Richard Aarstad
Rich Aarstad is the Senior Archivist at the Montana Historical Society. He has worked for MHS for 12 years and is an avid student of Montana’s history.
Jon Axline
Jon Axline is a professional historian who works for the State of Montana documenting historic sites next to highways and writing roadside historical markers. He has been an adjunct instructor in American and Montana history at Helena College of the University of Montana since the late 1990s. Jon is also a writer with many magazine articles to his credit, many of which deal with the history of the Baby Boom generation in Montana.
Joan Bird
Joan Bird received a Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Montana in l983 and worked for many years as a conservation biologist for MEIC, The Nature Conservancy and MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks. She was a UFO skeptic, until witness testimony convinced her that the evidence was too strong and too important to ignore. Joan is the author ofMontana UFOs and Extraterrestrials.
Dan Case
Dan Case is in charge of Instructional Technology at Carroll College, where he teaches education technology and promotes innovative ways to engage technology in the classroom. His interests are in design, iOS, Airplay, Extron AV, Moodle and iPads in the classroom. Dan loves pie and dark beer (not together).
Heather Dickerson
Heather Dickerson is the Teen Services Librarian at Lewis & Clark Library in Helena. Before life in library land, Heather led outdoor education experiences for middle and high school students in the mountains, rivers, deserts and oceans of California.
Jay Dufrechou
Jay Dufrechou is a local attorney with long-term interests in the outer reaches of human development, leading to a doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology. In addition to teaching part-time in the global program of Sofia University, Jay facilitates local workshops on transpersonal topics and practices such as Holotropic Breathwork.
Jim Evanoff
Jim Evanoff has been the Environmental Protection Specialist for Yellowstone National Park for the past 25 years. His career with the National Park Service spans three decades; he has been stationed in several national parks and at Yellowstone since 1988. Jim has been instrumental in integrating strategies for sustainability and "green" initiatives into environmental stewardship practices at Yellowstone, as well as other national parks.
Janet L. Finn
Janet Finn grew up in Butte. She is Professor of Social Work at the University of Montana, Missoula, and faculty member in International Development Studies and Women Gender Studies. Janet’s new book, Mining Childhood: Growing Up in Butte 1900-1960, offers a fresh perspective on Montana history. Drawing from a broad range of archival materials and oral histories, the book offers a child’s-eye view of key events in Butte’s history and considers how social, political, and economic forces shaped life in Butte.
Christopher Fuller
Dr. Christopher Fuller is the Dean of Mission Integration and Effectiveness at Carroll College. Prior to his appointment as dean, he was an associate professor of theology at Carroll College. His course included Introduction to the Old Testament, Introduction to the New Testament, Catholic Social Teaching, and The Gospel According to Harry Potter.
Lillie Greiman
Lillie Greiman is a cooking instructor and geographer living in Missoula. She has studied Arabic and traveled through North Africa, specifically Tunisia and Morocco. Most recently she spent a year living in Fez, Morocco conducting research into Moroccan gender and foodways on a Fullbright grant. Today she relishes bringing a little bit of a Morocco to Montana by teaching Moroccan cooking and culture classes in Missoula.
Kevin Hamlin
Kevin Hamlin has been in the beer and wine business for over 14 years. In that time, he has been a manager and buyer for three fine wine and beer shops from Wyoming to Oregon, as well as wholesale beer and wine representative with George’s Distributing in Helena. In doing so, he has gained a great appreciation, enthusiasm and knowledge of the beer and wine industry. He is a certified Sommmelier, certified wine specialist and great beer aficionado!
Andrew Huff
Andrew Huff is chief legal council to the administration of Governor Steve Bullock. He is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe. Prior to his current job, he worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Montana Department of Justice, specializing in Indian, water and campaign finance law. Andy is a graduate of Hellgate High School, Harvard College, and the University of Colorado School of Law. He lives in Helena with his wife Margaret, son Zander and daughter Hannah.
