Collegian | Fall 2011

The magazine for members of the MSU Alumni Association | Fall 2011

In this issue: MSU Unveils New Look for New Year Rebirth of the Rocking R Banner Year for MSU Paleontologists

MONTA NA STATE UNIV ERSIT Y Fall 2011 | 1

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THE MAGAZINE FOR MEMBERS OF THE MSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION | FALL 2011 | VOL. 88, N O. 3

F E AT U R E S

10

MSU Unveils New Look for New Year

14

Rebirth of the Rocking R

18

MSU Extension Agents Aid Severely Flooded Communities

26

20

2011 Cat/Griz Satellite Parties

MSU Paleontologists Have Banner Year

12 Award-winning Solar Physicist Praises MSU 13 Recognition for Living Her Passion 16 From Nordic Ski Team to Nordic Center

D E PAR TM E NT S From the President

2

Blue & Gold

3

17 Ingredients for Engineering Success in Bozeman

Association News

28

22 MSU Student Profile: Hilary Fabich

Class Notes

30

23 MSU Alumni Profile: Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson 25 Civil Engineer Focuses on Needs of Society

Fall 2011 | 1

FROM THE MSU PRESIDENT M S U A L U M N I F O U N D AT I O N Chair Mike Ferris, ’68, Columbus, Ga.

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Vice Chair Cory Pulfrey, ’82, Bozeman, Mont.

I hope you had a long and enjoyable summer with friends, family and some summertime adventures.

This summer, I visited the Justin Smith Morrill Homestead in Strafford, Vt. It was the home of Congressman Justin Morrill, a self-educated man who never had an opportunity to go to college and yet championed the concept of public universities through the Morrill Act of 1862.

It is through his efforts that Montana State University, the first land-grant university in the state, exists. And through his efforts, tens of millions of Americans have been able to pursue higher education at more than 100 public land-grant colleges and universities across the country.

One fact I was not aware of until I visited the homestead is that it was owned by the Morrill family only until 1938. Then, in 1960 a group of land-grant colleges and universities purchased the home and donated it to the Justin Morrill Foundation.

Among the institutions that made it possible for the home to be a National Historic Landmark was our very own Montana State.

It is just one small example of how Montana State University has upheld the Morrill Act’s tripartite mission of education, outreach and research.

Closer to home, MSU Extension staff embodied the university’s mission of outreach this spring by helping communities affected by the floods in eastern Montana.

I hope you will take a moment to read the story in this issue of how MSU Extension was of service to our citizens in need.

Abroad, the university reached out as well. Millions of visitors are expected to see an exhibit on current dinosaur research from our Museum of the Rockies. The exhibition opened in July at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Japan and is scheduled to tour throughout Asia over the next three years. Thanks for making us feel so proud, Museum of the Rockies!

Finally, a warm thanks to all of you who attended the dedication of the new Bobcat Stadium End Zone in September. It was a wonderful experience to have all our friends join us in a celebration of not just the stadium renovation, but of what we can accomplish together. Many thanks to all of you who helped make this remarkable addition to MSU and Bobcat Athletics a reality.

Secretary/Treasurer Mark Sherman, ’97, Great Falls, Mont.

With warm regards,

President & CEO Michael Stevenson Board of Governors Mark Bacigalupo, ’80, St. Paul, Minn.

Alexander (Zander) Blewett, ’67, Great Falls, Mont.

Brian Clark, ’82, Kalispell, Mont.

Richard (Dick) Harte, ’70, Bozeman, Mont.

David L. Jackson, ’62, Helena, Mont.

David Kem, ’67, ’00, Houston Texas Lois Norby, “65, Excelsior, Minn.

Bill Perry, ’02, Spokane, Wash.

Susan Raph, “82, ’01, Shelby, Mont.

Linda M. Reynolds, ’71, Bozeman, Mont.

Kevin R. Seth, ’83, New York, N.Y. Jean B. Sweeney, ’76, St. Paul, Minn.

Mary Beth Walsh, ’86, Twin Bridges, Mont.

Tony J. Waller, ’81, Washington, D.C. Brant Weingartner, ’98, Irving Texas Student Alumni Association Nate Carroll, Ekalaka, Mont.

Carl Nystuen, Lakeside, Mont.

M S U A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N President and CEO Jaynee Drange Groseth, ’73, ’91 M

Vol. 88, No. 3, Fall 2011 E D I TO R I A L B OA R D

Jodie DeLay, ’93, Tracy Ellig, ’92, Jaynee Drange Groseth, ’73, ’91 M, Kerry Hanson, ’93, ’08 M, Julie Kipfer, Suzi Taylor, ’99 M, Megan Walthall, ’06, Caroline Zimmerman, ’83 E D I TO R

Caroline Zimmerman, ’83 C R E AT I V E D I R EC TO R

Ron Lambert

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

MSU Office of Creative Services P H OTO G R A P H Y by Kelly Gorham, ’95, MSU Photography (unless otherwise noted)

Waded Cruzado, President, Montana State University

The Montana State Collegian (ISSN 1044-7717) is published four times a year by the Montana State University Alumni Association. Foundation & Alumni Center, 1501 S. 11th Ave., Bozeman, Montana 59717. Periodicals postage paid at Bozeman, Mont., and additional offices.

Web address: http://alumni.montana.edu Postmaster: Send address changes to Montana State Collegian, 1501 S. 11th Ave., Bozeman, MT 59717 • (406) 994-2401 • E-mail: alumni@ montana.edu

On the Cover Opening day of the 2011 football season in the newly expanded Bobcat Stadium, with the Sonny Holland End Zone in the background. Photo by Kelly Gorham.

Collegian | 2

BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

Montana State alumnus to give $25 million to MSU College of Business

Jake Jabs

A Montana State University alumnus announced “A new building is a necessary first step. We have a bold plan for the future of the College of BusiOct. 14 that he will give an unrestricted $25 ness—for it to be one of the best in the nation— million gift to MSU’s College of Business. It is and Mr. Jabs’ gift will get us started. We hope the largest private gift made in the history of the others will join us in building the best program Montana higher education system. possible for our students and the state. Imagine The gift is being made by Jake Jabs, ’52 what we can do together.”

VocAg, who grew up on a farm near Lodge Grass, If approved, ground could be broken on the Mont., in a home with no indoor plumbing, estimated $18 million to $20 million building in electricity or running water. the spring of 2013 with completion in 2015.

Today, Jabs is president and CEO of AmeriThe gift will also can Furniture Warehouse based in Denver, one be used for new of the largest retail furniture companies in the “My own life experience leads me to believe scholarships and new United States. this is where my efforts can do the most academic programs “Thanks to his generosity, Mr. Jabs’ visionary gift will benefit generations of students to come,” in: entrepreneurship, good,” Jabs said. “I think of all the students said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “On behalf professional skills who might come from circumstances like development and of all of us at MSU, I would like to offer Mr. fostering cooperative Jabs our most sincere and heartfelt thanks and mine, and I want to help them.” — Jake Jabs work between busiappreciation.” ness students and As part of a comprehensive strategic plan for students in other disciplines, such as engineering, the College of Business, Cruzado said she will seek approval from the Montana Board of Rethe sciences, agriculture, graphic arts and the gents and the Montana Legislature to construct a humanities.

“Collaboration and team work among profesnew building for the College of Business on the sionals from many different fields is the future of campus of Montana State in Bozeman. business, and Mr. Jabs’ gift will help us prepare “Mr. Jabs’ gift provides us with the necesour students for that world,” said Susan Dana, sary financial strength and flexibility to begin to MSU College of Business interim dean. advance our College of Business,” Cruzado said. continued on page 24 Fall 2011 | 3

BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

Recent MSU grad, aspiring teacher receives national fellowship

PHOTO BY T YLER BUSBY

Jena Burke

Jena Burke, ’11 Hist, of Bozeman said she never knew the Constitution was so interesting and relevant until she took a history course from Montana State University professor Robert Rydell.

The aspiring teacher won a national fellowship that will teach her more about the history and principles of the Constitution so she can inspire her own students.

Burke, Montana’s only recipient of a James Madison Fellowship this year, will receive up to $24,000 over two years to support her while she earns a master’s degree in education at The University of Montana, attends a summer institute next year in Washington D.C. and meets 56 other recipients of the same fellowship.

The fellowship named for the fourth president of the United States—also known as

the Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights—goes to one person a year in each state, as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the nation’s island and trust territories.

“Jena earned this fellowship through the force of her ability to think through the importance of ‘civics’ for the future of the American republic,” Rydell continued. “I am so pleased for Jena, and I am grateful to the Madison Foundation for its ongoing efforts to educate Americans about our history and government.”

Burke said she grew up in a family of teachers and originally thought she might teach math, like her father, Maurice Burke. He is a long-time professor in MSU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences. Jena Burke realized that her favorite classes were in history, however, so she decided in her junior year at MSU to major in history, with an emphasis on U.S. history.

Burke said she had a string of “awesome” teachers at Boze-

man High School and MSU, but Rydell was the one who got her enthused about the Constitution. “He has a way of making seemingly boring things very important,” she said.

Rydell’s class on the intellectual history of the United States got her thinking about “what a big deal” the Constitution is and how it affects Americans on a daily basis, Burke said. Supreme Court decisions are based on the Constitution, for example, and deal with relevant issues like civil rights and education.

Burke said she will be thrilled if her fellowship helps her make the Constitution come alive for her future students. The Madison Fellowship requires her to teach two years, and she said that won’t be a problem.

“I wanted to teach even before I ever knew what I wanted to teach,” Burke said.

—Evelyn Boswell

MSU offers international engineering certificate The Montana State University College of Engineering began offering engineering and computer science students an international engineering certificate option this fall.

The certificate will help prepare students to effectively engage with the global community, according to John Paxton, head of the MSU computer science department who helped design the certificate program.

“This will not only prepare our students for the global workplace, but it will also make them better global citizens,” Paxton said.

To be eligible for the certificate, students must pick a particular country or region of the world as a focus and earn a minimum of 15 credits relevant

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to that focus. They must also complete an international experience for two weeks or longer, such as a study abroad program or work or service experience.

Only students who earn a bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering are eligible for the certificate program.

Part of the rationale for establishing the certificate program is to provide an opportunity for students to distinguish themselves as they start their careers, Paxton said.

“Within a given career path, the experiences that set you apart from your colleagues are the ones that give you a different perspective and often add value to what you can accomplish for your employer.”

— by Anne Cantrell

BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

MSU graduate in solar physics wins presidential award

PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA

A former Montana State UniJoe Shaw, professor of electriversity graduate student in solar cal and computer engineering, physics has won the highest affiliate professor of physics award the United States govand director of MSU’s Optical ernment gives to science and Technology Center. Kankelborg engineering professionals who received his award in 2008. are in the early stages of their Longcope received his award independent research careers. in 2000. Shaw received his The White House announced award in 1999 when he worked Sept. 26 that Jonathan Cirtain, at the National Oceanic and ’05 PhD Phys, now at NASA’s Atmospheric Administration in Marshall Space Flight Center Boulder, Colo. in Huntsville, Ala., has won a “We are seeing the results of Presidential Early Career Award a dedicated group of solar physfor Scientists and Engineers icists who have grown the solar (PECASE). He was one of 94 physics program over the past winners this year and one of 18 years to what it is today,” four recipients nominated by said Richard Smith, head of NASA. The PECASE awards the MSU physics department. were presented Oct. 14 in “The early hires recognized the Washington, D.C. importance of recruiting strong academic faculty as well as strong research faculty who in turn could educate and train graduate students to be successful after leaving MSU.” Martens said, “Having four PECASE winners in one department is really exceptional, and three from one research group even more so, given that we have had a thousand or so in all scientific fields since Jonathan Cirtain 1996.”

Cirtain is the third current Cirtain’s PECASE award or former member of the MSU recognized him for outstandSolar Physics Group to receive ing research on basic physical the PECASE award. He is the processes observed in solar and fourth recipient associated with space plasmas through innovathe MSU physics department. tive engineering instrument Previous winners were designs.

Dana Longcope and Charles Before the PECASE award, Kankelborg, both in the he won the 2007 “Young ScienDepartment of Physics; and tist Award” of the International

Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy/International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He now heads the Solar Physics Group at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

He is project scientist for the Hinode mission, which is a NASA/Japanese Space Agency solar observatory that involves several MSU scientists. Cirtain also heads several NASA rocket experiments that test new innovative space instrumentation.

Cirtain continues to work with MSU on several space missions, Martens said. Those include Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the SDO Feature Finding Team, and proposals for two new missions, one jointly with the Russians, and Solar-C, a follow-up mission for Hinode, with Japan.

Cirtain said last year that he came to MSU for his doctorate, in part because he would have the opportunity to remotely operate the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE).

“It was an opportunity I don’t think I would have had if I would have gone to other graduate schools in astronomy,” Cirtain said.

