, and from noon to 6 p.m. thursday and Friday.

—Colette Maddock

UM’s spot on The Daily Beast’s second annual Top 50 Safest Colleges list (458 U.S. schools were considered for the ranking)

161,246:

Number of community service hours UM students completed during the 2009-10 academic year

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“What I’ve found

is that it’s not just Griz Nation where I have traveled…it is Griz World!” writes Captain Tyson Frost from Afghanistan, where he is a pilot with the Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing, based at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Wash. “Frosty” grew up the son of a UM graduate in Great Falls and describes himself as “a super-big Griz fan ever since childhood.”

He recently completed his 100th combat sortie. “I have two Griz hats that I always wear underneath my headset on each combat sortie,” Frost says. “It brings me luck.”

U.S. Navy pilot Michael Molloy

Artwork by Neal Wiegert

of Missoula is stationed in Bahrain with the Helicopter Sea Combat Two Six (HSC-26) Chargers, Detachment One, also known as the Desert Hawks. Mike’s sister, Brynn, who works at UM, says he’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy but “comes from generations of UM grads and is a diehard Griz fan.”

Meet Grizwald,

Coach Grizwald to the referee: “Why, that’s not holding!

That’s just pawing!”

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Former UM student Johnathon Crowe

and his fellow Griz fans posed for this picture in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan, where they are stationed with the Montana National Guard’s 230th Vertical Engineers unit. The 230th was deployed in January 2010 and missed the most recent football season, but they cheered on the Griz from afar. From left to right: Keith Dietz (kneeling), Mitchell Cales, Francisco Morazan, Donald Chaney, Lawrence Gregg, Johnathon Crowe, Kristopher Krause.

The University of Montana’s cartoon bear. In the fall 2010 issue of the Montanan, we asked readers to submit captions interpreting Grizwald’s actions in a humorous way. This issue’s winning caption was sent in by LISA M. BORELLI ’00. Congratulations, Lisa, you’ve won a Griz stadium blanket. Stay tuned! In an upcoming issue of the Montanan, a new cartoon featuring Grizwald will need a caption. You could be the next winner!

Record number of students enrolled at UM during autumn semester 2010, topping last year’s mark by 721 students

9:

Number of former Montana Grizzlies on National Football League teams

2:

Number of wins the UM men’s basketball team posted over Pac-10 foes in December

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around the oval Facetime:

Molly Moon neitzel ’01

1. When did your love affair with ice cream officially begin? Growing up i was allowed

to have an ice cream cone every day in the summer. My grandparents owned a bar in Boise, and they would go there every morning to collect the bank deposit and vacuum the floors. in the summer they took care of me a lot. we’d go to the grocery store every day, and my grandpa and i would go to the deli counter and get an ice cream cone. He would get strawberry, and i’d get something with chocolate. then we’d go home and have lunch.

2. Did you have any experience before you opened your first shop? the summer of

my freshman year, i worked at Goody’s Goodies in Boise. i learned how to make caramel corn and was a scooper. i also played guitar on the patio every thursday night. when i came back to school sophomore year, i got a job at the Big Dipper and worked there three years. i learned everything there was to learn about running an ice cream shop from Charlie Beaton ’91. He was this rad, punk rock guy. i thought it was pretty cool he’d gotten a business degree and wanted to go and make ice cream. i was the first person he taught his recipes to, and i felt pretty proud of that. when i became the student body president, i didn’t have a lot of time, and i’m pretty sure Charlie fired me. i don’t know if he remembers, but i think it’s funny. Seven years later, i called him and asked him to

help me open an ice cream shop, and he did.

3. In 2003 you ran the nonprofit Music for America.

How did that happen?

while in Montana, i ended up marrying my favorite musician in town, and he wanted to move to Seattle. i got a job as a fundraiser and event planner for the University of washington’s School of Medicine during 2001-03. Being married to a musician, i was really involved in the Seattle music community. in 2003 i got really passionate about the Howard Dean campaign and found a bunch of guys in Brooklyn who started Music for America. i asked if i could run their west Coast chapter and throw concerts for Howard Dean in Seattle to raise awareness about voting. i was still working full time as a fundraiser.

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist heard about us and flew us to his house. we spent a weekend brainstorming what Music for America would look like if it were a big national organization. He said he’d give us the money so we could make a difference in the 2004 presidential election, but only if i was the executive director. i was blown away. i wanted to be the west Coast events director, but when i got the offer, i quit my job. we opened offices in Seattle, San Francisco, and new York, and hired staff in thirteen swing states. we ran a really amazing campaign and partnered with more than 300 bands to register their fans to vote. we had 90,000 volunteers. we were exhausted for a long time. the day Bush won in 2004, i felt like i lost the election. i also filed for divorce. i totally uprooted my life. to keep the organization going, i had to start a huge fundraising campaign. After the 2006 midterm elections, i was burnt out and felt like it was time to do something else.

4. Ice cream was the next logical step? it took six years after i graduated college and had a career in politics to say screw that, i want to make ice cream. After the election in 2006, i started thinking i wanted to own an ice cream shop. And i wanted a business that embodied all of my political values but also profited. i ran Dow

Constantine’s 2007 campaign and worked for a city councilwoman while writing a business plan for an ice cream company. i felt like ice cream was the only thing i knew anything about other than politics and music. i didn’t want another political job. Seattle didn’t have anything like the Big Dipper. i wanted to do it right—with all my green, sustainable, and local values. i wrote the plan with a budget to pay everyone 100 percent of their health insurance. i thought it might be hard to make a living, but i didn’t have anything to lose. in the fall of 2007, i asked friends and colleagues to invest. i raised $250,000 in six weeks. People liked the business plan. we started construction in 2008 on my birthday, January 7.

Photos by Denise Lilly

After graduating from UM in 2001 with a degree in journalism, Molly Moon Neitzel’s career path ran the gamut—from fundraising and event planning to a stint as executive director for a national nonprofit and then as campaign manager for Seattle Democrat Dow Constantine. Absolutely nothing pointed to a career in ice cream. Nothing on the surface, that is. Everything inside, though, including a childhood spent at the local ice cream shop with her grandpa, and her college years spent working at the Big Dipper in Missoula, prepared her for the biggest—and most ambitious—career move of her life. She would own an ice cream empire in Seattle, the city that consumes the third-largest amount of ice cream in the country. Granted, she didn’t know it would become an empire. She thought she’d be making the ice cream herself and would have seven scoopers.

Now, forty-seven employees, a truck, two stores (with a third on the way), and an upcoming cookbook later, rising to the top has become a sweet reality.

5. When did you realize this was going to be a success? On our first day, we had a

line down the street, around the corner, down that block, to the next corner. i have five people working full time making ice cream in the summer. it’s massive, and i had no idea.

6. Why do you think your concept was so well received? there were no gourmet ice cream

shops in Seattle. there wasn’t the use of organic, local ingredients. A lot of creativity and spontaneity goes into our menu. we work off the seasonality of Seattle. we get on the phone with farmers and then make stuff based on what they have. every two weeks we have something new. we use local, reclaimed wood in our decor. the counters are made of recycled materials, and all the paper products are compostable. the spoons are biodegradable. i was trying to influence political actions through music, but now i feel like i’m meeting people’s political and social needs. i’m meeting a need that wasn’t met before. A big part of my intent is to show the business community that you can do all the right things and still make money.

—Interview by Stefanie Ellis

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bookshelf EVERYTHING

By Kevin Canty Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2010, 282 pages, $25.95

Kevin Canty studied at UM in the 1970s with Richard Hugo, William Kittredge, Madeline DeFrees, and other creative writing greats. Now he’s the teacher. His new novel, marked by his powerful use of voice, tells the stories of five Montanans struggling to find meaning in the events of life. A San Francisco Chronicle reviewer said, “Once the scenes begin to accrue, you realize that you’re in the hands of a master craftsman.”

BOUND LIKE GRASS: A MEMOIR FROM THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS

By Ruth McLaughlin University of Oklahoma Press, 2010, 200 pages, $24.95

Ruth McLaughlin’s Swedish-American grandparents established their wheat and cattle homestead ten miles outside Culbertson with great hopes. Her parents barely kept themselves and their children alive there, scratching out a living in a setting that was a struggle both nutritionally and emotionally. McLaughlin, a UM graduate who teaches writing in Great Falls, came to the frank memoir of her family’s 100 years on the remote high plains through tentative starts written with pencils on the backs of envelopes. She found that despite her family’s failure, she is still bound like grass to the landscape.

If you are a UM alum with a recent book release, don’t forget about your alma mater.

To be considered for Bookshelf, you must send a copy of the book, along with any press materials and contact information, to: Montanan, University Relations, 325 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812. Submission of materials does not guarantee that your work will be featured.

Journalist Ginny Merriam lives in Missoula.

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BY GINNY MERRIAM

RIVER HOUSE: A MEMOIR

By Sarahlee Lawrence Tin House Books, 2010, 272 pages, $16.95

Sarahlee Lawrence, who earned a master’s degree in environmental science and writing at UM, had rafted some of the world’s most challenging rivers by the time she was twenty-one. She spent a decade living her dream life away from the remote, dusty Oregon ranch where she grew up. But returning to her family’s ranch to build a log house, manage a herd of forty horses, and establish an organic vegetable farm turns out to be an adventure of equal challenge.

Readers get a dose of nature writing and the rediscovery of family.

VISIONS OF THE BIG SKY: PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN WEST

By Dan Flores University of Oklahoma Press, 2010, 234 pages, $45.00

History professor Dan Flores’ essays exploring the art history of the Northern Rockies take his readers from George Catlin’s early-1800s paintings of the West to Albert Bierstadt’s memorable 1881 painting of Yellowstone Falls to Ansel Adams’ classic photographs. Flores asks in the final essay, “In the end, what was Charlie Russell trying to tell us?”

GROWING A GARDEN CITY: HOW FARMERS, FIRST GRADERS, COUNSELORS, TROUBLED TEENS, FOODIES, A HOMELESS SHELTER CHEF, SINGLE MOTHERS, AND MORE ARE TRANSFORMING THEMSELVES AND THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS THROUGH THE INTERSECTION OF LOCAL AGRICULTURE AND COMMUNITY – AND HOW YOU CAN, TOO

By Jeremy N. Smith Photography by Chad Harder and Sepp Jannotta Skyhorse Publishing, 2010, 225 pages, $24.95

It’s easy to live in Missoula, Mont., and take local agriculture for granted: Garden City Harvest is ever-present, the PEAS Farm a dog-walk away. Jeremy Smith, who earned his M.F.A. in creative writing at UM, pulls it all together using personal stories of Missoula residents to show how remarkable this medium-sized Western town is—and how far it has come in feeding itself. Smith busts myths: Local food is not too expensive, not too time-consuming, does not need a California climate, and it’s not elitist.

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Nice To Meet You A Conversation with New UM President Royce Engstrom

PHOTOS BY TODD GOODRICH

Business card holder: © tmcnem/Veer

BY BRYAN DI SALVATORE

B

efore he became The University of Montana’s seventeenth president this past fall, Royce Engstrom served as UM’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. Before that, he held the same position at the University of South Dakota and before that he was dean of USD’s graduate school. But before that—and this is the important part— he was a chemistry professor. These days he speaks fondly, even a tad wistfully, of those classroom days. Evidently you can take the boy out of the lab but…

Now chemistry, and I’ll speak for most of humankind, is a fiendishly opaque field of study, one I nearly failed in high school. Naturally, I have long wanted it to dry up and blow away, or at least be made illegal within a thousand feet of school zones.

Then I spent some time speaking to Engstrom in his tidy, comfortable, unremarkable, and unpretentious Main Hall office. I found myself wishing I had had him for chemistry. Nothing would be the same. That’s me, titrating up a storm in a clean, well-lit facility, splendid in my starchy, alabastrine lab coat.

I’m not saying, exactly, that he would have turned it into something exciting or sexy, been able to dress the subject up in bright, swirling clothes, make it sing brightly, dance gaily, but I believe he would have made it amiable, even embraceable, would have limned the patterns of its internal logic, unraveled its intricate patterns, established directional signs along its myriad paths, given it purpose. In short, with quiet persistence, he would have made chemistry clear.

Maybe not as clear as a high mountain fresh, but plenty clear enough, even to a practicing nonscientist.

Here’s why I think that. Engstrom doesn’t just talk, he speaks. He doesn’t just answer questions, he replies to them. Further, these statements, these replies, emerge not merely as words and phrases and sentences so much as well-wrought paragraphs.

Think of them as value-added replies. And the paragraphs themselves then seem

UM President Royce Engstrom stands in the center of the Oval as the sun sets on Main Hall.

