Stage-1 fire restrictions in effect until further notice 



WHITEHALL – Stage-1 fire restrictions will be in effect until further notice at most Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks properties in Jefferson County beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 10, due to high fire danger.  This follows Stage-1 fire restrictions being implemented by Jefferson County. Stage-1 restrictions ban campfires except where specifically exempted and allow smoking only in vehicles and areas 3 feet in diameter that are cleared of flammable materials. An exemption is in place for Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park, where campfires are allowed within established campfire rings. Campfires are banned at fishing access sites in Jefferson County. Gas or propane stoves that can be turned on and off are still allowed. Fireworks are always prohibited at FWP sites. Affected fishing access sites in Jefferson County include: Limespur, Mayflower Bridge, Parrot Castle, Piedmont Pond and Sappington Bridge.  

Leo Killsback, associate professor in Montana State University’s Department of Native American Studies, has won the 2021 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize for his two-volume history of the Cheyenne Nation.

Awarded by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the prize recognizes Killsback's “A Sacred People: Indigenous Governance, Traditional Leadership and the Warriors of the Cheyenne Nation” and “A Sovereign People: Indigenous Nationhood, Traditional Law and the Covenants of the Cheyenne Nation.” Both books were published by Texas Tech University Press in 2020.

The Stubbendieck award carries a cash prize of $10,000. Killsback also has been invited to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln this fall to lecture on the books’ topics.

Killsback specializes in research about Indigenous governance, traditional law, sovereignty and treaty rights. An enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Killsback grew up in Busby on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. He graduated from MSU in 2003 and returned to MSU in 2020 from Arizona State University, where he held an academic appointment from 2010 to 2020, earning tenure and promotion to associate professor.

The Center for Great Plains Studies said the prize “celebrates the most outstanding work about the Great Plains” during the past year as chosen by an independent group of scholars.

“This is a humbling, ennobling work — grounded in the indivisibility of the Cheyenne Nation and the Great Plains,” said book prize committee chair Patty Simpson, professor of modern languages at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Simpson also formerly taught at MSU. “Killsback’s work disseminates a growing sense of urgency about the academic and activist dimensions of Indigenous scholarship and the imperative to understand in a new way the significance of the very ground beneath our feet. We congratulate him on this achievement.”

Henrietta Mann, a noted Indian scholar, as well as professor emeritus in Native American Studies at MSU and the first Endowed Chair of Native American Studies at MSU, commended Killsback’s work as significant in its contribution to the continuum of Cheyenne history. Mann is an elder of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

“Dr. Killsback’s two-volume book is an answer to the Cheyenne ancestral vision that wanted their descendants to live harmoniously with time and to carry their sacred and secular history in both their hearts and minds,” Mann said. “Further, as keepers of ancestral wisdom, today’s scholars are expected to teach the forthcoming generations, a task Dr. Leo Killsback has fulfilled in his two books that transmit the Cheyenne Nation’s walk through time from an oral tradition to a written format. As but one of the Cheyenne people’s elders, I am delighted his scholarship has resulted in a prestigious award, celebrating his melding of the older with the contemporary, thus, accomplishing a commendable task.”

Killsback said he was honored to be selected for the prize because it is important that Indigenous histories, experiences and voices are recognized as new horizons in scholarship are reached in Great Plains and Native American studies.

“As an Indigenous scholar, I will continue to contribute research and scholarship that is meaningful and significant to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” he said.

Killsback has spent nearly a decade conducting research and adapting his doctoral dissertation into the books. He combed archives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the National Anthropological Archives in Maryland. He also interviewed and collaborated with more than 80 elders, teachers and spiritual leaders for the books.

Killsback said the titles of the books were selected to highlight two aspects of the Cheyenne people: their spirituality and their sovereignty. However, Killsback said, “the purpose of the books serves to preserve the Cheyenne culture and ways of life, should they befall any more catastrophes beyond colonization and policies of forced assimilation.”

Killsback said he didn’t know how timely the books would be when he began. In the past two years, many friends and members of his community died during the pandemic.

“I wanted to write something in case our people and culture were threatened again, not thinking that we would face threats at this juncture of time,” Killsback said. “I also wanted to contribute something that all Native people could benefit from, learn from and keep our traditions and philosophies alive while trying to reinvigorate and revive them.

“We go to our (Cheyenne) traditions in times of need and pain and in times of healing. Most certainly now (at the end of the pandemic) is a time of healing.”

