The Montanan - The Magazine of The University of Montana

Life on campus felt a bit like a rock concert this spring, as UM played host to a series of all-star visitors, including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Elton John.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama holds up a UM T-shirt in April (top). Former President Clinton during his May speech at the University (bottom).

UM’s Adams Center filled to overflow capacity the morning of Saturday, April 5, for a campaign rally by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. More than 8,000 people stood in a line that stretched halfway across campus as snowflakes gently drifted down on the crowd. Their patience paid off when Senator Obama took the stage amid a roar of cheering and announced, “It is good to be in Missoula.”

Rival candidate Hillary Clinton spoke the following morning, first at a breakfast fundraiser at a westend hotel in Missoula, then at a rally of about 1,800 people in an aviation hangar near the airport. Former President Bill Clinton followed up with a visit to UM on May 14. Stumping for his wife before about 1,100 people in the Adams Center’s West Auxiliary Gym, Bill compared Hillary’s campaign odds to the fourth-quarter comeback of the Grizzlies in their 1995 national football championship win.

After his speech, Clinton engaged in the time-honored political ritual of shaking hands and holding babies, several of whom were passed through the crowd toward the former president.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul drew an enthusiastic gathering of about 1,000 when he spoke during an April 21 rally in the University Center Ballroom. While unlikely to secure the nomination, Paul handily won the Missoula County Republican caucus and placed second in the state’s caucuses after Mitt Romney. During his UM speech, Paul said he was still in the race and would be “as long as supporters want me in this race.”

The unusually close race between Democratic presidential contenders thrust Montana into the national spotlight because of its late primary election. Montana’s recent political prominence appears likely to continue as the November election draws near, and UM Executive Vice President Jim Foley says the University is privileged to host candidates from both parties.

“It is an honor to have everyone come to UM,” Foley says. “It's good for the University; it's good for students and the community.”

In the nonpolitical arena, rock-and-roll superstar Elton John returned to the Adams Center Friday, April 11, for his second Missoula concert during the academic year. A sold-out crowd of 8,000 energetic fans again welcomed the legendary pianist, singer, and songwriter. The crowd cheered and sang along to songs known and loved by millions, including “Rocket Man,” “Yellow Brick Road,” and “Candle in the Wind.”

Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Announced

(LEFT) “Wherever I worked and lived, my thoughts always brought me back to Missoula, the University, and Montana. The beauty of the campus, the changing seasons, the Oval, the M on Mount Sentinel, the walk to business school classes, the professors, and traditions such as Singing on the Steps are enduring memories.” —Jeff Hamilton

(MIDDLE) “My years at The University of Montana set the course of my life: I found freedom, fresh air, loyal friends (both students and professors), and my profession of journalism.” —Judith Blakely Morgan

(RIGHT) “I left with increased personal confidence, a keen intellectual curiosity, and an eagerness to excel and succeed. One couldn't ask for more than that from a college education." —Garry South

Three outstanding individuals have been selected to receive UM’s 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award. They are Jeff Hamilton ’67, retired senior managing partner of the global consulting firm Accenture; Judith Blakely Morgan ’60, a journalist best known for her award-winning travel columns; and Garry South ’76, one of the nation’s top political strategists.

Hamilton, who now lives in Spokane, Wash., served as a U.S. Air Force officer from 1967 to 1971. He retired in 2001 after working more than twenty-five years with Accenture, one of the world’s largest and most successful consulting and outsourcing firms. Hamilton planned and led the restructuring of global operations to prepare for the firm’s transition from a private partnership to a publicly owned corporation with 160,000 people in forty-five countries.

An active pilot for more than forty years, Hamilton flies for Lighthawk, a volunteer-based aviation organization that supports environmental efforts in North and Central America, and for a Stearman formation team, performing at air shows and community events. At last year’s UM Homecoming game, he flew the lead airplane for the Washington-Grizzly Stadium flyover.

He currently serves on the UM School of Business Administration advisory council and has sponsored an Accenture recruiting program at UM, as well as faculty fellowships. While attending UM, he was a member of the Bear Paws, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and the Air Force ROTC.

After graduating from UM, Blakely Morgan was off on a yearlong InterAmerican Press Association fellowship to Argentina. From 1975 to 2005, she wrote an award-winning travel column, first distributed by the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, then by Copley News Service.

Her articles have appeared in National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Harper’s Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, and more. She is co-author of Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, a biography of Dr. Seuss named a New York Times Notable Book of 1995.

During 2000-06, Blakely Morgan served on the UM Foundation board of trustees, and she has served on the board of trustees of the University of California, San Diego, Foundation since 2005. She is married to fellow journalist and former editor of the San Diego Tribune, Neil Morgan. The couple lives in La Jolla, Calif.