Dr. Colin Irvine
Colin Irvine is an Associate Professor of English at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and a Norwegian-wanna-be. After receiving his degree from Carroll College, Colin pursued an MA in American Studies at Notre Dame (Go Irish!) before teaching high school for a few years at his alma mater, Bishop Kelly in Boise, Idaho. Then, he headed off to the Midwest once more, where he earned a Ph.D. at Marquette University in Milwaukee before moving to Minnesota. Colin teaches courses at Augsburg in composition, narrative theory, American literature, environment studies, and education. “When I grow up, I want to be a travel writer, or, at least, slightly taller and more Norwegian looking.”
Anthony Johnstone
Anthony Johnstone is an Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Development at the University of Montana School of Law, where he teaches Constitutional Law and related subjects. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Solicitor for the State of Montana, where he represented the State in constitutional and other cases before federal and state courts. Professor Johnstone clerked for the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and graduated from Yale College and the University of Chicago Law School.
Beth Kampschror
Beth Kampschror is a fourth generation Montanan from Glendive who grew up convinced that there was more to life than farms, pickups and lonely prairies. After many years away from Montana, and the U.S., she is back, working to protect the lonely prairies as Executive Director of the Friends of the Missouri River Breaks. Beth and her husband Ted live in Helena with their two dogs.
Kurt Keller
Kurt Keller is a commercial and fine art photographer in Helena. His photographic work has been in numerous exhibits and international shows. He received an Associate’s degree in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Photographic Illustration from Kent State University.
Frank Kromkowski
Frank Kromkowski has been active since 1963 in the work of organizations advocating for economic and social justice, and for peace and environmental stewardship in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Montana. For ten years he taught Philosophy, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Great Books and Environmental Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Carroll College and Dickinson College. Frank retired in 2011 after 31 years of work for the State of Montana as a program manager and program evaluator in the areas of community development, child and family services, aging/senior services, domestic violence services and public assistance/welfare services.
Mike Menahan
Mike Menahan is a former prosecuting attorney for Lewis and Clark County and served in the Montana House of Representatives. He is currently a judge in Montana’s First Judicial Court.
Mike lives in Helena with his family.
Nathan Munn
Nathan Munn is an Instructor of Psychology and Consciousness Studies at Helena College, University of Montana. He has been a guest lecturer in international online consciousness seminars, presented at international conferences on consciousness (Toward a Science of Consciousness), and given “break-out” session talks at the Science and Non-Duality consciousness conference.
Jason Neiffer and Alison James
Jason Neiffer is the Curriculum Director of the Montana Digital Academy and Alison James is a Philanthropy Writer for the Nature Conservancy. They have been exploring the world together since first backpacking in Europe in 2000 and plan to journey soon to Thailand, Australia, Eastern Europe and South America. They enjoy camping, hiking, traveling and engaging in friendly banter about being very lost on the way to the Vatican on the streets of Rome.
Bruce Nelson
Bruce Nelson, a third generation Montana farmer, was selected to serve as the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Acting Administrator in May 2011 and its Administrator two months later. Born in Helena, Bruce was raised on the wheat farm his grandparents had homesteaded. He graduated from Fort Benton High School in 1969 and earned a B.A. in Political Science at the University of Montana in 1973. Starting his career in public service, Nelson served as Bicentennial liaison for the office of Democratic Governor Tom Judge from 1975 to 1976 and as Judge’s administrative assistant from 1976 to 1977. In 1976 he was Montana coordinator for the Frank Church for President campaign. From 1979 to 1980 Nelson served as chief of staff to Congressman Pat Williams (D-Montana). He worked as chairman of the Montana Democratic Party from November 1983 to September 1991.
Richard Opper
After serving eight years as director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Richard Opper went from the frying pan into the fire by getting appointed to head the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, the largest agency in state government.
