Diversity and excellence are synergized together in a collaborative explorative discussion panel into contemporary and forward-thinking archaeological methodologies and approaches to at risk arctic communities. Graduate students from the University of Montana have joined to share current research endeavors into the arctic climate and its results on communities and archaeological records, while producing revolutionary processes to aid archaeological understandings and processes globally. Presentations vary from statistical analysis and spatial organizations, establishing changes in wealth and cooperation of house pit 54 in Bridge River, BC; to an introduction of a universal theoretical research model to assist archaeologist globally in the study and understandings of landscapes of abandonment. Indigenous lifeways and methods for increased advocacy and awareness are drawn upon, while highlighting the strengths of the diverse future of archaeological findings from the University of Montana’s Department of Anthropology graduate scholars under Dr. Anna Prentiss.

Megan Denis, MA, PhD Student - University of Montana (she/her): "Uncovering Cooperation in Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia"

Riza McClurkin - University of Montana Graduate Student (they/them/theirs): "Modern Impacts on Traditional Subsistence Hunting in the Canadian Arctic"

Andrea Shiverdecker, MA, PhD Student - University of Montana (she/her): "A Synergy of Abandonment: Archaeological Understandings of Abandoned Norse Arctic Settlements and North American Mining Ghost Towns"

Alysha Edwards - University of Montana Graduate Student (she/her): "TBD"

Historical mining and mineral processing have led to heavy metal contamination in the flood-plain of the Upper Clark Fork River of western Montana. This contamination has acted as a long-term stressor on the river and its inhabitants, the effects of which can be seen in changes in fish populations along the river's gradient of decreasing metal concentration with distance from the mining source. Understanding the relationships between stressors and ecological responses is essential for management and restoration goals pertaining to ecosystems negatively affected by anthropogenic activities. This study analyzed population distribution of salmonid species based on long-term monitoring and recent community composition surveys. Historical salmonid monitoring shows an unusual pattern in population density; instead of low trout density near metal-filled headwaters, lowest populations densities are located far downstream. At the headwaters, a previously strong relationship between trout recruitment and minimum flow during hatching (r² = 0.461, p = 0.003, n = 15, 2000-2019) has weakened significantly over the past three years, suggesting the influence of flow on recruitment is waning. Additionally, Brown Trout populations declined 4.5-fold from 1976 to 2021 at a heavily contaminated upstream site, while downstream populations showed a 2-fold increase in the same time period. Species composition changed very little among sites with communities dominated by Mountain Whitefish and Brown Trout. Along this spatial gradient, ratios of invasive Brown Trout to the native Mountain Whitefish increased from 4:1 to 52:1 between the upper and lower reaches of the river. Combined with the overall decrease in salmonid presence downstream, these findings suggest that the unusual population patterns of salmonids in the Upper Clark Fork River may be strongly influenced by species interactions in addition to environmental metal contamination.

Through close collaboration with the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department, results from this study will help inform fisheries management on the UCFR as well as help direct future remediation and restoration efforts. Additionally, this work uses ecology-based methodology to evaluate the influence of anthropogenic stressors on fish communities in an open-canopy mid-order river.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNT) traverses from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean. The portion of the trail in Northwest Montana and Idaho is the nexus of a complex conflict involving outdoor recreation, wildlife conservation, and social-cultural values. This study investigated the conflict through a qualitative exploration of trust among PNT stakeholders. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled stakeholders representing the diversity of interests. Results suggest stakeholders had varying dispositional, affinitive, rational, and procedural trusts. Dispositional and procedural distrust was placed on executive and legislative branches of federal government. Regular collaboration resulted in higher rational and affinitive trusts, whereas distrusts resulted from perceived misalignment of stated goals and actions. These findings emphasize the importance of strengthening various dimensions of trust to ameliorate conflict. Key insights are discussed for navigating conflicts involving outdoor recreation and long-distance trails that transcend jurisdictional boundaries and diverse social-ecological landscapes.

Collective memory is a useful lens to examine post-industrial communities in the American West as they face transitions. Collective memory is formed by individuals in groups or communities who have shared memories, which contribute to their identity. Collective memories can exist in various mediums, including but not limited to public symbols, conversations, traditions, rituals, or texts. Research has examined collective memory in post-industrial mining communities to elucidate how it impacts the desire to embrace change, the ability to envision a new future, or connections to the landscape. Anaconda is a rural town located in southwest Montana with a legacy of copper mining and is currently listed as a Superfund site. Both qualitative and quantitative results will be presented about collective memory and how it affects the community outlook towards economic and cultural transitions. This research will provide insight into the importance of collective memory when studying post-industrial towns’ future trajectories in the West across both space and time.