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Engstrom at his office in Main Hall

beating and pyrotechnics and pretension and to snug against one another, firmly, naturally, Engstrom reminds me, Getting There First and Louder Than You. logically, as if there were no other place for more than anything, of He reminds me, more than anything, of one them in the world. Like so many jigsaw puzzle one of those semi-stock of those semi-stock characters in a Bergman pieces placed by assured hands, they work toward some grander illumination of the characters in a Bergman movie: the distant relative or neighbor or new son-in-law. The quiet one, standing over there, subject at hand. movie...The quiet one, off to the side, the one the rest of the characters In a world that sometimes seems too should have been paying attention to all along. populated by in-an-instant screechers, shallow standing over there, off Engstrom has his hands full in his new reflectors, and dealers in stale cant and cheap to the side, the one the position. He takes over a University that is currency, Engstrom is an exercise in great rest of the characters like a great, handsome, talented teenager in relief. He doesn’t brag, and he doesn’t shout.

He doesn’t coerce, and he doesn’t demand. He should have been paying the middle of an astonishing growth spurt.

Enrollment is rising relentlessly—this past fall speaks evenly. He is disinclined toward small attention to all along. it stood at a record 15,642—as are handsome talk and disingenuous self-apology. His is new campus buildings. There is a continual forceful, certainly, but this forcefulness takes wail from a segment of Griz Nation to abandon the Big Sky the form of an affable rigor. His is an air of old-school civility Conference and move to the glittery mansion on BCS football and thoughtfulness, a sort of well-sanded, beveled formality. hill. (Engstrom nixed such a move in November to a heavily (He even dresses this way. His work attire of choice? A favorable reaction.) The College of Technology, especially the necktie, a seriously tweedy sport coat, and slacks. Fine. The Missoula branch of the system, is the fastest growing part of odd thing is he makes this ensemble seem not only the most greater UM and desperately needs, among other things, a new comfortable outfit in the history of the world, but the most physical plant. [See accompanying article.] reasonable. This on a campus where male haute couture, even In short, Engstrom—in addition to pondering the grander among faculty, generally runs toward desert boots, dungarees question of “Whither UM?”—has more immediate and tactile and the least not-clean flannel shirt in the closet.) concerns.

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in the state. Students, depending on their area of study—the COT offers about three dozen degrees in five departments—are spread among three campuses.

The original East Campus houses administrative buildings and classrooms for culinary, writing, and nursing courses, among others. It basically consists of a couple of permanent buildings and a half-dozen

the “What next?” and “How?” of the situation.

UM’s new president, Royce Engstrom, says a new COT facility is the “most critical piece of infrastructure” before the University administration right now. It also is the top priority on the Board of Regents’ Long-Range Building Plan. “We have to use every available tool,” Engstrom says, “to

New COT Facility: The Most Critical Piece of Infrastructure Needed at UM

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he great news is that The University of Montana College of Technology is a smashing and evidently long-term success.

Unfortunately, that is also the bad news.

The original campus, adjacent to the Missoula County Fairgrounds, was built to accommodate about 700 students. Today enrollment is nearly 2,500 students and growing: Between 2008 and 2009, enrollment jumped 28 percent, and last year alone, it increased another 16 percent. It’s the largest and fastest-growing COT

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trailers. Radiology tech students take classes at UM’s main mountain campus, while still others, primarily those taking industrial technology courses such as carpentry, diesel technology, and welding, attend classes at the West Campus near Fort Missoula.

In a heartily applauded burst of creativity, carpentry students, as part of their class work, are building two modular buildings to house faculty and students. Besides the invaluable practical experience, the savings to the COT are on the order of $100,000.

The reasons behind the COT’s rapid growth, while debatable, are usually attributed to the widespread economic downturn. (More than a few COT students are former Smurfit-Stone and Stimson Lumber workers.)

But the “Why?” of it all is rather less important than

Senator Ron Erickson (D-Missoula) says that “anybody who has been on the campus knows the need.... Morale of both faculty and students is low.

We are far behind other states in paying attention to two-year education. I say this: Though we likely won’t get everything we need, we are Montanans and we’ll endure.”

Engstrom sees the COT as an integral part of the greater UM system.

“COT students often go directly into the job market with the academic credentials they have earned,” he says.

“Increasingly, students are entering the COT with the goal of completing an

“We have to use every available tool to accomplish a new COT building.” accomplish a new COT building.”

The site for the COT’s new home—the University Golf Course—has been chosen, and a design is in place. The site is part of the University’s master plan, which was developed with input from students, faculty, and community members and approved by the Board of Regents.

The planned expansion/ relocation’s sticking point is, unsurprisingly, the cost, estimated at $32.5 million.

Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams (D-Missoula) plans to introduce a bonding request bill at the state Legislature, which convened in January.

Associate of Arts degree, then transferring to a fouryear program. Both avenues are central to the mission of the COT. Like the rest of our campuses, success is measured when a student meets his or her educational goals.

“The COT, plain and simple, needs funding,” Engstrom says. “This funding is going to have to come, principally, from the state. Yes, this will be an interesting legislative session, but many people are intensely interested in the future of the COT, and I am not for one second conceding that the COT funding won’t happen.”

—Bryan Di Salvatore

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away as presents; I’ve sold one. I’d call it a constant rather than an intensive activity: We’re speaking of ten craft in thirty years. I used to fly planes and still have a license, though it’s not current. I’m learning to play golf. Mary [whom he married in 1979.

The couple has two grown children.] and I get out once a week or so in the summer. My scores hover around triple figures. I’ve played guitar since I was a young kid and the mandolin the last dozen or so years. I was in a bluegrassy “hobby” band in South Dakota for ten years. Anymore, with restrictions on my time, playing comes and goes. That guitar will sit quiet for weeks. I’m reading David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest, as well as a spy novel.

I have plans to more fully immerse myself in Montana literature, especially history and the natural world. Oh—I have another book by the bed: Feeding Patterns of Trout.

What does a University president’s typical day involve?

I get to the office about seven o’clock. I’ll get 100 work-related e-mails each day and those, most of them, need answering.

About one quarter of my time and energy is Engstrom speaks devoted to matters of resource generation, otherwise at his introductory known as fundraising. news conference A second quarter concerns…the larger vision of at UM. things. Where are we, as a university, going? Where will we be in five years? More? Once that destination, or at ngstrom graciously took time away from a the least, the direction, is determined, we need to ask further, preternaturally busy schedule the week before the perhaps stickier, questions. What machinery is necessary to Griz-Cat football game to introduce himself to arrive there? How will it be put in place? the readers of the Montanan.

Thirdly, I feel it important that I and other administrators be present at a variety of functions both on and off campus. I The son of middle-class parents, a Who were you suppose you might call this public relations, that is, recognizing when you went mechanic/small businessman and what and re-enforcing accomplishments of the University used to be called a homemaker. I was the to college? community, be they athletic, academic, or artistic. It is a simple first in my extended family to go to college, at the University and heartfelt matter of demonstrating, by my presence, the of Nebraska at Omaha, just down the road from our house. I value of what people are doing. These appearances, which was a strong student—except for a somewhat wayward junior include student activities, speaking engagements, visiting with year—and might have gone other places. However, there were University friends, policy makers, donors, etc., occupy many of financial restrictions and, as well, no real sense of deliberation, my evenings and weekends. awareness, about educational possibilities.

The last quarter of my work involves…management—the As I progressed in college, I started thinking differently, very real and persistent task of tending to the wide variety of considering all sorts of places to continue my studies. Even important “stuff ” essential to the operation of a university, those thoughts weren’t always on the highest level [laughs]. an entity of 20,000 people. I’m speaking of budget decisions, A friend and I hitched to Alaska between our sophomore personnel decisions, etc. and junior years. I was thinking Adventure! Wilderness! The

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University of Alaska! We were both deeply under the influence of Jeremiah Johnson, the movie, and saw ourselves as modernday mountain men. Eventually I became more serious, earned my doctorate at the University of Wisconsin and began my career at the University of South Dakota.

Who are you when you aren’t a University president?

I build boats. I’ve built ten of them, mostly canoes, also a rowboat and a kayak. Cedar boats. I give them

Technically, literally, I should say, it is an education that liberates the mind, one that prepares one to think broadly and deeply and critically about issues. It prepares one for a flexible life. In today’s world, that means several things: excellent twenty-first century skills in communications, quantitative and qualitative competency, and information literacy. In other words, knowing where to go to get information; knowing how to ascertain whether or not that information is to be trusted,

How would you define a liberal arts education?

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and being able to get what you have found across to others.

A key second part to a liberal arts education is expertise in a specific area.

Simultaneously, students need a breadth of education—one that allows them to understand what the natural world is and how it works. We need to understand how the human race got to where we are now, for better or worse. We need to put current events in context.

Lastly, this education should prepare one to put this knowledge to work beyond the classroom, be it via student leadership opportunities, volunteerism, study abroad, or internships. Simply, it is this: using one’s skills to address real problems and issues.

What are your thoughts on Missoula?

Western Montana?

I’m delighted, specifically about the vitality of both Missoula and the University. I’m delighted by the number of people who are so engaged in, concerned about, involved with, various things on campus, in town, and around the region. I love the activism…be it about environmental issues or political issues or what have you. There is an exciting, palpable engagement in the air here. There is so much discourse here, on so many levels: crowded halls for midweek lectures; sold-out symphony concerts. Why is this so? Missoula is a very attractive place. It has many new faces, migrants. The University population, of course, is in large part responsible for this diversity.

What do you see as the primary strengths of the University?

There are many, and when I speak of the University, I mean the four components: the Missoula campus, Montana Western in Dillon, Montana Tech in Butte, and the UM-Helena College of Technology.

One: The quality of the faculty is simply superb. We attract people with experience and interests that cover the globe, people who are leading figures in their disciplines, people committed not only to their disciplines but also in interacting with students. The model of a teacher/scholar seems, and rightly so, to be treasured here.

Two: The range of curriculum and the variety of programs. Look at the number of languages we teach—a very high number given the size of the institution. We have an appealing combination of traditional liberal arts majors and professional degrees.

Three and Four: These go back to your earlier question.

The inquisitive, energetic, interactive nature of the community, both on and off campus, and the stunning physical environment. This last one is important. I’m not talking about it being a “pretty place to look at and live in.” I mean how it is absolutely integrated into so many programs: the sciences, forestry, journalism, environmental studies, and creative writing, to name some.

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Engstrom, center, prepares to shoot his weekly video, The President’s Update, with Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns, right, and Clayton Christian, Montana Board of Regents chair. The videos can be viewed at the President’s Office website, www.umt.edu/ president, or UM’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ UniversityofMontana.

We are in difficult economic times. What is important is that we take the long view and convince the Legislature to do the same. The University is essential to help ensure the state of Montana thrives in the future. The University—again, the four institutions that make up the University—are essential to the competitiveness of Montana, the country, and the world.

I am not speaking only in the commercial sense, but in the cultural sense and the intellectual sense as well. We must take the view that we are here to help people enjoy the richness of life. We can do so as diligently and effectively as possible by providing educated, skilled workers and thinkers.

What are the University’s immediate and long-range challenges?

I’m glad you included “elsewhere.”

There will be years in which advancing the needs and vision of the institution will be difficult because of state funding issues. But there are other revenue sources available, both private and federal. Depending on the year, the funding mosaic may look very different.

Am I too nice? [He chuckles briefly.] History will decide.

My approach, which I think has served me well the last thirty years, is to act, speak, and debate matters in as respectful a manner as possible. I don’t bang on the table. I don’t jump up and down. That just isn’t the way I am. I try to be clear and deliberate. I try to present solutions. I try to work with people to implement those solutions.

Many people said to me: “That Engstrom, he’s a helluva nice guy. You’ll like him.”

Assuming their judgment sound, can nice guys be effective persuaders in the Legislature and elsewhere off campus?

Bryan Di Salvatore, M.F.A. ’76, has written for The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Outside, CutBank, Surfer’s Journal, and many other magazines. He is also the author of A Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward. He is an adjunct assistant professor in UM’s Department of English.

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The UndaUnTed Son History comes naturally to Hugh Ambrose

Opposite page: Hugh Ambrose, right, and his father, Stephen, on Okinawa, Japan, in 2001. “Being a military historian occasionally involves looking like a geek. To sharpen our understanding of events we walked across a lot of battlefields, landed aboard aircraft carriers or, in this case, caught a ride on a Seahorse helicopter,� Ambrose says.

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alumni profile

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By Nate Schweber

ugh Ambrose came to Montana following big footsteps.

In one of his early memories, he stands outside his family’s New Orleans home on a spring day and glances nervously up the block, lest any friends from his Bourbon Street elementary school see him climb into a Chevy pickup with the words “Lewis and Clark Expedition 1976” stenciled on the door.