Killsback said the impact of the epidemic on his community motivated him to start Society of War Dancers, a nonprofit. He worked closely with Bozeman-based Hopa Mountain to provide COVID-19 relief to the Northern Cheyenne community in the form of face masks, vitamin C and other supplies.

Killsback said that while he had searched for a publisher for the book project since 2012, he has been interested in issues of American Indian sovereignty for even longer, reaching back to his years as a student at MSU. Prior to his graduation in 2003, he won a Rockefeller Brothers Fellowship for Minorities Entering the Teaching Profession. A paper he submitted to Brett Walker, MSU Regents Professor of history, on cultural perceptions of non-Indians as well as Indians toward animals was presented to a Future Indigenous Voices Conference. Killsback said he considered attending law school, but instead he chose to pursue academia.

“I decided we need more Native scholars who can conduct research and contribute directly to their communities and to Native people,” he said. He attended the University of Arizona, where he received his master’s degree and doctorate in American Indian Studies.

While in Arizona Killsback met his wife, fellow Native scholar Cheryl Bennett of the Navajo and Comanche nations. Bennett researches jurisdictional issues, sovereignty and hate crimes in Indian Country. Both professors moved to MSU’s Department of Native American Studies in the College of Letters and Science in fall of 2020. Killsback said he wanted to be near the Northern Cheyenne community where he remains active ceremonially and socially, and where he continues to be involved in the preservation and resurgence of Cheyenne language and culture.

“I also want to help expand and help advance the discipline of Native American studies, scholarship, teaching and service, especially in Montana,” he said.

Killsback said while the two award-winning volumes are his first books, they will not be his last. He is under contract with the University of Nebraska Press to write two more books about the Cheyenne oral tradition and stories. He plans to write one of the books in the Cheyenne language. In the meantime, he will also be working to advance Native American issues in his and other Native communities from his MSU base.

“My goal is to help reinvigorate our communities and secure a healthy and prosperous future for the generations to come,” Killsback said.

For more information on the award or the Center for Great Plains Studies, click here.

Wine is a fermented grape juice served as an alcoholic beverage. The taste experience of the wine depends on the type of grape and the overall winemaking process. However, this is not to say that drinking wine same as taking alcoholic beverages. Wine gives you a more enjoyable experience. If you are new in the industry, this guide will enhance your experience on the basics of wine. There’s a much you didn’t know about wine. Each variety from wine shop Australia comes with varying characteristics. In this guide, the focus is on how to get yourself a perfect wine as a beginner.

Preparation for Wine Tasting
If you want to buy wine like a pro then learning how to taste and evaluate a glass of wine is paramount. Before you make your first sip, it’s essential to set yourself in the right tasting environment. Prepare the circumstances surrounding your wine tasting exercise that may have a potential effect on your impressions of the wine. For example, it is so difficult to concentrate in a noisy or crowded room. Foreign smell and odor from perfume and pet can interfere with your ability to get the sense of wine’s aromas. A wrong-shaped glass can also affect the wine’s flavor. Before wine testing takes place, try to neutralize the conditions as much as possible to give the wine a fair chance to stand on its own.

How to Buy Wine
Before buying wine there, there are a few factors to consider, including occasion, budget, and preferences. The type of wine you buy during the party is a different thing you will buy when you want to have your pasta on the weekend. Besides, wine comes with a varying price range. Don’t buy what you can’t afford. Go for excellent options that don’t break the bank. Pick your preferred taste, and don’t take what you don’t like. Finally, buying cabernet sauvignon wine is not the best idea since it doesn’t go with pasta sauce. Choose the right wine if you want to use it with food.

How to Serve the Wine
Wine should be served in its absolute best condition. There is three wine service to pay attention to when serving including; the glassware, temperature, and preservation. First, each wine brand has got something spectacular to offer. Choosing the right wine glasses which are specifically shaped can help accentuate those characteristics. Secondly, while you can store all wine simultaneously, reds and whites are better served at quite different temperatures. Most people prefer taking white wines when too cold and red wines when too warm. While not everyone has a thermometer on hand, a good rule of thumb is to ensure white wines are chilled before drinking, and red wines should have time to rise in temperature.

Learning To Preserve the Wine
After enjoying your day, the chances are that you will have some leftovers wines in the bottles. to avoid several trips to wine shop Australia, you need to preserve your future use. Any wine happens to deteriorate when it comes into contact with air. You can slow down the spoilage rate when you use a quick vacuum pump to suck out the excess air. The less air in the wine bottle after opening, the longer it stays.

