Montana Western News
"It's a Wonderful Life" on UMW Stage - December 10
Montana Western Sigma Tau Delta Chapter Sponsors Book Drive - December 5
Montana Western Receives Champion of Character Recognition - December 5
Music Department Sponsored Fall/Holiday Concert and Recital - December 5
NASA Space Consortium Deputy Director to Speak at "On the Rocks" - December 5
Montana Western English Professor Featured at "Dances With Words" - December 4
Montana Human Rights Network Presentation Set for Dec. 3 - November 25
UMW Professor's Experiences in Nepal Subject of Free Speaker Presentation - November 19
New Exhibit at Montana Western Gallery Examines Hate Literature - November 10
"It's a Wonderful Life" on UMW Stage
Wednesday, December 10 2008
The University of Montana Western drama department gave the campus and community a wonderful gift with their performance of the holiday classic “It’s A Wonderful Life”.A cast comprised of Montana Western students and Dillon community members wowed the crowd with moving performances.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is the 1946 classic that follows George Bailey, played by Bill Louis, as he is taken on a journey to discover the significance of his own life.
“The production of this American classic is very timely,” drama instructor and director Larry Brazill said. “With the recent bank failures, audiences will be able to relate to the struggle to pay off loans, to define their values and learn about the importance of community and humanity; the same struggles that the characters in the play face.”
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Montana Western Sigma Tau Delta Chapter Sponsors Book Drive
Friday, December 5 2008
The Sigma Tau Delta chapter at the University of Montana Western and Better World Books announced the launch of a campus-wide book drive to raise funds to generate awareness about literacy programs worldwide.
“The program collects textbooks published in the last 10 years or any book used in a college classroom,” Sigma Tau Delta advisor Rebecca Knotts said. “Better World Books re-sells them through their website, donates them to literacy programs, or recycles them. Books collected at Montana Western will support Books for Africa which works with literacy programs throughout the African continent.”
Knotts said the goal for Better World Books and Sigma Tau Delta is to help reduce poverty and increase literacy by giving new life to old books previously destined for dumpsters or destruction.
Drop-off locations for books are Main Hall, Block Hall, Lucy Carson Library and the Student Union Building on the campus. Donations will be received until Dec. 15.
Founded in 1924, Sigma Tau Delta is the International English Honor Society. The society’s mission is to confer distinction upon students of the English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies.
Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. For more information about Better World Books, visit betterworldbooks.com.
For more information about the Book Drive contact Bethany Blankenship at (406) 683-7360 or b_blankenship@umwestern.edu or Knotts at (406) 683-7206 or r_knotts@umwestern.edu.
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Montana Western Receives Champion of Character Recognition
Friday, December 5 2008
The University of Montana Western was recognized as a Champion of Character Institution for the 2007-08 academic year by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). “The Champions of Character program is designed to instill an understanding of character values in sport and provide practical tools for student-athletes, coaches and, parents and younger students to use in modeling exemplary character traits,” Montana Western chancellor Richard Storey said.
“During the course of the 2007-08 academic year, Montana Western student athletes read to and conducted physical fitness activities with area elementary students, ran youth sports camps, helped with the community food bank and assisted in many other community projects,” UMW athletic director Mark Durham said.
"Developed in 2000, Champions of Character has a profound impact on student-athletes, coaches and in the communities the NAIA and member institutions serve. I am delighted to see an increase in the number of schools that use the program to intentionally teach character," Rob Haworth, NAIA Vice President for Champions of Character said.
"Champions of Character uses the power of sport to teach lessons for life. I applaud these institutions for their commitment to advance character-driven intercollegiate athletics."
The program currently reaches hundreds of thousands of students on nearly 300 college and university campuses in North America and extends into their surrounding communities.
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Music Department Sponsored Fall/Holiday Concert and Recital
Friday, December 5 2008
The Montana Western Student Recital was Dec. 8 in the Lewis and Clark room.
The recital featured performances by vocalists, instrumentalists and small ensembles will preform Monday . Free Admission
The Montana Western music program hosted its annual fall Christmas concert, Dec. 9 in the Lewis and Clark room on campus.
The concert featured selections by the community choir, the concert band and the select ensemble. Selections varied from pop songs, spirituals, folk songs, Christmas songs and madrigals.
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NASA Space Consortium Deputy Director to Speak at "On the Rocks"
Friday, December 5 2008
“NASA Opportunities in the Big Sky Country” is the title of the next “On the Rocks” presentation at the University of Montana Western, Monday, Dec. 8, 2008.
Angela Des Jardins, deputy director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC), is the featured speaker. Her presentation begins at 4:15 p.m. in Block Hall 311.
Des Jardins’ presentation will cover three topics: the MSGC and the opportunities it offers faculty and students; information on NASA’s Space Outreach Team; and a short version of NASA’s new gravitational wave presentation “Listening to the Universe.” She will also discuss her research on solar flares.