He added that, “The Solar Physics Group (at MSU) is one of the best in the world. Having been a part of it, it opened up a number of opportunities for me.” —Evelyn Boswell

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Michael P. Malone Centennial Mall dedicated Under the leadership of MSU’s 10th president, Michael P. Malone, the Centennial Mall, a pedestrian promenade in the center of campus, was created in 1993 to celebrate MSU’s 100th anniversary. In honor of Malone’s contributions to MSU, the mall was dedicated in his honor at the 2011 homecoming celebration.

BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

Montana State University has been recertified by the NCAA for another 10 years Record-breaking TD MSU quarterback DeNarius McGhee and wide receiver Elvis Akpla made Bobcat football history with a 95-yard touchdown pass, the longest pass play from scrimmage in MSU history, at the 2011 Homecoming game against the Sacramento State Hornets.

NCAA certification is a oncea-decade event for Division I Athletics programs, and more than 50 coaches, faculty, students, staff and community members spent the 2010-11 academic year working on the project.

“This is a review by the NCAA of how our program stacked up against national benchmarks, and we stack up with the best,” said Peter Fields, MSU athletic director.

“This certification is a testament to the hard work of our coaches and staff to have a quality program for our student-athletes at MSU,”

Fields said. “It also shows the integration of athletics into the rest of campus in everything from recruiting, to mentoring, to the volunteer work our student athletes do for the community.”

In order to complete the certification process, MSU finished a self-study that reviewed the university’s governance and commitment to NCAA rules; academic integrity; gender/ diversity issues and studentathlete well-being.

“This was a tremendous effort by Committee Chair Jim Rimpau and a great many people to make this process

successful—MSU owes all of them a big thank you for their time,” Fields said.

MSU Athletics has enjoyed several off-the-field successes recently. Last semester, its roughly 350 student-athletes had a collective grade point average of 3.22—the highest in the Big Sky Conference as calculated by the league office. More than a dozen Bobcat student-athletes earned national academic honors during the most recent academic year, and MSU’s women’s basketball and track and field teams earned national awards for their academic performance as a unit.

—Tracy Ellig

National Champions The MSU Women’s Rodeo Team won the 2011 National Team Championship at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday, June 18. This is the first national championship for the program since 1986.

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BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

MSU’s Gaines Hall renovation awarded prestigious LEED Silver Certification One of the most heavily used buildings at Montana State University is the first state- and university-owned structure to receive LEED Silver Certification for its sustainable building design, construction and operation, according to university and state officials.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and MSU President Waded Cruzado commemorated the LEED Silver Certification received by MSU’s Gaines Hall at a ceremony Sept. 26 in the Gaines lobby.

The 80,000-square-foot Gaines Hall was renovated between 2008 and 2010, transforming the antiquated, 50-year-old building into a state-of-the-art teaching facility. Gaines is used by nearly every MSU undergraduate at some point during their academic career. It is home to University Studies, a 300-seat lecture hall, and laboratories for chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry, biology, physics, earth sciences and modern languages.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is an internationally recognized green building certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

With the LEED Silver Certification, Gaines Hall also becomes the highest certified state- and university-owned building in Montana.

“Sustainability is a very important issue for our students and so it’s fitting that our first LEED certified building on campus is a hub of student learning,” said Walt Banziger, director of MSU’s planning, design and construction department.

The $32.5 million renovation was funded with appropriations from the 2005 and 2007 Montana Legislatures and was championed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer and local legislators.

“This award is a significant confirmation of the high-level commitment to sustainability we’ve been practicing and demonstrates the capabilities of the exceptionally dedicated team of professionals who managed, designed and renovated this facility,” said Russ Katherman, Gaines project manager with the Architecture and Engineering Division in the Montana Department of Administration.

LEED Silver Certification of Gaines Hall was based on a number of green design and construction features including:

Enrollment passes 14,000 mark

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and MSU President Waded Cruzado commemorated the LEED silver certification received by MSU’s Gaines Hall at a ceremony on Sept. 26. Gaines Hall is the first universityand state-owned building to be awarded the prestigious LEED Silver Certification for its sustainable building design, construction and operation.

building in order reduce the building’s “heatisland” effect; • 52 percent reduction in water usage compared to an average building of comparable size; • Near 70 percent energy costs savings in optimized performance through highly efficient building materials and high-performance mechanical and electrical systems compared to an average building of comparable size; • Use of regional materials - the concrete block was supplied by Kanta Products from Three Forks, Mont.—along with 85 percent of wood being from certified sustainable forests; and • Diverting more than 85 percent of all construction waste away from landfills to recyclers.

This amounted to 1,967 tons or the rough equivalent of 16 Boeing 757-200 jets loaded with several hundred passengers each Gaines Hall, built between 1957 and 1961, was named after P.C. Gaines, who worked 43 years in the chemistry department, was a master teacher and served four times as acting president of MSU. The renovation project architect was Dowling-Sandholm Architects. The general contractor was BN Builders, Inc. —Tracy Ellig

• Using reflective material, planting nearby trees and reducing the amount of paving around the

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MSU’s fall 2011 enrollment set a new record with 14,153 students, 594 above last year’s record 13,559. Enrollment increases occurred in the freshmen class, Native American students, veterans and the Gallatin College programs.

BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

MSU dedicates new Veterans Center

Exponent is Nominated MSU’s student newspaper, The ASMSU Exponent, is a finalist in the Associated Collegiate Press’s 2011 Pacemaker competition.

The Pacemaker awards are known as the Pulitzer Prize of student journalism, and the Exponent is one of only 24 finalists in the “four-year non-daily newspaper” category.

Maybe it’s the color, a newly is more than three times the painted Aegean blue, that gives number of veterans served the recently renovated room when York first started at MSU 180 in Montana State Univer16 years ago. sity’s Strand Union Building a “As a result of the Post 9/11, feeling of tranquility, of being or New GI Bill, (veteran) attenan island in a sea of activity. dance at MSU and elsewhere That is the atmosphere that has just exploded,” York said.

Brenda York, MSU’s director York said that the majority of Disability, Re-Entry and of the veterans using the bill to Veterans Services, hoped for in attend MSU are probably ages the large room that is the newly 22-28, although there are some minted MSU Veterans Center. who are older.

As York sees it, MSU’s veteran “They need a place to come population deserves a little and hang out between classes, peace after giving so much. a place to use a computer or a The room that houses quiet place to study,” she said.

MSU’s Veterans Center is “We think it will see a lot of use dedicated to a variety of activionce they know it is here.” ties for MSU’s student veterans.

One of those veterans is The center was officially dediSean Gifford, a senior majoring cated in ceremonies on Sept. 12. in Liberal Studies (Global and “The vet center is a place to Multicultural Studies specializhelp veterans with the transiing in Middle-Eastern Culture). tion to higher education,” York A veteran of Iraq who originally said. “Montana State University hails from New Orleans, Gifthrough the support of many, ford is president of the MSU including President Waded Veterans Student Club.

Cruzado and Vice President of “It’s nice to have a large, Student Success Allen Yarnell, quiet space on campus for veterclearly demonstrates this comans,” said Gifford, who is also mitment to our country’s vets.” one of four work-study students York said that the number who man the center. “There is a of veterans attending MSU huge veteran population at the spring semester was 565, acschool, so it will be used.” cording to the U.S. DepartIn addition to being a site ment of Veterans Affairs. That for drop-in support for veterans,

the room will be the location for veteran-oriented seminars and guest speakers. It will house veteran resources as well as workshops, family activities and other events that will serve the veteran population, York said.

York said that the opening of the center comes at a time when there seems to be a lot of activity at MSU celebrating veterans. On Oct. 22 and 23, MSU hosted a Yellow Ribbon ceremony for Montana military personnel who are 30 and 60 days returned from assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, MSU will be the host for Montana for the National Roll Call of veterans who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, this summer, U.S. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki joined Montana Senator Jon Tester in a forum for veterans at MSU. “We have been working on this (the center) for three years, so it is good to see it come together,” York said.

The MSU Veterans Center is open from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. -5 p.m. on Friday.

—Carol Schmidt

MSU grad student will use NSF fellowship to uncover secrets in ancient Montana rocks MSU grad student Zach Adam is one of nine MSU-affiliated students who received an NSF graduate fellowship this year. Adam is shown here in Shughnan, Afghanistan where he helped conduct an earthquake education workshop for teachers and trainers from all across Afghanistan. In the background is the Panj River, which separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Zach Adam)

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BLUE & GOLD M S U N E W S

MSU wins $1.2 million to help 4-H students learn about bioscience research A $1.2 million grant the National Institutes of Health recently awarded to Montana State University will enable nearly 150 Montana high school 4-H students to conduct research and learn about careers in bioscience over the next four years.

The program, “Science Montana: Engaging 4-H Teens with Bioscience Research,” will bring 36 Montana 4-H students to the MSU campus each August for four years, for a total of 144 participants.

While at MSU, the students will participate in a weeklong science camp focused on biomedical research. Adult 4-H volunteers, who will participate in some labs and also attend special sessions to learn about technology, will accompany the students to campus.

At the camp’s conclusion, students will go back to their home communities and continue researching, completing projects and interacting with their classmates and professors. The program uses distance learning technologies and social media to connect youth in rural areas throughout the project year. Finally, at the end of the year, the students will return to campus to present their research findings at the annual 4-H Congress. The participants will also share public healthrelated information by developing interactive multimedia projects and presenting in their communities.

Those at MSU who are leading the free, multifaceted program note that it has numerous strengths, but one really stands out.

“The really cool thing about tion Partnership Awards. The this program is that we’ll be en- program is designed to improve hancing science through things life science literacy throughout we know kids are interested in,” the nation through innovative said Jill Martz, director of the educational programs.

4-H Center for Youth DevelopAnd, its ultimate goal is to ment at MSU. encourage more rural youth “To some kids, science seems to consider bioscience-related very intimidating. This procareers. According to Martz gram should help them realize and Obbink, a large need exists it’s already part of their everyday world,” she added.

Students will work directly with MSU professors and graduate and undergraduate students to experience various types of research, including basic research that creates new knowledge as well as applied and translational research that uses knowledge MSU molecular biosciences professor Jovanka to solve problems Voyich-Kane, left, examines a culture with a and improve quality graduate student in her laboratory at MSU. of life, according to Kim Obbink, the director of for a program of this kind.

MSU’s Extended University “Many of our rural schools who is also closely involved in do not have lab facilities to the program. offer in-depth science experiExamples of topics the ences,” Martz said. “That’s part of the need. students will study include “We’re also reaching out to infectious diseases, such as West Native American youth and Nile virus, human metabofemales, who are both underlism, historical comparisons represented in science fields, as of blood types within families and behavioral modifications to well as lower-income levels.”

Obbink noted that young enhance health. people in rural areas often aren’t Martz noted the program is exposed to all the career fields also designed to be hands-on. they might eventually consider.

“We want kids to experience what they’re learning,” she —Anne Cantrell said. “It enhances their skill development if they’re actually involved.”

The grant was made through an NIH program known as SEPA, or Science Educa-

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MSU unveils new look for new year

BY C A ROL SCH M IDT

Hapner Hall

T

Miller Dining Hall

Langford Hall

Miller Dining Hall

here has been a lot cooking at Montana State University’s Miller Dining Hall this summer, and it wasn’t just food.

The entire atmosphere of the university’s largest dining service was updated and brightened during a renovation that was completed over the summer. Everything from seating configurations to new food selections and dynamic graphics were modernized during the $261,000 makeover.

“We think students will like what they see,” said Todd Jutila, director of University Food Service, of the update to the cafeteria that serves about 3,500 meals per day.” The last time the dining hall was totally redone was 25-35 years ago, so it was due for a facelift.

And, this feels very contemporary.”

The updating of Miller Dining Complex was one of the most visible of about two dozen renovations that took place at MSU over the summer, making it one of the busiest summer renovation periods the campus has undergone in recent history, according to MSU officials.

Some of the other major projects included updating of rooms in Langford and Hapner residence halls, a stunning transformation of the first floor of MSU’s Renne Library designed to encourage group study. Those projects are in addition to a $15

million renovation that will be completed Highlights of some of the MSU’s major next year to Cooley Laboratory. A grant from summer renovation projects include: the National Institutes for Health funded the upgrade to the building that has long housed Langford and Hapner Remodeling MSU’s cutting-edge biomedical research.

The rooms in MSU’s Langford and Hapner Completed in time for the Bobcats’ first halls have been a favorite of students for home game on Sept. 10 was a $10 million decades. Located on the northeast edge upgrade to Bobcat Stadium of campus away from the larger high-rise “This was such a busy summer due to residence halls, Langford and Hapner house the fantastic support given to the stadium single genders rather than a co-ed environproject by the Bobcat Booster commument. Although these two residence halls nity, MSU’s strong are popular, Tammie Brown, proposal to garner MSU director of housing, has NIH funding for the received feedback from both Cooley renovation students and parents that the project, the residual buildings needed an update. effects of the stimuThe renovations became a lus funding provided priority after MSU President through congress Waded Cruzado and Provost and the Montana Martha Potvin came to MSU. Legislature and the Brown set a budget of $2.8 for need to update many both residence halls (new furniof our Auxiliaries ture was $1.2 million, and labor venues,” said Robert and construction were $1.6 Hapner Hall Lashaway, associate million). The improvements vice president of were funded by auxiliary service university services. earnings that have accumulated “The campus also in recent record enrollment years, and not with tax dollars. benefited from the construction of the new Next summer the university will update roundabout at College St. and 11th Ave., the lobbies and entries of the residence halls which was funded by the City of Bozeman. as phase two of the facelift, Stump said.

