President's Perspective

UM President Seth Bodnar shares University highlights.

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UM President Seth Bodnar

Dear Griz Family,

As we welcome our students, faculty and staff back to campus for the start of a new academic year, UM is animated with Grizzly energy. Our diverse freshman class has their sights set firmly on shaping the future.

These students are passionate about climate change, natural resources, public policy, health care, world languages and underserved communities (to name just a few), and UM will offer them the challenges they seek, the skills they need to make an impact and the adventures they will remember for a lifetime.

While we can’t predict the tremendous work these students will accomplish at UM, we can guarantee that all along their journeys, generous UM alumni and employees will support their paths through a tomorrow-proof education.

UM students have the unique opportunity to undergo whole-person learning, to think critically and to live ethically inside and outside of the classroom. There is no better place to do that than at UM.

There are many examples of the fearless Griz spirit in this issue of the Montanan.

Dedicated student leaders in our Advocates program have shared the story of UM with prospective students and their families for 50 years. Our Advocates weave together friendship and purpose in an example of UM at its best.

Lubrecht Forest, our experimental forest and largest outdoor classroom, delivers one of UM’s cornerstone missions: conducting meaningful, impactful research for the benefit of Montana’s timber, conservation and natural resource economy. For generations, the forest has served as a classroom of experiential learning.

Dr. Karen King, Harvard University Hollis Professor of Divinity and UM ’76 alumna, reflects on her transformative liberal arts education in Montana. An internationally renowned historian of early Christianity, King embodies the possibilities that come from a UM humanities degree. Throughout her career, she has shed new light on the world’s oldest text while serving as the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest academic endowed chair.

Soon, we celebrate our 100th Homecoming Sept. 30-Oct.5.  

We invite our greater Griz family to celebrate along with us by saluting 100 years of our UM Homecoming tradition. Your memories, successes and paths comprise the fabric of UM’s heritage, and you are vital our next 100 years.

For the past century and well into our future, we are grateful for your support. Thank you for reading.

Up with Montana,

Seth Bodnar    

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