Digital Commons Network^™

February 2026 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Bgen 341.04: People, Process, And Technology I, Wookje Sung

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2026-2030

No abstract provided.

2026 Montana Tourism Outlook – Sales Tax: Is It Time? Montana Economic Seminar Presentation, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Montana Kaimin, January 29, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Gli Weekly, January 27, 2026, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Advising Information -- Beyond the Classroom Experience Planning -- Seniors/Graduating class: Nominate a student speaker -- GLI Senior Highlight survey -- We're recruiting a VISTA for the Franke GLI -- Save the Date: 2026 Martin Luth King, Jr. Lecture: "Resistance, Resilience, and Radical Love" with Dr. Regina Shands Stolfzfus --  Winter Welcome Back -- The Mansfield Center is hiring a Student Program Assistant to focus on communications, social media, and events for Spring and Summer 2026 -- Democracy Summit: Call for Proposals -- Spend your spring break making a difference with UM's Alternative Breaks -- Looking for an opportunity after …

Montana Kaimin, January 22, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Gli Weekly, January 20, 2026, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Advising Information -- Beyond the Classroom Experience Planning -- Nominate a Student Speaker for 2026! -- We're recruiting a VISTA for the Franke GLI -- Save the Date: 2026 Martin Luth King, Jr. Lecture: "Resistance, Resilience, and Radical Love" with Dr. Regina Shands Stolfzfus -- Winter Welcome Back -- The Mansfield Center is hiring a Student Program Assistant to focus on communications, social media, and events for Spring and Summer 2026 -- Experiential Learning Scholarships -- Democracy Summit: Call for Proposals -- Spend your spring break making a difference with UM's Alternative Breaks -- Looking for an opportunity after graduation? …

Gli Weekly, January 14, 2026, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Advising Information -- Save the Date: 2026 Martin Luth King, Jr. Lecture: "Resistance, Resilience, and Radical Love" with Dr. Regina Shands Stolfzfus -- We're recruiting a VISTA for the Franke GLI -- Check out this Spring 2026 class -- Winter Welcome Back -- Experiential Learning Scholarships -- Democracy Summit: Call for Proposals -- Spring Alternative Break 2026 -- Looking for an opportunity after graduation? -- Kinetic Convergence Dance at the MMAC -- The UM Scholarship Portal is open and is available -- Bella and Murray Ressler Digital Humanities Fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, AY 2026-2027

Center For Biological Diversity V. U.S. Bureau Of Land Management, Erika C. Rader

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Mgmt. marks the Ninth Circuit’s second time considering the Willow Project, which plans to drill oil in Alaska. Environmental plaintiffs brought a series of claims under NEPA, the Reserves Act, ANILCA, and the ESA to stop or stall the Project. Plaintiffs focused on the BLM’s use of a “full field development standard” in assessing alternatives to the Project. Despite the range of claims, the Ninth Circuit allowed the Project to move forward, but on remand required the BLM to explain its reasoning for departing from the full field development standard …

Why The “Dead Silence” About The Slave Trade In Mansfield Park?, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

Legend has it that Jane Austen excluded the topic of slavery in toto from the text of Mansfield Park even though (or because) the family patriarch, Sir Thomas Bertram, spends the first half of the novel on his estate in Antigua. It is true that Sir Thomas is off-camera. However, in the family circle one evening shortly after his return from the West Indies, the reticent heroine, Fanny Price, attempts to open a discussion of the slave trade—without success. Mansfield Park does not impose silence on the question of the slave trade; rather, it depicts the imposition of silence on …

Vision 2026

Vision

No abstract provided.

Using Herbarium Specimens To Morphologically Delineate Three Western Phlox Species, Jack David Hager, Meredith Zettlemoyer

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Western Phlox are incredibly diverse, found in a variety of habitats spanning lowland meadows to high alpine tundra. The genus contains around 65 unique species, often with overlapping trait variation that makes morphological and taxonomic delineation difficult. Phlox missoulensis, a cushion-forming species endemic to the Missoula Valley, inhabits lower-elevation, windy, arid ridgelines that mimic alpine conditions. Two nearby congeners, Phlox kelseyi and Phlox pulvinata, occupy partially overlapping ecological niches: P. kelseyi is found in wet meadows at similar elevations to P. missoulensis, while P. pulvinata is found in higher elevation environments. P. missoulensis exhibits morphological characteristics that are intermediate between …

Temporal Avoidance By Gray Foxes Reflects Growing Pressure From Expanding Coyotes In The Neotropics, Madison Odenbach

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are rapidly expanding their range towards South America, potentially threatening the world’s highest canid diversity residing on that continent. A better understanding of their interactions with native species is needed to anticipate potential competitive impacts. In Costa Rica, native gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) likely occupy a similar niche to the coyote newcomer, yet little data exists on their interactions in tropical ecosystems. We hypothesized the two species separate temporally to minimize the potential for competition in our study area, given preliminary data suggesting high spatial overlap (57.1% of coyote-detected sites overlap with fox-detected …

Farey Recursion In Australia And New Zealand, Eric B. Chesebro

University Grant Program Reports

No abstract provided.