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10

Renne Library “Commons”

Miller Dining Hall

It had been about 30 years since Miller Dining Hall, MSU’s largest service operation, had a large-scale renovation done to its seating area.

“We definitely were overdue for a facelift,” Jutila said of the operation that serves 3,000 to 3,300 meals per day.

Jutila and Mike Kosevich, dining hall general manager, strove to create an entirely new atmosphere for one of the university’s most-used buildings. They divided the large cafeteria into pie-shaped regions, “Sort of like a Trivial Pursuit game board,” Jutila said. That helped them, and the designer they worked with, define both areas and needs for students.

The old long laminate tables were replaced with high-topped tables and booths where students can study while they eat, or just watch a Montana sunset. They also brought in another set of new furniture—chairs with a bobcat head laser-cut into the back—and stylish smaller tables that can be easily rearranged into small to large configurations. In all, the renovation cost $176,000 for new furniture and $85,000 for construction, for a total cost of $261,000. The renovation was funded by food service revenues.

Perhaps the pièce de résistance of the facelift is dynamic wall art produced by SCS Wraps, a local company made up of

MSU graduates, featuring larger-than-life action sports photos such as snowboarding and skiing.

Kosevich said the renovation did not stop at the furniture. The cafeteria also updated its menu. Miller cooks introduced more than 100 new recipes that will appeal to the contemporary student. The new menu items were developed both by utilizing the student suggestion box and by following new trends in university dining.

Renne Library

Evolving student needs also directed the renovation of the first floor of MSU’s Renne Library, where flexibility is the keyword.

Tamara Miller, dean of the MSU Libraries, said the $600,000 renovation completed at the end of summer transformed the first floor, which had been traditionally a reference area and shelving area, into a flexible learning space that is now called the Library Commons.

“Not only is it OK to move the furniture and speak to fellow students, we encourage it,” Miller said.

Miller said new patterns of group learning drove the plans for the renovation, which was paid for by a private donor as well as library revenues from things such as late book fees.

Fall 2011 | 11

To make room for the student-requested changes at Renne, Miller moved the large stacks of older printed books, which remain necessary but are used less frequently, to the basement. They are housed using an innovative electronic shelving system and may still be accessed by students and faculty.

The reference desk remains, but has been moved to the central area of the library, up on a mezzanine level, and updated. The reference area is backed by a series of study rooms that can flex from large to small. All of the easy chairs on the first floor are on wheels and may be moved freely. The popular Brewed Awakening Coffee Bar remains and the Renne Writing Center has been moved to a room on the first floor. There is also an area that houses a browsing area for new books and videos popular with MSU’s film students.

The total effect is like a large, contemporary bookstore. Yet, students who still wish for a quiet place to study and a more traditional library atmosphere will find that on the third and fourth floors.

The renovations to Langford and Hapner residence halls, the Miller Dining Hall and the Renne Library Commons were part of nearly 30 remodeling projects at MSU this summer.

Award-winning solar physicist praises MSU

BY E V E LY N B O S W E L L

A Montana State University alumnus who continues to win awards and opportunities in solar physics said the best decision he ever made—besides proposing to his fiancée— was attending MSU. “It was amazing. I absolutely loved the experience,” said Andres Munoz-Jaramillo, ’07 M Phys, ’10 PhD Phys.

Within a year of earning his doctorate, Andres Munoz-Jaramillo became a visiting fellow in the High Energy Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, published a paper in Nature, received a postdoctoral fellowship from NASA and won a national award for conducting outstanding research.

PHOTO COURTESY ANDRES MUNOZ-JARAMILLO

MSU not only shaped spend at least another year his career, but defined it, at Harvard, continuing to Munoz-Jaramillo said. study the magnetic evoluA native of Colombia, tion of the sun.

Munoz-Jaramillo first came Munoz-Jaramillo then to MSU in 2003 to particiwon the 2011 Fred L. Scarf pate in the summer program Award from the Space called Research Experience Physics and Aeronomy Secfor Undergraduates. After tion of the American Georeturning to Colombia to physical Union. The award finish two undergraduate goes to a recent doctoral degrees, he attended gradustudent for outstanding Andres Munoz-Jaramillo ate school at MSU. dissertation research that While at MSU, Munoz-Jaramillo was contributes directly to solar planetary scipart of the renowned Solar Physics Group, ence. Munoz-Jaramillo was the first MSU which Munoz-Jaramillo said is not only student to receive this honor, and the first one of the best solar physics groups in the solar physicist to receive this award in over United States, but one of the nicest. He a decade. said Piet Martens and Dibyendu Nandi Attributing much of Munoz-Jaramillo’s were the best advisers a graduate student success to focus and curiosity, Martens said, could want. Martens and Nandi have “He has the potential to become one of the written many papers together, won almost leaders of the solar physics worldwide comevery grant they applied for, organized munity in the future. If he stays in the U.S., several scientific meetings and mentored that would be a great benefit to the country, other graduate students who now work at but also if he goes back (to Colombia), the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center we would have a strong and very friendly and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for scientific connection with a country that is Astrophysics. of great importance to the U.S.” “They not only have been incredibly Nandi, now at the Indian Institute of supportive of my ideas and generous with Science Education and Research in Koltheirs, but they also involved me from the kata, said Munoz-Jaramillo’s early success beginning in those activities, apart from resulted from independent thinking, hard research, that make up the life of a scientist: work, patience and being a happy person. writing grant proposals, attending scientific Munoz-Jaramillo also benefited from the conferences, assembling scientific collabora- environment in MSU’s physics department. tions, etc.,” Munoz-Jaramillo added.

“His batch of graduate students at the The three colleagues published a paper in Solar Physics Group was an unusually Nature that explained for the first time why talented lot, each doing well in his own sunspots disappeared from 2008 to 2010. right,” Nandi explained. “The positive peer Nature is a weekly international journal that pressure mellowed by the general sense of publishes the top peer-reviewed research in camaraderie that prevails in the physics deall fields of science and technology. partment allowed him to grow intellectually.”

Munoz-Jaramillo was also one of three Based on what Munoz-Jaramillo recipients of a 2011 Jack Eddy Postdoctoral accomplished even before earning his Fellowship from NASA’s Living with a Star doctorate, Nandi said, “His future looks program. The fellowship will allow him to quite sunny.”

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Recognition for living her passion

BY M A RJOR IE SMIT H

Roxanne Fauque, ’92 M, is a woman with a mission. Music is her passion, and she wants to share it with as many children as possible.

In June, Fauque, who has taught music in the Belgrade, Mont., public schools since 1984, spent three days at Yale University at its school of music’s 2011 Symposium on Music in the Schools. Fauque received one of 50 Yale Distinguished Music Educator awards.

“It was a life-changing experience,” she says. “It’s given me a second breath of inspiration to take me through the rest of my career.”

Fauque earned her B.A. at Dana College, a small Lutheran school in Blair, Neb. “They closed the college last year,” Fauque says sadly. “At the last reunion I attended I looked at the 50-year graduates and realized I will never be able to attend my golden commencement anniversary.”

Fauque earned her Master of Education degree at MSU after she and husband Alan Fauque, well known throughout the state as a jazz saxophonist, moved to Montana.

Alan’s day job is also with the Belgrade schools where he conducts the high school and junior high band programs. Together, the couple play for a weekly jazz worship at Bozeman’s First Presbyterian Church, flutist Roxanne’s only regular performing gig.

She teaches vocal and instrumental music to children in grades 5 through 8 and it is her mission to convince them of the joy music can bring to their lives. “The kids have to believe that I love music in order for me to sell it to them,” she says. “I have to be energetic every moment I’m with them.”

Fauque was nominated for the Yale award

by Belgrade Superintendent of Schools Candy Lubansky—a reassuring vote of confidence for a teacher in a field threatened with budget cuts throughout the nation.

“We don’t worry about our jobs being at risk,” Fauque says. “I think all the Belgrade principals recognize the PR value of having a dynamic music program. However, we are losing space.” She explains that with an unforeseen influx of kindergarten-aged students, the Belgrade district has been forced to transform music rooms into kindergartens

Roxanne Fauque

Fauque is often asked to take on student teachers and is happy to do so. “I’m kind of hard on student teachers,” she confesses. “I want them to understand that music is not just a job. It’s got to be their life.” and music teachers have become nomadic, moving from room to room.

After Yale approved Fauque’s nomination for the music educator award, she was required to fill out page after page of applications. She also submitted a video of herself in action working with students. “I’m grateful for that application process,” Fauque says. “It was a kind of shakedown for me. I had to clearly define what I believe about teaching music.”

To her surprise, Fauque was selected as Montana’s winner of an all-expenses-paid trip, and in June she joined delegates from around the nation in New Haven, Conn., Fall 2011 | 13

for three days living on the Yale campus, attending lectures, workshops and concerts.

Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma was one of the workshop presenters as well as performing for the symposium attendees.

The music educator awards were established in 2007 with an endowment created by the Yale class of 1957. Fauque was a member of the second group honored in the biennial program.

“Yale was the second wind I needed,” Fauque says. “You have to work hard at keeping music relevant to the kids who are growing up in these fast-changing times. I believe teaching is all about passion and living your passion.”

Fauque is often asked to take on student teachers and is happy to do so. “I’m kind of hard on student teachers,” she confesses. “I want them to understand that music is not just a job. It’s got to be their life.”

Rebirth of the Rocking R Bar

BY R AC H E L H E RGE T T

S

hared history is not easily destroyed.

Generations of Bozemanites, Montana State University students and alumni who have stopped in for a drink (or two) refer to the Rocking R Bar as the R Bar, or “our bar.”

“It was the gathering and watering hole for all the kids,” owner Mike Hope, ’87 Bus, said. “I used to call it R Bar 101.

It was a core curriculum class when I was a kid.”

Then, a little more than two years ago, the bar was demolished in the downtown Bozeman natural gas explosion on March 5, 2009, that killed one person and reduced half of a city block to rubble.

And while that could have been the end of a history that began in 1947, it’s just a new beginning for the downtown staple, and the start of a healing process for the community.

“I don’t know that it’s just the bar that’s important,” Hope said. “It’s important to have the empty hole filled up.”

Mike Hope

The Rocking R Bar reopened July 26 in the new F&H building in downtown Bozeman, which will also house a new Sante Fe Reds restaurant. This present version is actually slightly east of the former location, occupying space that was once Montana Trails Gallery and part of Boodles restaurant.

Hope said a conscious decision was made to keep the design and building of the three-story F&H Building as local as possible, in the spirit of community.

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In that endeavor, the project employed dozens of MSU grads. It was designed by Locati Architects, many of whom were trained at MSU—general contractor Tony Martel, ’84 Bus, of Martel Construction; Ronald Pike, ’87 Eng, president of Sime Construction, which excavated and constructed the drainage system; and Jeff Matzinger, EX ’92, of Matzinger Electric, which did the wiring.

“You could probably go on and on,” Hope said.

Hope said it’s impressive how intertwined the university was in the whole process, and that it speaks volumes to the quality of the school itself.

“It was not an easy building,” he said.

Pike said the F&H construction was satisfying for him and many of his key people, who are also MSU graduates, mainly in construction engineering technology.

“We like to hire local,” he said.

The connection to the university, to other contractors and the shared history told on bar stools in the Rocking R

Top left: The MSU “Spirit” bronze displayed above the rear door of the new Rocking R. Right: Some of the many people who helped rebuild the popular local landmark. Bottom left: The goalpost from the Bobcats’ 2005 victory over the Griz survived the explosion and now holds a place of honor in the new bar.

made the construction project more than just a job.

“It’s somewhat fun to give back to the community,” Pike said.

The MSU connection goes deeper than just the architects and the builders. Hope said other MSU grads had a stake in the project as well, starting with former Bozeman commissioner Jeff Rupp, ’72 PolSci, and Bozeman Mayor Jeff Krauss, ’88 Bus, who helped navigate the approval process and reconstruction grants.

“The whole community pulled together to help us,” Hope said.

In the bar itself, at least 15 of 18 employees at the bar have graduated from or are attending MSU, according to Tony Kaber, ’05 Bus, who “started as a bouncer and is now running the bar.”

“We try to help MSU students get through MSU,” Kaber said.

Ties between the bar and the school remain strong.

The website, www.rockingrbar.com, designed by alum Ben Fjare, ’09 Art, sells Bobcat gear and proudly proclaims, “We have a touch of the old mixed with a lot of

“It was the gathering and watering hole for all the kids,” owner Mike Hope, ’87 Bus, said. “I used to call it R Bar 101. It was a core curriculum class when I was a kid.” great new features, but we haven’t lost our love for the Montana State Bobcats.”

