Montana State University agroecology student Hadley Barnard has learned to ask customers purchasing produce from the university’s mobile farm stand what vegetables they’d like to see at the next week’s stand.

“I might assume that everybody loves kale, and then nobody wants kale,” she said. “At first I tried to predict what people would want, and then I learned that I need to simply ask them.”

The lesson is one of many that Barnard said she and fellow student Serena Whitcome have learned from operating the farm stand at Legion Villa, a 61-unit affordable housing community for seniors in Bozeman. Beginning in July and continuing into October, Barnard and Whitcome have operated the mobile farm stand once per week, selling vegetables at a discounted rate to residents of the community.

The mobile farm stand seeks to strengthen community food security in southwest Montana by increasing access to fresh, nutritious produce for households with limited resources. It is a partnership between MSU’s Towne's Harvest Garden and the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. All produce sold has been grown by MSU students at Towne's Harvest Garden, which is located on the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Horticulture Farm just west of campus. In addition to accepting cash, credit and debit cards and checks, the farm stand also accepts WIC vouchers and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers, according to Mac Burgess, Towne’s Harvest Garden director and practicum instructor and an assistant professor of plant science and plant pathology in the MSU College of Agriculture.

Barnard and Whitcome run the stand as part of their Towne’s Harvest Garden practicum, a requirement for students in the sustainable food and bioenergy systems program at MSU. As part of their responsibilities, Barnard and Whitcome spend several hours at Towne’s Harvest Garden before heading to Legion Villa, selecting and boxing up vegetables to take. They manage an inventory system to keep track of what is taken and what comes back to the farm unsold, and they also track the form of payment customers use to purchase the produce. If the vegetables are paid for with WIC vouchers or Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers, the students submit the appropriate paperwork to be reimbursed for those vouchers.

As a student who is interested in creating more sustainable food systems, Barnard said the experience of operating the mobile farm stand has been invaluable.

“When you want to work to make decisions that affect food access for different communities, it’s important to not sit back and make decisions from afar,” she said. “It’s really valuable to actually talk to people in communities that your work is impacting and hear what they think would be valuable.”

Barnard noted that the farm stand also simultaneously provides an important service in the community.

“Part of having a sustainable community is making sure that all of the members of a community have access to fresh, locally produced food,” she said. “So that is something this project really makes possible.”

MSU’s mobile farm stand dates back to 2011, when collaborators at MSU and Gallatin Valley Food Bank received a grant to help fund it, according to Marcy Gaston, who was then a graduate student at MSU. Gaston said that the first year, the stand operated at Legion Villa. In subsequent years, it moved to different communities, including Three Forks, Gallatin Gateway and Belgrade. In Bozeman, in addition to operating at Legion Villa, over the years it has also operated at Darlington Manor and at MSU Family and Graduate Housing.

Ultimately, there was a pull to operate the farm stand in Bozeman because that’s where it was having the most impact, Gaston said. 

“Our goal was to target more lower-income residents, and we found the closer we got to Bozeman, the more people we were able to reach,” she said.

The mobile farm stand is one part of Towne’s Harvest Garden, the university’s three-acre diversified vegetable and educational research farm. Towne’s Harvest Garden was founded in 2006 by a group of students. Today, it serves as an experiential classroom for a variety of academic programs on campus, including sustainable food and bioenergy systems, horticulture, hospitality management and culinary arts, and the Montana Dietetic Internship, among others. In addition to the mobile farm stand, Towne’s Harvest Garden operates a weekly farm stand on the MSU campus and offers shares of its vegetables through a community-supported agriculture program. It also supplies produce for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. Towne’s Harvest Garden and the sustainable food and bioenergy systems program are both cooperatively run by two MSU colleges: The College of Education, Health and Human Development and the College of Agriculture.

More information about Towne’s Harvest Garden is available online at townesharvest.montana.edu/. To learn more about the university’s sustainable food and bioenergy systems program, visit sfbs.montana.edu/.

This fall, Montana State University students have a chance to shape how thousands of people experience the new building that will house MSU’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering and Honors College.
 
The engineering college is soliciting student proposals for art to be displayed on three large wall panels in Norm Asbjornson Hall, which is expected to open in early 2019. Proposals are due by Dec. 14, 2018.
 
"Norm Asbjornson Hall is going to be a focus of interdisciplinary activity on our campus,” said Rob Maher, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and coordinator of the student art competition. “The classrooms, laboratories and public spaces in the building will reflect MSU’s spirit of innovation and collaboration.”

 
The wall panels, each roughly 10 feet tall by 20 feet wide, are prominently located near the building’s walkways and elevators. According to Maher, the best proposals will visually communicate a thoughtful use of all three panels. Artists can also incorporate sound, interactive sensors and other technological features if desired.