That pickup, plus a VW van loaded with canoes and camping gear, spent that summer—Ambrose’s tenth, America’s 200th—following the Missouri River on its arc northwest across the Great Plains and up into Montana’s massive mountains. Ambrose tracked Lewis and Clark’s footprints with his four older siblings, a family friend, and his mother. Leading the charge was his father, famed historian Stephen Ambrose, who wrote of the adventure nearly two decades later in the introduction to Undaunted Courage, his best-selling book about young America’s two legendary explorers.

At the Gates of the Mountains, where plains morph into a wall of rock twenty miles north of Helena, a town that Hugh Ambrose would someday call home, he watched his father enthralled in a conversation with another Lewis and Clark aficionado, Bob Tubbs, a riverboat guide to whom Undaunted Courage is dedicated.

“I remember Bob Tubbs saying to my father, ‘How do I get your job?’” Ambrose says. “That stuck with me.”

Photo by Todd Goodrich; background image: National Archives

Almost thirty years later, Hugh

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Ambrose got that job. From Steven Spielberg.

The acclaimed director hired Ambrose in 2003 to help develop the $200 million HBO miniseries, The Pacific, about the fight American soldiers took to the Japanese in World War II. Screenwriter Bruce C. McKenna, who created The Pacific, came to marvel not only at Ambrose’s knowledge of details, but also at his ability to pick the precise ones that made the stories ring.

“Hugh was not only integral to the research for the entire show, but he helped

me structure the episodes and pick the characters who would take us through the war,” McKenna says. “He continually vetted the scripts for historical accuracy, but in a manner that showed his sophistication in terms of what works dramatically. He knows the difference between a documentary and a dramatic historical account and how to navigate the needs of the latter in a way that both serve the production, as well as the historical record.”

Ambrose traveled to Melbourne, Australia, for shooting, and he spent six-day weeks shuttling between massive film sets built to look like historic battlefields, including Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

“He was an invaluable resource for the writers and producers,” says Kary Antholis, president of HBO Miniseries.

Ambrose says that by watching his father from an early age, he gleaned the alchemy by which facts become stories and details become drama.

“I grew up going to the Custer battlefield site and following Lewis and Clark’s footsteps across the Lolo Trail,” he says. “And seeing how that information and knowledge and clarity became a great book.”

Ambrose wrote the book The Pacific, which is a companion to the miniseries that became both a New York Times and international best seller. He expected to work on the project with his father, whose book Band of Brothers about WWII paratroopers was turned into an award-winning HBO miniseries in 2001.

Then in late 2002, Stephen Ambrose passed away. His legacy as a late-twentieth century American historian lives on in the two dozen books he wrote, including best sellers

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Citizen Soldiers, about the U.S. Army in Europe in WWII, and Nothing Like It In The World, about the construction of the transcontinental railroad. He lived to see his career blossom as scores of readers pored over his tales of America’s bravest men on their greatest adventures. His work has endured because the stories he told were broad, bold, and brawny. Just like he was.

Hugh Ambrose, by contrast, is more modest but no less passionate, says filmmaker James Moll, who worked with both men on a WWII documentary, Price for Peace, which premiered in 2002.

“His father was a force,” Moll says. “But don’t let Hugh’s soft-spokenness fool you; he loves history and he’s going to make sure it’s done well.”

Hugh Ambrose picked up his father’s torch and continued in his footsteps.

The fire to burn his own light through his dad’s shadow is all his own.

Hugh Ambrose is generous and thoughtful in conversation, yet it’s easy to see he would rather talk about other people’s history than his own. Born in Baltimore and raised in New Orleans, today Hugh lives in Helena with his wife, Andrea, and their children, Elsie, five, and Brody, two.

In a literary twist, his sister Stephanie married riverboater Bob Tubbs’ son John Tubbs and also lives in Helena with her family.

Enticed by his future brother-in-law’s reports of great skiing around Missoula, Ambrose enrolled at The University of Montana in January 1984. His dad, then a history professor at the University of New Orleans, teased him that he picked the point farthest away on a map and split. Ironically, this move would bring them closer together.

In summers Ambrose poured cement in Missoula, and for a couple of seasons he wheeled a red tour bus up Going-tothe-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. In winters he skied Snowbowl and Lost Trail and soaked his bones in Lolo Hot Springs.

Mostly he studied inside the UM library, sometimes trudging dutifully past Saturday Griz tailgaters sipping morning beers. He would go on to earn two history degrees from UM. His studiousness led to a business relationship with

the man who would become his most influential boss: his dad.

“I got the call from him saying, ‘Well listen, you’re in the library all the time anyway, do you want to grab some stuff for me?’” Ambrose says.

Dave Emmons, one of Ambrose’s history professors at UM, remembers him as a very good student, but one he wouldn’t necessarily have guessed would go on to be a historian of note.

“Hugh was a very amenable and socially active young man,” Emmons says.

Professor Mike Mayer, who joked that he nearly got a hernia lifting the thesis Ambrose submitted, had a similar impression.

“It took Hugh a while to figure out what he wanted to do, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s a courageous decision,” he says.

“I would not have gone into the same career as my father, because you run the risk of going your whole life hearing, ‘Yeah, he’s good, but you should’ve seen his father.’”

UM Professor Harry Fritz had a more succinct observation.

“He has history in his genes,” Fritz says.

Ambrose left Missoula in 1992 but knew he wanted to stay in Montana. He considered Bozeman, but figured he’d lived long enough in a college town. He contemplated moving to Whitefish for the skiing, but figured if he did, “I wouldn’t get any work done,” he says.

He chose Helena. As a history lover, he knew the state capital’s storied past.

Also, he figured that because Helena is a government town, his history degree might get him a job there.

He didn’t realize it yet, but he’d already begun what was to become his life’s work, thanks to his burgeoning partnership with his dad. He contributed notes and research to Stephen Ambrose’s books Undaunted Courage, D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Nothing Like it in The World, and The Wild Blue, plus many other projects. The job took him around the world.

“Working for my dad gave me the realization that everybody just wants a chance, and this was my chance,” Ambrose says. “I knew that people were always going to say he’s the son of this famous guy who hired him and might look askance at that, but this was my chance, and I could make of it what I wanted.”

In The Pacific Ambrose channels his dad’s lessons about drama, detail, and perspective. In one passage he writes of

“I knew that people were always going to say he’s the son of this famous guy who hired him and might look askance at that, but this was my chance, and I could make of it what I wanted.”

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Marine Eugene Sledge contemplating war after brutal fighting on the island of Peleliu. It was there his marines were forced to kill a fellow soldier who lost his mind in the night out of fear that his screams would give away their position to the Japanese.

“Combat reduced men to savages. Sledge respected order.

He prided himself on his cleanliness of habits and mind. He did not doubt that the marines would win through to victory.

In his heart he knew the stains created by what his marines were being forced to do—to kill a brother with an entrenching tool—were permanent and, perhaps, overwhelming.”

The first photo in the book is a portrait of Stephen Ambrose. On the opposite page his youngest child wrote, “Hey Dad, I was lucky to be your son and proud to be your partner.”

The author calls the inscription self-explanatory.

were home in Helena for good.

On his way north, Ambrose got a call from Steven Spielberg’s office letting him know that the director wanted to make sure he was all right. When he got back to Helena, a basket of toys arrived for his newborn daughter, a gift from Spielberg’s co-executive producer, actor Tom Hanks.

“We went to New Orleans because we had a great opportunity,” Ambrose says. “And like a lot of Montanans who get a great opportunity elsewhere that gives you a chance to learn and succeed, when you get that experience you try to make it home as fast as you can.”

“We went to New Orleans because we had a great opportunity, and like a lot of Montanans who get a great opportunity elsewhere that gives you a chance to learn and succeed, when you get that experience you try to make it home as fast as you can.”

Geographically and culturally there are few places in America farther apart than Louisiana’s delta and Montana’s swath of the Rocky Mountains. Except through the As his own history unfolds, it seems that the lens of a historian. two gravitational poles in Hugh Ambrose’s life are “Remember,” Ambrose says, “Montana his father and Montana. He moved away from his was a part of the Louisiana Purchase.” father only to have his studies at UM draw them His next job is to help write a back together. Similarly, he left to work on projects screenplay for Warner Bros. for a with his father, only to have Montana pull him multimillion-dollar 3-D epic about the home.

Battle of Midway. Shooting is scheduled to “I always felt that Montana is a place where over begin this spring. the centuries people have come to make a new life The film is the first step on a new for themselves, so coming out here was a choice for path in his career, one his father it doesn’t stop here! me,” he says. “The life in New Orleans was one my never walked. Ambrose got there Visit www.umt.edu/montanan parents and brothers and sisters created; I certainly by dauntlessly filling his father’s to read a web exclusive came here looking for something else.” oversized shoes, continuing the Q & a with Hugh ambrose.

Ambrose moved back to New Orleans in family footsteps. early 2002 to work as vice president of development for the “I didn’t receive a Ph.D. from a university. I received my National World War II Museum, which his father founded.

Ph.D. working for my father, Stephen Ambrose,” he says. “I’m Though he reduced his role by late 2003, work projects still damn proud of it.” anchored him in the Big Easy.

Nate Schweber is a freelance journalist who Fittingly, it took a historic event to blow him back to the graduated from UM’s School of Journalism in 2001.

Big Sky. Ambrose and his wife welcomed their first child just His work has appeared in The New York Times, three days before Hurricane Katrina hit. With the storm in Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Budget Travel, their rearview mirror, Texas under their tires, and only the and The Village Voice. He lives in New York City clothes on their backs, the young family didn’t stop until they and sings in a band called the New Heathens.

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BEYOND THE

BY KEVIN VAN VALKENBURG | PHOTOS BY TODD GOODRICH

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hese days his goatee is the color of freshly fallen snow. Around his temples there is a mountain range of wrinkles to mark the passage of time. His nose is slightly crooked, and beneath his trusty ball cap, his hair has thinned.

But the man’s eyes over the years have not changed. They radiate the same intensity and sternness as they did when he set foot on The University of Montana campus for the first time in 1968. Even at age sixtysix, Steve Hackney’s glare can still silence a room if he feels the need.

But beneath his gaze, there has always been a hint of kindness and humor. True, he could not have survived twentynine years as the equipment manager at UM without his infamous glare or his gravelly voice. But as his career comes to a close, as the man known to all throughout his tenure as “Hack” prepares to do his final load of laundry and retire, it is his generosity and his magnanimity that will endure.

The Era of Hack may be ending, but the man’s legacy will live on.

“It feels to me like Johnny Carson is going off the air,” says venerable Lady Griz basketball coach Robin Selvig. “I don’t know anybody who has ever said a bad word about him.”

Hack has seen it all in his tim

To see the last twenty-nine years of Grizzly Athletics through Hack’s eyes would be to witness the golden age of UM. Perhaps you’ve never heard of Hackney, an admission that would sit perfectly fine with him. But if you’ve followed the Griz at all during your life, then you’re familiar with Hackney’s work.

For nearly three decades, he’s been the man behind the scenes outfitting athletes for battle. It was Hack who stitched jerseys back together, replaced broken shoelaces, scrubbed jocks and undershirts—sometimes until 3 a.m.—so he could have them ready for the next day’s practice, and Hack who checked and double-checked every last piece of equipment to make sure his athletes were safe when they took the field or the court. He is, to scores of Grizzly athletes and coaches, the silent hero of the athletic department.

“He’s just a very unique person who is very dear to all our hearts,” says UM Athletic Director Jim O’Day. “Whenever our student-athletes come back, the first place they want to go is to see Hack and his crew. I think that shows how genuine he is and how much respect our athletes have for him.”

Hack also is arguably the strongest thread connecting Montana’s rich athletic past with its current successes.

Coaches have come and gone,

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LAUNDRY:

is time as UM’s equipment manager

Steve Hackney, better known as “Hack,” served nearly three decades as the equipment manager for Grizzly Athletics.

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championships have been won and forgotten, arenas and stadiums have been built and expanded, and athletes have sent their sons and daughters to roam the same halls they once did.

The one constant during that time has been Hack.

“There are some people who have been around Montana for a long time, but no one has been a stronger link between all the eras than Hack,” says former football coach and athletic director Don Read. “No one has been glue for all the things like him. He’s educated staffs during transitions. He’s been there for players when coaches couldn’t.

He’s been around long enough that you know, if there was a question about something, nine times out of eight Hack was going to be right.”

Hackney isn’t quite sure how to respond to statements like that. His wise-cracking ways have, over time, turned him into a bit of a cult hero to former Grizzly athletes. But ask Hackney to reflect on his time at UM, and he’s almost at a loss.

“I have so many memories,” Hackney says. “It would take me a whole afternoon just to organize them.”

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rganization, at least on the job, has always been one of Hack’s strengths.

Which is fortunate, because he would not have lasted long if he hadn’t learned how to juggle the needs of more than 300 athletes on a weekly—and sometimes daily— basis. No detail is too small for him to grumble over. He’s been known to track down athletes years after they’ve graduated, hell-bent on getting back a pair of warm-up pants they tried to sneak off with as a souvenir.