Inside, a “Spirit” bronze from the Alumni Association is perched above the rear door. The bathrooms are decked out in blue and gold. Bobcat jerseys hang on the walls, including those from two national championship teams—1976 and 1984.

Then there’s the goalpost. Originally carried downtown in a crowd of people to the bar after the Nov. 19, 2005, 16-6 Bobcat victory over the rival University of Montana Grizzlies, the post survived the explosion and fire. Though it’s a little worse for wear, one can still see some of the signatures on the post, remnants of that game, the last game for senior quarterback and MSU hero Travis Lulay, ’06 Bus. The Rocking R’s latest addition is a ’53 Chevrolet pickup restored by alumnus Glen Fall 2011 | 15

Cloninger, ’68 Arch, ’08 M, and painted a sparkling Bobcat blue and gold. According to Hope, the Cloninger family is filled with Bobcats.

“His grandfather, his father, his wife and three kids all went to MSU,” Hope said.

After Cloninger’s death last December, the family contacted Hope about holding onto the pickup, which now has Bobcat plates that say RBAR 87—Hope’s graduation year. The truck will be displayed in the bar during its Fifth Quarter celebrations after every Bobcat football home game this fall.

“You only live once, and when you die you’re gone,” Hope said. “But you can leave a bit of a legacy behind. That truck is a legacy.”

The Rocking R has its own legacy, and it’s proven to be one of both continuity and renewal.

“It’s part of the healing process for downtown Bozeman,” Hope said. “It gives us a sense of place down there and knowledge that we as a community can survive.”

From Nordic ski team to Nordic center, grad develops skiing community Mandy Bowden Axelson

BY M E LY N DA H A R R I S ON

Mandy Bowden Axelson, ’07 HHD, lives MSU Nordic ski team head coach by a simple principle: if you say you are going Grethe Hagensen taught Axelson that in to do something, do it. And do it to the best order to be successful, one needs to be selfof your ability. She brought that can-do-well motivated. Hagensen reinforced that one attitude to Montana State University, develhas to know what she wants and go after it. oped it, and continues to abide by it now as Axelson added these principles to her own co-owner and founder of Homestake Lodge. philosophy when she started thinking about Axelson, originally from Cumberland, life after college.

Maine, came to MSU to Nordic ski. She As Axelson was traveling with the MSU started school in upstate New York, but ski team, she and her husband hatched the soon turned her boards west. “crazy” idea of starting their own Nordic “At the time the West was the place to Center. They checked out real estate and ski go for competitive skiing,” Axelson said. “I communities wherever they went. By the wanted to ski competitively and needed a end of her senior year, they decided they scholarship. MSU also had a good exercise would stay in Montana. science program and (now husband) Chris “We had a list of things we needed—a had been there and liked Bozeman.” certain elevation, enough snow, proximity Between training and competing with to an airport and a population base—that the MSU Nordic team and studying, Axeldoesn’t leave many places,” Axelson said. son didn’t have a lot of time for distractions, In the summer of 2007, they bought so she stayed focused on those two things. property beneath the Continental Divide on “I wanted to do a sport and do school Homestake Pass east of Butte, Mont. They and do both well,” Axelson said. opened for skiing that winter. What started In 2006, Axelson found herself standing as forest and meadows is now a destination in second place on the podium at the Diviresort with trails for skiing, mountain biking sion 1 qualifier at Soldier Hollow in Park and hiking, a ski shop, a lodge with bunk City, Utah. rooms, a yurt, a cabin and a home.

“It was unbelievable and the highlight of Building Homestake Lodge was a learnmy ski career,” Axelson recalled. “Both indiing process for the Axelsons. Chris had vidually and as a team, it was really moving.” coached Nordic skiing and owned ski shops, Collegian |

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both in Maine and Bozeman, and Mandy skied competitively. Now they found themselves building trails, putting up buildings and marketing their new venture.

“When you go into something like this you don’t know exactly what to expect,” Axelson said. “We expected most of our business to be in the winter, but we are renting out the lodge, yurt and cabin all year.”

The Axelsons have created more than a place; they’ve created a community. In the winter, skiers arrive from all over the state to kick and glide on the trails, enjoy a home cooked meal of soup and sandwiches and sip a beer in front of the fire or on a deck overlooking the trails. On Saturday mornings, Axelson coaches a youth ski group made up of kids from neighboring Butte. Weddings, family reunions, corporate retreats and youth groups fill the beds year-round, while hikers and mountain bikers take over the trails in the summer.

As Homestake Lodge has steadily grown, so has the Axelson family. In spring 2010, their first son, Lars, was born. They are expecting a second child in December.

“It’s a lot of work building a place like this, and even more maintaining it,” Axelson said. “But it’s easy to stay focused and committed when you love it.”

Ingredients for engineering success in Bozeman: Great resources, talented people

BY A N NE C A N T R EL L

Montana State University graduate Luke Mauritsen, ’05 ME, often heard people say that in order to get a good job in Montana, he would have to leave the state after graduation, gain experience and then find a way to come back.

Now, just six years later, he’s at the head of a high-tech company based in Bozeman.

And, even though he admits it was good advice, he didn’t end up leaving the state in order to get there.

Mauritsen, who is originally from Eureka, Mont., is founder and president of Montana Instruments Corporation. The company manufactures and sells cryogenic and optical equipment to researchers worldwide, from the U.S. to China to Europe. Cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature—under about 150 degrees Kelvin or minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit—and the behavior of materials at those temperatures.

Montana Instrument’s most popular piece of equipment, a Cryostation, allows researchers to study materials all the way down to just a few degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. Perhaps more importantly, Mauritsen noted the Cryostation is flexible for a wide range of research and maintains the most stable environment of any instrument of its kind. Its design also allows for good optical access, so that researchers using lasers and microscopes can easily study samples using a variety of applications and techniques.

“This instrument is very user friendly; you just plug it into the wall, insert a sample and go,” Mauritsen said. “We wanted it to be something a grad student who has no cryogenic experience at all can be using very quickly.”

Mauritsen began to recognize the need for the instrument while working at S2 Corporation, another Bozeman-based high-tech company that had spun off of a research center at MSU. At S2, he had been developing cryogenic optical systems for defense and computing applications. However, the cryogenic instruments available at the time made his work difficult and time-consuming.

“In our experience at S2, there was nothing on the market that really worked well in

cryogenics,” Mauritsen said. “I saw it as an opportunity to develop something better.”

So, Mauritsen began interviewing researchers from all over the world about cryogenics and the equipment they needed.

“It was difficult for them to think beyond the current instruments available, so you can’t always get people to tell you exactly what they need,” he said. “At some point, you have to be a bit visionary. We had to take some risks in doing something that’s different than what’s been done. We won’t know if we were right until we get it in front of the researchers and they use it.”

Montana Instruments set an original goal to sell 10 systems—each worth between $80,000 and $90,000—in the first year. The company surpassed that goal.

And, in just one year, it has grown from two to seven employees, which include several MSU graduates. The company hopes to double in size in the next year.

Zeb Barber, director of MSU’s SpecLuke Mauritsen trum Lab, notes that Montana Instruments is an example of how there are opportunities for people graduating in science and engineering fields to stay in Montana and be involved in exciting research.

Isaac Henslee, ’07 ME, who graduated from MSU in 2010 with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, calls working at Montana Instruments a great opportunity.

“I came here straight out of school and get to do more than I would have in many other places,” Henslee said.

Mauritsen noted that many different factors have contributed to the company’s Fall 2011 | 17

success, including its connections to MSU. In addition to the MSU graduates it employs, the company also collaborates with the MSU Spectrum Lab and the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center at MSU, which is helping the company develop marketing strategies and improve manufacturing efficiency.

“We have great resources and talented people,” Mauritsen said. “Those people have

come in and made this company great. It is a blessing and a privilege to be part of a growing company like Montana Instruments.”

MSU Extension agents aid severely flooded communities

BY E V E LY N B O S W E L L

M

ontana State University Extension agents normally spend their summers answering questions about gardens, crops and county fairs, but widespread flooding “wagged the tail” of their work this year.

As flooding caused millions of dollars of damage across Montana, Extension agents took to the road and the airwaves to explain how Montanans could save livestock, salvage buildings and dry out basements. They flew by helicopter to document damage. They cooked for displaced residents and provided a comprehensive disaster website for flood victims. After 1,000 barrels of oil spilled into the Yellowstone River, they answered a new batch of questions on top of those about flooding.

“It’s just overwhelming,” said John Pfister, ’84 Ag Ed, Extension agent for Musselshell and Golden Valley counties.

Serving one of the hardest-hit areas of the state, Pfister spent long hours on the job as floods turned Roundup into an island, stranded ranchers and complicated plans for the county fair. With water covering roads

and fields, Pfister flew in helicopters, taking hundreds of photos and documenting damage with the GPS skills he normally teaches to constituents. He worked with Gary, Phyliss and Tyler Eliasson, who agreed to hold the county fair on their ranch this year.

Pfister, along with many others in the area, delivered supplies, moved equipment and stacked sandbags for flood victims.

“He’s a great community man,” said Mary Cooley, ’58, HomEc, and widow of John Cooley, ’58, RMgmt.

Cooley, 73, said the floodwaters first arrived May 26 on her ranch along the Musselshell River. The water “kept running and running” until it filled the basement of a three-story house on her property. The house is more than 100 years old. Water also overflowed her driveway so she eventually couldn’t reach the highway even by tractor or pickup. It covered her fields and damaged about 100 acres of irrigated land. It filled her horse arena with so much water that it could’ve been a marina. Months later, mushrooms still flourished beneath her double-wide trailer. Cottonwood sprigs grew everywhere.

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“It looks like a war zone. It’s a long ways from being healed up,” Cooley commented.

Elsewhere in Montana, Yellowstone County Ag Extension agent Steve Lackman worked with producers after Pryor Creek flooded and washed out the Huntley Project Irrigation Canal. The potential loss of irrigation water could affect 30,000 acres of beets, corn, malt barley, alfalfa and a variety of alternative crops with a value of more than $17 million. Currently, a temporary fix has reestablished water flow in the canal. Then came the oil spill that not only sent oil down the Yellowstone River from Laurel, but—because of high water—sent oil onto cropland and pastures.

“Between the flooding and the oil spill, it has been a little crazy in Yellowstone County,” Lackman said.

To help agencies deal with the oil spill, Lackman served on an agricultural lands subcommittee established by the Environmental Protection Agency and Exxon. The subcommittee consisted of agricultural, oil and environmental experts from MSU Extension, the Montana Department of Agriculture, Montana Department of Live-

As flooding caused millions of dollars of damage across Montana, Extension agents took to the road and the airwaves to explain how Montanans could save livestock, salvage buildings and dry out basements. They flew by helicopter to document damage. They cooked for displaced residents and provided a comprehensive disaster website for flood victims.

PHOTOS COURTESY TOM PFISTER

MSU Extension agent John Pfister in Roundup, Mont.

stock, Montana Department of Environment Quality, Exxon Mobil and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Lackman also gave recommendations to farmers and ranchers who were concerned about the effect the oil would have on their crops and livestock.

“It has been pretty interesting, to say the least,” Lackman said.

In Custer County, Extension agent Tara Andrews, ’83 HomEc, told her radio listeners how to deal with mold in their homes. Custer County had more problems from high levels of ground water than from rivers, she said. Mold, she explained, causes problems for people with allergies. It also affects their pets and damages the structure of their houses.

On the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation where Hays, Lodge Pole and Fort Belknap Agency were hardest hit, Family Consumer Science Extension agent Paula Enkerud helped cook meals for disaster relief workers and people who were displaced by the flooding. She helped make sure residents had groceries and fuel. Ag Extension agent Samantha Graf warned cattle producers about anthrax and reminded them that cattle need

Vogel said MSU Extension agents will to drink a certain amount of fresh water continue to deal with the aftermath of floodeven though they might be on high ground. ing this fall and winter, but he added that it’s She told them how to salvage hay, maintain proper nutrition for their animals and where something the agents were trained to do.

“On the one hand, the emphasis this to look for lost pets. summer was very, very strong on flooding.

For those and other MSU Extension On the other hand, it’s not something we agents, “Flooding wagged the tail of their really have to gear up for,” Vogel said. “Our summer,” said Extension Housing and Environmental Health Specialist Mike Vogel. business is outreach and education beyond the campus. Our campus is the state.”

Roundup, the Crow Indian Reservation, the Extension Director Doug Steele said, Hi-Line and areas along the Yellowstone experienced the most severe flooding, he said. “Our grassroots approach to working with communities ensures that we are engaged By early September, the Federal Emerin issues that have a local impact. Extension gency Management Agency (FEMA) had agents are routinely requested to ’fill the given $4.7 million to individuals in 31 gap’ where information or support is needed Montana counties and four Indian reservafor a quick response or a central point of tions, said External Public Affairs Officer Ricardo Zuniga. It gave another $26 million contact is necessary for effective commufor roads, bridges and other public infranication and strategic planning. This goes structure projects in 48 Montana counties well beyond the typical concerns of noxious and five Indian reservations. weed control or insect/disease infestations Monique Lay, public information officer and recently has included flooding, wildfires with Montana Disaster and Emergency Serand agronomic diseases that need a rapid vices, said that that agency gave out almost response.” $13 million by early September, and the amount would increase.

