[The Montana Professor 16.1, Fall 2005 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]
October, 2005
Friends:
When Harry Fritz speaks to citizens in Plentywood on Montana in the 21st century...when Mary Murphy recounts Depression Montana to a group in White Sulphur Springs...when Sue Hart acquaints a crowd in Sidney with Montana literature...they share their work and expertise with groups outside our campuses' classrooms and lecture halls. In so doing, they not only broaden the impact they have on all Montanans, they also make friends for their institutions and supporters of Montana higher education. I am sure you will agree that this friendship and support are greatly needed.
I encourage you also to share your interests and expertise with Montanans across the state. This winter the Montana Committee for the Humanities (MCH) will add new programs to its Speakers Bureau offerings for 2006-2010. The MCH Speakers Bureau is Montana's largest and most popular speakers bureau, providing some 150-200 programs per year across the state. It enables local organizations--museums, libraries, schools, colleges and universities, civic and professional organizations, churches, and other groups--to bring high quality humanities programs to their members and the public at very low cost. Local sponsors provide planning and coordination, local publicity, setting, and an audience. MCH provides the speaker's honorarium and travel expenses.
More than seventy speakers now constitute the Speakers Bureau, with nearly 100 programs focusing on contemporary Montana and its issues, the state's history, literature, native peoples, environment, arts, civic life, and a number of other humanities topics beyond our state's borders. Such programs either focus on a humanities subject or bring the resources and perspectives of the humanities to bear upon public issues or policies. A major goal of Speakers Bureau programs is to encourage reflection and discussion among out-of-school adults who comprise our primary audience. Speakers Bureau audiences now average more than ninety persons per event.
Contemporary life and society, in Montana, the nation, and the world, provide an unending store of issues and topics that warrant public discussion and the perspectives of the humanities. Topics of special interest include the United States' role in the world, war and peace, Montana's native peoples, civic life and discourse, and the myriad statewide issues now before Montanans.
In January our Speakers Bureau call for proposals and application form will be available. Contact us or visit our website <www.humanities-mt.org>, should you wish to have copies. The deadline for applications is March 20th, 2006. The many other opportunities MCH provides for scholars to engage in the public humanities--grants, reading and discussion programs, research fellowships, media projects, book festivals, evaluation of funded projects, and more--and these appear on our website as well. Of course, I will be pleased to discuss the Speakers Bureau and other MCH programs with you and to visit your campuses.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Sherouse
Executive Director
Montana Committee for the Humanities
311 Brantly
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-7848
Tel 406-243-6022
in Montana toll-free 800-624-6001
<humanities.mt@umontana.edu>
<www.humanities-mt.org>
[The Montana Professor 16.1, Fall 2005 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]