Des Jardins received her bachelor of science, masters and doctorate in physics from Montana State University.
"On the Rocks" is a guest speaker series sponsored by the department of environmental sciences and mathematics program at Montana Western.
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Montana Western English Professor Featured at "Dances With Words"
Thursday, December 4 2008
Alan Weltzien, University of Montana Western English professor, was featured in the next installment of Montana Western’s “Dances With Words.” Weltzien read from “The Norman Maclean Reader” and “A Father and An Island: Reflections on Loss.”
The Maclean reader was edited by Weltzien and published by the University of Chicago Press last month. The book is receiving national acclaim including praise from the Wall Street Journal for Weltzien’s “smartly” editing manuscripts and letters found among Maclean's papers after his death in 1990, as well as hard-to-find essays, lectures and interviews.
Weltzien’s “A Father and an Island: Reflections on Loss” is centered around the death of his father and the emergence of suburban culture to the Camano Island, Wash. area, site of the Weltzien family cabin.
Montana Western’s English department sponsors the series funded by the university and local patrons.
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Montana Human Rights Network Presentation Set for Dec. 3
Tuesday, November 25 2008
The Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN) and the University of Montana Western Amnesty Chapter made two one-hour presentations about the origins of the “Speaking Volumes” art exhibit currently showing at Montana Western’s Art Gallery.
“This is a truly amazing exhibit,” said Travis McAdam of the MHRN. “Artists created compelling pieces that transformed hateful books into art that provides a starting point for discussions about justice, fairness, and equality. The network was the catalyst for the exhibit and we are so happy that it is in Dillon.”
McAdam presented the history of “Speaking Volumes,” detailing how the MHRN obtained the white supremacist books and provide background on the hate group that used them.
In 2003, the Montana Human Rights Network acquired more than 4,000 white supremacist books from a defecting member of The Creativity Movement, a national white supremacist group that had a state chapter located in Superior, Mont. The network partnered with the Holter Museum of Art in Helena to create “Speaking Volumes.”
The exhibit is traveling to communities across the state for the next two years.
“Standing up and opposing hate groups is necessary and important work,” said Amnesty’s Eric Wright, also a Montana Western mathematics professor. “We hope the presentation will educate our campus and local community about racism and bigotry and offer solutions for how we can confront these issues and create change.”
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UMW Professor's Experiences in Nepal Subject of Free Speaker Presentation
Wednesday, November 19 2008
University of Montana Western chemistry professor Steve Mock’s recent trip to Nepal and the Khumbu Climbing School was the subject of free presentation, Thursday, Nov. 20.
His presentation was titled “Sherpas, Prayer Flags and Ice Axes,”
Mock was one of 12 instructors teaching climbing skills to Sherpas as part of a project for the Alex Lowe Foundation, a non-profit group from Bozeman, Mont.
Mock said the school is designed to increase technical competency of Nepali people who work and climb in the mountain regions.
Mock received his undergraduate degree from Manchester College and his doctorate from Montana State University. He is in his 17th year at Montana Western.
For more information, please call the Montana Western School of Outreach at 683-7537.
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New Exhibit at Montana Western Gallery Examines Hate Literature
Monday, November 10 2008
"Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate" is the latest exhibit on display at the University of Montana Western Art Gallery/Museum through Dec. 5.A public reception for the exhibit is scheduled Thursday, Nov. 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Montana Western Art Gallery. The reception is in connection with the Southwest Montana Arts Council performance by the University of Montana Percussion Ensemble and Islanders Steel Drum Band at 7:30 p.m. in the Beier Auditorium.
Organized by the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Mont., the exhibit features artwork by Montana and national artists who reflect upon and transform volumes of white supremacist propaganda.
The impetus for this unique project came from the Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN). As part of their work to research and counteract the efforts of racist groups, the MHRN acquired a large quantity of books from one of the most virulent white supremacist groups in the nation's history, the World Church of the Creator. The search to creatively use the books as a catalyst for change led to involvement with curators at the Holter Museum.
The Holter Museum issued a national call to artists to participate in the exhibition to create art from the hate books and turn them to constructive, positive use. The exhibit includes works by local artists Cathy Weber and Tom Foolery.
Exhibitions like “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate” are part of a national movement to use the arts to stimulate civic dialogue," Katie Knight, the exhibition's curator, said. "The FBI reports that hate crimes rose eight percent last year. The exhibition and the participating artists seek to re-frame the problem, enabling us to look more carefully at the sources of fear, hate and xenophobia, and to respond creatively through art and dialogue."
The exhibit’s statewide tour is sponsored by the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association with funding by the National Endowment of the Arts, the Montana Coal Tax Fund and the Montana Arts Council.
The Art Gallery/Museum is located at the south end of the first floor of Main Hall on the Montana Western campus. Gallery times are Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. To arrange for special times or visits call (406) 683-7232.
The annual Montana Western Art Faculty exhibit will be the next show and will start Dec. 15.
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