The period between 1965 and 1985 saw the use of several strike actions in San Diego in addition to demonstrations for racial equality in what would become known as “the Chicano Movement”. Due to systemic racial inequality, San Diegans of Chicano descent are more likely to be members of the working class. This places the interest in improving the socioeconomic status of the community in line with the work of organized labor associations which seek to improve socio-economic conditions for workers in a particular trade. The combined desire to elevate the working classes means that collaborations such as those between the Mexican American organizers and the United Farm Workers to support the Delano Grape strike were in line with mutual goals. With explorations of these collaborations with the UFW in extant literature, it provides an expectation that other collaborations would exist between organized labor and Chicano Movement organizers. San Diego is home to a vibrant Chicano community and Chicano organizing during the period of study. San Diego also has several strikes and boycotts during this period, from manufacturing and cannery to boycotts of Imperial Valley agricultural products.

Archival research provides the backbone of original research material for this project. The Chicano History archives at San Diego State University and The University of California – San Diego provide a wealth of material related to the history of San Diego itself through archives of minor and major circulation newspaper publications and periodicals in addition to special collections related directly to the Chicano Movement. These archives include personal collections of papers and ephemera held by major members of the movement such as the Hernan Baca special collection at UCSD or the Chicano Movement Collection at SDSU.

The historiography currently focuses on San Diego in the Border History and Migration History context with regards to the Chicano movement. Extant scholarship on Chicano Activism and Labor in San Diego focuses on cannery strikes in the earlier part of the century and the UFW boycotts. Investigation into connecting trade unionism with the Chicano Movement exists focused on Los Angeles and Ventura County. Investigation into San Diego specifically remains focused on the Farm Workers boycotts.

The impetus for social research of all kinds lies in the ability to believe that knowledge can give us the tools to improve the conditions of our communities. Social research in history allows us to extract the lessons of the past, find blueprints, spot mistakes and learn so that we can create more effective strategies to advocate for our communities. A focus on the marginalized allows for a liberation focused epistemology that elevates the knowledge held by these groups. A presentation on these issues will additionally expand the understanding of marginalized people and promote critical understanding of systemic racism as well as ways to combat it within the audience.

The impacts of historical and intergenerational trauma on American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) are widely documented. While the rate of lifetime alcohol use for AIANs is lower than that of non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), AIAN individuals continue to report the highest rates of heavy alcohol and illicit drug use for any racial or ethnic group in the United States. In response to this trend, substance use programming for AIAN populations will often draw from evidence-based practices (EBP) developed for mostly non-AIAN populations. Sometimes, these EBPs are then adapted to integrate cultural approaches to decrease alcohol and illicit drug use in AIAN individuals and communities. In contrast, our study seeks to draw on practice-based evidence that has existed within AIAN communities for millennia to inform the development of an intervention that uses traditional ceremonial practices (TCP) to address trauma and reduce rates of problem substance use. Specifically, we explore the potential for this type of intervention to be successful in an urban, multi-tribal setting.

Guided by Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies, we developed a sequential, mixed-method research design in partnership with All Nations Health Center. All Nations is a federally funded urban Indian health organization (UIHO) serving Missoula and Ravalli counties. In the first phase of our study, we collected information about the AIAN community. To do this, we delivered a survey questionnaire (N = 194) to adult AIAN community members. The survey asked respondents about their intent to participate in TCP as well as how they think and feel about these activities. Additionally, the survey asked about substance use behaviors over the past 12 months, including the use of alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamine, inhalants, and prescription medications. Demographic and socio-economic survey questions allowed us to consider how these variables might influence results.

In the second phase of the study, we conducted interviews, using a semi-structured moderator’s guide, with 20 AIAN adults living in Missoula and Ravalli counties. The interview questions helped contextualize many of the close-ended responses from the survey. These conversations explored participant backgrounds with TCP as well as their vision of what a TCP-based substance use intervention could look like in an urban, multi-tribal setting. This perspective is significant in that an urban program would serve AIANs from many tribes from across the country. The interview data were analyzed to identify themes, which were merged with the survey data to inform the future development of a TCP-based problem substance use intervention for urban AIANs.

Currently available TCP-based interventions have been developed largely for reservation-based communities, which are relatively homogeneous in terms of culture, language, and TCP. This is the first study of its kind to explore TCP among AIANs living in an urban setting in Montana. Additionally, this study explores the development of a holistic substance use intervention driven by TCP rather than incorporating TCP into an already defined substance use EBP. The results will guide All Nations, and others, to design, pilot, and implement an AIAN community-informed substance use intervention for urban AIANs.

