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Big Sky Institute nets $275,000 from community fundraiser

The trek to building a world-class science facility at Big Sky is well under way with the formation of a national advisory board and a recent community fundraiser that raised $275,000, says John Varley, the new executive director of the Big Sky Institute at Montana State University http://www.bsi.montana.edu/ .

Dave Dooley, Provost and vice president for academic affairs at MSU, recently announced that a national advisory board has been formed to oversee the science and fundraising activities of the Big Sky Institute. An assistant director will be hired this fall to live in Big Sky and oversee local programming and activities, and a new MSU Foundation employee, Carlye Cook, will coordinate fund-raising activities for the Institute.
"The partnership between the Big Sky community and MSU may well be unprecedented between a rural community and the university," says Dooley. "Based on the tremendous enthusiasm and energy we have seen in the community, as well as the talent and productivity of our faculty, we expect to accomplish great things."

The Big Sky Institute is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to creating, applying, and communicating science-based knowledge to promote a deeper understanding of environmental systems, both in their own right and in relationship to the human communities that depend upon them.

Plans for the BSI facility — a partnership between MSU and the Big Sky community– call for a 10,000 square-foot building in its initial phase, to be built just north of Ophir School near U.S. Highway 191. The energy-efficient, two-level station will serve as a research lab, learning center, a science center for investigating and communicating the science of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and it will also have field station capabilities, facilitating research at the intersection of Yellowstone and a growing community.

"We are very excited about the membership of the national advisory board," Varley said. "We are thrilled with the enormous talent they bring and their obvious enthusiasm to serve the Big Sky and MSU communities."

The BSI board includes: Jonathan Foote, an internationally recognized Livingston architect who is designing the BSI facility and received an honorary doctorate from MSU in 2006; Lisa Graumlich, former director of the Big Sky Institute and currently the director of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Arizona; Gerry Wheeler, head of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, Va.; Joe Kalt, economist at Harvard University and part-time Montana resident; David Leuschen, energy businessman from New York and Montana rancher; Taylor Middleton, general manager of Big Sky Resort and Big Sky resident; Stacy Ossorio, Big Sky realtor and resident; James Reichman, director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif.; Gary Reischel, businessman from Shanghai, China and part-time Montana resident; Robert (Bob) Schaap, former Big Sky businessman and current resident of Bozeman; Chris Wright an energy industry entrepreneur and part-time Big Sky resident; and Loren Bough, a businessman and Big Sky resident.

Big Sky Institute supporters held their second annual community gala and fund raiser on Aug. 4, with bidders purchasing donated items such as an overnight stay at the Tin Chateau on Lake Hebgen, a private yacht for a dream holiday and a stay at the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel. This year’s community event raised $275,000, more than doubling the amount raised last year.

"It’s amazing the support this community has for this effort," Varley said.

The Big Sky Institute in Big Sky will serve as a technologically advanced hub for advancing and communicating a scientific understanding of Greater Yellowstone with functional spaces for research, outreach and educational activities, according to Todd Kipfer, a BSI assistant director at MSU. It will include a conference/performing arts facility and will be available to the Big Sky community and Ophir School for public and educational activities. The station will be a visible example of "green" and innovative construction, according to Kipfer, and one novel plan for the main conference room will incorporate a donated silo from the family ranch of Loren Bough, a Highwood, Mont. native and co-chair of the Big Sky fundraiser. The first phase of the facility will cost between $4-5 million, which will cover planning, design, construction, furnishings, and equipment.

Construction will begin when the funds are raised, Kipfer said. Planners hope to break ground next spring and start using the station by the fall of 2008 or spring 2009.

Contact: Todd Kipfer (406) 994- 7977, [email protected]

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