Here are your Monday Minutes for March 1-5, 2021. 

Please make a point of reading this email every Monday (or Tuesday), as it highlights key department announcements, opportunities, and events, particularly events hosted by one of the Department of Education’s student clubs. It covers everything you need to know in a single email message.

From the Department Head 

Dear Students and Colleagues,

March is National Women’s History Month and I thought I’d share the history of an amazing Montana woman. Sarah Gammon Brown Bickford (c. 1852 – July 19, 1931) was born into slavery in either Tennessee or North Carolina. In the 1870s she made her way to the Montana goldfields, trading work as a nanny for transportation. She ultimately became sole owner of the Virginia City Water Company, becoming the first and only woman in Montana—and probably the nation’s only female African American—to own a utility.  In 2012, the State of Montana honored her by inducting her into the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans. Recently, the Montana Extreme History Project delivered a lecture about her life and impact. Please join me in celebrating Sarah Bickford- a pioneer in many ways.

Portrait of Sarah Bickford.Image credit: Wikipedia

Take good care,

 Ann Dutton Ewbank's signature 

Dr. Ann Ewbank

From the Advising Office

  • Students planning to student teach in Fall 2021 must attend one of the following two virtual meetings:
  • Students planning to student teach in Spring 2022 must attend one of the following two virtual meetings:
  • Students in 5-12 or K-12 education majors planning to take practicum (EDP 304 & 305) in Fall 2021 should plan to attend one of the following two meetings:
  • Elementary Education and P-3 majors planning to take your first practicum (EDP 301) in Fall 2021 should plan to attend one of the following meetings:
  • The Education Advising Center is currently offering remote advising only.
    • Phone or Webex Appointments: M-F, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, as available. You can schedule appointments at www.montana.edu/education/advising/calendars.html.
    • And, as always, you can contact us via email or phone. We’re available to respond during normal business hours (M-F, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm).
  • All Monday Minutes are archived and available for your reference.
  • Make sure to check the MSU COVID-19 webpage frequently as university and system-wide updates are available all in one place.

Events

  • The MSU Women’s Center is Hosting Sack Lunch Seminars for Women’s History Month. Contact Betsy Danforth ([email protected]) to register and receive a zoom link.
    • The Lives and Landscape of Working-Class Women in the West - MARCH 3, 2021, Noon-1 PM, Virtual: Join Crystal Alegria, Director of The Extreme History Project, as she examines working women’s lives in 19th Century West. She will do this through the historic lens of three women; a midwife, a businesswomen and a prostitute. By looking at the challenges and opportunities of the landscape these three women navigated and negotiated during their lifetimes, we can better understand the structure of working women’s lives in the 19th Century West. 
    • MentHERship, Women in STEM: The Postdoc/Mentor Relationship - MARCH 10, 2021, Noon-1 PM, Virtual: One vital component to women’s success in STEM is mentorship. Presenters Dr. Agnieszka Rynda-Apple, Assistant Professor, and Research Scientist Dr. Kelly Shepardson, are both in Microbiology and Immunology.  Rynda-Apple served as Shepardson’s mentor while attaining her postdoc.  This seminar will provide an open discussion about both the mentee’s and mentor’s career paths and how each have benefited from this relationship. Topics will include choosing your mentor/mentee, maneuvering your partnership, establishing expectations, and fostering development and independence.
    • Knowledge, Bodies, and Power - MARCH 24, 2021, Noon -1 PM, Virtual: In an era when Covid-19 is described by some as “the China Disease” and discourses about emerging vaccines too easily ignore the dark legacy of scientific practice in the U.S., this talk offered by Dr. Natalie Scheidler, professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at MSU, will discuss the ways in which scientific and medical communities have historically constructed the corporal body. Moreover, the talk will address the ways in which feminist, queer, and racial justice movements have challenged Eugenics, Population Control, Immigration Reform, and the knowledge production that supports them.
    • Alice Morris: Yellowstone Trailblazer - MARCH 31, 2021, Noon-1 PM, Virtual: Alice Morris, a Connecticut native, spent her summers on a ranch outside the border of her beloved Yellowstone Park. She adored horseback riding in Yellowstone, and when horses began to lose park access to make way for automobiles, Morris embarked on a 1500 mile trailblazing campaign during the summer of 1917 to ensure horseback rider’s access. This presentation will be offered by Emma Navone, a junior at MSU studying environmental history. Emma grew up riding horses in NY and moved to MT in 2015, and can often be found spending free time riding her horse, Cisco!

