Happy Holidays

We wish you a healthy and happy holiday season.

O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West
of The University of Montana
As another year comes to an end, we want to wish you and yours the very best for the coming year.  At the O'Connor Center, we've had a fulfilling year.  Major events include our co-sponsorship of an important conference commemorating the 100th birthday of Glacier National Park, with participation by UM historian William Farr, the Center's associate director.  We celebrated the 11th anniversary of our web-based regional news service - Headwaters News - edited by our own Shellie Nelson.

The Center is engaged in several large research projects, including two with funding by the U.S. Department of Labor through the Montana State AFL-CIO.  One is examining future job growth in a changing Montana economy. The other is a major study of Montana's growing "restoration economy," examining the wide range of projects to rehabilitate and restore damaged environments and natural resources in the state, which is the nation's 4th largest.  The Center is also engaged in an important study of the future of ranches and ranch communities in the Nebraska Sand Hills in partnership with the Grassland Foundation of Nebraska and the World Wildlife Fund and its office in Bozeman.

As we enter a new year, we're looking forward to our new radio program that will feature weekly broadcasts highlighting stories of people and places in the state and region.  Acclaimed radio producer and journalist Clay Scott is creating and producing the program, which is called "Mountain West Voices."  Broadcasts will begin in early January on Montana's public radio stations.

Recently retiring UM President George Dennison moved to the Center, which will serve as his home as he writes a book on the history of The University of Montana.  Former Montana Congressman Pat Williams continues at UM and the Center, teaching courses on public lands policy and the Rocky Mountain West.

In January the Center is co-sponsoring a major conference entitled "Montana's Energy Future" in cooperation with NorthWestern Energy, the Wheeler Center at MSU-Bozeman, and Carroll College.  The conference will be held the 7th and 8th in Helena.  The year ahead will again be filled with a wide array of activities and events.  We hope to see you soon.

From all of us at the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, happy holidays and best wishes for the coming year.


Larry Swanson, Center director