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whenever they travel,” O’Day says.

“Now extrapolate that out, and think about how much equipment there is for the football team, the basketball teams, the track teams. And Hack has less than a 2 percent ratio of equipment lost at the end of the year. That’s remarkable.

He’s literally held up grades and transcripts for people until he tracked down a piece of equipment.”

Hackney has been such an institution within the athletic department that when he told O’Day three years ago he was nearing the end of his career, and that one day he’d slip off quietly to ride his motorcycle through Montana’s crooked maze of endless highways, O’Day hoped that day would never come.

Eventually, however, it did.

Hackney realized, when he became eligible for Social Security, that he’d actually be giving himself a raise if he retired. But that didn’t matter so much as getting his hunting seasons back. He’d always liked sports just fine, learned to love them even, but deep down, he loved the outdoors more.

“They were pretty much in shock,” Hackney says. “Nobody ever thought I would retire, including my wife. But it was the right thing to do. I’ve never been one to sit and add up the marbles or agonize over the decision. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I’m sure when it’s over, it will hit me like a sledgehammer. I’ve been a pretty fortunate person.”

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his wasn’t exactly the life Hack imagined growing up in the Bitterroot. He figured he’d spend a career working in the woods with heavy equipment, breathing fresh air, and earning a paycheck with muscle and sweat. He joined the Navy in 1962 and spent three years as a Spanish linguist. When he was discharged, he returned to Montana, working odd jobs and tending bar.

He showed up at UM on the G.I. Bill in 1968, and eventually worked as a trainer under Naseby Rhinehart. After graduating in 1972, he got his master’s degree from Indiana State University in athletic training and physical therapy, although he’s still not sure why he did it.

“I liked “HE TREATED EVERYONE THE SAME: ORNERY. BUT HE working in the woods, COMMANDED RESPECT BY TREATING PEOPLE WITH so I went RESPECT. YOU COULDN’T HELP BUT LIKE HIM.” back to that,” Robin Selvig, longtime Lady Griz basketball coach Hackney says.

“But I had a young family, punishment. He didn’t lose nearly as many and I got dinged up a few times working after that. with timber. When I heard about this job, “He treated everyone the same: Ornery,” I thought it sounded all right, at least for a Selvig says. “But he commanded respect by few years.” treating people with respect. You couldn’t Looking back, it was general chaos, help but like him. We got into mountain Hackney says. Underfunded and biking together, and we shared a lot of smallunderstaffed, he and one assistant were in town Montana stories.

Not many people charge of outfitting athletes from fourteen came from little podunk towns like us.” sports. To get everything clean, all they had was a 100-pound manual washing machine e earned a reputation for treating and a 250-pound dryer that had previously other teams fairly too, because it was been on a World War I destroyer. his job to open up the practice fields “I basically had to live here,” Hackney for opponents when they came to says. “There were plenty of times I was here face the Grizzlies. Portland State’s until 2 or 3 a.m. because if I wasn’t, the football coach made it a particular point to work wasn’t getting done.” seek out Hackney every time the Vikings came Money was tight within the department, to Missoula, just to chat and talk about life. so he couldn’t afford to let stuff go missing.

That coach’s name? Don Read.

He grew tired of lecturing players to “He treated us so good,” Read says. “He stop losing or stealing socks and jocks, was just good to everyone he touched. Of all so one year, he dyed them all orange as my fond memories at UM, he’s right there at

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the top of the list.”

The feeling is mutual, now and then. Read made such an impression on Hackney, he did something completely out of character when the school decided to get rid of football coach Larry Donovan. He marched into the office of Athletic Director Harley Lewis and lobbied hard for Read to get the job.

“He was just the kind of man who could speak with anybody,” Hackney says of Read. “He was a truly good person, and you could see how that would carry over into Hackney works on a his coaching career.

UM football player’s I don’t know how helmet before a much they listened to game last fall in Washington-Grizzly me, but I felt really Stadium in Missoula. strongly about it.”

Read was hired, and it set in motion a tremendous era of change at UM. The football team began playing its games in newly built Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and people actually began showing up to watch. But budgets remained tight.

“We never had enough equipment,” Read says. “We didn’t have two of everything like a lot of teams, so he’d be up washing stuff all night after we’d travel so it would be ready the next day. The washing machines would break, and he’d fix them himself. He wouldn’t send stuff out if he could sew it by hand. He gave up a lot of things he loved to be in there. He was a force that went way beyond the call of duty.”

Hackney hired as many work-study students as he was allowed to, kids who grew up working on farms or ranches who wouldn’t balk at long hours and took pride in doing things right. He tried to give them an identity and make them feel like WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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they were a part of something bigger than themselves.

“Kids who work for me generally work for four or five years,” Hackney says. “We’re a family, and that’s how we treat it.”

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s the athletic department grew stronger, so did Hackney’s bond with the athletes. At some point in the 1980s, players from all sports started greeting him with a guttural growl every time he came into the room. Calling out “Haaaaaaaaack!” while he stood there wearing a playful scowl and a twinkle in his eye became a tradition passed down from one class to the next. Athletes understood getting on Hack’s good side could make life a lot easier.

“I always tell kids I’ve seen ten thousand strutting peacocks just like you, and every one of you was a stud duck in a small pond before you got here,” Hackney says. “Now, you’re just back to being Joe Average.”

Some of it, of course, is for show. He’s always tried to strike a balance between gruff and sincere. If he sensed that an athlete needed encouragement, Hack privately took him or her aside and offered counsel. He talked a number of kids out of quitting when the coaches were riding them particularly hard, kids who went on to be great players.

“I’ve had a lot of closed-door meetings with kids on the bubble who were really struggling,” he says. “I just tried to give them a sense of self-worth.”

He was particularly protective of Montana kids from small towns.

“I’ve seen him have so many great relationships with kids over the years,” says Rob Stack, Hackney’s assistant for the past twenty-one years. “But he’s always had a special relationship with the walk-on kids from Montana. I think maybe there is a little soft spot for those kids where he really enjoys seeing them succeed.”

That’s one of the reasons the 1995 National Championship in football remains Hackney’s fondest memory at UM. Shannon Cate’s thirty-four points in an upset win over Wisconsin in the 1992 NCAA tournament is up there, as is Larry Krystkowiak’s entire career. But the school’s first football title trumps them all. Dave Dickenson—whose number 15 jersey is

one of only two Montana has retired—will always be one of Hack’s favorite players, but the whole team embodied a blue-collar spirit that has special resonance with Hack.

“That team was such a cohesive unit,” Hackney says. “They fought their tails off.

They were a bunch of no-name individuals from places like Butte and Thompson Falls and Troy—just a whole cross section of no-name kids from small towns. It was the culmination of ten years of work.

We shouldn’t have won that game, but [Marshall] was overconfident. It’s the biggest thrill of my career.”

The following year did, however, bring about one change Hack has never totally embraced. Copper and gold uniforms were swapped out for maroon and silver ones.

“I’m dyed-in-the-wool old school,” Hackney says. “I never wanted to see them change. We might not have been beautiful, but it was Montana. Plus, it was a real pain in the keister to swap it all out.”

B

y the time you read these words, Hack’s office will already be cleaned out. He’ll be preparing for next hunting season, when he’ll spend much of his time in a field or forest somewhere with a gun in his hand, patiently waiting for wild game to reveal itself.

When football season begins, Hack knows he will miss the adrenaline rush of Saturdays and the walk through the dark tunnel beneath the stands of WashingtonGrizzly Stadium. But a part of him will still be there watching over his flock.

The University has decided to name the equipment room, a place that for years served as his second home, in Hack’s honor.

He’ll know the athletes he loves remain in good hands.

But the time has come to climb aboard his Harley, let the wind hit his face, and focus his eyes on the open road ahead.

Kevin Van Valkenburg ’00 is a feature writer for The Baltimore Sun newspaper and a former Grizzly football player. His work has appeared in The Best American Sports Writing series.

He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Molly.

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By Diane Beck

M

issoula’s real realestate estate issoula’s marketisiscurrently currentlyon onthe therebound rebound after market after thethe downward trend trendthat thatbegan beganinin2007.

2007.

The median downward The median price this, however however prices pricehas has held held pretty pretty steady steady through through this, ofprices the higher end homeshomes have been We We have of the higher-end have hit beenthe hithardest. the hardest. experienced our share short but not the have experienced ourofshare ofsales shortand salesforeclosures, and foreclosures, buttonot of other parts parts of theof country.

We estimate about 1520% of closed toextent the extent of other the country.

We estimate about fifteen to sales fall into this category. twenty percent of closed sales fall into this category.

Weare arefortunate fortunatethat that community grew a slow, steady pace (2% We ourour community grew at aatslow, steady pace (two percent per during year) during the “boom” andnot didseem not seem to “implode” like per year) the “boom” and did to “implode” like other other markets.

Missoula remains a popular destination in western Monmarkets.

Missoula remains a popular destination in Western Montana tana University of Montana, medical services, a vibrant withwith the The University of Montana, greatgreat medical services, a vibrant downdowntown, a strong center.

Wehave also the have the quality town and aand strong retailretail center.

We also quality of life of thatlife many that many families are for looking withrivers, trails,skiing, rivers, golfing, skiing, golfing, families are looking with for trails, arts, music, arts, and other recreational opportunities. andmusic, other recreational opportunities.

As Aswe wering ringinin2011 2011there thereare aregreat greatopportunities opportunitiesfor forbuyers buyersthat thatwant wantto purchase a home or anorinvestment property.

The The interest ratesrates remain to purchase a home an investment property. interest remain low, low,the theinventory inventoryofofhomes homesforforsale saleis isstrong, strongand andprices pricesare areremainremaining ing strong. current news real estate market Missoula, strong.

ForFor thethe current news onon thethe real estate market in in Missoula, tune tune in KGVO to KGVO 1290 eachweek weekororlog log on on for streaming in to AMAM 1290 each streaming online onlineatat www.kgvo1290.com. www.kgvo1290.com .

Diane Beck can be heard every Sunday at 10 am on KGVO 1290.

Brought to you by:

Myles Link

Christina Witt

DianeBeck@Realtor.com 2800 S Reserve St ~ Missoula, MT 59801 (406) 880-7653 ~ (406) 532-7927 www.HomesInMontana.com Foundation_wtr11_3.indd 30

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at 0.

Raising Montana An Indirect Route to Success:

One UM Student’s Story

BY BETH HAMMOCK

Photo by Brandy Kiger

N

ine years ago, John Steelman dropped out of high school. In May, the North Carolina native anticipates graduating from The University of Montana with high honors. Steelman’s studies in forestry have led him to focus on one of the most pressing problems of our time.

“Hydrology is going to be one of the most important issues in the next 100 years, especially in arid areas where we have overtapped our resources,” Steelman says.

Steelman followed a meandering path to UM, attending four different high schools.

“I moved away from home at the end of my junior year of high school and tried to complete my last year while living with a bandmate. I dropped out in January of 2002. Shortly afterward, I started cooking for a living,” Steelman recalls. He later earned his GED. A love of the outdoors led him to hike most of the Appalachian Trail and the John Muir Trail. Then he was off to Ecuador and Peru, where he studied Spanish for a month. He soon set out backpacking through Central America and Mexico.

“When I finished the backpacking, I was twenty-three and decided I needed to go to school,” Steelman says. “I found Missoula had what I was looking for in outdoor opportunities and education. I moved here and cooked in restaurants for a year, then applied to UM.” Steelman was accepted to UM on probationary status. He worked hard both in his studies and his restaurant jobs.

“I worked my fingers to the bones the first couple years,” Steelman says. “I didn’t have that many scholarship offers. You have to prove yourself. I’ve gotten many more scholarships this year. I have a little more time for me, which is really nice.”

Steelman spends part of his time with the UM chapter of the Society of American Foresters. He traveled to the society’s national conference the past two years.

John Steelman uses a clinometer to measure the height of a tree in UM’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest. Steelman and his classmates volunteered their time to identify and mark for removal trees damaged by pine beetles.

His association with the society expanded his horizons and shaped his interest in research and sharing knowledge. When he graduates in May, he plans to work for a couple of years, then

head to graduate school.

Steelman learned many valuable lessons at UM. He’s more confident in the natural environment. He has more balance in his life, which led him to pick up the guitar again. And he has a deeper understanding of the impact of generosity.

“As a hiker, I hitchhiked at times and depended on other people to help me,” Steelman says. “People who provided scholarships for me did something similar. I think it’s fantastic. I definitely will pay it forward.”

Students received $3.9 million in scholarships through the UM Foundation last year. While scholarship funding helps nearly 2,000 students each year, UM Director of Financial

Aid Kent McGowan is working to provide more assistance.

“There are many students, particularly out-of-state students, who do not have enough to cover the cost of school,” McGowan says. “Many students end up getting loans.”

