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The College of Arts and Sciences serves as a catalyst for transformation of its students—through the personal empowerment that a high quality education provides—and also for transformation of systemic problems. For example, just one piece of one program, the PEAS farm (which falls under the umbrella of the Environmental Studies program and its sustainable food and farming emphasis), caused student Michael Wachtel (M.A. EVST ’04) to “completely change the way he lives his life…he’s developed a strong sense of responsibility to the larger picture of protecting our health and environment,” according to his mother, Margaret Wachtel. On a larger scale, the PEAS farm is helping transform society. Students work alongside community members and at-risk youth (who do community service on the farm), building bridges between the university and community and serving as role models for the youth. According to Judge John W. Larson, District Judge of the Fourth Judicial District, who sees these teens in his courtroom, “I see a sense of pride and accomplishment in youth who have had low self-esteem and few successes. Those positive experiences are reflected in their family and behaviors outside the farm. It’s apparent to me that these changes will last well beyond the summer in which the youth work. Having the UM students serve as role models and mentors is key.”
And the Environmental Studies Program is just one of CAS’s 22 departments and programs—all of which can boast transformative work of some kind.
Due to the decrease in state support (in the past 25 years, state support has dropped from a rate of approximately 80 percent to 12 percent today), much of what we do here is funded by private support and could not happen without it. Please know how important and powerful your gift is in helping us provide access to a high-quality education to tomorrow’s future leaders.
Funding opportunities abound, but fall into four general categories:
- Student Support (this includes scholarships, graduate fellowships, and travel awards);
- Faculty Support (this includes professorships, travel awards, and faculty development funds);
- Program Support (this includes program development and enhancement funds); and
- Facilities (this includes our Native American Center and Interdisciplinary Science Building).
Gifts can be designated to support any of the above in any of CAS’s departments and programs.
Ways to make a gift include:
- Current gifts of cash, stock, real estate, and gifts-in-kind;
- Planned gifts which can provide income to the donor for life, with the remainder directed to CAS upon the donor’s passing. These gifts include charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts;
- Bequests in one’s will or living trust.
For more information about making a gift (with no obligation to do so), please contact:
Julia Horn
Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations
College of Arts and Sciences
Telephone: 406/243-2646
Fax: 406/243-4076
E-mail: Julia.Horn@mso.umt.edu
Thank you for partnering with us in our transformative work!