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MSU PALEONTOLOGISTS HAVE BANNER YEAR

BY E V E LY N B O S W E L L

T

he opening of an international Horner is also a consultant on “Terra exhibit in Japan, the release of Nova,” a new TV series that premiered this the “Jurassic Park” movies on fall on Fox. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Blu-ray, a new TV show and sevthe show is said to be a cross between eral published studies have made “Little House on the Prairie” and “Jurasthis a banner year for Montana sic Park.” TV Guide said it focuses on a State University paleontologists who were family that travels back 85 million years involved in those projects. and encounters a variety of dinosaurs. As a “We certainly did a lot of cool stuff,” result, Horner was needed to make sure the said Jack Horner, curator of paleontology/ computer-generated images are as scientifiregent’s professor of paleontology at MSU’s cally accurate as possible.

Museum of the Rockies (MOR).

In July, the museum opened a traveling exhibit at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Japan, the first stop in a threeyear tour through Asia. The “Dinosaur Growth and Behavior” exhibit shows the growth stages of Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus and Hypacrosaurus, explains how their skulls changed shape as they grew up and how that relates to social behavior among dinosaurs.

“This is the most cutting-edge dinosaur research currently out there, and we are thrilled to share these findings in such an exciting way with an international audience,” said Pat Leiggi, administrative director Jack Horner, MOR Curator and Regents of paleontology and director of exhibits Professor of Paleontology, autographs toy at MOR. “In addition, we are planning a dinosaurs for Japanese children at the grand similar exhibit to tour in the United States opening of the Museum of the Rockies dinosaur exhibit at the Fukui Prefectural beginning in the fall of 2012.”

Dinosaur Museum in Japan in early July. Photo In August, the museum and Universal courtesy of the Museum of the Rockies.

Pictures International hosted 31 journalists from eight countries who came to Montana to prepare print, Web and TV features that were issued in conjunction with the Oct. “He (Horner) wants to be able to say it’s 25 release of the “Jurassic Park” trilogy on completely plausible or possible that this Blu-ray. Horner was the scientific adviser for creature could have existed,” visual-effects the movies and the inspiration for one of supervisor Kevin Blank said. the lead characters, Dr. Alan Grant. Among Throughout 2011, MSU paleontologists other things, the journalists interviewed published several scientific articles, including Horner, learned how fossils are prepared, at least three in the journal PLoS One. David and participated in digs at Egg Mountain, Varricchio and doctoral student Michael near Choteau, Mont.

Knell in the Department of Earth Sciences were co-authors of a September paper that Collegian | 20

described a rare theropod that shed new light on long-standing questions. Knell discovered the fossil in 2008 in southern Utah.

Doctoral student Holly Woodard and co-authors published a paper in August, saying that dog-sized dinosaurs living near the South Pole had bone tissue very similar to other dinosaurs, which helped explain why dinosaurs were able to dominate the Earth for 160 million years. Doctoral student Denver Fowler and co-authors published a paper in June that disputed previous findings about the Raptorex kriegsteini. They found that the Raptorex kriegsteini was a juvenile of another species instead of a whole new species.

In other paleontology activities, Horner said Fowler and crew excavated an important Triceratops skeleton near Jordan that will help bolster the hypothesis that Triceratops and Torosaurus dinosaurs were actually the same dinosaur at different stages of growth. Graduate student Liz Freedman and her crew excavated a new species of duck-billed dinosaur in the Rudyard area.

Horner and others re-opened some of the Egg Mountain sites to look for baby dinosaurs. The MOR reconstructed a juvenile Triceratops skeleton that is now on display in the museum’s Hall of Horns and Teeth.

“Even the paleontologists at the Los Angeles County Museum, which just opened their new dinosaur hall, mentioned that their hall wasn’t any better than ours here at MSU,” Horner said.

“Together with all that is going on with Dave Varricchio and Frankie Jackson (in earth sciences), we here at Montana State University can still say that we have the largest dinosaur research group and largest and most productive field program in the country. And most important, our research is at the forefront of dinosaur science, meaning that our students are at the cutting edge of our science,” Horner said.

A Japanese poster advertising the opening of the Museum of the Rockies dinosaur exhibit at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Japan. Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Rockies.

“Together with all that is going on with Dave Varricchio and Frankie Jackson (in earth sciences), we here at Montana State University can still say that we have the largest dinosaur research group and largest and most productive field program in the country. And most important, our research is at the forefront of dinosaur science, meaning that our students are at the cutting edge of our science.”

Fall Fall 2011 2011 | 21| 21

—Jack Horner

MSU S T U D E N T P R O F I L E

PHOTO BY KELLY GORHAM

HIL A R Y FA BIC H

Fabich’s career plans gelled when she discovered a passion for research

BY C A ROL SCH M IDT

F

or one who came a very short distance to attend Montana State University, Hilary Fabich has gone a very long way.

A senior majoring in chemical engineering, Fabich grew up in Montana’s Paradise Valley wrangling wildlife with her game warden father. Yet, since she arrived at MSU, she has criss-crossed the globe researching the properties of gels, performed in Viet Nam and volunteered in Africa. She is also one of just a few undergraduates who has published papers in a prestigious research journal, and is poised for a career in a new field of materials science.

However, when she came to MSU just five years ago Fabich had only a vague idea of what an engineer might do.

In fact, growing up, Fabich was an accomplished pianist, as well as a hunter, fisherwoman and horseback rider, who considered a career in music. A guidance counselor at Park High School, in Livingston, Mont., who knew of Fabich’s skills in math and science suggested she add engineering to the mix. Fabich thought that might be practical, so she looked at colleges across the country where she could study both.

“But, it was financially better at MSU, and I also LOVE the mountains,” Fabich said.

To learn more about engineering, she found a summer job in the lab of Joe Seymour, an MSU professor of chemical and biological engineering. Seymour and Sarah Codd, an MSU mechanical engineering professor, co-direct the MSU Magnetic Resonance Lab. Seymour sought a student who would use magnetic resonance technology to research gels made from brown algae. Such alginates, as they are called, are used in biomedical applications such as tissue engineering (the laboratory growth of human tissue) as well as other areas, such as food additives.

Fabich’s first step was getting the necessary chemicals to form a gel. While the process “took really a long time…When I finally got it to work, I felt so proud. That’s when I knew I wanted to do research for my career.”

Despite a demanding academic and research schedule, Fabich also packed a good number of passions and activities into her MSU years.

She played in the MSU Symphony that toured Southeast Asia. She played keyboard in a blues rock band and was an avid skier.

Collegian | 22

She was a mentor for the MSU Minority Apprentice Program, worked with Native American students in Ronan and mentored middle school girls in science and math with Expanding Your Horizons.

She volunteered in Kenya for a month with Engineers Without Borders, and she learned techniques important to her research at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. And, this past summer she studied with David Weitz, one of the world’s most prominent physicists, at Harvard University.

Fabich still exercises her creative bent.

She recently won a prize at a national professional conference for the most creative MRI images. And, she published a paper on the dynamics of alginate gelation in the journal Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. Codd estimates “less than one percent of undergraduates publish in a major scientific journal.”

Fabich is applying to graduate schools and plans a future “possibly in industrial research, possibly academia. But, I know I want to stay in research. It is one of my passions, and I feel like that is how I can contribute the most.”

MSU A L U M N I P R O F I L E

PHOTO COURTESY PORTL AND ART MUSEUM

Portland Art Museum’s Curator of Northwest Art Bonnie LaingMalcolmson poses with a work called “The Gift” by Helena, Mont., ceramic artist Richard Notkin.

BO N N IE L A IN G - M A L C O L MS O N

Always ready for a new challenge

BY M A RJOR IE SMIT H

W

a graduate degree and concentrate on her hen Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, painting.

She chose MSU. ’91 M Art, announced her resigna“The MSU art school had a very strong tion as president of the Oregon reputation,” she says. “I was particularly College of Art & Craft (OCAC) in 2009, it intrigued because John Buck and Debbie occasioned headlines in the Portland OregoButterfield were on the faculty. I wanted to nian. Reporter D. K. Row said the resignawork with artists of that caliber.” tion was a surprise. He credited Malcolmson Laing-Malcolmson stayed in Bozeman with turning the college around. “The colas director of the Beall Park Art Center for lege reemerged as an artistic and educational three years after obtaining her M.A.. “I still force under Malcolmson,” Row wrote. have fond feelings about Bozeman,” she says.

Laing-Malcolmson scoffs at the idea that “It’s beautiful with a wonderful community there was anything sudden or mysterious of artists.” about her resignation . “I’d been there 10 But she wanted a new challenge then, years, I gave the board many months’ notice. too.

For six years she headed Great Falls’ It was time for new challenges,” she says, Paris Gibson Square Art Center. Then came adding a little sheepishly, “They even named the chance to return to the West Coast as a building after me.” The two-story thesis president of the OCAC. building, part of the huge fundraising and When Laing-Malcolmson arrived, accordbuilding program at OCAC she led, is now ing to the Oregonian, OCAC was in debt and Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson Hall. had a hard time keeping teachers and staff.

Her new challenge, since August 2010, is as Northwest Curator of Art at the Portland “Under Malcolmson,” the newspaper said, “college officials and the board did more Art Museum. than clear debt and straighten out programs.

A native of Seattle, Wash., Laing(They) set a path for its long-term future.”

Malcolmson earned her bachelor’s degree At the Portland Art Museum, Laingin 1978 from Portland’s “other art college,” Malcolmson supervises a permanent collecPacific Northwest College of Art. After six tion of thousands of pieces of art by artists years as director of admissions and acain the Northwest United States. “By our demics at that school, she decided to get Fall 2011 | 23

definition,” she says, “Northwest means not merely Seattle and Portland, Washington and Oregon, but all the art that is happening in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.”

As curator, she organizes exhibits from the museum’s permanent collection and writes the catalogs and panels that go on the walls during the exhibit. “I spend a lot of time traveling. I’m not in the business of discovering new artists so much as just keeping up with trends and exhibits involving established artists.” The museum used to do an annual show of new Oregon Art, but recently inaugurated the broader Contemporary Northwest Arts Awards. “We ask experts to nominate artists,” she says. “In this second just completed biennial, 296 artists were nominated, 241 applied and in the end we selected seven artists for the show, including John Buck.”

Laing-Malcolmson’s salary and budget for purchasing new work are underwritten by an endowment set up by philanthropists Arlene and the late Harold Switzer. “They gave the museum the art they’d collected through the years after Arlene founded the Fountain Gallery,” Laing-Malcolmson explains. “They wanted to be sure someone was supervising the collection.”

Jake Jabs, continued from page 3

PHOTO BY PARKER HILTON

Jake Jabs speaks to MSU business students.

Last year, Jabs made a $3 million gift to the MSU College of Business for the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West.

“I hope my gifts inspire others to contribute to the future of entrepreneurship education at MSU,” Jabs said. “So many of us in business have been so well served by our education from Montana State, we should do what we can to help the next generations be successful too.”

The fourth of nine children, Jabs and his siblings never thought of themselves as poor, despite their circumstances, Jabs wrote in his autobiography in 2000. Instead, his parents taught their children the importance of self-confidence, the courage to take risks, the importance of developing hobbies outside of work and caring about things other than money.

Jabs also credits his parents, who immigrated from Russia and Poland, for providing him with a strong work ethic, and Jabs’ father—who had no formal education beyond the second grade—shared with his children his belief that education was essential.

“He said he felt left out because of his education,” Jabs said. “He wasn’t able to get any education beyond the second grade in Poland and my mother only went through the seventh grade. Both of them wanted their children to get an education, and so my dad gave us enough money to start college.

“They believed it would open doors for us, give us opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise had— and they were right,” Jabs said. “Education gave me the confidence to take risks, and taking risks is key to being successful.”

After graduating from high school in Hardin, Jabs enrolled at what was then Montana State College and graduated with a degree in vocational agriculture in 1952.

During his college years, he played with the Montana State band, was on the MSU rodeo team, joined the ROTC, and took many elective courses, which he said helped him explore a variety of subjects and ultimately helped him pursue several different careers throughout his life, including music and business.

And, though his studies were focused on agriculture, his business instincts and entrepreneurial spirit were evident even as a college student and young adult. Jabs and one of his brothers worked Collegian | 24

their way through college doing odd jobs and playing music. Later, after serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as a musician in Nashville, Jabs returned to Bozeman, where he bought a music store. He secured a loan from the bank to buy out his partner in the store only after putting up as collateral cattle from his family’s ranch.

Jabs’ first serious venture into the furniture business came in 1968, when he opened a highend furniture store, Mediterranean Galleries, with locations in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Colo. and Billings. Five years later, Jabs decided to close the business. Then, in 1975, he purchased a struggling furniture business, renaming it American Furniture Warehouse.

Since then, American Furniture Warehouse has experienced remarkable growth and expanded into a 12-store operation. Jabs, who is 80, remains responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and also oversees the company’s team of buyers, often traveling to Asia on purchasing trips.