Last year students took out $78 million in loans.

“Students are coming out with substantial debt,” McGowan says. “This makes it more difficult to choose lowerpaying public service careers. And it’s more difficult to buy your first home.”

McGowan encourages gifts to the Montana Investment in Character and Knowledge (MICK) Endowed Grant Fund, which provides financial aid for students based on need. The MICK Fund honors Mick Hanson, who retired last June after serving UM for twenty-five years as director of financial aid.

Make a gift to the MICK Fund at www.SupportUM.org WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

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CHESS ENTHUSIAST

PLOTS HIS NEXT MOVE Chess taught law student Samuel Preta to love strategizing. Now, Preta is planning a move that will benefit Montana. “I like to be able to take a system of rules and make it better for everyone,” Preta says. Scholarships allow the Whitefish, Mont. native to consider civil service. “A lot of people feel pretty constrained coming out of law school because of the debt burden. The scholarships I receive open up more options.”

Todd Hammer, JD ’79, and his wife, Elizabeth, of Kalispell, Mont. provide one of Preta’s scholarships.

For the past 12 years, the Hammers have funded a scholarship by naming The University of Montana Foundation as the beneficiary and owner of life insurance policies. The Hammers enjoy giving back. As Montana taxpayers, they also benefit through the Montana Endowment Tax Credit program.

If you’re looking for a way to support UM, consider following the lead of the Hammers. You may donate a life insurance policy and name The UM Foundation as the beneficiary and owner of the policy. Or, you can retain ownership and simply list The UM Foundation as the beneficiary. Like the Hammers, you may qualify for a tax deduction and your future estate tax liability may decrease.

Other planned gifts also qualify for Montana’s generous endowment tax credit, including charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder or lead trusts, and retained life interest in a home or farm.

Learn more how to turn your life insurance or other assets into a gift to support the university you love. Visit SupportUM.org/plannedgiving or contact Theresa Boyer, director of gift planning, at 800-443-2593 or theresa.boyer@mso.umt.edu.

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The more things change,

the more they stay the same.

1941

1951

1961 UM CLASS REUNIONS May 12-14, 2011

Register for your reunion online at www.GrizAlum.com or call 1-877-862-5867

34 | WINTER 2011 MONTANAN

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

about alumni ’50s

’56, Jericho, Vt., has published three novels and a book of short stories.

Ghost Dance, published in 2009, is set in contemporary Montana.

Visit Ken online at www.kenbyerly.com.

KEN BYERLY

Chair

Thomas J. Dimmer ’85 Williamston, MI Vice Chair

Eric D. Botterbusch ’87

Everett, WA

Past Chair

Sharilyn McGuire Campbell ’87 Redmond, WA

’60s

Board of Directors

Alina Alvarez ’99

GEORGE M. DENNISON

Lommasson photo by Todd Goodrich

Denver

James Bartell ’63

Kildeer, IL

Brandon Byars ’93 Portland, OR

Craig Crawford ’79 Darien, CT

Susan C. English ’72

Lommasson and Dennison celebrate her ninety-fifth birthday in 2006 in the center named for her.

Missoula

Alison Fuller ’05

San Francisco

Scott Horsley ’73

Scottsdale, AZ

Barrett Kaiser ’99 Billings

Karin Larson-Pollock ’93

Houston

Ken Lawrence ’63 San Antonio

Allan Murphy ’65 Bend, OR

Erin Rogge Niedge ’05

Miles City

Marnie McMeel Prigge ’73 Butte

Gregory K. Stahl ’82

Missoula

Greg Sundberg ’01, ’03

Missoula

Paul Tuss ’88 Havre

Patrick Weasel Head ’71, M.Ed. ’73 Missoula

Pat Weber ’73

Yardley, PA

UM Alumni Association

Bill Johnston ’79, ’91 PRESIDENT AND CEO 406-243-5211 877-UM-ALUMS www.GrizAlum.com

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 35

Emma Bravo Lommasson ’33,

M.S. ’39, Missoula, remembers meeting all but the first four of the sixteen men profiled in the UM Alumni Association’s 2011 calendar, “UM Presidents: 1895-2010.” The calendar is a free membership benefit for UMAA members. Emma, whose UM career includes serving as a teacher, assistant registrar, and registrar, turned ninety-nine on December 10, 2010. As a freshman, she danced with UM’s fifth president, Charles Clapp, during a 1929-30 fireside dance in her dorm, North Hall (now Brantly Hall), where he and his wife were chaperones. Clapp told shy, dark-haired Emma they had just seen the opera Aida in New York City. “He said to me, ‘You look like the girl that had the leading part.’” Emma was walking to work on the first day of classes in September 1945 when a bus driver with one passenger stopped for her. She declined to get on until the bus stopped a second time. “When I got off the bus at Main Hall, this man also got off, turned to me and extended a hand and introduced himself.” It was brand-new President James McCain. Emma remembers George Simmons as “very handsome” and calls Robert Pantzer “my happy man. … He always had a smile on his face.” She says she was “a retired old lady” by the time she met James Koch in the ’80s, but remembers George Dennison as a student. “He was a brilliant young man.” Emma and new President Royce Engstrom have been introduced and look forward to getting to know each other. To join the UM Alumni Association and receive your 2011 “UM Presidents” calendar, visit www.GrizAlum.com.

Keep Us Posted. Send your news to The University of Montana Alumni Association, Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812. Go to www.GrizAlum.com and click on “Class Notes,” fax your news to 406-243-4467, or call 1-877-UM-ALUMS (877-862-5867). Material in this issue reached our office by November 8, 2010.

Note: The year immediately following an alum’s name indicates either an undergraduate degree year or attendance at UM. Graduate degrees from UM are indicated by initials.

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

’62, M.A. ’63, received the Miles Community College Alumni Hall of Fame Award during its May commencement ceremonies. George studied at MCC–then called Custer County Junior College–before transferring to UM. MCC President STEFANI GRAY HICSWA ’91 presented the award. George–who retired as UM’s president on October 15, 2010–and his wife, Jane, attended a brunch in his honor, visiting with MCC trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff, as well as UM alumni from the Miles City area, including LEROY MOLINE ’52 (pictured).

Dennison MURLI H. MANGHNANI

’62, Honolulu, was named a fellow in the American Ceramic Society. Murli is a professor in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he directs the High Pressure Mineral Physics Laboratory.

He also is a fellow of the Mineralogical MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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about alumni Society of America and the Indian Geophysical Union and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his research.

GARY A. FRIEDLY ’65, San Diego, has published his first novel, Bridge Over the Valley, a tale of tragedy and heroism set on a passenger train traveling through the Rocky Mountains and prairies of Montana and North Dakota. Gary took up writing during a long career as a clinical microbiologist at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center.

LAFAY HOPE ’65, Ashland, Penn., was inducted into the Northern Anthracite Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Lafay is the head track and field coach at North Schuylkill High School, where he has taught since 1969.

He also was the 2009 Republican-Herald Track and Field Coach of the Year. Lafay competed in cross country and track for four years at UM. He and his wife, Debra, have three sons and four daughters.

TOM L. HUFFER ’66, Chugiak, Alaska, had a football stadium named after him. The Tom Huffer Sr. Football Stadium at Chugiak High School was dedicated in an August ceremony. Tom became the school’s first varsity football coach in 1969 and led the team to state championships in 1984 and 1988. Although he officially retired from the Anchorage School District in 1990, he has remained involved as an assistant coach and is known as the “father of football” in the Chugiak/ Eagle River community.

ROBIN MCCANN TURNER

’67 was elected to a

three-year term as president of the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute.

Robin writes in an e-mail, “When I think about loyalty, love, and a great education, I do think University of Montana!”

GARY SMITH ’68, Spokane, Wash., was hired as a clinical associate professor by the Washington State University Spokane Department of Health Policy and Administration. Gary also was appointed senior project associate with the Area Health Education Center, a unit within WSU Extension.

ANNIE BULLARD WELLS,

M.A. ’68, Ph.D. ’70, Huntsville, Ala., is director of clinical training in the Psychology and Counseling Department at Alabama A&M University. She recently

published a book, A Multi-Modal Approach to Address ADHD: A NonDrug Emphasis.

Schoonover bowls

’70s

SUSAN LARSON KIRKMAN

’70 is the new president of the Brooks Institute, a visual arts school with campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, Calif. A longtime interior designer and educator, she previously was vice president of academic affairs and dean of education at Harrington College of Design in Chicago.

REID SCHOONOVER,

M.F.A. ’70, Clintonville, Wis., had a gallery exhibition of his ceramic work in July at the Clay Studio in Missoula. The show, Ritual Elements, highlighted his interests in architecture, design, the natural environment, and

“most things ancient.”

Visit Reid’s website at www.workingmanstudio. com. Reid and PATRICIA ELLIOTT SCHOONOVER

’70 have been married for nearly forty-one years and return to Montana every year. Pat earned a master’s degree from the University of WisconsinGreen Bay in 1983 and a doctorate from Walden University in 1996, both in education. She recently retired from teaching at UW-Stevens Point, where she was state director for Wisconsin Creative Problem Solving Programs.

MIKE SCHRUTH ’68, ’72, M.S. ’77, sent this photo taken during a summer Sigma Chi Fraternity reunion on Flathead Lake, where twenty-four Sigma Chis and their spouses gathered for dinners and a golf outing in Polson.

Pictured at Fazooli’s restaurant in Somers are: (seated) TOM CROSSER ’70;

’75, M.P.A. ’77, J.D. ’85; RANDY KORBER ’70; DENNIS ’70; JOHN AGNEW ’71; MIKE WOOD ’69; JOHN ROSS ’66, J.D. ’69; KEN BENNINGTON ’69, J.D. ’72; JIM ZARO ’74; (standing) BOB MCCUE ’83; MIKE DUFFIELD ’70; BOB ROWE ’80; PAT SCHRUTH ’72; ROGER BEETER ’70; JOHN SANTO ’69; LARRY SLOCUM ’71, M.Ed. ’90; DAN MONAHAN ’71; PAT SHEEHAN ’74; FRITZ PIERCE ’67, J.D. ’70; RON SHORT ’69; DAN CEDERBERG ’75, J.D. ’79; JIM MYERS ’69, Ph.D. ’73; and REX BOLLER ’67.

MIKE HALLIGAN BUGGE

BILL YENNE ’71, San Francisco, is author of the new book, Alexander the Great: Lessons from History’s Undefeated General. The book’s forward was written by General Wesley Clark, who calls this biography of Alexander the Great “the best yet.” Bill has written more than four dozen nonfiction books and half a dozen novels, including a recent biography of Lakota Chief Sitting Bull that was named to Amazon’s “Significant Seven” list. Bill was recently in Montana, where he was filmed for a National Geographic Channel program about Sitting Bull.

JANE FELLOWS ’72, M.F.A. ’84, Wilsonville, Ore., portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, and Carrie Watts in recent leading roles. Jane played the wife of President Abraham Lincoln in Mrs. Lincoln: Life After Grief, brought the American poet to life in The Belle of Amherst, and was a woman who just wants to return home in The Trip to Bountiful.

The productions were staged in the Portland, Ore., area. Jane is the former artistic director of the Whitefish Theatre Company.

STEVE PALMBUSH ’72, Lake Chelan, Wash., is celebrating fifteen years as an investment adviser with Edward Jones.

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about alumni LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

John Lee Delano 1921-2010

I

knew John as a UM alumnus, Montanan, veteran, devoted husband, father, family man, and state lobbyist. All who met him were instantly friends and forever connected to his inner circle of important people. John loved what Montana has to offer and many of his activities, if they did not involve the University, involved being outside. When you picture in your mind the storyteller who sits around the campfire talking about the big fish or Delano the larger-than-life elk or the unbelievable Montana sunset, then you are thinking about John Delano. Or when you think about the consummate University supporter who at a moment’s notice drops everything to help, you are thinking about John. He served as a member and president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and as executive director of the Association during the 1960s and early ’70s.

John passed away just before Thanksgiving, but his influence and reputation will forever be a part of the fabric of our campus community.

BILL JOHNSTON

’79, M.P.A. ‘91

D, A R P  CEO, UM A A DARYL PAULSON ’72, M.S. ’81, M.B.A. ’02, founded BioScience Laboratories in 1991 in Bozeman. The business, which now employs sixty-six people, performs FDA-standard testing on products ranging from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals. Its success garnered it a 2010 Montana Family Business Award from the Montana State University College of Business and State Farm.

BARRY HOOD ’73,

Hood glass WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 37

Helena, opened an exhibit of his glass art at the Holter Museum of Art in August. “Flow” traveled to Anaconda in November, Kalispell in January, and will be at UM in March. Barry studied with Rudy Autio at UM. See his work at www.barryhood.com.