Msw Portfolio, Ashley V. Sifuentes

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Growing into my voice, my journey throughout the MSW program.

Showpony, George Theodore Ellington

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The poetry collection Showpony focuses on the real-life experiences of a woman in her twenties during the 1970s, who is treated by psychiatrist Dr. Robert J. Stoller at UCLA in a desperate attempt to make her normal. Mrs. G struggles with homicidal and suicidal thoughts, psychosis, as well as her homosexuality and transgender identity. Showpony examines the ways in which psychology has pathologized these experiences and the ramifications for patients, particularly those who have been publicly showcased as examples of their conditions used to train future students. The collection critiques the exploitation of patients by psychiatrists and psychologists, highlighting unethical …

Meet Your Neighbor: A Houseless Services Program Proposal In Missoula, Montana, Victoria K. Hausman

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Within the last three years, Missoula, Montana, has developed a culture of pervasive, systemic, and negative actions against people experiencing houselessness. The transition from funding multi-tiered approaches, including encampments, shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing, has been replaced by decreased resource availability and the over-funded Ordinance 12.60, which enforces fines and misdemeanors on anyone unsheltered and experiencing houselessness. At the root of this public sentiment is stigma, which manifests itself at all levels of the socio-ecological system and negatively impacts the health, housing, employment, social, mental, and physical outcomes of people experiencing houselessness. To combat stigma, Meet Your Neighbor …

Feeding Missoula: Food Insecurity In Rural Children And Youth, Chani Brammer, Braelee Cheeks, Jordin Holland, Rayne Mccollough, Laurel Palmer, Therese Solomon

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In Montana, approximately one in seven children live in a food-insecure household, with rural Montanans in particular facing significant barriers. Existing needs-based food assistance programs, such as SNAP and WIC, have structural weaknesses: SNAP benefits are often not sufficient to last through the month, and those eligible for these programs face a confusing application process, shame and stigma, and logistical hurdles, such as limited transportation.

“Feeding Missoula” began with an evaluation of how current food assistance programs met or failed to meet the needs of rural youth. Our methodology integrated a comprehensive review of existing literature and structured interviews with …

Toxic Torts Are In Your Blood: An Examination Of Pfas And Tort Liability, Aiden M. Holden

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of chemicals widely manufactured for industrial and commercial applications in the past decade due to their remarkable stability. Despite the “useful” nature of PFAS in various applications, they represent one of the most profound environmental and public health crises of the modern era. The chemical stability of PFAS has made them almost completely resistant to natural degradation, earning them the moniker “forever chemicals.” PFAS forever haunt our plant, contaminating the soil, water, and the blood of approximately 95% of the United States population. As the scale of corporate malfeasance by chemical …

Empowering Rural Lgbtq2s+ Parents: An Exploration Of Perinatal Social Support And Perinatal Mental Health, Tess Alexandra Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), which include depression and anxiety symptoms occurring during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum, are highly prevalent and frequently untreated, severely impacting family health. The immediacy of this issue is backed by CDC data showing mental health issues as the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. Improved methods for identifying PMADs, connecting parents to care, and understanding the broader social factors that shape perinatal mental health are critical. Guided by ecological systems theory, this dissertation research explores informal and formal social support and perinatal mental health among LGBTQ2S+ parents in Montana, contributing knowledge of …

Voter Information Pamphlet, 2026, Montana. Secretary Of State

The Montana Constitution Collection

Voter information pamphlet for the election, November 3, 2026.

Eat With Understanding: A Um Student Guide To Food Systems, James Deacon, Cora Johnson, Lucas Dymit, Kaeli Rackham, Elsie Danyo

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The industrialized food system creates environmental harm, reduces food sovereignty, and contributes to growing food insecurity. These problems oftentimes are overlooked in higher education. To address this gap, our project examines how access to sustainable food education and campus-community partnerships can improve well-being and informed decision-making amongst University of Montana students. This collaborative project connects partners within UM Wellness, PEAS Farm, the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center, and the Big Sky Culinary Institute. Our research includes applied learning with these organizations by hosting a variety of speaker series presentations and coordinating a cooking workshop. We collected quantitative and qualitative …