 The need for school supplies has been consistently present within our school systems over the years. But the need this year is expected to continue to increase as the number of families experiencing poverty is likely to increase in the aftermath of COVID-19. The Salvation Army has partnered with Family Promise of Gallatin Valley and Love In The Name of Christ (Love Inc.) to host their annual Tools for School drive and Community Event. Tools for Schools is a Salvation Army program that provides families in need with essential school supplies their children require to be successful in the classroom.

 
Those interested in donating supplies can order them directly from the Walmart registry and have them sent directly The Salvation Army Bozeman, June 30th until August 9th, or drop off supplies at 32 So. Rouse Avenue Monday-Thursday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
 
Monetary donations can be mailed or delivered to P.O. Box 1307 Bozeman, MT 59771, or made directly online at www.bozeman.salvationarmy.org under the donations link. Please make sure to note on the donation “Tools for School”.
 
Those in need of supplies for their children and teens in kindergarten through 12th grade can sign-up online at www.loveincgc.org/school or call Love Inc. at 406 587-3008. Sign-ups will be held through August 2nd and are open to all Gallatin County residents.
 
The Community Event will be held on August 14th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The location will be announced sometime next week. Families must sign-up to receive a backpack and supplies. Lunch will also be provided.
 
School supplies will benefit families who come to The Salvation Army for help, as well as local schools. "As school approaches, many families must choose between paying rent, putting food on the table or paying other bills” Captain Jennifer Larson, Corps Officer for The Salvation Army Bozeman Corp said. “This important program helps these families to have less stress and sets our kids in Gallatin County up for success!"

 
For more information on The Salvation Army or to learn how you can help, visit www.imsalvationarmy.org

Bozeman, MT— The Bozeman City Commission will consider declaring a stage 1 drought in Bozeman at the City Commission meeting this Tuesday, July 13th.  This stage is defined as abnormally dry and calls for Bozeman community members to proactively reduce water use through voluntary water conservation efforts.

 
If the City Commission approves a Stage 1 Drought residents will be asked to do their part to help conserve water. During a Stage 1 Drought, the goal is to reduce total system-wide water usage by 10% and water conservation is encouraged but not mandatory. The City of Bozeman has a four-stage drought plan that can be implemented by the City to dictate water use guidelines during a City-declared drought event.

 
The City of Bozeman’s water supply sources include Hyalite Creek, Sourdough Creek, and Lyman Spring.  The City’s Water Conservation Division monitors for drought by tracking local data such as stream flow, reservoir volume, and snowpack, as well as national climate data.  Snowpack and streamflow levels in Bozeman’s municipal watershed are currently below normal.  These conditions, combined with an exceptionally hot and dry summer, are impacting the City’s water supply and resulting in significantly high water demand for this time of year due to increased landscape irrigation.

 
Water Conservation Manager Jessica Ahlstrom says, “Bozeman is a semi-arid climate and we have prepared for the possibility of a drought. The most important thing for folks to remember is that their small actions can, and do, make a difference.”
 
The Water Conservation Division asks that residents proactively take steps to conserve water. More information and tips on conservation and the latest updates on drought conditions are available on the City’s website.

The 14th season of Montana PBS’s award-winning series “11th and Grant with Eric Funk” will feature six performers. It will be filmed in July and will begin airing this winter.

The Emmy Award-winning series seeks out respected musicians in Montana and invites them into viewers’ homes, fusing in-depth interviews with performances in the KUSM-TV studio, located at 11th and Grant on the Montana State University campus in Bozeman. The series is hosted by composer and MSU music professor Eric Funk.

This season will feature a variety of music, including baroque, country-folk, opera, jazz, Americana and brass.

The filming schedule follows by date and musical performer:

Sunday, July 18: Carrie Krause and Baroque Music Montana
Monday, July 19: The Lucky Valentines
Tuesday, July 20: Bobcat Brass Trio
Wednesday, July 21: Frederick Frey and Friends
Thursday, July 22: Adam Platt Trio
Friday, July 23: Jim Salestrom

Aaron Pruitt, director and general manager of Montana PBS, said the station is looking forward to resuming in-studio production of the program after the 2020 recording schedule was delayed by COVID-19.

“We adapted many of our programs last year due to the pandemic, but we knew we wanted to provide our ‘11th and Grant’ audiences and musical guests with the exceptional in-studio quality for which this series is renowned,” Pruitt said. “We decided to postpone our production schedule last summer until we could bring everyone back together in a safe environment, and we’re looking forward to doing so next month.”