WALTER KERO ’73, Missoula, is the recipient of the 2010 Montana Society of Certified Public Accountants’ George D. Anderson Distinguished Service Award. MSCPA gives the annual award to a member whose contribution to the accounting profession and involvement in community, charitable, and civic activities merits outstanding recognition. Walt has been with Junkermier, Clark,

Campanella, Stevens, P.C., for more than twenty-five years and serves as chair of its board of directors.

He joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity as a business administration student at UM. “Life is a series of choices,” Walt says, “and one of the best choices I made was to join that fraternity. Instead of being a social moron, I gained some real skills. I learned how to deal with people, how to network.”

WEYMOUTH SYMMES

’73, M.A. ’75, Missoula, received a 2010 silver medal award from the Military Writers Society of America for his book This is Latch: The Story of Rear Admiral Roy F. Hoffmann. The biography’s subject was a U.S. Navy captain during the

Vietnam War and is chair of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Weymouth, one of the group’s founders, served in Vietnam during 1966-70, earning numerous honors, including a Purple Heart. This is his second book.

HEIDI BEALS MCCLAIN ’74, Smyrna, Ga., recently revisited the London School of Economics, where she studied in summer 1972. “There is nothing like retracing college-day adventures sans the professors and hostels,” she wrote. “The study-abroad program was an experience that I wish every college student could have while at The University of Montana.

Go Griz!”

BENJAMIN RANDOLPH,

M.B.A. ’74, is the new dean of business, engineering technologies, and work force development at Terra Community College in Fremont, Ohio.

GLEN H. WELCH ’74, who played three seasons for the Griz football team, was featured in a July 20 Missoulian article. Glen has been a juvenile probation officer for Missoula County for thirty-five years and chief of the department for the past fourteen years. He also officiates high school football and basketball games. Glen and his wife, Patti, met in high school in Butte and have two grown children, Wendy and Scott. “I love it here,” Glen told the Missoulian.

“It’s been a great place for us to be and raise kids. I think I got a good education, and I’ve been very, very fortunate that I’ve been able to stay here.”

TOM GIOCONDA, M.B.A. ’75, was named deputy director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a national

security laboratory managed under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Energy in Livermore, Calif. A retired Air Force brigadier general, Tom previously was responsible for Bechtel National business development and operations activities. He is married to ANITA PAMENTER GIOCONDA ’70.

Gioconda GARY HARRINGTON ’76, M.A. ’79, an English professor at Salisbury University in Maryland, is for the second time a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the Maria CurieSkoldowska University in Lublin, Poland. One of the most prestigious Fulbright awards, the Distinguished Chair is annually awarded to 40 “eminent scholars (with) a significant publication and teaching record.”

Harrington

Gary is the author of “Faulkner’s Fables of Creativity” and numerous essays on Shakespeare, Hemingway, Woolf, and others.

DAYNE BARRON ’79 is the new manager of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District in southwestern MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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u o y o d w Ho remem ber g UM ? n i d n e S cards g n i t e gre

UM?

Visit the Montana Memories online gallery to order today!

With a brick n engrave on the d Oval?

Maybe hangi a photo ng on wall? your Order engraved bricks, greeting cards, and campus photos at http://umt.edu/urelations/market or phone orders will be taken at 406-243-2522.

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about alumni Oregon. Dayne, who earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry from UM, has worked for BLM for twenty years. For the previous seven years, he was manager of the BLM’s Eagle Lake field office in Susanville, Calif. He and his wife, Sigi, have a twelve-year-old son.

LUANA ROSS ’79 is the new president of Salish Kootenai College in Pablo. She replaces

Ross JOE MCDONALD ’58, M.Ed. ’65, Ph.D. ’82, who retired after founding and leading SKC for more than three decades.

Luana previously was associate professor of women studies and codirector of the Native Voices graduate program at the University of Washington. After majoring in social work at UM, she earned a master’s degree in social work from Portland State University and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Oregon.

She is author of the book Inventing the Savage: The Social Construction of American Criminality.

’80s

M.A. ’80, was inducted into the Department of Communication Studies Hall of Fame at the University of Washington, BETSY W. BACH,

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 39

where she earned a doctorate in 1985. A professor in and former chair of UM’s Department of Communication Studies, Betsy is on leave while serving a two-year appointment as associate director for research initiatives at the National Communication Association in Washington, D.C. RENEE HAUGERUD ’80, New York City, founder of Galtere International investment firm, was profiled in the Sept. 27, 2010, issue of Barron’s magazine. After majoring in forestry at UM, Renee went to work for Cargill, then opened Galtere in 1997. The Barron’s story described the firm’s unusual take on inflation.

“Our view is that inflation and deflation can in fact coexist,” Renee says, “an economic paradigm we have dubbed ‘inverse stagflation.’”

JANICE BROWN ’81, San Diego, recently was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Merit Award from Gonzaga University, where she earned a law degree in 1983. Janice started her firm, the Brown Law Group, in 1999. She has since received numerous honors, including Trial Lawyer of the Year from the U.S. Department of Justice and Lawyer of the Year from the California Association of Black Lawyers, and was named one of San Diego’s Ten Coolest Women.

JACK HEFLIN, M.F.A. ’82, published his second collection of poems, Local Hope, through the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. Jack is an English professor at UL-Monroe. His first book of poetry, The Map of Leaving, received the

Calcagno

M.F.A. ’84, Chicago, published a novel, Love Like A Dog, about a young boy and a pit bull puppy that become entangled in dog fighting.

Anne’s research for the book included going on raids with the Chicago Police Department’s Animal Abuse Control Team. Her previous books include a collection of stories, Pray for Yourself, and an anthology, Travelers Tales: Italy. She has received numerous honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the San Francisco Foundation Phelan Literary Award. Anne teaches in the M.F.A. writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is married to LEO FITZPATRICK, M.A. and M.F.A. ’84.

ANNE CALCAGNO,

Montana First Book Award after its 1984 publication.

JULIE HUSTON ’82, San Diego, was named president of U.S. Bank’s Small Business Administration division.

BONNIE BANKS, M.F.A. ’83, teaches English and theater at Billings Senior High School, where her work recently was recognized with two major honors. In February she was named Theater Educator of the Year by

Banks

the Montana Theater Educators Association at the Montana State Thespian Festival. Then Bonnie and her theater students were invited to perform at the 2011 American High School Theatre Festival during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. “The Fringe” is considered the biggest arts festival in the world. To be accepted, the Billings troupe first had to be recommended by a university professional and complete a rigorous application process.

Bonnie and about a dozen of her students will travel to Edinburgh in August.

They will perform a theater piece written by Montanan Bill Bowers, Heyokah/Hokahey, which refers to the Lakota Sioux “sacred clown” archetype.

YVONNE LUCERO ’84,

’02 earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing and a Bachelor of Arts degree in French from Eastern Washington University in spring 2010. She was awarded the Edmund J. Yarwood Dean’s Honor Student Award for French by the College of Arts and Letters. Her personal essay To Fashion a Lovely Damsel was selected for publication in the 2011 edition of Bloodroot Literary Magazine. She and her husband, Brad Snow, live in Spokane, Wash.

JOHN SAUER ’84 put his health and physical education degree to good use. For the past twenty-two years, John has worked in the weight room at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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Since 1921 ...

Griz Wear, Books, Art Materials, & Old Friends

at THE UNIVERSITY of MONTANA

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about alumni he is director of speed, strength, and conditioning for the Tribe. Now a 2,500-square-foot addition to the Montgomery Strength Training Center has been named for him: the John Sauer Speed and Conditioning Room.

Growing up in Montana, John worked as a logger and competed in powerlifting events while assisting the UM strength and conditioning coach. He held positions at several universities before landing at William and Mary in 1988. In 2005 he was honored as a master coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.

Holden

M.F.A. ’86, Las Cruces, N.M., recently donated his personal papers to the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections at the University of Toledo’s Carlson Library. Craig, who has taught writing at UT, the University of Michigan, and now New Mexico State University, is the author of six novels, including the latest, Matala. The collection of papers includes his graduate studies in creative writing at UM, as well as multiple drafts of his novels. Visit www.craigholden.com.

PAMELA USCHUK, M.F.A. ’86, Bayfield, Colo., won a 2010 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation

Uschuk photo by Lyndy Cranson

CRAIG HOLDEN,

WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 41

Roberts family KENT ROBERTS ’87 and SUSAN FONT ROBERTS ’83, Missoula, hiked to the summit of Tanzania’s 19,334-foot Uhuru Peak with their thirteen-year-old son, Matthew, during a nine-day trek in July. The Roberts family made stops in London and Nairobi, Kenya, before arriving in Tanzania on June 27. They previously went on safari in Tanzania and Uganda in 2007.

for her fifth collection of poems, Crazy Love.

Pam also won the 2010 New Millennium Poetry Prize and had a poem featured in the book 2010 Best of the Web. She is an assistant professor at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., where she teaches creative writing. In spring 2011 she will hold the Hodges Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

A former CutBank editor at UM, Pam now is editor of the literary journal Cutthroat.

Uschuk JENY COVILL ’87, Whitefish, hosts an Internet radio show, Across Turtle Island, that was

nominated for a 2010 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award in the category of Best Aboriginal Music Radio Station/ Program. APCMAs recognize the best in aboriginal music from across North America. Across Turtle Island is broadcast at 10 a.m. Sundays and any time on demand at www. whitefishradio.com.

JIM MOHN ’88, Whitefish, is co-founder and board president of the new Stumptown Players theater company.

Jim also played the male lead in the company’s inaugural play, Sylvia. He has performed in dozens of other local shows with the Whitefish Theatre Company and Flathead Valley Community College. When he’s not on stage, he oversees Flathead County’s sign department.

RUSS PORTER ’88, Seattle, competed in two episodes of the TV game show Jeopardy! broadcast in September, winning $20,000. Originally from

Columbia Falls, Russ is a consulting engineer for municipal water systems.

’90s

M.A. ’90, Bismarck, N.D., received the 2010 Dr. L.I. Hewes Award, a national transportation honor presented by the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Jeani is tribal consultation coordinator with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, where she has worked for fifteen years. The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to national

JEANI BORCHERT,

Borchert

highway development programs, especially her work with tribal members across North Dakota. Jeani studied anthropology at UM. WILLIAM RUPP, M.B.A. ’90, is the new dean of the College of Business at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. He previously was business dean at the University of Montevallo in Alabama.

TONJA SCHAFF ’91 was honored with a 2010 Salute to Women award in the Business and Professional category by the Great Falls YWCA. The award recognizes Tonja’s excellence, community leadership, and dedication to women’s issues. An attorney specializing in family law, Tonja is a partner in the firm of Falcon, Squires & Schaff, P.C. KATHLEEN SEPT DEVLIN

’91, M.Ed. ’04, earned certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a feat accomplished by only two other school teachers in Missoula and eighty-four in Montana. Kathleen teaches second grade at Franklin Elementary School in Missoula.

GLENN GRIFFITH ’92, Tucson, Ariz., won the Town Pump Montana Open golf tournament in September. Glenn’s victory took place at Larchmont Golf Course in Missoula. He had five previous second-place finishes in the tournament.

SHARON Z. MOSES ’92, M.A. ’99, has joined the faculty at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., as an assistant professor of anthropology in the Department of History.

Sharon, who earned a MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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about alumni in taxation from the University of Washington.

BETH K. PRICE ’93 and Lance L. Smith, Missoula, are the parents of Ander Price Smith, born July 27.

MICHAEL DIFRONZO,

Wehr

’92, ’96, Odessa, Wash., was recognized as 2010 Teacher of the Year for the greater Spokane region by the Washington Office of Public Instruction. Jeff is described as “the science department at Odessa High School,” where his innovations include a yearlong advanced scientific research course for independent study and a Junkyard Wars-style bi-county science challenge. Jeff also travels the state sharing his expertise with community groups, businesses, government officials, and future teachers. He and his wife, JULIE WEHR ’93, have two sons, Thorsen and Kiegan.

JEFFERY WEHR

J.D. ’94, has joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner in its Washington National Tax Services group. Mike specializes in international tax with the Washington, D.C.-based firm. He previously was deputy associate chief counsel with the Internal Revenue Service.

LAURIE RILEY ’94, Great Falls, was hired as staff coordinator for the Missouri River Conservation Districts Council.

MIKE FRANK, J.D. ’95, Helena, is the new president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. Mike joined Blue Cross in 1999 as associate general counsel.

RONALD J. YATES JR. ’96 was appointed president

of the Montana Society of CPAs Board of Directors for 2010-11. Ron is a tax partner in the Billings office of Eide Bailly, LLP. DAVID SATHER ’73, Lewistown, is presidentelect.

MARTIN KIDSTON ’97 is the new communications director for the Montana Democratic Party. He previously was a reporter for the Helena Independent Record, where he worked for eleven years.