Opportunities

  • Gallatin Valley Farm to School is looking for paid summer educators (requires workstudy) and volunteers for spring day camps:
    • Summer Educators: We are now hiring part-time and full-time summer educators who are eligible for a work-study to join our summer camp team. From June 7th-August 27th, educators will be leading outdoor camps in the garden and surrounding natural areas focusing on gardening, cooking, nature exploring, and science. We are looking for individuals who are responsible, creative, enthusiastic, have a desire to work with kids, have the ability to be flexible and positive. The application and instructions can be found at www.gvfarmtoschool.org/employment-internships.
    • Volunteer Opportunities: We are also looking for volunteers to support educators with our upcoming out-of-school camps:
      • Dates: March 15-19 and April 8-9 (Min. 4 hours requested for these programs, can be at any time during the listed dates)
      • What: Help facilitate activities about environmental and food science, and exploring food cultures from around the world
      • Where: Museum of the Rockies
      • *training will be given before camps
      • Please email [email protected] if interested in volunteering with us for these camps.
  • Get non-profit experience with Boardroom Bobcats: The MSU Leadership Institute is thrilled to announce that nominations are now open for Boardroom Bobcats 2021-2022. Boardroom Bobcats is an experiential learning program that places upper-level undergraduate and graduate students as non-voting, ex-officio board members with local nonprofits. Participating students will serve on their respective nonprofit boards for one academic year. During that time, they will attend regular board and committee meetings, and receive invaluable mentorship. Additionally, both students and their board members will have access to leadership development trainings facilitated by the MSU Leadership Institute. Learn more at https://www.montana.edu/leadership/boardroombobcats.html. Interested students should contact Dr. Kayte Kaminski ([email protected]) to request to be nominated.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Resources

  • Join the HEART Initiative at MSU for Human Trafficking: A Survivor’s Success Story with Theresa Flores March 2 at 5pm via WebEx (Register). You will leave equipped with helpful information on how to identify and possibly prevent human trafficking as well as ways to support past survivors. This event is sponsored by The HEART Initiative at MSU, The Office of the Dean of Students, MSU Women’s Center, President’s Commission on the Status of University Women, Honors Presents, and the VOICE Center. 
  • Why It Matters: The Native Vote in Montana March 3 at 4pm via Zoom (Register): In every election, the Native American vote is important. Many experts credit the Native American vote with being the deciding factor in elections across the country, including the 2020 presidential election and Senate races in Montana, Alaska, and North Dakota (The Aspen Institute). Panelists will discuss grassroots get-out-the-vote and census work as well as trends in Indigenous communities around civic engagement. Panelists include U.S. Staff Sergeant and Crow Reservation Organizer Lauri Dawn Kindness, University of Montana Professor Jason Begay, and Montana Native Vote Executive Director Marci McLean in a conversation moderated by journalist and Threshold podcast host Amy Martin. Sponsored by Humanities Montana.

 

Asian Student Interracial Association. Welcome to MSU's first all-inclusive Asian Organization! Mark your calendars for our first meeting: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021, 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Online meeting via WebEx. This club welcomes any MSU student interested in Asian culture and building community. For more information: https://asiamsu.Wordpress.com.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

 

Take care,

David Reese
Academic Advisor
MSU Department of Education
[email protected]
406.994.5948
he/him/his

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