 
"We invite students to express their creativity through compelling and meaningful art proposals,” Maher said. “There is no required theme for the proposed artwork, but the selection panel will be looking for works that evoke MSU’s spirit of innovation for the future as well as continuity of our land-grant heritage.”

 
The student or team of students submitting the winning proposal will receive a special honorarium consisting of a $7,000 MSU scholarship split among the team members, as well as funding for materials and installation. Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of faculty, staff, students and community members.

 
Applicants must be MSU students, but the contest is not limited to art majors. All students may participate.
 
Artwork project proposals should fully utilize all three areas to the extent possible for the chosen means of artistic expression. Works may be mounted to the walls as panels, framed objects, sculptural relief up to 1 foot deep, or by other means that accommodate safe and economical installation.
 
Proposals will be accepted Nov. 1 through Dec. 14. The winning proposal will be announced on Jan. 25, 2019, and installation of the completed art will take place in May.
 
For more information and to submit a proposal, visit www.coe.montana.edu/art.

After standing vacant for nearly a decade, the final lot leveled by the 2009 natural gas explosion is bringing new community benefits to downtown Bozeman. The new Osborne Building at 233 E. Main St. will be an innovative reflection of Bozeman’s modern economy, with restaurant space, rental office space for nonprofits that serve low-income communities, and flexible office space for startups and small businesses. The concept for the new 33,000-square-foot building was developed by local businessmen Bryan Klein, Casey Durham, Chad Bottcher and Jamie Bottcher, who wanted to find a solution for the lot that would not only address a longstanding vacancy but also help meet community needs. The building is designed by Locati Architects and construction is scheduled to begin this month.

The new building is taking shape after several attempts by investors to develop the space since 2009. Even with property in Gallatin County being developed at a rapid rate in recent years, this lot proved difficult.
 
“We got to roll up our sleeves and address some unique challenges,” said Klein. “It can be tricky to build on a historic site, and there are existing buildings on both sides, so you have to make your project fit in that tight square. In addressing these challenges, it was also important to us to design a solution that provides community benefits and good jobs.”

 
“We’ve tried to be mindful of making the building fit with the rest of downtown and, most importantly, repair the disconnect you feel when you see the vacant lot on Main Street. It feels like we’re helping the community get past the devastation from the explosion 10 years ago,” said Durham.
 
To address financing challenges, Klein and Durham approached the nonprofit financing company MoFi to discuss solutions.
 
“This project definitely would not be happening without the help of New Markets Tax Credits, and MoFi and First Security Bank were instrumental in that,” said Klein.
 
The New Markets Tax Credit Program is an innovative federal program that helps incentivize and finance economic development projects in low-income census tracts around the country. MoFi works with investors to turn the credits into cash, and then uses that cash to fund catalytic development projects in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

“The new Osborne Building will complete Bozeman’s Main Street, help create jobs and address the shortage of commercial lease space downtown,” said Dave Glaser, MoFi President. “Since 2009, we’ve used New Markets Tax Credit financing to catalyze over $525 million in investments across Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. It’s been 10 years in the making, but this building is the right solution for Bozeman’s changing economy. It’s been worth the wait.”

The NMTC financing from MoFi came with some exciting community benefits. First and foremost, the project will create over 150 stable, quality jobs that are accessible to low-income people. The third floor will be leased to nonprofit organizations that have a primary mission of serving low-income communities and will be leased at 50% of the market rate. The fourth floor’s flexible office space, with an emphasis on creative collaboration and business incubation, will provide room for Bozeman’s growing entrepreneurial and startup economy.

 
U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines have been supportive of the NMTC Program’s ability to leverage federal dollars to support projects that are identified and completed at the local level. Both senators are excited to see the program’s latest investment in Montana.
 
“New Markets Tax Credits provide Montanans with the opportunity to redevelop buildings to best fit the needs of the community,” Tester said. “This investment will create jobs in downtown Bozeman and increase opportunities for local businesses. I will continue to strongly support New Markets Tax Credits so that Montanans can continue to use these job-creating tools to push our communities forward.”

 
“The New Markets Tax Credit is important to creating Montana jobs,” Daines said. “The Osborne Building will be a wonderful addition to downtown Bozeman, and I’m glad to see this project go forward.”
 
Additional examples of businesses funded with New Markets financing include the new Missoula Food Bank, the Great Falls Rescue Mission’s Cameron Family Center, the Copper King Hotel in Butte, the tribal government building on the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, and the Universal Athletic Service headquarters and the Town and Country Grocery on 11th Avenue in Bozeman.
 
