MSU Research roundup-Masking emotions – Fair exposure -Out to pasture -Van view

Masking emotions

Masks can open up many creative opportunities for actors, says Stephanie Campbell, professor
of media and theatre arts at MSU. Campbell has 19 professional character masks, each
showing a different emotion. She received a Scholarship & Creativity Grant from MSU to use
them to explore the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of creating new
characters. Campbell would like to use her findings to create a fine arts class for non-majors. If
approved, the class would be available for credit in the core curriculum. It would incorporate
several different art forms, including art, music, dance, creative writing and creative
visualization. Campbell hopes to offer the course in spring 2004.

Fair exposure

World’s fairs before World War II were an important way for people to learn about other cultures,
says Robert Rydell, a world’s fair expert and head of the MSU history and philosophy
department. Some countries — especially Third World countries — sent citizens to the fairs to
become living exhibits. One world’s fair, for example, had 1,200 Filipinos on display. Another
featured a fairly large village of Africans. World’s fairs gave fairgoers a way to compare and
contrast who they were with other citizens and non-citizens, Rydell continued. The first world’s
fair was held in 1851 in London. Tragedy struck 50 years later when President William
McKinley was assassinated while attending the world’s fair in Buffalo, N.Y.

Out to pasture

Imagine the surprise of a westslope cutthroat trout as it finds itself in a pasture instead of the
Bitterroot River. Oh, if it just hadn’t taken that wrong turn into an irrigation canal, where death
by desiccation or predation is certain. To avoid those kinds of losses, landowners and irrigators
along Skalkaho Creek in western Montana are interested in having screens installed on the
diversion canals. That way, native fish migrating between Skalkaho Creek and the Bitterroot
River won’t dead-end in a farm field. Al Zale of the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research
Unit at MSU is overseeing a preliminary study that, once the screens are installed, will help
fisheries managers decide how well they work. Funding comes from the Montana Water Center.

Van view

Galavan provides transportation for the elderly and people with disabilities in Bozeman. How
can Galavan improve its operations? As Gallatin County grows, will Galavan need to increase
its services too? Lisa Ballard and David Kack at the Western Transportation Institute at MSU are
helping Galavan analyze its operation. Rider information, such as who uses the service, where
they live and where they go, will be tracked differently starting this summer. Former MSU
student Josh Kay is developing software to make scheduling rides easier. Ballard, who is on the
Galavan advisory board, said a new city task force is considering a public transportation system
for Bozeman. Galavan may be part of that system.

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