The first new episode of the series will premiere in November. Additional episodes will be released in the winter and spring of 2022 and through 2023.

For more information about “11th and Grant with Eric Funk,” visit montanapbs.org/11thandgrant.

Bozeman Symphony announces the appointment of five new members to its Board of Directors as three previous members completed their terms. The organization is proud to welcome Heather White, Kenneth May, Tamara Havenhill-Jacobs, Thomas Bray, and Robert Ritchie to its Board of Directors.  
 
“The Bozeman Symphony has recently expanded its Board of Directors with accomplished, talented, and passionate individuals, who give their time, expertise, and desire to see the Symphony grow,” said Stephen Schachman, Board of Directors Chair. “All five of these board members are passionate leaders in the Bozeman community and are committed to helping the Symphony and the greater cultural community thrive.” 

 
As the organization and concert season continue to expand, so does the need for strong leadership on its Board of Directors. Schachman believes the five new board members will help shape the future growth and vitality of the Bozeman Symphony. Last month, the Bozeman Symphony announced the expansion of its 2021/22 Concert Season with a new series titled Bozeman Symphony Presents in addition to the organization’s historical six classical concerts. The Bozeman Symphony Presents series aims to attract music lovers of all genres with two concerts, including Holiday Spectacular featuring local favorite Jeni Fleming and John Williams: 90th Birthday Bonanza. Find out more information about the upcoming season, subscription, and ticket options on the Bozeman Symphony website (bozemansymphony.org). 

 
As the Symphony welcomes its new members, the organization would like to recognize the incredible contribution of previous board members Cliff Schutter and Walter Wunsch, who joined the Symphony’s Advisory Council, and Carole Sisson whose terms ended earlier this year. 
 
For more information about the Bozeman Symphony call 406-585-9774 or visit bozemansymphony.org. A complete list of the Symphony’s Board of Directors is available online at bozemansymphony.org/board-of-directors. 
 
Heather White, Writer, Attorney, and Nonprofit Consultant - Heather is the President & CEO of Heather White Strategies, LLC, which partners with businesses, foundations, and nonprofits to create a healthier, greener, more equitable world. She is the past president and CEO of Yellowstone Forever, the nonprofit partner to Yellowstone National Park, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Working Group, director of education advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation, and United States Senate staffer. She served on various political campaigns (including Al Gore's Presidential Campaign in 2000 and as recount attorney) and as a litigation associate at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, Tennessee. She's a frequent spokesperson in the national media on conservation issues and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Roll Call, The Montana Standard, MindBodyGreen and featured on the CBS Morning News, PBS News Hour, Fox News, MSNBC, and Dr. Oz. She's passionate about music, nature, philanthropy, and empowering the next generation.  

 
Ken May, Consumer Markets CEO – Ken splits his work between investing in travel and hospitality groups, serving as an advisor to several start-up companies and mentoring young executives. Previously, Ken had an international business career with a variety of global consumer market corporations, before moving to Bozeman in 2012. Ken’s wife Mary is a teaching chef and wellness instructor in Ayurveda as certified by the Chopra Center. Ken shares that his “formal education in musicology consisted of reading every LP album cover in the classical music section of the Middlebury Book Store (VT) and borrowing every record he could during his four college years.” 

 
Tamara Havenhill-Jacobs, Chief Information Officer - Tamara serves as the Chief Information Officer for Bozeman Health. As an experienced executive with 30 years in healthcare ranging from integrated care delivery systems to pediatric and academic health systems, she has a passion for new and emerging areas within healthcare that elevate care delivery and experience. Tamara is married to Chris Jacobs and they have a 14-year-old daughter, Giavanna. The impact, role, and value of music is important to their entire family and Tamara is very excited to join the Bozeman Symphony Board. 

 
Thomas Bray, Editor, Retired- Thomas moved to Bozeman in 2010 from Birmingham, Michigan, where he had been editorial page editor of The Detroit News for 23 years. Prior to that he had served as a reporter, bureau chief and associate editor of The Wall Street Journal news and editorial pages. Tom also served as board chair of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) of Bozeman and currently chairs a 5-person committee that monitors the editorial independence and ethics issues at The Wall Street Journal. He is a graduate of Princeton University. 