Pharmacy-based immunization (PBI) has been heralded as a barrier-reducing way to immunize Americans and reach public health targets. PBI programs vary by state; some states prohibit child vaccination in pharmacies while others allow pharmacists to prescribe and administer immunizations to persons of any age. Pediatricians are concerned generous PBI programs may boost vaccination rates at the cost of well-child visits, an unacceptable tradeoff they argue. This is logical when considered in the lens of economic theory regarding health investments; parents may see PBI as an alternative to the doctor’s office rather than as a complement and choose to immunize their adolescent at the pharmacy and forego any kind of well-child visit. Adolescents are already a group disproportionately disconnected from healthcare and missed well-child visits can be detrimental to adolescent health. Pediatricians seeking to practice the best care for their patients and public health advisors seeking to recommend the best policy for the public need to know if the benefits to PBI outweigh the costs. This study estimates the effect of state PBI policies on state-level adolescent 11–12-year-old well-child visitation rates to provide quantitative data to inform the debate between immunization access and comprehensive care.

This study takes advantage of the natural experiment presented by differing state PBI policies. I used secondary data from the Centers for Disease Control National Immunization Survey-Teen 2019 and provider density data from the Association of American Medical Colleges along with primary PBI age restriction data gathered from Policy Surveillance Program, LexisNexis, and Justia Law to estimate the effect of state PBI laws. I generated estimates using probit regression to compare the proportion of adolescents that received well-child visits in states with PBI against states without PBI for adolescents. I also conducted other estimation strategies to test the robustness of the results.

This investigation fills multiple gaps in the literature; it investigates the understudied adolescent population, quantifies the importance of PBIs for adolescents, and addresses concerns about access to health care. This question of PBI influence on well-check visits has only been studied in the context of adults. This is a unique contribution applying economic theory on health investments to an unstudied population to quantify a concern of healthcare providers. A finding of either increased visitation rates or decreased visitation rates is significant, indicating either PBI supports public health community vaccination initiatives expansive PBI or should concern public health officials or. Preliminary regressions indicate a null finding, which undermines the argument that PBI lowers well-child visitation rates and alleviates concerns about the costs of expanded PBI.

This work is especially important in the context of the Department of Health and Human Services emergency authorization order allowing vaccination of patients of all ages for all indicated vaccines at pharmacies from 2020 to 2024. The findings of this study have implications for the future of immunization strategies for adolescents in pharmacies and beyond by providing evidence to the debate between access and comprehensive care.

Tuberculosis dates to the ancient world and persists as one of the deadliest contagions today. The World Health Organization estimates that as of 2020, tuberculosis infects one quarter of the global population. From the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, tuberculosis ravaged Montana Native American populations due in large part to the reorganization of tribal lands coupled with mass migrations of non-Native peoples. With the establishment of reservations leading to closer living quarters and further federal Indian policies such as land allotment, Native infection rates increased significantly with deaths greatly exceeding other population groups. During the early twentieth century, Progressive health reformers honed in on tuberculosis treatments, but these policies did not tend to convert to Indian healthcare. Though tuberculosis cases were on the rise, especially after the Influenza pandemic of 1918-19, funding for the Blackfeet Tuberculosis Sanitarium ceased in 1922. This closure contrasts with the push for national Progressive health reform. Few scholars have focused on tuberculosis within Montana reservations other than sideline topics or statistics. This presentation explores the Public Health power dynamics between Blackfeet Indians, the State of Montana, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the early twentieth century. BIA agents and land allotment surveyors in Montana wrote extensively about the increase of tuberculosis cases while pleading for further aid to combat the contagion. In 1932, a 5-year study published by the Montana State Board of Health concluded that tuberculosis accounted for 34% of deaths for Native populations in comparison to 4% of non-Natives. Statistics such as these led to an increased concern for Indian healthcare. Examination of BIA, State, Senatorial, field matron, sanitarium, and Montana tuberculosis association records will illuminate why the defunding occurred and if there were alternate healthcare options or if they were left to flounder without support. It will additionally determine if healthcare was compulsory or voluntary. Further exploration of infection rates at boarding and day schools will determine healthcare for students. By reading against the grain and pairing these colonial sources with oral histories, family papers, and photographs, Blackfeet individuals move from the periphery of the historical narrative. This will elucidate the Native fight for body sovereignty by attempting to navigate or avoid Progressive healthcare policies and governance.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely altered the lives of people across the world. Although the social isolation and disruption wrought by the pandemic have been universal experiences, emerging adults are at a pivotal moment and are potentially uniquely affected. Emerging adulthood is a critical time for identity development and the college setting fosters an environment for identity exploration. Studies show that in emerging adulthood, turning point events (e.g., global or national tragedies, personal challenges, transitions, or any form of upheaval, such as a global pandemic) that are resolved positively are connected more closely with progress in identity formation, and the importance of positive resolution of negative events appears to be unique to emerging adults. This study explored how emerging adults in college (N=231) were processing the COVID-19 pandemic and whether identity was a factor that affected an individual’s perception of the pandemic. The results of the present study support the hypothesis that an emerging adult’s identity does affect their pandemic processing including, as does a person’s political identity and self-reported mental health. The study revealed significant findings related to pandemic processing, and students’ identity, political beliefs, self-reported wellbeing, campus, gender, whether or not the student is a first-generation college student, and graduation year. This study will inform practitioners of education, families, and students themselves about how identity affects reactions to adversity and how turning negative experiences into positive experiences can have long-term benefits on a person’s sense of self well-being beyond emerging adulthood.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all walks of our society, including the field of education. Its multifaceted effects have drawn educator and stakeholder attention to the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). Yoder et al. (2020) highlight that 83.8% of US states indicate SEL as a higher priority since the Covid-19 outbreak. This finding demonstrates the necessity of a practical teaching strategy to support students' SEL skills. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) identifies five core SEL competencies: self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-awareness. Furthermore, CASEL emphasizes classroom discussions as an interactive teaching practice that facilitates students’ social-emotional skill development.