MoFi (formerly Montana & Idaho Community Development Corporation)
MoFi is a double bottom line, non-bank lender that provides loans to individuals, businesses and communities outside the financial mainstream. MoFi believes that access to responsible, flexible capital is a fundamental right, and that when “nearly bankable” people and projects are given access to capital they thrive. MoFi operates across the Northern Rockies with offices in Missoula, Bozeman and Boise, and in the last decade has provided nearly $500 million in financing to hundreds of borrowers. Learn more at www.mofi.org.

City Continues Events to Educate about Upcoming Bond Vote

In the coming months the City of Bozeman will be holding two town halls to provide information about the Bozeman Public Safety Center. With one town hall in September and one in October the City hopes to give the public the opportunity to learn more and ask questions. The town halls accompany many other efforts by the City to increase awareness and education with the public about the center. In addition the City will be hosting a variety of casual events at local businesses, formal presentations with community wide organizations, and will be providing educational materials across the city at public events. A bond for construction and furnishing the Bozeman Public Safety Center will be on the ballot for City of Bozeman residents on November 6th.  The town halls are open to the public and all are invited to come.  

Bozeman City Mayor Cyndy Andrus says, “We are encouraging anyone who has questions, wants to learn more, or wants to speak with someone from the city to come to a town hall. This is a way for us to hear you and have a conversation. The Bozeman Public Safety Center serves our community’s needs and we want you to understand why.”  No sign up is necessary to attend a town hall. Town halls will be September 19th from 6-8 PM at the Bozeman Public Library and October 3rd from 6-8 PM at Bozeman Fire Station #3. Representatives from the Bozeman City Commission, Fire Department, Police Department and Municipal Courts will all be present. More information about the Bozeman Public Safety Center can be found at www.bozeman.net. All other public events about the Bozeman Public Safety Center can be found on the City of Bozeman’s Facebook page @Bozemangov

Comments about Montana State University’s College of Nursing are invited as part of the college’s regular process of seeking re-accreditation.

The College of Nursing will host an on-site evaluation of all its programs with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, or CCNE, on Oct. 15-17 for the purpose of review and re-accreditation. Accreditation is a voluntary process that evaluates the college in relation to national standards of excellence in nursing education. As part of the evaluation process, program constituents and other interested parties may submit, in writing, comments concerning MSU College of Nursing’s programs' qualifications for accreditation. 

Third-party comments must be received by CCNE by Monday, Sept. 24. Comments may be mailed to: Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education, Attn: Third-Party Comments, 655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001.

Alternatively, comments may be emailed to:

thirdpartycomments@ccneaccreditation.org.

The MSU College of Nursing has enjoyed continuous approval by the Montana State Board of Nursing since its founding in 1937 and has received continuous national accreditation since 1949. Currently, the college’s bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs are accredited by CCNE, a national accreditation agency officially recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Claire Vlases, a fifteen-year old from Bozeman, Montana, has been named a 2018 International Young Eco-Hero by the environmental organization Action for Nature, for her project Solar Makes Sense. While a student at Sacajawea Middle School, Claire convinced her school district to invest in solar energy, and then successfully raised the funds to make it possible.

When a school bond included funds to expand Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman, Claire, a student there, decided that solar energy must be part of the project. Not included in the architect’s plans and not deemed feasible because of the added expense, Claire set to work and convinced the school board that she could raise the funds to make solar panels a reality.

Montana State University will take its traditional freshman class photo at Bobcat Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Aug 25, and this year, anyone wishing to help welcome the class of 2022 is also invited to be in the photo.
 
Each year since 2014, the university has gathered its incoming students onto the field at the stadium, where they don special gold T-shirts and collectively form the shape of the iconic MSU “M” on the field for a photograph.
 
This year, MSU is also inviting current students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to be a part of the photo, posing in the stands to spell out “125” to celebrate the university’s 125th anniversary.
 
“We want our incoming students to know that the entire campus and Bozeman community care about them and want them to succeed,” said Chelsey Wilson, student engagement and leadership adviser for MSU’s Office of Student Engagement. “Inviting alumni, current students, community members, faculty and staff will demonstrate to our students that they are supported in their new environment.”


The photo will be featured on MSU’s homepage, on the university’s Facebook page and at commencement in 2022.
 
All ages are welcome to attend. MSU President Waded Cruzado, Champ, the Spirit of the West marching band and the cheer squad will be on hand. Participants will receive a limited-edition T-shirt, while supplies last. Those who wish to be in the photo must wear white.
 
Lineup begins at 5:30 p.m., and the photo will be taken promptly at 6:30. Parking is available in the West Stadium lot at the corner of Kagy Boulevard and 11th Avenue. Entry is through Gate 15.
 
RSVPs are encouraged but not required at http://calendar.msu.montana.edu/events/26854. For questions, write to engagement@montana.edu or call 406-994-5821.