Mountains & Minds – Montana State University Fall 2008

Whether it be nationally or locally, it seems that "change" is the buzzword for our times.

Particularly following the recent election and economic turmoil, we have heard about changes that are needed, changes that are coming, changes that will alter our lives. Indeed, to quote a Bob Dylan song that has been around for a very long time, it seems certain that "the times, they are a-changin’."

At Montana State University, we believe that education is the best way to transform change into opportunity. And education is something we do very well here. That was demonstrated when the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized MSU as one of 96 top research institutions in the country, and one of the few Carnegie institutions in our region. In the Pacific Northwest, we join the University of Washington, Washington State and Oregon State as the region’s Carnegie institutions. In the Northern Rocky Mountain region, we join Colorado and Colorado State.

The articles in this, the fall 2008 issue of Mountains and Minds magazine, are further evidence that MSU provides an education that equips our students and graduates to create positive change.

In this magazine you will read about Carmen McSpadden and the MSU Leadership Institute, which provides hands-on lessons in leadership while enriching the community. There is also a story about the growing number of men who are changing professional stereotypes in a female-dominated major.

You will see photos taken by children of Wyoming’s Northern Arapaho tribe and learn how an MSU graduate student is using those striking images to help the tribe save its language. Farther from home, MSU students and faculty, led by professor Cliff Montagne, have spent a decade in Mongolia helping one of the world’s last nomadic cultures survive in a land reminiscent of Montana 150 years ago.

And finally, graduate Harlan Byker took his MSU education, combined it with a curious intellect and created inventions that help millions of us see more clearly.

These and other offerings in this magazine tell the story of how MSU faculty, staff, students and graduates are positively changing the world.

And speaking of words of the times, at the beginning of this holiday season I’d like to express another word that resonates here, and that word is gratitude. We at Montana State University are grateful to you and your support of our university and its mission. You are helping make possible some extraordinary work.

Sincerely,

Geoff Gamble, president

Full Newsletter: http://www.montana.edu/mountainsandminds/fall2008/president/index.html