DAVID TOIVAINEN ’97, M.S. ’99, Redding, Calif., has opened a physical therapy practice specializing in lower-back pain.

David and his wife,

Magazine and owns a bar and billiard hall with his wife, Alyson.

JONATHAN MESS ’98 exhibited his ceramic sculpture at the Aarhus Gallery in Belfast, Maine, in August, and at Santa Fe Clay in New Mexico in October. Jonathan teaches art at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Maine.

Find him online at www. artmess.net.

VIRGINIA BERES

’00, previously lived in Arcata, Calif.

JAMES JAY ’98, Flagstaff, Ariz., recently published his second book of poetry, The Journeymen. He also serves as executive director of the Northern Arizona Book Festival, writes a column for FlagstaffLive!

TOIVAINEN

Pichler JOSH PICHLER, M.A. ’98, has been named executive business editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Josh has been with the newspaper since 2001, previously serving as sports editor. He now is

to learn about challenges and opportunities for Western businesses in Asia. He is married with three children.

IVER ARNEGARD ’99 joined the faculty of Colorado State University-Pueblo as a professor of English.

GARRETT BUDDS ’99, J.D. ’07, M.S. ’08, is the new director of land protection for the Beaufort County (S.C.) Open Land Trust. Garrett previously was director of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League’s Beaufort office. He will divide his time between Land Trust initiatives and consulting for the county’s Rural and Critical Land Preservation Program.

JACKSON GARRISON ’99 joined the commercial lending team at First Montana Bank branches in Libby and Troy.

’00

Brusseau

Severson Bonini

’93 has joined the Seattle law office of Ater Wynne, where he is a business, securities, and tax attorney. He earned a juris doctorate from the Seattle University School of Law and a master’s degree

GEORGE E. BONINI

’99 and KELLY KUKLENSKI ’00, Tualatin, Ore., make an annual pilgrimage from their home near Portland to visit Mike’s family in eastern Montana. Mike, pictured here with his son Brayden, says, “We always stop for a few days in Missoula to visit friends, walk the campus, hike the M, gorge on Hoagieville cheese fries, and consume a little Big Sky Brewing.”

MICHAEL SEVERSON SEVERSON

responsible for all business news operations, including launching new digital initiatives. “This is an amazing time to be a news consumer,” he says in an article. “Readers now demand that when news breaks, they will learn about it instantly, whether it’s through Facebook or text message or Twitter or e-mail. The Enquirer has to be very aggressive in those digital spaces.” Josh recently took a ten-day trip to China and Vietnam

Brusseau photo by Ryan Soderlin

doctorate from Cornell University, recently gave a talk at CCU titled Baby’s Breath to God’s Ears: Child Sacrifice in the Ancient World.

’00, Rapid City, S.D., published a book of photographs and essays titled I Am South Dakota. The hardcover book profiles ten unique South Dakotans, ranging from a beekeeper to a pigwrestling physician. Learn more at www.iamsouthdakota.net.

KEVIN C. CHICK ’00 is the new principal of St. Columba Catholic School in Durango, Colo. St. Columba offers preschool TOBY BRUSSEAU

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about alumni through eighth grade.

Kevin previously was vice principal at St. Joseph Elementary School in Missoula.

DARCI LEWIS ’00 was inducted into the Napa (Calif.) High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a 1995 graduate and star athlete in cross country, track, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. She now coaches the Napa High girls’ basketball team, which she has led to six league championships in seven years. She also ran cross country and track for UM. ANDREW J. GREENFIELD

’01, Los Angeles, portrayed a mysterious hotel night manager on the NBC summer miniseries Persons Unknown, about a group of hostages in a small, deserted town. Andy, who grew up in Deer Lodge and Hamilton and studied theater at UM, told the Missoula Independent, “As a viewer, you’re not supposed to know where the town is. But it kind of reminds me of Philipsburg. … It has all these small-town elements from towns I’ve been in across Montana.”

The character he played was written by a friend and was loosely based on Andy’s personality.

Andy returned to campus in July to attend the Missoula Colony.

Visit his website at www. andyjgreenfield.com.

ANDY JOHNSON ’01 edited thirteen episodes of a TV series about hunting called The Zone, which aired on the Sportsman Channel.

SEAN MURPHY ’01, M.A. ’03, was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration at Washington State WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 43

Murphy

University Spokane. Sean will teach health care economics, research methods, and health information systems. He previously taught economics at West Texas A&M University.

Sean and his wife, ANTOINETTE MURPHY

’04, have a daughter, Sofia.

TIA MONTEAUX WALLS

’02, Maui, Hawaii, is author of a new children’s book, Kekoa and the Egg Mystery. The illustrated book follows

a boy, Kekoa, who wakes one morning to discover all the eggs missing from his family’s chicken coop.

Kekoa is Hawaiian for “the brave one.” Tia, who was born and raised in Montana, now claims that “palm trees are way better than pine trees.” She and her husband have a Jack Russell terrier, two cats, and four chickens.

JENNY KUGLIN ’03, Seattle, is the new director of social media for Fisher Interactive Network.

Jenny previously was the news director for Fisher Communications’ CBS affiliate in Eugene, Ore. PETE NOWAKOWSKI ’03 is the new city editor at the Helena Independent

Record. He returned to the newspaper after a year as a technical writer for the Montana Department of Revenue.

DAVE OBERBILLIG, M.Ed. ’03, Missoula, is a 201011 Einstein Fellow. Dave, who teaches biology at Hellgate High School, was one of thirty-two teachers nationwide selected for the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program by the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education.

The Washington, D.C.based program offers teachers an opportunity to serve in the national education or public policy arenas. Dave will complete his fellowship in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists.

TREY YOUNG ’03 is a safety with the Las Vegas Locomotives football team after playing three years in the Canadian Football League. The former Griz defensive back and All-American has established a website, OfficialPlayerWatch. com, where players can post highlights and career information to market themselves to pro teams and colleges. The site’s motto is “Believe in your endeavors, hard work will guide you.”

Stark CHRISTOPHER STARK ’04 won a $15,000 American Composers Orchestra’s

2010 Underwood Commission for a piece of classical music that ACO will premiere in a future season.

Christopher also received a 2010 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Foundation. He is a doctoral student in composition at Cornell

University. His winning composition, Ignatian Exercises, refers in part to his hometown of St. Ignatius and the history of Catholicism on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Listen to it online at www. christopher-stark.com.

Christopher will be a visiting instructor at UM during spring 2011.

CHRISTIAN GUTIEREZ ’05

NEW LIFETIME MEMBERS The following alumni and friends have made a commitment to the future of the UM Alumni Association by becoming lifetime members. You can join them by calling 877-862-5867 or by visiting our website: www.

GrizAlum.com. The Alumni Association thanks them for their support. This list includes all new lifetime members through Nov. 9, 2010.

THOMAS D. ANDERSON ’61, Gresham, OR FREIDA S. ANDERSON ’60, Gresham, OR GRANT K. AUSTIN ’03, Sherwood, OR JOHN H. BLAIR ’53, M.B.A. ’80, Carlsbad, CA WILLIAM W. BLEECKER ’84, Ypsilanti, MI LOUISE A. BOOTH, M.B.A. ’01, Helena BRANDON W. BYARS ’93, Portland, OR KENNETH CARMICHAEL ’86, Maple Valley, WA LTC ROBERT E. GRAHAM ’69, Las Vegas, NV PEGGY J. GRAHAM, Las Vegas, NV JACK L. GREEN II ’71, J.D. ’74, Phoenix, AZ JOHN R. GREENER ’79, Missoula GAIL D. GREENER ’79, Missoula DONNA HAMOR ’58, M.A. ’66, M.S. ’77, Salem, OR JOANN S. HOGAN ’89, M.B.A. ’00, Missoula STEPHEN M. JOHNSON, M.P.A. ’06, Whitesville, KY JESSE J. KRUSE ’07, Missoula SCOTT A. MACDONALD ’84, M.B.A. ’98,

Bainbridge Island, WA

KELLY A. MACDONALD ’96, M.B.A. ’98, Bainbridge Island, WA RICK MANN ’99, Columbus, OH LARRY L. MCKAY ’65, ’69, Saint Paul, MN WILLIAM C. MCLAUGHLIN ’71, M.F.A. ’83, Polson MARLEE MILLER ’85, Washington, D.C. CLAUDETTE MORTON ’63, M.F.A. ’64, D.Ed. ’90, Helena NATASHA JACOBSON MORTON ’77, J.D. ’80, Hardin PAMELIA A. NEWBERN ’83, M.A. ’85, Fairfax Station, VA TIMOTHY F. NICHOLSON ’00, Chicago, IL GLENDEE A. OSBORNE ’02, Henderson, NV CASSI R. PFISTER ’02, Plumas Lake, CA MARNIE MCMEEL PRIGGE ’73, Butte SHELLEY A. ROBINSON ’82, M.S. ’00, Hibbing, MN DARREN J. SCHULDHEISS ’01, Issaquah, WA JORDAN E. SCHULDHEISS ’03, Issaquah, WA GEORGE L. SHERWOOD ’00, Frenchtown DONNA SHERWOOD, Frenchtown SHEILA SKEMP ’67, ’74, Oxford, MS MATTHEW L. WYLIE ’87, Alexandria, VA KATHARINE B. ONG WYLIE ’86, Alexandria, VA MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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about alumni A model wears one of Nikki Garcia’s designs.

’06, San Francisco, will debut her First Rite line of clothing this spring. Nikki completed a post-graduate degree in fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. She has sold some of her designs at a San Francisco boutique. See the collection at www.firstriteclothing.com.

NIKKI GARCIA

’73, Ph.D. ’81, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

’07, Park City, Utah, is the social media program manager for www.Backcountry. com. He previously was an assistant at Paradigm Agency in Nashville, Tenn.

DAVID MALCOLM ’07 is the new head lacrosse coach at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. David played for UM during 2004-07 and went on to coach high school lacrosse in Wisconsin. He also founded REALacrosse, a group providing camps and other opportunities for young players in the state.

ALEX SAKARIASSEN ’08, Missoula, took first place

in the Best Feature Story category, Division III, of the Montana Newspaper Association Awards for his story “Guardians.”

Alex also received second place in the Government and Politics category of the Society of Professional Journalists Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards for his story “Questioning

leukemia. Emily, who was a member of the UM Triathlon Team in law school, is a Flathead County deputy attorney.

SARAH ELEANOR GRANT

’10 received a Journalism Groundbreaker Award from HATCH, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization. The $500 cash award was based on Sarah’s work on several film and TV projects, including the documentary Cannabusiness.

ASHLEY KORSLIEN ’10 and DUSTIN “BUDDY”

’10 won a student Emmy award from the Northwest Region of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for a television news short they co-produced, The Lissie’s Luv Yums Story.

The program, broadcast in 2009 on MontanaPBS, profiled a pet-treat business created by a Great Falls woman born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Ashley works as a weekend anchor and reporter for KRTV in Great Falls. Watch the video at ashleykorslien.blogspot. com/2010/07/lissie.html.

COWART

KYLE HARRIS

“G. Wiz at Work and Play,” UM Professor Garon Smith, Bringing the U to You Lecture Series, Great Falls.

Info: www.GrizAlum.com or call 406-899-0277.

15

“The Beauty of the Brain”: UM professors explore the science and evolution of learning in UMAA’s community lecture series, six Tuesday evenings through March 22, UC Theater.

Info and series tickets at www.GrizAlum.com.

17

Charter Day: UM’s 118th anniversary

MARCH

3

14 MAY

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

27

FEBRUARY

JANUARY

ALUMNI EVENTS 2011

JUNE

is the new K-12 music teacher at Ophir School and Lone Peak High School in Big Sky. MEAGEN HENSLEY ’05, Honolulu, made her national acting debut in the premiere of the CBS television series Hawaii Five-O in September.

Meagen portrayed an ex-trophy wife turned drug addict. An Anaconda native, she is a former UM cheerleader and coach of the UM Dance Team.

COLLEEN TEEVIN, M.S. ’05, Sequim, Wash., was hired as the North Olympic Land Trust’s farmland conservation and development specialist.

BRAD RHOADES ’06 and ALICE MYERS ’05 were married August 28 in Bend, Ore. JEFF GAILUS, M.S. ’07, published his first book, The Grizzly Manifesto, which explores the politics of grizzly bear conservation in North America. The book is based largely on research Jeff did at UM, including work with Associate Professor CHRIS SERVHEEN

Conservatism.” He is a reporter for the Missoula Independent.

MARK LANCASTER, J.D. ’09, Helena, joined the law firm of Luxan and Murfitt. His areas of practice include general civil litigation, insurance, personal injury, employment, property, and administrative law.

NATHAN ROTT ’09 is the recipient of the first Stone and Holt Weeks Fellowship, awarded by National Public Radio and The Washington Post.