Today, American Furniture Warehouse is one of the top retail furniture companies in the U.S. and is the largest privately held businesses in Colorado, with sales topping $300 million annually and 1,500 employees throughout Colorado.

Jabs, well-known in Colorado for his philanthropy, believes gifts to education provide a great benefit for the future.

“My own life experience leads me to believe this is where my efforts can do the most good,” Jabs said. “I think of all the students who might come from circumstances like mine, and I want to help them.”

Dana, the interim dean of the College of Business, said Jabs’ gift will help the college overcome space, staffing and program constraints that it currently faces.

“Our home in Reid Hall is holding us back from doing so many things,” Dana said. “A new building would give us space for advising, classrooms and one-on-one work with students. Additionally, adding new programs will help us truly become a nationally recognized program and allow us to contribute in important ways to economic development in Montana.”

The head of the MSU Alumni Foundation, the non-profit alumni and donor relations arm of the university, also expressed appreciation for the gift.

“This is a very meaningful gift to Montana State University,” said Michael Stevenson, president and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation. “In every way, Mr. Jabs’ life is a testament to the value of public higher education. His generous support of his alma mater will create endless opportunities for our students, and for this we are most grateful.” — Anne Cantrell

PHOTO COURTESY DARIN FALCON

Civil engineer focuses on needs of society

BY M E LY N DA H A R R I S ON

Growing up in Poplar, Mont., Darin Falcon, “I still crack that business communication ’04 CE, didn’t know exactly what he wanted book out a lot,” Falcon said. to do with his life, but he knew he wanted The biggest thing that kept him motito do something to help his tribe. vated at MSU was time spent with Native Now, Falcon is the first tribal member American Studies advisor Jim Burns. From hired as director of the Fort Peck Tribes little things like reminding Falcon to “keep Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) Program, a your head up” and that he was “doing it for position that requires a licensed civil engineer. his family,” to helping with scholarship apThe path to get there started in 1995 plications, Falcon credits Burns for keeping when he came to Montana State University him going at MSU. for a six-week, hands-on summer research Falcon’s first job out of school was experience for Native American and disadwith Stahly Engineering and Associates in vantaged high school students who want to Bozeman, a position he landed just before pursue careers in science, technology, engigraduating from MSU. After five years of neering and math. The American Indians designing roads, bridges and other public in Mathematics program was Falcon’s first infrastructure—including large wastewaintroduction to MSU. ter tanks used in Manhattan, Mont.,—he Falcon likes to plan ahead. Before his semoved to Billings, Mont., to work at Northnior year in high school, he joined the Army ern Engineering and Consulting Inc. National Guard to help pay for college. He While working as a project manager completed basic training that same summer. in Billings, his boss told Falcon about an During his time at MSU he went back and opening with the Fort Peck Tribes Indian forth between his studies and Guard duty.

Reservation Roads Program. They were lookAt MSU, Falcon studied civil engineering for an engineer and preferred a tribal ing because, he said, a civil engineer focuses member for the position. He got the job. on the needs of society rather than the needs In June 2011, Montana’s U.S. Senator of an individual.

Max Baucus named Falcon his “Montana He said there isn’t anything he learned at Hero of the Day” for his round-the-clock MSU that he doesn’t use in his job as direcefforts to help Fort Peck Indian Reservator of IRR, but a class in business communi- tion residents through severe flooding. cation sticks out to him.

When floodwaters hit the Fort Peck Indian Fall 2011 | 25

Darin Falcon

Reservation in May, almost 40 families were forced from their homes.

Falcon constructed berms and dikes to protect the community and took the extra step of working on individual projects to help property owners stranded by the floodwaters. He delivered sandbags to residents and even helped an elderly member of the community build an alternate roadway to his home after 300 feet of the original roadway was submerged.

“Darin’s care for his community goes way beyond his job title.” Baucus said. “He’s used his expertise as an engineer to find ways to help his neighbors on projects of every scale. But it’s his work ethic and willingness to help out that make him a real Montana hero.”

Falcon said he didn’t really want the kudos.

“I was just doing my job,” Falcon said. “I take my ethical responsibilities seriously.”

Falcon lives in Wolf Point, Mont., with his wife, Billie, and their children Zane, 9, and Jacob, 6.

C IN C IN N

AT I, O H IO

CAT GRIZ P E O R IA , A R IZ O N A DE N VER,

C O LO R A D

O The MSU & UM alumni associations bring you these satellite parties.

For updated party information visit: alumni.montana.edu/ events/catgriz

2011 Satellite Parties • Saturday, November 19 • 12:05 MST Kickoff in Bozeman ALASKA: Anchorage—The Peanut Farm, 522 Old Seward Bay–San Leandro—Ricky’s Sports Theater and Grill, Hwy ▶ Cari (Boltz) Zawodny ’98; cariboltz@gmail.com; 907223-0477 Fairbanks—Ivory Jacks, 2581 Goldstream Rd ▶ Will Bodle ’87; 907-452-4737; wlbodle@acsalaska.net Juneau—Location TBD ▶ Virgil Fredenberg ’83; virgil. fredenberg@uas.alaska.edu; 907-523-6025

ARIZONA: Flagstaff—Granny’s Closet, 1 blk S of underpass on Milton Rd ▶ Charlie Doughty ’05; charlie.w.doughty@gmail.com; 406-788-5965 Glendale— R.T. O’Sullivan’s (new location for 2011), 5830 W Bell Rd. ▶ Charlie Coil ’04 CLCoil@carhartt.com; 714-655-0892 Scottsdale—Duke’s Sports Bar, 7607 E. McDowell ▶ Brad ’91 and Brenda (Sedivy) ’92 Neubauer; bneubauer720@aol. com; 602-524-9509 Tucson—Stadium Grill & Bar, 3682 W Orange Grove Rd ▶ Julie Goswick ’82; jpgoswick@raytheon. com; 520-296-0725 Yuma—Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grille in the Yuma Palms shopping center ▶ Pat (Smith) Hall ’58; patiluhal@yahoo.com; 406-587-2998 MT • 928-3143252 AZ ARKANSAS: Little Rock—West End Smokehouse & Tavern, 215 N Shackleford—*MSU Coordinator needed— UM Coordinator: Allen Davis; allen.davis@pbba.cc; 501804-7987

CALIFORNIA: Fresno—Silver Dollar Hofbrau; 333 E Shaw Ave ▶ Don Henderson ’63; ljhintdes@yahoo.com; 559-435-8874 Los Angeles–Culver City—Joxer Daly’s; 11168 Washington Blvd. ▶ Chris Kubin ’86; dawgdiver@ gmail.com; 310-466-4827 Orange County–Rancho Santa Margarita—Daily’s Sports Grill, 29881 Aventura ▶ Lisa Rockwell ’83; Rockwell_L@AUHSD.US ; 714-8326371 Palm Desert–La Quinta—Beerhunter, 78-483 Hwy 111 ▶ Mark ’88 & Laurie Pertile ’88; mlpertile@aol. com; (909) 795-5895 Sacramento-Fair Oaks—Players Sports Pub, 4060 Sunrise Blvd ▶ Bonnie McCracken ’84; bonnie.mccracken@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu; 916-784-3507 San Diego—McGregor’s Grille and Ale House, 10475 San Diego Mission Road ▶ Pete Burfening ’94; pburfening@ wshblaw.com; 619-933-2272 San Francisco East

15028 Hesperian ▶ Steve Wray ’84; s.wray@comcast.net; 925-672-0976 San Francisco North Bay–San Rafael Area—Flatiron Sports Bar, 724 “B” Street, San Rafael Bonnie Smith ’56; bandbsmithc@comcast.net; 415-8923123 San Francisco–City—Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill, 1824 Irving Street ▶ Brad Bergum ’95; bradbergum@yahoo. com; 415-948-4724

bcfrazee@cableone.net; 208-521-3888 Lewiston/ Clarkston, WA—Shooters Sports Bar, 1618 Main Street, Lewiston ▶ Gary Offerdahl; offerdahl@cableone.net; 208816-0389 Twin Falls—Buffalo Wild Wings, 1329 Poleline Road, Shops at Magic Valley Mall ▶ Steve Hoy ’83; hoyst@ tfsd.k12.id.us; 208-733-6507

ILLINOIS: Chicago-City—Fireplace Inn, 1448 North

Wells (6 blocks W of Lake Shore Dr, 1 block S of North Ave, 3 blocks N of Division St.)—*MSU Coordinator Sports Bar & Grill, 1850 Dominion Way ▶ Art Post ’58; needed—RSVP to Pattie Sheehan (UM Coordinator) at psheehan1400@ameritech.net Chicago-Schaumburg— sharcampo@earthlink.net; 719-634-5907 Denver— Brooklyn’s at The Pepsi Center, 901 Auraria Pkwy ▶ Margie The Fox and Hound Smokehouse and Tavern, 1416 N. Roselle Rd ▶ Matt Mulryan ’83; mattm180@comcast.net; Barnes ’63; mdb10@hotmail.com; 303-696-6359 Fort 847-548-1149 Collins—Old Chicago, 4709 South Timberline Rd, Suite 1 ▶ Joe Hicks ’04; hicksjoe@hotmail.com; 202-680-9418 INDIANA: Indianapolis—Fox and Hound English Pub Grand Junction—Wrigley Field, 1810 North Avenue ▶ & Grille, 4901 E 82nd Street Ste 900 ▶ Donna (Swank) Dusty Dunbar ’83; edustin@peoplepc.com; 970-858-9132 Rudiger ’75; donna.rudiger@roche.com; 317-788-1299

COLORADO: Colorado Springs—Dublin House

FLORIDA: Pensacola—Seville Quarter–Pool Room, 130

KANSAS/MISSOURI: Overland Park (Kansas City)— E. Government Street ▶ Jeff Neely ’91; neelys4@mchsi.com Johnny’s Tavern www.johnnystavern.com, 6765 W. 119th Wildwood—Beef O’Brady’s Sports Bar, 840 S. Main St. ▶ Street (NEW Location—on 119th Street between Metcalf Steve Gamradt ’72; slgamradt@hotmail.com; 352-259and Nall) ▶ Rick Marr ’87; Rick@marrandcompany.com 6070 LOUISIANA: Monroe—Rising Sun (Coda Bar & Grill), GEORGIA: Atlanta–Alpharetta—Montana’s Sports Bar 101 N Grand St (New Location) ▶ Deanna Buczala ’05; and Grill, 13695 Hwy 9 (A $5/person voluntary contribution buczala@ulm.edu; 318-557-9320 is also being asked, which includes entry for a $25 gift MASSACHUSETTS: Salisbury—The Winners Circle, 211 certificate. ▶ Josh Earhart ’86; josh_earhart@bellsouth.

Elm Street (Route 110) ▶ Chris Mattocks ’65; Tmattocks@ net; 770-516-0547 bridgew.edu; 508-531-1441 GERMANY: Ramstein AFB—This game will be watched MICHIGAN: Detroit Area–Utica—Dave and Buster’s via internet at bigskytv.com. Contact Maggie for a group of Detroit, 45511 Park Ave (Intersection of M59 &M53) ▶ gathering! ▶ Maggie Bigelow ’99; maggiebigelow@yahoo.

Fred Quinn ’60; fjquinn2812@msn.com; (586) 781-0605 com HAWAII: Honolulu–Oahu—Legends Sports Bar, 411 Nahua St, Honolulu—*MSU Coordinator needed

IDAHO: Boise—Parrilla Grill, 1512 N 13th St (new location for 2011) ▶ Brad Schmidt ’91; brad.schmidt@ sybase.com; 208-938-4795 Idaho Falls—The Firehouse Grill, 2895 South 25th East ▶ Christy Frazee ’84;

Collegian | 26

MINNESOTA: Minneapolis–Mendota—Lucky’s 13 Pub, 1352 Sibley Memorial Highway ▶ Jerod Fehrenbach ’02; jfehren@aol.com; 952-334-0680 MISSOURI: St. Louis (St. Charles)—Side Pockets, Bass Pro Drive, Take the 5th street exit on I-70, go a few 100 yards and turn left into Bass Pro Drive (New location

for 2011) ▶ James King ’79; stchasking@rocketmail.com; 636-724-1864

MONTANA: There are several organized parties in Montana. Check on the alumni Website for details (alumni. montana.edu/events/catgriz).