Collaborative Reasoning (CR) discussions are class discussion forms that include protocols and reflection prompts. In CR, students practice setting up goals; then reflect on their collaboration as a group. Additionally, CR norms align with SEL goals. Several studies have proven the effectiveness of CR in enhancing students’ critical thinking (Kim et al., 2007) and reasoning skills (Clark et al., 2003; Nguyen-Jahiel, et al., 2007; Sun et al. 2015). However, to our knowledge, there is no prior study exploring the potential of CR to support students' social-emotional skills.

This preliminary study involved forty-six fourth-grade students in northwestern Montana. Each student completed pre-and post-survey questionnaires assessing student perceptions of social-emotional learning and attitudes towards the categories of reading and writing; and science and social studies. This study specifically focused on identifying perceptions of group social awareness during a series of CR discussions. A paired sample t-test was conducted to compare student perceptions before and after their involvement in CR discussions. In addition to the quantitative analysis, eight discussion transcripts were observed to identify the students’ perceptions of the group social awareness. Based on CASEL indicators, students’ reflections regarding CR were also analyzed.

From the initial quantitative findings, we found no evidence of a difference in students’ perceptions of social awareness before and after CR discussions (p > .05, t = 1.27, df = 45). Furthermore, we are 95% confident (95% CI) that the true mean difference will be between -0.2912833 and 1.2912833, with the mean of differences 0.5. However, contrary to quantitative findings, thematic analyses indicated that CR helped students: reflect on and take others’ perspectives (3 occurrences), recognize strengths in others (6 occurrences), and demonstrate empathy and compassion (2 occurrences). This study is expected to lead to a better understanding of how to integrate SEL into classroom practices. A follow-up study will be conducted to examine how CR discussions can be utilized to facilitate the development of the five SEL competencies within students.

The current study compares the experiences of bikini baristas to their nonsexualized counterparts. Women who work as bikini baristas make their money by serving coffee in a drive-thru stand while wearing a revealing outfit. The study compares these workers to women who work in nonsexualizd drive thru coffee stands. The current study is relevant to scholars outside the discipline of sociology because it reveals information on a phenomenon that is understudied across all fields: bikini barista work. Bikini barista stands have become prevalent in the pacific northwest, however, despite their ubiquity, previous research on these jobs is sparse. The current study also contributes to the field of sociology because it reveals information on display work, a term coined by Mears and Connell (2016) to describe when workers are paid to display their bodies. To understand how the baristas, perceive their interactions with customers the current study uses semi-structured interviews. More specifically, the current study uses open-ended questions surrounding the baristas' experiences at work. The interview also includes questions surrounding how baristas felt during and after these experiences.

The interviews with bikini and non-bikini baristas revealed that both groups had emotionally in-depth interactions with customers. Baristas emotionally supported customers through hardships such as loved ones dying, workplace issues, childhood trauma, and relationship issues. However, bikini baristas received care in return from their customers; they emotionally supported baristas and went out of their way to ensure their well-being.