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Ralph Johnson named new director of Burton K. Wheeler Center

Ralph Johnson, an architecture professor who has served as director of Montana State University’s Community Development Center and the University Honors program, has been named as the new director of the Burton K. Wheeler Center for Public Policy at MSU http://www.montana.edu/wheeler/ .

Johnson replaces Gordon "Corky" Brittan, who retired July 1. Brittan was the director for the non-profit center that probes issues important to Montana since 1991. The late Michael Malone was the originating director of the center honoring Wheeler, who earned fame as the "fighting progressive" U.S. senator from Montana from 1923 – 1947.

"The Wheeler Center has had a tremendous influence on the policy and legislation in the state," Johnson said.

Johnson has been a professor in the MSU School of Architecture since 1987 and will continue to teach following his appointment. He also was director of MSU’s University Honors Program for three years. He has been director of the MSU Community Design Center from 1988 to 2006. The CDC received many honors for its work with Montana communities under his tenure.

A licensed architect, Johnson also specializes in architectural history and theory as well as community planning issues. He says the Wheeler Center directorship appealed to him because there are parallels between the community service practiced by both the CDC and the Wheeler Center.

"A planner and community designer (also) goes into a community without an agenda to try to help a community develop public policy in a geographic area," Johnson said. The Wheeler Center identifies critical policy topics affecting Montana and hosts forums and sharing of ideas about the state. For example, within the last year the center hosted statewide forums on legislative reform and climate change.

He believes in the center’s responsibility to provide a forum for discourse on topics affecting Montanans is valuable because "this state is still a place where we share the Jeffersonian idea that the people have control over their landscape and their lives and the balance between individual rights and the community’s rights is still quite achievable," Johnson said. "Here an individual can have an influence on the state."

Johnson said he doesn’t anticipate major changes in the center’s direction. Rather, his focus will be making more people in the state aware of the services and insights the center provides. He said while 100-200 Montanans regularly attend Wheeler forums, one of his goals is to increase the number of participants at the discussion.

Brittan will stay on as a senior fellow at the Wheeler Center and will teach the Burton K. Wheeler seminar on public policy, this fall.

The next Burton K. Wheeler forum will be on how the high cost of fuel affects Montana’s transportation systems and the broader economy. It will be held Oct. 1-2 in Billings. For more information about the forum, or the Burton K. Wheeler Center, go to http://www.montana.edu/wheeler/

Ralph Johnson (406) 994-0336, [email protected]

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