NEBRASKA: Omaha—DJ’s Dugout West, 636 N 114th St.; 402-496-7373—*MSU Coordinator needed NEVADA: Dayton/Carson City—1st & 10 Sports Bar in Dayton, 240 Dayton Valley Rd, Suite 101 ▶ Tanya Edmondson ’02; tedmondson@lyon.k12.nv.us.; 775291-8737 Las Vegas—Torrey Pines Pub, 6374 W Lake Mead Blvd ▶ David Thiel ’85; dwthiel@earthlink.net; 702-845-7832 Mesquite —The 19th Hole, 550 El Dorado Rd—*MSU Coordinator needed Reno —Bully’s Sports Bar & Grill–Robb Dr location, 1640 Robb Drive ▶ Rod Jorgensen ’77; rodj@unr.edu

NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque—Coaches Sports Grill, 1414 Central Ave SE; 505-242-7111—*MSU Coordinator needed

NEW YORK: New York City—Legends (New Location for 2011), 6 West 33rd Street (between 5th and 6th, across from the Empire State Building) ▶ Sean Steyer ’93; seangrila@yahoo.com; 212-389-4255

NORTH CAROLINA: Charlotte—DD Peckers, 10403-E Park Rd ▶ Dorrance (Davis) ’93 and Travis ’95 Bickford; bickfords@ymail.com; 704-756-3134 Raleigh/Durham —Woody’s Sports Pub, 8322 Chapel Hill Rd in Cary, NC ▶ Duncan Riley ’85; driley@unc.edu; 919-572-0024 NORTH DAKOTA: Bismarck—Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, 212 South 3rd Street ▶ Gerald “Poke” Buck ’81; gbuck@border-states.com; 701-355-7929 Fargo —The Side Street Grill and Pub at the Howard Johnson Inn Downtown, 301 3rd Ave N ▶ Annie (Lind) Young ’81; anniefannie1031@aol.com; 701-388-3755 OHIO: Cincinnati–West Chester—Willie’s Sports Café, 8188 Princeton Glendale Road ▶ Charlie ’68 & Gloria (Stevens) ’68 Garrison; chaglog@aol.com; 513-378-0635

OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma City—Buffalo Wild Wings, 6910 SW 3rd (I-40 and Rockwell) ▶ Randy Smith ’92; phdcop@gmail.com; 580-481-0249

MONRO

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OREGON: Bend—The Summit, 125 NW Oregon Ave ▶ Todd ’86 and Candy ’86 Peplin; lazytpranch@ bendbroadband.com; todd.peplin@or.usda.gov; 541-9239695 Medford—Donnelly’s Sports Bar and Grill ( next to Lava Lanes), 2980 Crater Lake Hwy ▶ LInda Rasmussen White ’84; linda.white@medford.k12.or.us; 541-601-5443 Portland—Grand Central, 808 SE Morrison St ▶ Deborah Quitmeyer ’91; dquitmeyer@yahoo.com; 503-347-1820 PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia—The Field House Sports Bar in the Market Street train station; 1150 Filbert St ▶ Chase McLaughlin ’05; Mclaughlin_chase@ yahoo.com; (480) 678-9299 Pittsburgh–Monroeville— Damon’s Grill, Miracle Mile Shopping Center, 4070 William Penn Hwy, Monroeville—*MSU Coordinator needed Scranton/Wilkes-Barre —Lucky’s Sporthouse, Wilkes-Barre, just a short jog off I-81, 110 Schechter Drive (New Location); 570-208-3267—*MSU Coordinator needed SOUTH DAKOTA: Rapid City—Thirsty’s, 819 Main Street; 605-343-3104—*MSU Coordinator needed— Luke Rouns ’04 (UM coordinator); rouns91@hotmail.com; 605.430.2572

TENNESSEE: Nashville—The Crow’s Nest (formerly The Box Seat), 2221 Bandywood Dr ▶ Bret Quinn ’86; bretquinn@bellsouth.net; 615-460-7894 TEXAS: Amarillo—Buffalo Wild Wings, 5416 S Coulter St ▶ Angela Cunningham (Jason Cunningham’s mom!); autodilla@aol.com; 806-679-3887 Austin—Cool River Café, 4001 Parmer Ln ▶ Clark Knopik ’93; cknopik@ sbcglobal.net; 512-636-2899 Dallas (Richardson)— The Fox and the Hound, 112 West Campbell ▶ Brant Weingartner ’98; bweinga@us.ibm.com; 972-906-3431 Houston—The Fox and the Hound, 11470 Westheimer Rd ▶ David Ayers ’81; david@ayers-concepts.com; 281494-2828

WASHINGTON, D.C. : Arlington, VA—Crystal City Sports Pub, 529 23rd St S ($10/person. Kids free. Drink and appetizer specials will be available. Kickoff 2:05 EST; Montana State Society www.facebook.com/home. php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=289852665370&ref=m ▶ Lyndsey Medsker; lmedsker1@gmail.com; 202-557-5328 WEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown—Kegler’s Sports Bar and Lounge, 735-A Chestnut Ridge Rd—*MSU Coordinator needed—Scott Schield (UM alumni volunteer); gogriz@ma.rr.com WISCONSIN: Madison—Pooley’s, 5441 High Crossing Road ▶ Mark Rinehart ’90; RinehartMW@doj.state.wi.us; 608-839-8514 Milwaukee —Henry’s Tavern, 2523 E. Belleview ▶ Stacy Blasiola ’01; sblasiola@gmail.com; 414-708-2527 WYOMING: Casper—Sidelines Sports Bar, 1121 Wilkins Circle—*MSU Coordinator needed Gillette— Mingles, 2209 S. Douglas Hwy; 307-686-1222—*MSU Coordinator needed Rock Springs—Bomber’s Sports Bar, 1549 Elk Street ▶ Heather Sanders ’05; hoopthang35@yahoo.com; 307-690-1366 Sheridan—Powder River Pizza and Pub, 803 North Main (New location for 2011) ▶ Greg Reid ’08; greid@ wwcengineering.com; 307-672-0761 *MSU coordinator needed—call Kerry Hanson at 1-800-842-9028 or e-mail kshanson@montana.edu to volunteer To help defray costs of the satellite transmission, there will be a $5 cover charge per attendee.

CO LO RA DO FT. CO LL IN S,

UTAH: Salt Lake City— Gracie’s, 326 SW Temple ▶ Rachel (Riley) Heitz ’92; rachel.heitz@chghealthcare.com; 801-302-3959 WASHINGTON: Bellingham—Extremes Sports Grill, 4156 Meridian Street ▶ Sarah Hickman ’00; sarah. hickman@gmail.com; 360-510-6367 Bremerton— Cloverleaf Sports Bar & Grill, 1240 Hollis St ▶ Melissa Donaldson ’09; melissa.m.donaldson@gmail.com; 406565-1209 Clarkston/Lewiston, ID (See Lewiston, ID. There IS a party) ▶ Gary Offerdahl; offerdahl@cableone. net Olympia-Lacey—O’Blarney’s Pub, 4411 Martin Way East ▶ Bill ’86 and Robin Anderson; r7b@comcast.net; 360-956-6818 Seattle (Renton)—The Spot, 4224 E Valley Rd (note: The Spot doesn’t open until 9:30 PST) ▶ Holly (Briggs) Kessler; hollyannkessler@gmail.com; 206-406-9988 Spokane—The Swinging Doors, 1018 W Francis Avenue ▶ Robert ’86 & Tana (Turnquist) ’86 Hoyem; hoyemrtbb@aol.com; (509) 924-9881 Spokane– South Hill—Northern Quest Resort & Casino (in the Q Sports Bar), 100 N Hayford Road, Airway Heights ▶ Jennifer (Trowbridge) Krantz ’00; jenn.caleb@q.com; 509-276-9535 Tri-Cities–Richland—Kimo’s Sports Bar, 2696 N Columbia Center Boulevard ▶ Brenda Casqueiro ’73; o.onthego@frontier.com; 509-627-1237 Yakima— Jackson’s Sports Bar, 48th and Tieton ▶ Lynda (Nelsen) Matthews ’86; lyndayakima@gmail.com; 509-452-3074

Fall 2011 | 27

BE ND, OR EG ON

D A LL A S , TE X AS

X AS AU S TI N , TE

A S S O C I AT I O N N E W S

FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO Dear Friends, Do you feel blue and gold running through your veins? Do you have a sense that Montana State University is excelling? Aren’t you proud to be a Bobcat? I hope that you were able to answer “yes” to each of those questions. Your university is rockin’!

Our entering student profile is higher than it has ever been. We have fewer students dropping out and our graduation rate has improved. The addition of classrooms at MSU has created excitement for students, faculty and staff. Students are having fun, too. A new tradition is the “Growl,” a Friday night pep rally prior to a home football game. Students gather at the Alumni Plaza around Spirit to sing the Fight Song, dance and cheer for the Bobcats. The stadium is filled with cheering Bobcats, celebrating a Gold Rush! Of course, fall bike rides, fraternity and sorority membership activities, intramurals and general enjoyment of the Gallatin Valley are part of the college scene for Montana State.

Every aspect that you enjoyed as a student continues today. I invite you to come back to campus and let us show you the enhancements that have been made. It will certainly make you proud. Montana State University is an amazing place. It is your alma mater.

Your support is critical to the continued growth and success of our university. There are several ways that you can be involved in advancing MSU. The first is to continue as a dues paying member of the Alumni Association and encourage others to do the same. Identify students who would excel at Montana State; those with excellent grades and test scores; those with outstanding leadership skills. Volunteer to serve on an advisory board for your academic college, the library or a student organization. Mentor a student who is studying in your area of expertise. Provide financial support to a program or to the university as a whole. Send a Class Notes update for the Collegian. Each of those efforts make Montana State University a stronger and more powerful university. The Alumni Association provides a lifetime relationship with your University, and we want you to enjoy it.

Thanks for staying in touch. Let us hear from you.

In Blue and Gold,

Jaynee Drange Groseth, ’73, ’91 President and CEO MSU Alumni Association

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A S S O C I AT I O N N E W S

End Zone Quick Facts •• Number of donors to EZ Campaign: 700+ •• Student fees used: $0 •• Additional student seating: 1,000 •• New end zone seating capacity: 7,200 •• Size of scoreboard: 39' x 36' •• Weight of scoreboard: 20,000 lbs.

•• Jobs created by project: 200+ PHOTO BY MARK MACLEOD (HIGHLANDER PHOTOGRAPHICS)

A crowd of 18,457 filled the newly expanded Bobcat Stadium for the largest Gold Rush game ever. The Bobcats defeated future Big Sky Conference rival UC Davis, 38-14.

Alumni Calendar of Events Nov. 5

MSU Tailgate at Weber State—11:30 am

Ogden, Utah

Nov. 5

MSU Football at Weber State—1:35 pm

Ogden, Utah*

Nov. 7

Farm Bureau Alumni Social

Missoula

Nov. 18

Bobcat Pep Rally in Downtown Bozeman—5:30 pm

Bozeman

Nov. 19

Cat/Griz Football at Bobcat Stadium—12:05 pm

Bozeman

Nov. 19

Cat/Griz Satellite Parties around the world (See pgs. 26-27)

Dec. 1

Montana Graingrowers Alumni Social

Great Falls

Dec. 15

Montana Stockgrowers Alumni Social

Billings

Dec. 15

MSU Holiday Open House

Bozeman

Jan. 11

MSU Classes Begin

Bozeman

Feb. 4

Cat/Griz Basketball at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse

Bozeman

Feb. 16

College of Nursing 75th Anniversary Event

Missoula

Feb. 16

Montana State Founders Day (We are 119 years old!)

Bozeman

Feb. 17

College of Nursing 75th Anniversary Event

Kalispell

Feb. 21

Awards for Excellence

Bozeman

Feb. 23

College of Nursing 75th Anniversary Event

Billings

Feb. 25

Cat/Griz Basketball

Missoula

March 22

College of Nursing 75th Anniversary Event

Great Falls

Watch Montana State-ments for updated calendar of events or check the Web at alumni.montana.edu. * Game televised on Altitude—Direct TV Channel 681, DISH Network Channel 410 Fall 2011 | 29

Class Notes Class Notes are compiled by Jennifer Anderson. Alumni Association members will receive priority listing in Class Notes. If you would like to submit information, please submit to her via e-mail to alumni@montana. edu or through the Alumni Web site http://alumni.montana.edu/ classnotes. Or drop a line to the MSU Alumni Association, P.O. Box 172940, Bozeman, MT 59717-2740.

1960s

Sonja (Johnson) Bulman, ’62 HmEc, Escondido, Calif., married Gary Bulman in 1963. They have two children and four grandchildren. Sonja is retired and has lived in California for 35 years.

Creath Tooley, ’44 Nurs, Billings, Mont., recently celebrated his 90th birthday and is living at Aspen View Retirement Community in Billings.

Robert Stanbury, ’49 EE, ’84 M, and wife, Marjorie (Pott) Stanbury, ’49 EX HmEc, Penn Valley, Calif.

CORRECTION: Marjorie took courses in HmEc but left MSC in 1949 with Robert. Marjorie belonged to Alpha Gamma Delta. She was also featured in the 1949 Montanan yearbook. Both are retired and living in a gated community in Nevada County, Lake Wildwood.

Marjorie graduated from San Jose State (B.A.) and USF (master’s).

Robert earned a BSEE from MSC, B.S. in electronics from Cal Poly and a master’s from Golden Gate University. They have six children and 12 grandchildren.

Dale Coburn, ’71 AnSci, Olga, Wash., serves as postmaster in Olga.

He is an avid underwater photographer and videographer. Dale also enjoys scuba diving.