South, who came to UM from Miles City, began his illustrious career in politics serving as ASUM president during 1973-74. While at UM, he also was appointed a student member of the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Post-Secondary Education by then-Montana Gov. Thomas Judge.

In 1975, he was public information director for the Montana Legislature, and at twenty-five years old, served as the Montana state coordinator for the Carter-Mondale presidential campaign—the youngest of the fifty state coordinators in 1976.

Over the past thirty-six years, South has managed or played leading roles in several major political campaigns. He served as chief of staff to California Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, and in 1998 he was unanimously named Campaign Manager of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants for directing Davis’ come-from-behind victory to become California’s governor. From 1999 to 2003, South served as Davis’ senior political adviser. He now is principal of public relations and communications with Garry South Group in Santa Monica, Calif.

Teaching Speech

UM’s speech therapy program burst back on the academic scene this fall, with the return of five undergraduate courses that will educate the next generation of speech pathologists in Montana.

The new Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders is part of the School of Education and offers students an undergraduate degree in communicative disorders and a master’s in speech pathology.

The first class of undergraduates began their studies this fall. The graduate program has applied for accreditation and is on track to begin offering classes in fall 2009.

UM’s original speech pathology program was cut in the late 1980s due to funding constraints, creating a shortage of such professionals in schools and hospitals across Montana. In 2007, the state Legislature granted an appropriation to revive the program.

The newly minted department reports that all five classes offered this fall were at near-capacity before the semester began. Two sections of each class were offered this first semester—one for students attending online and one for students on the UM campus.

The President's Corner

Recently I spent a bit of time in the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library conducting research for a piece I agreed to do on the history of higher education in Montana. While the venue has changed radically since I did my initial graduate research in the early 1960s in the library at that time—now the Social Science Building—a good portion of the furnishings still date from that period. Thus, in a certain sense, I felt completely at home. In another sense, however, the library has become a wonderfully different, far more complex and responsive institution than ever. Dean Bonnie Allen and the faculty and staff of the Mansfield Library have made service the mantra with truly astonishing results, with a special emphasis upon the needs of the students and faculty of a research university. I have found on several occasions that the Archives and Special Collections, regular collections, online periodicals, archives, Interlibrary Loan, and document delivery services facilitate the research process. The article in this edition of the Montanan provides a wonderful sense of the hidden treasures to be found inside the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library. It also illustrates the mission to assure access to needed information remains constant and unchanging.

This edition also features articles on some of the people who make the University such a special place. The University of Montana Press has just published art Professor Rafael Chacón’s intriguing study of the work of A.J. Gibson, Montana’s most famous architect and the man who designed University Hall, the Missoula County Courthouse, and the Daly Mansion, among other local buildings. Professor Chacón’s book provides a rich feast of historical insights combined with photographs of the period, illuminating relations and developments. Readers also will meet the self-proclaimed “world’s biggest and most-famous Griz Fan” and alums who have given back by helping young people gain traction in the entertainment industry. One of those alums, Mike McGinley, provided critical assistance in elevating the status of concerts on campus, helping the University to attract the Rolling Stones and Elton John most recently.

People, programs, and place—that’s the slogan that provided the impetus for the recent historic campaign to support the University. This edition makes clear the continued importance of the contributions of people through programs to make The University of Montana the destination of choice for students and alumni alike. So long as people give of themselves as willingly as they have historically, I feel confident that the University will prosper.

A Stitch In Time

An aerial view of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in its last display on The Mall in Washington, D.C.

For the first time in twelve years, a sizeable section of the quilt will travel back to the Treasure State for a display at the UM Adams Center Sept. 18-21 during Homecoming week. The goal is to reach as many people as possible during the high-impact weekend, says Rita Munzenrider, director of University Relations and co-chair of the AIDS Quilt Committee.

One-hundred-and-one sections commemorating some 800 individuals who have died as a result of the disease will be showcased in the largest exhibit of the quilt ever in Montana. All known panels honoring those from Montana who have died of AIDS, as well as others from around the nation, will be on view.

Opening ceremonies will kick off the event at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18. The public display will continue through the weekend, with closing ceremonies starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21.

“For the state of Montana it is truly such a gift to be able to see the quilt on such a large scale, especially living in a rural area where oftentimes we fail to grasp the effect or impact HIV or AIDS has on our community,” says Keri McWilliams, Missoula AIDS Council executive director, and co-chair of the AIDS Quilt Committee with Munzenrider. “It’s not until you’re able to see a display of this size and see all the lives that were lost that you begin to realize how large this epidemic is.”

UM has teamed with the Missoula AIDS Council to raise $30,000 to help people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as support prevention and educational efforts on campus and in the community.

“A quilt is a nonthreatening, effective way to educate and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS,” says Munzenrider.

“Not only do we have the opportunity to honor those lives that were lost, but we have the chance to educate the community on how far we have come in making progress,” McWilliams says.