Governance By Numbers And The Architecture Of Anxiety A Human-Capital Efficiency Analysis In Global Higher Education, Sukanya Kemp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There has been a movement of global university rankings from the margins to the center of higher education governance. These metrics are now treated as external performance indicators in institutional strategy formation. In this dissertation an Architecture of Anxiety created by these rankings was explored, specifically examining how ranking volatility functions as a signal of environmental uncertainty and resource risk. To bypass the Transparency Barrier inherent in global financial data, given the effects of internal political considerations on data reporting, a human-capital-centered approach was adopted. By utilizing academic staff full-time equivalents (FTE) as the primary analytical input, universities were reframed …

Feral Horses And Native Ungulates: Evaluating The Potential For Competition In Predator–Prey Communities Of Alberta’S Upper Foothills, Birch Gano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Feral herbivores are expanding in range and numbers globally, yet their community-level effects in ecosystems are poorly resolved. We evaluated whether feral horses reshape predator–prey–vegetation dynamics in Alberta’s Upper Foothills, Canada, through two pathways; i) potential exploitative competition for forage and ii) apparent competition via shared predators. We combined fecal DNA metabarcoding with remote wildlife cameras to quantify diets, spatiotemporal co-occurrence, and the role of horses in carnivore diet. We analyzed 241 ungulate scats (feral horses, elk, bighorn sheep, cattle, moose, and deer), 96 combined camera-years at 23 sites, and 190 carnivore scats (wolves, cougars, coyotes, bears) from 2023–2025. The …

Integrating Perspectives Of People With Aphasia: A Holistic Approach To Community Aphasia Groups Within An Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program, Mckinlee A. Mihelish

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Introduction: People with aphasia (PWA) experience chronic communication deficits that impact daily life. Community Aphasia Groups (CAGs) are commonly used to address these challenges and have demonstrated psychosocial and communicative benefits; however, they lack standardized structure and are implemented with variability across settings. Additionally, much of the existing research focuses on group-level outcomes rather than participant-driven priorities, limiting clinicians’ ability to tailor interventions. This study examined what PWA want from CAG participation and how these priorities may change over time.

Methods: This quantitative study investigated priority changes among PWA participating in a CAG within a summer 2025 Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia …

The Laymen's Conceptualization Of The “Safe Space”, Tiffany A. Nord

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The term "safe space" appears frequently across academic, organizational, therapeutic, and social contexts, yet lacks conceptual clarity. While originating from LGBTQ+ and women's activist movements, contemporary usage has expanded without theoretical development, making it confusing and challenging to effectively implement for researchers and practitioners alike. This two-phase qualitative study examined how individuals define safe spaces. Phase 1 employed an open-ended questionnaire with 62 general population participants. Phase 2 involved semi-structured interviews with 22 self-identified LGBTQ+ individuals. Data were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory methodology. Findings revealed five core elements: specified setting, enacting responsiveness, allowing candor, perceiving security, and sensing …

Embodied Women’S Health In The Pacific: Biocultural Pathways Of Hormones, Immunity, And Reproduction, Courtney Callidora Manthey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation examines women’s health through a biocultural framework that integrates biological anthropology, medical anthropology, and public health, with a central focus on the Pacific. It advances embodiment theory as a unifying approach for understanding how lived experience becomes biologically incorporated across the life course, shaping reproductive, endocrine, and immune outcomes. Grounded in research in Sāmoa and situated within broader comparative contexts in the United States and Amazonian populations, this work argues that women’s health cannot be fully understood through biomedical indicators alone, but must instead be interpreted within historically, culturally, and environmentally embedded Pacific contexts and beyond. The dissertation …

“What’S Gender Got To Do With It?” The Chatelaine, Artifact Analysis, And The Presumption Of Gender, Dane Alexander Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The use of diagnostic artifacts to determine gender when analysis of skeletal remains is uncertain is a long-standing practice within archaeology. Material culture is noted, including weapons and personal items used exclusively by a specific gender within a culture, allowing for possible gender determination during excavation or review. However, issues arise when diagnostic artifacts are found not to be used solely by one gender within these cultures. Biases on the part of researchers, unintentional though they may be, are a determining factor. This, in turn, affects the public's views on history. Examples of this can be seen in our current …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

Evolution Of A Nitrogen-Fixing Endosymbiont And Integration With Its Diatom Host, Heidi Elizabeth Abresch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Endosymbiosis, where one cell lives inside of a different cell, is ubiquitous in nature and has enormous impacts on the ecology and evolution of both the host and the endosymbiont [1, 2]. These relationships exist along a continuum ranging from facultative—where both partners are able to live independently—to completely obligate—where partners can only survive in the presence of the other. The most famous examples being the chloroplast and mitochondrion [3]. After hundreds of millions or even billions of years of coevolution, highly-integrated endosymbionts are coordinated with the host on the genetic, metabolic, and cellular levels, but we do not understand …