 
Robert Ritchie, President, CEO - An insurance industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience, Bob Ritchie has built and transformed businesses ranging from startups to large national insurance companies. His vast background includes specialty niche insurers, such as American Modern, national carriers, including AIG and CNA, and conglomerates, including GE Insurance Solutions. He brings this experience to benefit American Integrity and its policyholders.  

 
Bob is a leader who understands the needs of both his customers, the agent, and the policyholder. His specialties are broad with a strong analytical base along with profound success in sales and marketing. As the founder of American Integrity, he is committed to the success and growth of the Company along with the stability of the Florida insurance marketplace. The Company serves over 300,000 customers throughout Florida. As the fifth largest Florida home insurer, the Company has annual revenues of $400m. 

 
Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Choir - Each concert season the Bozeman Symphony presents a repertoire of symphonic and choral music performed for the benefit of individuals, students, and musicians in south-central Montana. Performances and events include a series of classical subscription concerts, performances aimed at engaging and attracting new audiences under the umbrella of “Bozeman Symphony Presents,” Current Commotion – an experimental music series that allows the Bozeman Symphony to be on the cutting edge of our industry, and a strong desire to launch a summertime music festival. The Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Choir have established themselves as significant cultural icons in Montana, whose history is marked by artistic excellence. Our future is dependent upon maintaining a skilled and motivated orchestra whose members bring symphonic music to life. To learn more or donate to the Bozeman Symphony, call 406-585-9774 or visit www.bozemansymphony.org. 

Montana State University Extension has a MontGuide available that covers how successors can access a deceased person’s financial accounts.

Montana law provides simplified procedures for successors to acquire a decedent’s accounts at financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, savings and loans firms, brokerage firms and stocks or bonds companies, says Marsha Goetting, MSU Extension family economics specialist. If the person held the account with another individual or individuals with rights of survivorship, the surviving joint tenant can legally remove the money in the account.

“If the financial account is solely owned by the decedent with a payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) designation, then under Montana law the POD or TOD beneficiary is entitled to the funds,” Goetting said.

For single-party accounts without a POD or TOD beneficiary designation, probate and the appointment of a personal representative is generally required before the accounts can be distributed to successors if the decedent’s estate is worth more than $50,000. If the decedent’s estate does not exceed a value of $50,000, the successor can collect money in the decedent's accounts by presenting proof of identification, a certified death certificate and an “Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of a Decedent” form.

The “Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of the Decedent” must be signed by the person claiming to be the successor, and the signature must be notarized by a notary public, Goetting said. The form is available at https://www.montana.edu/estateplanning/affidavitforcollectionofpersonalpropertyforpdffillableform.pdf.

Paper copies of the “Accessing a Deceased Person's Financial Accounts” MontGuide are available at county and reservation Extension offices.

In recent years, the effect of trauma on students’ educations has become more widely recognized, but Montana State University researcher Christine Stanton says an important question remains: How can education research help when education itself is traumatic for many students?

Stanton, an associate professor in the Department of Education, and Robert Petrone, a former MSU faculty member who is now an associate professor at the University of Missouri, have published an article in a prominent academic journal exploring the question. “From Producing to Reducing Trauma: A Call for ‘Trauma-Informed’ Research(ers) to Interrogate How Schools Harm Students” was published in May in Educational Researcher. Petrone is the article’s lead author.

“Trauma-informed education is really a bit of a hot topic right now,” Stanton said. “The essence of it is recognizing that some students – many students, maybe – have experienced trauma in their own lives. Because of that trauma, they are unable to learn as effectively or they might act out in certain ways.”

However, trauma is often regarded as something that has happened outside the schools, Stanton said, neglecting that schools themselves sometimes produce trauma.

“What we don’t necessarily see is the opportunity for educators and educational researchers to recognize the very complex ways that we continue to reinforce – and sometimes produce in new ways – trauma,” Stanton said. “The piece talks about historical trauma as a way to think this through.”

One example of historical trauma is the school experiences of Indigenous youth in the U.S.

“From the mid-1800s to the 1970s, officials removed Indigenous children from their families and sent them to boarding schools, where their hair was cut, their clothes replaced, and their language forbidden — all in the service of their being ‘civilized,’” Stanton and Petrone write. “In addition to the sexual assault and physical abuse that Native youth endured at these schools and later imported to their home communities, the lasting effects of the boarding school era includes endangerment of language, loss of knowledge systems, and a fracturing of family, cultural practices, and overall cultural identity.”