The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was established in 1987. Today it is the largest community art project in the world.

The Man Who Came Back

Back In Black
Alum Eric Braeden discusses his new movie with fans in April at UM.

It’s been nearly fifty years since UM alumnus and daytime television star Eric Braeden set foot on the Missoula campus. But he came back Saturday, April 19, to screen his aptly titled new movie, The Man Who Came Back, for the campus and Missoula communities.

Braeden introduced both free showings of the film in the University Center Theater and held a half-hour question-and-answer session immediately following each screening. Not one to let down his fans, Braeden also signed personalized autographs for the hundreds of people who showed up for the movie.

The German-born Braeden, whose name was Hans Gudegast when he attended UM in the early 1960s and worked nights at the Bonner mill, is an internationally known television and film star. He’s best-known for his longtime role as Victor Newman on the No. 1-rated daytime drama series The Young and the Restless. He also starred as John Jacob Astor in the Academy Award-winning movie Titanic.

Braeden reconnected with his alma mater after he was interviewed last fall by Missoula writer Paddy MacDonald for a profile that appeared in the winter 2008 issue of the Montanan.

The Man Who Came Back was produced by Braeden and stars the UM alum as Reese Paxton, a former Confederate soldier who fights for the equal rights of African Americans in one of the bloodiest labor strikes in United States history. Taking place post-Civil War in a small, Southern town where emancipation has yet to occur, the movie also stars Armand Assante, Billy Zane, Sean Young, Ken Norton, Carol Alt, James Patrick Stuart, and George Kennedy, among others.

Step Back In Time:

THEN AND NOW
The student union, now known as the University Center, after it was finished in 1935 (TOP) and how it looks currently (BOTTOM). The original center shown above has never been torn down, only renovated and used for other purposes.

UM students have found camaraderie, nourishment, and recreation at the student union since the first such facility—today’s Fine Arts Building—opened in 1935.

In the seventy-three years since, the student union has moved locations, changed names, and seen tens of thousands of students pass through its doors, all the while providing a space for the meeting of UM minds. Today’s student union—better known as the University Center—will celebrate forty years of service next year.

But no one has compiled a comprehensive history of UM’s ever-evolving community center. Until now.

UM French major Tonya Smith, UC special projects student coordinator, is wrapping up nearly a year of research during which she read decades of archived Kaimin newspapers, interviewed some of UM’s most prominent alumni, tracked down rare photographs, and toured the student union buildings of yesteryear with alumni guides.

UC Director Candy Holt has long wanted to tell the history of the student union at UM and assigned Smith the task of collecting that historical information before it slips away.

“A lot of the people who remember this history are getting quite old,” Smith says. “We wanted to record it before we lose so much valuable information.”

The end result will be a permanent display in Room 215 of the UC and a Web site, http://www.umt.edu/uchistory, chronicling the role the student union played for generations of Grizzlies.

Smith is seeking artifacts or personal photographs from student unions of the past to display in the UC exhibit. For more information, call Smith at 406-243-6357 or e-mail her at ucprojects.student@mso.umt.edu.

Monte’s ‘Mysterious’ Appearance

UM’s lovable mascot has a caper to solve and a lesson to learn in the new children’s book, The Great Monte Mystery, written by UM alumna Jennifer Newbold and illustrated by Robert Rath.

The game ball goes missing just before a home football game, and Monte searches high and low to get the pigskin back before kickoff. Along the way he visits some of Missoula’s most identifiable landmarks, including the M on Mount Sentinel, Main Hall, and a Carousel for Missoula in Caras Park.

The book, Newbold’s first, hits bookstore shelves this fall, just in time for UM’s first home football game on Sept. 13.

The idea for the book came to Newbold five years ago as she shopped for a Griz-related baby gift. She didn’t find just what she was looking for, and the concept for The Great Monte Mystery was born.

“It was kind of one of those light-bulb moments,” she says. “I decided, ‘Well, I could write a book about Monte.’”

Right away Newbold knew she wanted Monte to have an adventure and learn a moral lesson.

“It took a while for the actual plot to come together,” she says, “but once I figured that out it was actually quite easy.”

The idea languished for a few years until about a year ago when Newbold’s husband, Chris, also an alum, convinced her that it was “now or never.” Working on the book in their off hours—Jennifer is a federal attorney and Chris is vice president at Attorneys Liability Protection Society—the two finalized the story and began searching for an illustrator.

Newbold was particular in that she didn’t want Monte portrayed as either too cartoonish or too realistic.

Impressed by Rath’s illustrations in First Dog: Unleashed in the Montana Capitol, the Newbolds contacted him and almost immediately got an enthusiastic response. Rath quickly created a sample cover that sealed the deal.

There was only one hitch: Rath lives in Bozeman—Bobcat country. But the author and illustrator agreed early on to work around the notorious Griz-Cat rivalry for the sake of the book.

