A Message From the Vice President
Ben Franklin is quoted as saying that nothing is certain “except death and taxes.” Perhaps “retirement” should be added to the list. Yes, after 13 years at the University of Montana, I have announced that I will retire. My last day of work will be some time this summer. What a ride it has been! UM has become one of the fastest growing research universities in the country. In 2022 UM reached the pinnacle of research institutions as a Carnegie Very High Research Activity, or “R1,” designation. That designation, which only 4% of colleges and universities achieve, was reaffirmed in 2025. This has been a historic achievement for UM.
You might wonder how we achieved this remarkable goal. When I first started at UM, I recognized that we had world-class faculty. What was missing was sufficient institutional support for our researchers. We created the proposal development office (now the Office of Research Development) to help faculty find funding opportunities and improve the fundability of their proposals. We also created the Broader Impacts Group (BIG) to demonstrate the impact of our research locally and nationally. As a result, UM was honored with the inaugural Public Impact Research award from the Association of Public & Land Grant Universities in 2024. Finally, we started Accelerate Montana to support workforce and economic development across the state. This increased institutional support was a key component of the drive to R1 status.
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So, what’s next? For me, I have created a nonprofit, FARTHER.org, which will serve as a “societal incubator” in the areas of forests and rangelands. Our region, and Missoula in particular, has a number of people and businesses with expertise in those fields but they are being disadvantaged by changes at the federal level. FARTHER aims to minimize the impact of the disruptions.
For the University we have provided for a smooth transition for the research enterprise. However, the road ahead is rocky. Despite the record number of new research awards last year, the uncertainty at the federal level caused federal agencies to dramatically decrease the number of funding opportunities for our faculty. As a result, the number of new research awards will be down significantly this year, which will impact research growth for the next several years.
The good news is that our current faculty are still world-class, and I’m confident research and creative activities at UM will continue to thrive.
As always, Go GR1Z!