Bonnie Bigback, ’72 HmEc, Lame Deer, Mont., celebrated 40 years of service to the Northern Cheyenne people and is still going strong.

1940s

Richard Williams, ’48 EE, ’71 M, and wife, Wilamet (Bratvold) Williams, ’50 PE, Roseville, Calif., celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on June 14th. They look forward to receiving every issue of the Collegian and wish all Bobcat alumni the best of everything.

Bozeman Public Schools. She also serves as a docent at the Museum of the Rockies. Her husband, a retired Lt. Col., does work as a consultant.

They have one daughter who is a tax attorney in Boston, Mass.

Dharam Dhindsa, ’63 AnSci, Rockville, Md., has retired from the National Institutes of Health after 36 and a half years of service.

He was recently honored by the AIMBE by becoming a Fellow.

Dhindsa has written more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, organized six workshops on emerging areas of science related to his study sections and frequently returns to India to work on livestock improvement and other projects. Among his many awards and other recognitions, both within and outside NIH, he is especially proud of being elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2004.

Ann (Newman) Panush, ’67 HmEc, ’78 Educ, Port Hadlock, Wash., is enjoying retirement with four grandchildren. She has become a snow bird to Green Valley, Ariz., in the winter.

1950s

James Frederick, ’68 ChE, Gillette, Wyo., has retired with the exception of consulting work on an oil from coal project in China.

Pete Johnson, ’56 Phys, and wife, Naomi (Pace) Johnson, ’54 Art, Bozeman, Mont., are the proud grandparents of Whitney Johnson, who graduated with straight As from MSU elementary education.

1970s

Nanci Bain, ’73 ElEd, Allentown, Pa., says hello to Jaynee Groseth and Kerry Hanson! Nanci hopes all is well in Bobcat Land. She believes the new End Zone project looks fantastic and cannot wait to see it full of fans when the Cats WHIP the Grizzlies.

Donna (Ault) Jennings, ’73 Nurs, Missoula, Mont., is licensed as an APRN in psychiatry after obtaining an MSN at Gonzaga University in 2010. She has a private practice in Missoula.

Carol (Chesarek) Tredici, ’74 Nurs, Temple, Texas, is still enjoying her nursing career and believes you can do so many different things in the realm of nursing. She is presently an oncology research nurse at Scott & White Healthcare in Temple.

Her husband, Tom, also works at Scott & White Healthcare doing pediatric work. Their oldest son, John, is an ICU nurse in Tucson, Ariz. Other two sons are still attending university.

Paul Oulman, ’88 IndTech, was a senior design engineer of the Straddle Mover, a unique piece of equipment which was designed to meet the special needs of planting trees on the 9/11 Memorial plaza. she became Dr. Helen Turner, after earning a doctorate in nursing practice. In October she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, an organization of 1600 of the nation’s top nurse researchers, policymakers, scholars, executives and practitioners. This year, only 142 nurses were inducted. She is also on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Pain Management Nursing. Helen works at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and is on the faculty at Oregon Health Sciences University. Along with her husband, Scott, they have two children, Abby and Aiden; and an amazing garden, which is a bit easier in the rainy Pacific Northwest than it is in Montana.

Curt Layman, ’78 Art, Billings, Mont., has published a new children’s book titled The Christmas Cheese. The release date was in October. Curt may be emailed at curtwhat@hotmail.com, if you are interested in purchasing or finding out more about his new book.

1980s

Patricia (Beley) Rice, ’70 ElEd, Bozeman, Mont., is a retired teacher/librarian. She currently substitute teaches for Belgrade and

Building a Memorial

Helen (Wolery) Turner, ’80 Nurs, ’90 M, ’09 PhD, Portland, Ore., has earned multiple academic and professional honors since her undergraduate days in Bozeman. In 2009

Collegian | 30

Gary Braun, ’81 Arch, ’08 M, Seattle, Wash., serves as a project architect and project manager on healthcare and education projects.

Currently, Gary is a project architect on the View Ridge Elementary School project team in Ever-

CLASS N OT E S ett, Wash., and project manager for Highline Audiology in Burien, Wash.

Lou Ann (Raaum) Harris, ’82 F&Ph, Bozeman, Mont., currently serves on the board of Montana Audubon. She also recently completed a class to become a Montana Master Naturalist. She leads birding field trips for Sacajawea Audubon and Cancer Support Community.

Steve Sumida, ’83 Soc, Anchorage, Alaska, received the National Criminal Justice Association Outstanding Criminal Justice Program Award for his Alaska Native Traditional Justice Program. His program returns traditional governmental methods to rural villages which have no western government structure, and which, after years of western society influence, have lost much of their traditional culture. Steve is internationally known for his work with traditional governments.

Doug Cress, ’85 Hist, Portland, Ore., was named as coordinator of the United Nations Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) program, which works to protect chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos in Africa and Asia. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Bobcat-in-Training Layla Bolken was 6-weeks-old at her first satellite Cat/Griz game last year. Her parents are Erin Patera Bolken, ’04, and Eric Bolken, ’04.

1990s

BIRT HS

James Chrisman, ’94 Econ, Madison, Wis., was appointed by the Wisconsin Legislature as interim state auditor and director of its nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. The bureau conducts objective audits and evaluations of state operations to ensure the appropriateness of financial transactions and to determine whether programs are administered effectively, efficiently and in accordance with the policies of the legislature and the governor.

Amber Jean Reinhard, ’94 Art, Livingston, Mont., has been selected by Wood magazine as one of “America’s Woodworking Greats.”

Amber Jean has just completed building her dream studio and celebrated her inspiring new space with a grand opening and art sale Aug. 27-28. The studio is at the end of the road near the top of a mountain above Livingston, where she has lived for the past 16 years after graduating from Bozeman Senior High and MSU. Amber’s website may be visited at: www. amberjean.com.

2000s Brandon Owen, ’00 CelBio, and Nicole (Huf ) Owen, ’00 CelBio, ’05 M, Fort Collins, Colo., lost their 3–year-old son, Keller, to RSV and influenza in March. They are collecting books in his honor to donate to underserved populations in their city. If alumni would like to contribute, please contact Nicole at nhuf@hotmail.com for mailing information.

Aria Stewart, ’05 F&Ph, Los Angeles, Calif., is an editorial production supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where she makes sure the Disney editors have what they need to stay focused. Some days she’ll meet with a film’s editor and producer, and other days she works with actors on their dialogue. Aria’s last film credit was for Disney’s “Tangled.” She is now working on one of Disney Animation’s upcoming features. Before her promotion to her current position in mid-April, Aria was a production assistant for three years.

Lisa (Popham) Glenn, ’94 Bus, and Brian Glenn, Corvallis, Mont., are pleased to announce the addition of Tanner Elliott. He joins big brothers Matthew and Tyler.

Darcy (Wahl) Kuechle, ’98 Soc, and husband, Bryant, Boise, Idaho, had a baby boy, Tobias Donald, on March 29.

James Weaver,* ’49 ME, Kalispell, Mont., died July 4.

Wilbur Bennington,* ’50 Arch, Billings, Mont., died Aug. 4.

Greta (Gay) Mathis,* ’51 HmEc, Great Falls, Mont., died July 8. She was a Blue & Gold Honoree at Homecoming in 2008.

David Shively,* ’51 Bus, Woodland Hills, Calif., died June 9.

Paul Blunck, ’52 AG, Missoula, Mont., died Feb. 10.

Wendy (Owens) Vance, ’98 AgBu, Olympia, Wash., and husband, celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Katelin, on Aug. 12, 2010.

Allen Schroeder,* ’52 Eng, ’69 M, Portland, Ore., died Dec. 20, 2010.

Erik Koehler, ’05 F&Ph, and Taylor (Oldham) Koehler, ’05 F&Ph, welcomed son Easson Gregory Paul on Feb 12. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz.

Richard White,* ’54 ME, Visalia, Calif., died Sep. 21, 2010.

Amy (Williams) Walker, ’06 HHD, and husband, Travis, are proud to announce the birth of son, Jaxen James, born on Feb. 4. They reside in Ekalaka, Mont., where Amy teaches family and consumer sciences and Travis ranches.

I N M E MORY Austin Olson,* ’39 ChE, ’41 M, ’48 PhD, Menlo Park, Calif., died June 15.

Marvin Dokken,* ’41 ChE, ’42 M, Woodhaven, Mich., died Jan. 31.

Ruthe (Johnston) Hughes, ’54 EE, Spokane, Wash., died April 30.

Herbert Sharp,* ’56 Bus, Prairie Village, Kansas, died March 17.

Darrel Hillman, ’58 ME, Weatherford, Texas, died Oct. 14, 2010.

Forrest Madden, ’59 EE, Missoula, Mont., died Aug. 7.

Annabell (Pasley) Jabs,* ’61 AgEd, Lone Tree, Colo., died May 1.

Daniel McMahon, ’61 Bus, Carpentersville, Ill., died April 19.

Charles Patton, ’62 Ag, ’72 PhD, Georgetown, Texas, died July 24.

John Merica, ’63 Bus, Bozeman, Mont., died Aug. 1.

William Cahill,* ’42 Arch, Billings, Mont., died Aug. 11.

Madeline (Nolan) Samson, ’64 Nurs, Helena, Mont., died March 25.

Robert Bucher,* ’43 AG, ’62 M, Bozeman, Mont., died June 28.

Knut Raade,* ’66 ME, Bozeman, Mont., died July 28.

Margaret (Cole) Hollier, ’43 Ex Bus, Bozeman, Mont., died July 20.

Charles Meaker, ’68 Art, Bornholm, Denmark, died June 10.

Marguerite “Kittie” (Kittmas) Russell, ’44 HmEc, Colorado Springs, Colo., died Sept. 1.

Robert Adams, ’70 Educ, Bozeman, Mont., died Aug. 7.

Herva (Fiske) Simpson,* ’44 Nurs, ’59 M, Colorado Springs, Colo., died June 15.

Gail (Hughes) Cross, ’48 Micro, New Orleans, La., died May 21.

John Krohne, ’48 Eng, Seattle, Wash., died Aug. 20.

Dean “Dinty” Moore,* ’48 Eng, Seattle, Wash., died Aug. 23.

Everett Sanderson, ’49 Nurs, Sioux Falls, S.D., died May 25.

Charles Stablein,* ’49 Art M, Bozeman, Mont., died July 20.

Fall 2011 | 31

Susan Hill, ’70 Soc, Aspen, Colo., died May 18, 2010.

Craig McCollim, ’72 SpCom, ’74 M, Belgrade, Mont., died May 30.

Raymond Peck, ’72 Educ PhD, Helena, Mont., died May 27.

Dale Davidson, ’73 EE, ’75 M, Glendale, Ariz., died June 2.

Alan Traeholt,* ’75 CE, ’76 M, Bismarck, N.D., died June 29.

Virginia Combs, ’77 ModL, Ennis, Mont., died Aug. 8. continued on page 32

A S S O C I AT I O N N E W S

Mediterranean Treasures | May 5-16, 2012 • From $3299/person, by GoNext.

2012 MSU Alumni Association Adventure and Educational Travel All prices listed are lead-in pricing per traveler; some trips include airfare from designated departure cities. For more information on specific trips, visit our Web site: alumni. montana.edu/resources/travel

Cruise to the Lesser Antilles (Caribbean) with MSU President Waded Cruzado Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 2012 • From $3508/person, by Gohagen. Space is limited and this trip is sure to sell out for MSU folks.

River Life: Waterways of Holland and Belgium—featuring FLORIADE 2012 World Horticulture Expo | April 14-22, 2012 From $2795/person, by Gohagen.

I N M E MORY

European Mosaic | June 16-27, 2012 • From $3999/person. Offered by GoNext.

Continued from page 31

Waterways of Russia | September 12-22, 2012 • From $3895/person, by Gohagen.

Sue (Locknane) Blackketter, ’84 HmEc, Peoria, Ariz., died June 20.

Ireland | September 14-22, 2012 • From $1999/person, by GoNext.

Village Life: Italian Lake District | September 22-30, 2012 • From $2995/ person, Gohagen.

Gateway to Antiquity | October 12-23, 2012 • From $3299/person, by GoNext.

Mitchell Vandegrift, ’78 GenStu, Gig Harbor, Wash., died July 17.

William Bug, ’91 BuMk, Billings, Mont., died March 7.

Matthew Warner,* ’93 ME, Helena, Mont., died Jan. 22.

Eric Petticord, ’95 Arch, New Baltimore, Mich., died April 6.

Janice (Anderson) Peccia, ’96 Educ, ’96 M, Manhattan, Mont., died Aug. 5.

Sandra (Chisholm) DeYonge, ’03 SecEd M, Stratford, Conn., died June 11. *Life member of the Alumni Association

All trips are listed on the Cat Treks Web site—alumni.montana.edu/resources/ travel Or, call to request a brochure: 1-800-842-9028.

Collegian | 32

Fall 2011 | 33

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1501 South 11th Ave. Bozeman, MT 59717

Gaines Hall is the first university- and state-owned building to be awarded the prestigious LEED Silver Certification for its sustainable building design, construction and operation.