“I think the fans will understand that this is for the kids,” Newbold says with a laugh.

“I am so excited to get it in the hands of kids,” she says. “For them to recognize Missoula landmarks will be an exciting part of the book.”

The Great Monte Mystery is co-published by The University of Montana Press and will be distributed by Farcountry Press. It will be sold at The Bookstore at UM and other booksellers around Montana for $17.95. A portion of proceeds will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Touchdown Time

UM raised nearly $4,000 for the Guardian Angel Foundation, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving cancer patients undergoing treatment in Montana, at the inaugural Huddles and Heels event in May. The experience, which participants paid $35 to attend, featured a coaching clinic with Griz football head coach Bobby Hauck; a tour of the locker room, weight room, and training room; drills run by the coaching staff; and socials before and after to meet the coaches.

Prestigious grants jump-start science careers FOR UM faculty

UM’s Wildlife Biology Program got a boost recently with the announcement that two of its promising young scientists earned Early Career Development Program Grants.

Campus researchers have earned CAREER grants from the National Science Foundation in the past, but UM has never had two awardees in the same year or academic unit.

Assistant professors Creagh Breuner and Vanessa Ezenwa both brought home the bacon. CAREER grants typically range from $500,000 to $1 million. Breuner landed an $800,000 award, and Ezenwa brought in $715,000.

“It was really hard to sleep when I first heard about (the award),” Breuner says. “It’s an amazing amount of money to get as a young investigator, and the recognition has been a little crazy. It’s just a fabulous feeling.”

Breuner studies interactions among unexpected environmental changes, behavior responses to those stressors, and the hormonal mechanisms underlying those responses. She focuses on hormones that increase in the body when an animal becomes stressed.

She uses captive and wild sparrows in her research. She has studied sparrows breeding outside Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada since 1997.

Ezenwa studies the causes and consequences of variation in parasite infection in wild animal populations. Her project will examine how gazelle behavior in Africa influences parasite transmission. She also will study whether parasites potentially influence the evolution of mating-system variation in these animals.

Ezenwa studies in Kenya, where she did her doctoral research. “I’m obviously very happy about (the grant),” she says. “Now I will have the money and the time frame to build up my research program.”

Meet Grizwald, The University of Montana’s cartoon bear.

In frequent issues of the Montanan, we will provide a cartoon involving Grizwald in need of a caption. Then it’s up to you, our readers, to send in your most original and creative ideas. The winning contestant will receive a Griz stadium blanket. Send submissions to: themontanan@umontana.edu.

AERIAL ADVENTURE

President George Dennison flew with the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, in August at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Wash.

United We Stand: Griz Style

After the Montanan ran a story about UM soldiers who have gone on to careers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we received a flood of photos and stories from other former students who are fighting abroad. (Campus to Combat, winter 2008) Here, four of the best pictures are featured.

Kyle Lambert ’01 (right) always displays his Griz pride when he flies missions for the United States Air Force. He writes, “The other day I saw Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait at the same time.” Lambert also was a member of UM’s track team and Griz cheer squad.

Andy English ’92, a member of the Montana Air Guard, was recently on an AEF rotation with his unit to Balad Air Base in Iraq, 45 miles due north of Baghdad. His F-16 aircraft flew combat air support missions for ground forces. His deployment included roughly 200 Montanans. Several UM alumni and Griz fans are shown here, along with Andy, next to one of the Montana jets. “These are the same jets that have done several flyovers (during Griz games in) Washington-Grizzly Stadium,” he writes.

Lieutenant Mike Holmes ’03 displays the Griz flag in the Wardak province of Afghanistan, where he served for nine months. He returned to Montana from Germany in June 2007, and he graduated from the Montana Police Academy in March. He currently serves as an officer in the Great Falls Police Department.

Zach Routzahn ’00 who serves as a National Guard soldier in the 143rd Military Police Detachment, stands on top of a palace overlooking the Tigris River in Baghdad in June of 2003. He is shown holding his grandfather’s cribbage board, which was used during his time in the Pacific Theater when he was in the Navy during World War II. Zach took it to Iraq for his combat tour and says it’s a cherished family heirloom. As for his Griz pride he writes, “I always take my Griz gear and pride everywhere I go, even if it is to hostile country.”

Each Griz fan mentioned here will receive a “Montanan Wherever I Am” hat to thank them for their courage and service.

Dan Sauvageau ’95, stands above Boston Red Sox left-fielder Jacoby Ellsbury as he makes a catch at the wall during the bottom of the ninth inning at game four of the 2007 World Series. The second photo shows him and his daughter during game three of the World Series. Fox kept showing Sauvageau and his four-year-old daughter throughout the telecast. “She was supposed to put her glove through the hole,” he writes. “But, she liked sticking her head in it better.”

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

Around the Oval

Montana On The Map