David Ottolino
David Ottolino is currently teaching part-time in the Business and Information Technology Department at Montana Tech after teaching full time there for seven years. David spent 26 years with The Montana Power Company and its successor NorthWestern Energy, working in the tax, financial planning, treasury management, and information technology departments. He led several large information technology evaluation and implementation projects and, immediately prior to its acquisition by NorthWestern Energy, was the Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The Montana Power Company.
Jim Peterson
Jim Peterson is the Senate President for the 62nd Montana Legislature, serving Senate District 15 in Buffalo, Montana as a Republican since 2003. He sponsored a joint bill on the study of eminent domain and just compensation of property. Jim attended Montana State University to study Animal Science and received a Master’s in Agriculture from Texas A&M University. His MBA in Finance is from West Texas University. He currently lives on his ranch in Buffalo.
Don Pogreba
Don Pogreba is in his thirteenth year teaching at Helena High School, where he teaches AP Language, AP Literature, Debate, and Speech. In his spare time, he enjoys grading essays, watching the San Diego Padres, and buying more books than he could ever hope to read. When he has a spare moment, Don enjoys watching “new classic” television.
John Priscu
John Priscu received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, and worked as an oceanographer for the New Zealand Government before joining the faculty at MSU in 1984. Since coming to MSU, he has spent 30 seasons working in Antarctica and led the first winter expeditions into the Transantarctic Mountains. He also conducts research in the Arctic and the mountains in Tibet, and is actively involved in the search for life on other icy worlds in our Solar System.
Steffen Rasile
Steffen Rasile is a local web developer who loves to stay on the cutting edge of technology and gadgets. Since Steffen spends all day developing websites in the digital world, he was very excited to get into 3D printing which allows him to create physical objects.
James F. Reyolds, M.D.
Dr. James Reynolds in board certified in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics and is the Medical Director of the Department of Medical Genetics at Shodair Hospital. He retired from the U.S. Army as Brigadier General.
Jesus Salazar
Jesus Salazar is a web and graphic designer and the owner of creativeMT, an advertising agency in Helena, Montana.
Kathy Kinsella Shea
Kathy Kinsella Shea, LCSW is a Helena area Child and Family Therapist who revels in her first born status. She has had the honor of observing sibling dynamics play out in her office for over twenty years.
Dr. Gerald F. Shields
Gerald Shields has worked in biological research and teaching for 46 years. He has read extensively about the topics of aid in dying and human life and follows the political discussions as well. These are also topics in Dr. Shields’ Biology Senior Seminar class at Carroll College.
Gayle Shirley
Gayle Shirley is the communications coordinator for the Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department. Her professional interest in disease pandemics has only heightened her lifelong fascination with zombies and other undead creatures. She is a diehard fan of The Walking Dead TV series and the author of The Fang Gang, a children’s novel about vampires right here in the Queen City.
Owen Sirrs
Owen Sirrs is an Arab Culture instructor at the Defense Critical Language and Culture program in the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana. Previously he was a senior intelligence analyst for Iran with the Department of Intelligence Agency.
H. Marie Suthers, DVM
Dr. Marie Suthers, Professor of Anthrozoology at Carroll College has more than 30 years of experience in veterinary practice, academic and community education, and the study of human-animal interaction. She is a well-known national and international speaker on the relationship between people and animals including the impact of human-animal interaction on specific human populations and the well-being of animals employed in therapeutic interventions for humans.
Dr. Robert Swartout
Robert Swartout teaches American and East Asian history at Carroll College. He is a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Korea and twice served as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in that country. He also spent ten years serving as an honorary consul for the Republic of Korea in the State of Montana.
Carol and Pat Williams
Carol and Pat Williams were both born in Butte and both were elected to state or national office.
Carol is a former Democratic member of the Montana Senate and was the Leader of the Democratic Caucus in 2011. She is the first woman to hold the position of Majority Leader in Montana history.
Pat is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Montana. He is currently an instructor at the University of Montana.