Another example comes from Stanton’s own work as a high school teacher, when she worked with Native students on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. During her time there, she learned some Native parents felt uncomfortable coming to the school for parent-teacher conferences because, she said, school had not been a good, comfortable place for them, their parents or grandparents. As a result, some chose not to attend conferences.

“The assumption, then, is they don’t want to be involved in child’s education, but that is far from true,” Stanton said. “Once we moved our parent-teacher conferences to a different site on the reservation, we had a very different response rate.”

In addition, Indigenous histories can sometimes be excluded in curriculum materials, Stanton said, making some Native students feel more invisible in the classroom and leading them to have to deal with misconceptions.

“The reality is, many of our students, especially students of color and from minoritized communities, are not bringing with them individual traumatic experiences,” Stanton added. “They’re bringing collective traumatic experiences – trauma experienced by whole communities – and bringing historical, intergenerational trauma as well.”

To address what Stanton and Petrone see as a gap in current trauma-informed education, they suggest in their article ways for schools and universities to play a role in addressing the role of schools in producing trauma, especially in terms of educational research.

“We’re arguing for a more participatory, community-based and student-centered framework that recognizes the complexities of the social environments and the historical nature of trauma,” Stanton said. “To do that, we acknowledge that many researchers, ourselves included, have not experienced the same type of trauma that maybe our students have experienced.”

One way to modify educational research is focusing on the research setting, they wrote. Educational researchers will often invite parents to come to a school and have a conversation or take a survey, or they may mail a survey to prospective research participants. Those common practices, however, miss the complexities of historical trauma, Stanton said.

“Families may not be comfortable in the school setting, and a lot of families on reservations don’t have mailing addresses,” Stanton said. “They would never get the survey, and they might not want to fill something out and send it to a white researcher they don’t know, given the history of how white people have collected and misused data about education.”

A more culturally appropriate alternative, Stanton said, would be conducting interviews at a community center.

Stanton and Petrone also advocate for more community-based participatory research —that is, research done in partnership with the community. 

“A community-based approach to trauma-based educational research positions the community as an asset – a potential source of knowledge and healing filled with networks of support,” Petrone said.

“It’s important to draw attention to the fact that schools are not neutral or inherently ‘safe’ places for many students,” he added. “For us, this has to be the starting point for any intervention for school reform, especially those understood as ‘trauma-informed.’ It may not be comfortable to sit with this, but it’s imperative we acknowledge that schools have been – and for some students continue to be – harmful places, and then inquire into how to mitigate this harm rather than assume schools are safe places of refuge for some students.”

“From Producing to Reducing Trauma” grew out of Stanton and Petrone’s previous work with Indigenous communities.

Stanton, who came to MSU in 2010, conducts research in collaboration with Indigenous communities throughout the state. Those projects – more than half a dozen since coming to MSU – have been driven by requests from the communities, she noted.

As MSU colleagues, she and Petrone also frequently worked together in collaboration with Indigenous communities. One particularly transformative experience occurred several years ago, when several students, teachers and a counselor from an alternative high school on a Native American reservation in Montana visited the MSU campus, Stanton said. During their visit, the high school students met with MSU students who were studying to become English and social studies teachers.

“During that experience, we were all sitting in a big circle in a classroom in Reid Hall, and the three young men from the alternative high school that came to visit were so open and candid about their individual and collective experiences with trauma,” Stanton recalled. “It just blew the minds of the MSU students, almost all of whom identified as non-Indigenous. Every jaw hit the floor. It proved to be transformative not only for the (MSU) students, but also for Rob and me, and most importantly, for the high school students, some of whom went on to college themselves.

“(Rob) and I … have continued to work with (that particular community),” Stanton said. “So that ongoing 10-plus years of partnering with that community and a continued promise to continue that work is central to being able to learn about these particular experiences and that led to this particular piece.”

Alison Harmon, dean of the MSU College of Education, Health and Human Development, said the article has the potential to transform educators’ and researchers’ understanding of trauma-informed teaching.

“Schools should be safe places for children and youth to learn,” Harmon said. “Educators who understand the impact of individual and intergenerational trauma can make a difference for their students and families, improve schools, and advance the profession of education.”

Stanton noted that she and Petrone hope the article will help encourage and empower educators and educational researchers to make changes in their work.

“We can’t control what happens in their home, or the history, or the intergenerational experience that they bring with them,” Stanton said. “But we can certainly control what we do as educators in our classrooms, schools, universities and systems. Finding a way to address trauma within our own professions is really the optimistic outlook of the piece.”