The journalism and anthropology graduate was selected from nearly 350 nationwide applicants. During the sixmonth reporting fellowship, he will spend twelve weeks each working at the Post and NPR. EMILY VON JENTZEN, J.D. ’09, Kalispell, is the third person and first woman to swim the length of Flathead Lake. Emily swam the twenty-eight miles from Somers Bay to Polson in 18 hours, 26 minutes. The July feat was a fundraiser for a three-year-old girl with

“Two Roads, Both Traveled: The Rich and Varied Life of Fra Dana,” UM Associate Professor Valerie Hedquist, Bringing the U to You Lecture Series, Great Falls.

Info: www.GrizAlum.com or call 406-899-0277.

Annual alumni event, Palm Desert, Calif.

12-14

Commencement reunions: classes of 1941, 1951, 1961

10-23

International travel: Cruise to the Norwegian Fjords – London to Copenhagen

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

Material on this page reached our office by Oct. 31, 2010.

EMMA POKORNY KINONEN ’33, Littleton, CO VELMA CLARK AASHEIM ’36, Kalispell FREDERICK W. SEARLES ’36, Fallon, NV GENE P. FOPP ’38, J.D. ’40, Great Falls LLOYD C. HAYES ’38, Mendocino, CA JAYNE WALKER HOUGLAND ’38, Hughson, CA RICHARD DROEGE GRIFFITH ’39, Lewistown, ID

’40s

NANCY ADELE HEMINGWAY KRIEGER

Oswego, OR, and Missoula

’42, Lake

GENEVIEVE ANTIOCH LAMOTTE ’42 WILLIAM P. MUFICH ’42, J.D. ’48, Butte RAYMOND J. GAJAN ’43, Silver Spring, MD CHARLES JACK TURNER ’43, Great Falls CHARLES “CHUCK” A.S. RIGG ’43, Palo Alto, CA DOROTHY ANNE GOSMAN ANDERSEN ’45, KATHLEEN EUNICE KNAPP SCHENDEL

Three Forks

’46,

GEORGE T. PRLAIN ’47, Butte WILLIAM “DOUG” WALLIN ’47, Seattle E. KIRK BADGLEY JR. ’48, Lynwood, WA HUGH “PAT” CAMPBELL ’48, Cazadero, CA JOHN PATRICK MOORE III ’48, J.D. ’49,

Cut Bank

DAWSON N. OPPENHEIMER ’48, Jacksonville, FL DANIEL HUGH SWEENEY ’48, Billings DAVID L. HOLLAND, J.D. ’49, Butte MARJORIE ANN BOESEN KING ’49, Indianapolis JOHN EDWARD SCHWAB JR. ’49, Portland, OR OTTO MAURICE “MIKE” THOMPSON ’49,

M.Ed. ’50, Eagar, AZ

JEROME B. WALLANDER

’50s

’49, J.D. ’51, San Diego

JOHN ROGER BOE ’50, Big Timber FRANCES C. “FRANK” BURGESS, J.D. ’50, Butte OSCAR LLOYD DONISTHORPE ’50, J.D. ’53,

Bloomfield, NM

JAMES W. GAUL ’50, Missoula MIKE KUMPURIS JR. ’50, Little Rock, AR THEODORE ROBERT LYON ’50, Idaho Falls, ID STANLEY L. NESS ’50, Brooklyn Park, MN GORDON KENNETH OKERMAN ’50, Miles City LEIGH ALLEN WALLACE JR. ’50, Missoula WILLIAM BRUCE “BILL” HORN ’51, Butte CALVIN H. LUETJEN, J.D. ’51, Lake Oswego, OR ANNE MARGARET SWANSON MARTIN ’51,

Vashon Island, WA JAMES F. MAURER ’51, M.A. ’61, Lake Oswego, OR DONALD LEE RICHARDSON ’52, Whitefish WWW.UMT.EDU/MONTANAN

Alumni_Wtr11_3.indd 45

GEORGE CHARLES MANNER,

Baton Rouge

M.F.A. ’73,

CAROL DIAN HILLING NELSON

Columbia Falls

’73,

HAROLD BRUCE FERGUSON

’55,

MARGARET L. MAHLMAN ’75, Downey, CA BRADFORD EDWIN BUCHANAN ’76, Polson KIMBERLIE ANN BAREFOOT ’78, Missoula PAMELA Z. ANNAS ’79, Mexican Hat, UT CORAL MARGUERITE GARAAS SCHMIDT EVERSON ’79, Spring Creek, NV ALFRED SHELLEY HAGEN ’79, Kennewick, WA MCCLURE REAGAN, ’79, Cut Bank

KENNETH MAX PAPENFUSS

’55, M.Ed. ’59,

GREGORY MARTIN SCHMASOW

Kingsville, TX

Bay Saint Louis, MS

Newdale, ID

’30s

Yuma, AZ

DELOS EDMUND ROBBINS ’52, Missoula WILLIAM JAMES SPEARE ’52, J.D. ’94, Billings THOMAS A. WICKES ’52, Spokane, WA JOSEPH LOUIS BROME ’54, Butte BONNIE J. KERN ’52, Columbus WILLIAM J. SPEARE, J.D. ’52, Billings DONNA LOUISE MITHUN ELMORE ’53, Polson GILBERT J. LAZZARI ’53, Butte PAUL NORMAN MAXWELL ’54, Great Falls RALPH LEE BINGHAM ’55, M.A. ’62,

JOHN ALBERT MORRISON

Anchorage

’55, M.S. ’57,

ROBERT HENRY HUTCHIN ’56, West Linn, JERRY L. MADDEN ’56, Burien, WA EARL WILLIAM BRITTON ’57, Everett, WA KAREN LEE ANDERSON FRISBIE ’58,

ADELAIDE MARY HARVEY FOY

Middleton, ID

OR

DONALD ALBERT MALMBERG ’60, Great Falls WILLIAM E. O'LEARY, J.D. ’60, Helena SANDY MCGONIGLE HEFFELFINGER ’61, Helena DAVID HANNING MORTON ’61, Pray DONALD GRAHAM WHITE ’61, Polson DOROTHY SHELTON WRIGHT ’61, Missoula JANICE I. “JAN” STANDLEY ALBRIGHT ’63, Shelby JUANITA H. HORK CARL ’63, Hamilton CHARLU MENARD CHOATE, M.S. ’63, Anchorage JOHN R. DAHLIN JR. ’63, Kirkland, WA ROBERT A. “BUZZ” ROMSTAD ’63, Waterford, WI EDWARD L. STERLING ’63, M.Ed. ’64, Helena HAROLD ERNEST GRAY (LONG STANDING BEAR CHIEF) ’64, M.Ed. ’70, Browning LYNNE M. LEWIS ’64, San Mateo, CA JOHN R. “JACK” COLEMAN ’65, M.A. ’70,

Helena

Plains

’67,

GERALD “LEE” JOHNSON ’69, Livingston MARGARET MARIE ROLSTON LEONARD ’69,

Redmond, WA

ROBERT PHILLIP MEUCHEL ’69, Missoula BROWN ALAN PARSONS ’69, Bozeman

’70s

J. DAVID WEISS ’70, Burlington, IA CLAYTON W. HORAN ’71, Potsdam, NY MARVIN GLENN NELSON ’71, Rollins RICARDA KAY “RIKI” WETSCH NITZ ’71,

Rapid City, SD

DOUGLAS R. LOGAN

’72, Missoula

Missoula

’80,

M.Ed. ’81,

RON WHEELER ’82, Rock Creek CAROLE JOYCE BUBASH DEMARINIS,

M.F.A.

’83, Missoula

’60, M.Ed. ’64,

MYRTLE JAMES BULS ’66, Butte DONALD W. WELTI ’66, Kiel, WI RAY BILILE ’67, Ronan RALPH J. HEFT ’67, Mount Vernon, WA DONALD MARBLE ’67, Chester JUANITA MONTANA HUPPERT PUTZKER

Santa Monica, CA

MARLENE FRANCIS BELTRAMO,

White Sulphur Springs RONALD T. KUNKEL ’58, Sheridan DAVID L. GREEN ’59, Missoula BONNIE J. LINDGREN KEM ’59, Columbus BILLY GENE REDMOND ’59, Kalispell ’60s

’80s

GERALYN H. “GERI” HOFFMAN ’84, Helena MARGUERITE STEWART LARSON, M.Ed. ’85,

Florence, AZ

CAROL LYNN NEUMILLER JOHNSON

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DAVID LELAND YOCKEY

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Montanan Marketplace

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Montanan Marketplace

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Grizzlies with hearts of gold As students, Ron and Amy Yates fell in love with each other and with UM. Both Business School alumni, Ron is a partner in a Billings accounting firm and Amy is a registered associate at a financial advisory firm.

The Yates, who credit UM for their personal and professional successes, began giving back within a few years of graduation. Now, they belong to the President's Club, The UM Foundation's society for those who give $1,000 or more in a year. Members receive invitations to special events and other exclusive benefits.

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MONTANAN WINTER 2011 |

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Dave Guffey displays the Red Book near a plaque commemorating George P. “Jiggs” Dahlberg, who wrote the book, in the Adams Center at UM.

Pages 964 through 1,406 are blank, while a record of awards and accolades begins on page 1,407. In Dahlberg’s last entry on page 963, he writes that it’s time for someone younger to take over updating the Red Book.

But Guffey, who started working at UM in 1978, was tentative to write in it.

“I haven’t touched it,” he says.

“Honestly, I don’t feel like I should. It’s all Jiggs Dahlberg’s work.”

Starting with the 1897-98 football entry, each sport’s team roster, schedule, results, letterwinners—basically any It’s either serendipity or dumb luck. You decide. statistic you could want—are neatly written, some cursive, some printed, in black ink. The headings are red ink, giving But while I was thumbing through the massive Red Book, a handwritten history of UM athletics from 1897 to it a nice contrast and appealing aesthetic.

The book’s home is on a shelf in Guffey’s office, and he 1980, I randomly stopped on page 222, which covers the says he still refers to it at least weekly, if not more often.

1938 football team.

“In my opinion, As I read the roster, I Last entry, Page 963: the Red Book is came across a name that gave I began keeping records of the Men’s Athletic Teams priceless,” Guffey me goose bumps: “Edward here at The University of Montana when I arrived on says. “It makes me Hudacek, 5’8”, halfback, the campus as head basketball coach and assistant nervous just to have Wheeling, West Virginia.” the original in here.

“Uh, Guff,” I said to football coach. The year was 1937.

It probably should Dave Guffey, longtime sports In order to obtain information previous to 1937 be under glass in information director at UM, I did research from the Missoulian, the Kaimin, and the library. But “I just found my great uncle the University annuals.

I take extremely in here. I had no idea he good care of it, and played football for the Griz.”

I am 82 years old and I believe that it is time that rarely does it leave “Cool!” Guffey replied a younger person continue keeping the historical my office.” with a chuckle. “I told you records of the University of Montana athletic teams.

The content that book was amazing.”

George P. “Jiggs” Dahlberg of the book is Amazing is an incredible. understatement.

Want to know who the biggest guy on that 1897 The Red Book was penned, literally, by football team was? The Red Book will tell you it’s Howard Butte’s own George P. “Jiggs” Dahlberg, a former athlete, coach, and athletic director Goodfellow, a center out of Ovando who weighed in at a at UM. He’s the all-time winningest men’s whopping 200 pounds.

Want to know who coached Montana’s first Big Sky basketball coach in school history, and the arena in the Adams Center is named in his Conference champion varsity ski team? Or when the team honor. Dahlberg died in 1993, and Guffey won it? The Red Book knows the answers. It was Matthew “Rusty” Lyons, and the year was 1970. brought the Red Book to the funeral “It’s got swimming, baseball, wrestling, women’s service and spoke of its significance. gymnastics,” Guffey says. “He didn’t leave any sports out. If It’s called the Red Book because it was going on, it’s in there. It would take a huge amount of the color of the original cover was, you research to find that stuff out now. And it’s all right there, in guessed it, red. The book was re-bound a the Red Book.” few years ago, and now the cover is more Of course, there is an updated record-keeping system of a maroon hue, but it’s still referred to as in place now, Guffey says. And the Red Book has been the Red Book. transcribed into a digital copy over the years.

And it’s large. The book has 1,551 When asked about the importance of the Red Book to hand-numbered pages—963 of which are UM, Guffey struggles to come up with the right words. filled with stats from each sport played at the University “Man,” Guffey says, thinking. “It’s the primary source for over a span of eighty-three years. Some pages are worn, sports information and the history of Grizzly Athletics. It just smeared, or yellow-tinged, but the book, which weighs is. I don’t know what I’d do without it. I really don’t.” more than thirty pounds, is in remarkably good shape.

THE RED BOOK

Photos by Todd Goodrich

artifacts

BY JOHN HEANEY

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This i Pleas record all tec

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