Featured Staff Member

Desiree Taylor portrait

Desiree Taylor

Academic Advisor Office of Student Services

Jake Jabs College of Business

 

Last August, I moved to Montana and started working as academic advisor in Jake Jabs College of Business. I am grateful to everyone in the MSU community for being so welcoming to this Texan. With two Army veterans as parents, I was able to live in many different places across the U.S. and abroad during my childhood. These experiences fuel my love for traveling to new destinations and meeting new people. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering as a member of the women’s basketball team. I am a diehard Sooner fan but love cheering on the MSU Bobcats as well! Currently, I am pursuing my doctorate in Adult & Higher Education, and I really love the program. I look forward to meeting more of the wonderful MSU community and experiencing my first summer in Montana!

 

March brings the hint of Spring and St. Patrick's Day but also is

Women's History Month Banner freaturing women of all skin color

 

Women's History Month empowers women of all ages around the nation with courage, self-esteem and willpower to walk in our ancestors' footsteps. Hopefully, our history will also inspire current and future generations to emulate the women who laid the framework for us to succeed, be treated equitably and be recognized in society. One such inspiring woman is Sarah Bickford.

Portrait of Sarah Bickford

 Sarah Gammon Bickford

from Visit Southwest Montana https://southwestmt.com/

Sarah Bickford was born as a plantation slave in 1852 near Jonesboro Tennessee. After the Civil War, she moved to Knoxville and lived with her aunt (biological or adoptive, it’s not yet clear). There, she got a job as a nanny for John Murphy, who took her with him when he moved to Virginia City, Montana in 1870. She worked as a chambermaid before marrying and having three children (all of whom died in childhood). By 1880, her husband had disappeared from the historical record, according to oral tradition he had died. In 1883, she married again, this time to Stephen Bickford, a white farmer and miner who had moved to Montana from Maine in the 1860s.

The two were extremely prosperous. Sarah operated a bakery and boarding house as well as a truck farm and orchard. In 1888 Stephen bought a two thirds share in the Virginia City Water Company. Sarah worked as the Company’s bookkeeper until Stephen’s death in 1900 when she inherited his share of the Company. She ended up buying the remaining shares of the company. In an era when segregation was getting worse across the nation, and Jim Crow laws were growing harsher and harsher, Sarah Bickford owned the company that supplied water to Virginia City. She was the only black woman in Montana, and quite possibly in all of the United States, to operate a utility company at that time.

For more info on Sarah, visit Finding Sarah Gammon Bickford. The Montana Historical Society has an excellent site dedicated to the history of African Americans in Montana.

Alice Greenough

Alice Greenough

from National Cowboy Museum https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/

On the Red Fork, Montana, ranch of “Packsaddle Ben” Greenough, each and every Greenough grew up as a working ranch hand. In 1929, 27-year-old Alice Greenough and her sister, Margie, followed their brother Turk into a “high-ridin’, high-kickin’ career.” Responding to an ad for lady bronc riders, the girls went on the circuit. Living in a tent, they made their own costumes, inventing the bell-bottomed trousers that became standard cowgirl attire in the 1930s.

Nicknamed “She-Boss,” Alice Greenough won the ladies’ bronc riding at Boston Garden in 1933, 1935, and 1936 and in 1940 captured the Madison Square Garden crown. With her sister and her brothers Bill, Frank, and Turk–billed as “The Riding Greenoughs”–Alice Greenough competed in rodeos all across America and in England, Spain, and Australia.

In 1942 Alice Greenough retired from the arena and teamed with Joe Orr to produce the Greenough-Orr Rodeo. In 1967, after 40 years of friendship, they sold the show and got married. Alice Greenough Orr lived by a simple creed: “I never smoked. I never drank. I never swore. I was always taught by my father that you ought to conduct yourself like a lady.” She died in 1995.

 Montana Women’s History is a great resources for the extraordinary stories of Montana women.

Urban Transportation District

 

Sunshine Ross, HRDC’s Transportation Director, presented to the MSUASC Monthly Meeting the upcoming ballot item to create an Urban Transportation District on the May 2nd election, and what that means for the future of public transportation in the Gallatin Valley. MSU and ASMSU are local partners in Streamline and Galavan. To learn more about this ballot initiative check out https://yesforstreamline.org/

Did you know?

Over 60% of Streamline Riders are affiliated with MSU. If you are a seasoned commuter or interested in trying the bus, check out MSU’s commuter advice and incentive programs including prizes and the Guaranteed Ride Home program at GoGallatin or contact the Office of Sustainability at [email protected]

3 panel graphic of Urban Transportation Distrct Information

 

Announcements

Staff Appreciation Reminder

If you were not able to pick-up a care package at the designated location in your building, please stop by the key desk in the Plew building. Packages will be available until March 24th. For questions, contact [email protected].

Save the Date

Calling all new staff - lunch is on us!

All Staff Council would like to welcome you to MSU with a meal voucher for lunch and small gift. Please email [email protected] with the following information to help us coordinate delivery:
  • hire date
  • department and location on campus (i.e building and office/rm number)
  • phone number and email address (to arrange delivery)
  • shipping address (if you are a remote employee)
*Must have been hired after 07/01/2022 to be considered a NEW MSU employee.

 

 

 


MSUASC
Montana State University
All Staff Council
211 Montana Hall
P.O. Box 172440
Bozeman, MT 59717-2440

Chair:  Molly Lammers

[email protected]

406-994-4361