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Institute of Health and Humanities

2026 Ridge Scholars

Congratulations to our 2026 Ridge Scholars!  

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Peter Aronow Hoag is a poet and nonfiction writer interested in the different spaces between people and the forces that expand and reduce those distances. Current spaces of interest include small rural communities, lost relationships, and neurodivergence. He is halfway through his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Montana. His project, tentatively titled, The Same Space Between, Now More Familiar, uses his recent adult-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a springboard for self-investigation as well as retrospection of his family history. He utilizes different poetic forms–including forms he develops himself–to represent his experience with ASD and other neurological conditions. The project explores how a formal diagnosis both illuminates and obfuscates identity, while aiming to provide a new opportunity for interpersonal connection and understanding.
woman sitting on a rock in the sun with her hand near her face
Liberty Hurley is a graduate student pursuing her Masters in Sociology. Before coming to Missoula, Liberty completed her B.A. in Global and Multicultural Studies at Montana State University and traveled the world between seasons of school. Her passion for sustainable and modern-day nomadic living drives her research and education. Liberty is using a unique multimethod approach to study housing as healthcare within a sample of the Vanlifer population in Montana. Liberty will be interviewing Vanlifers at the location of their van to ask them technical questions about their execution of vanlife. She will use the data collected from the in-depth interviews to inform a topic-model analyzing Reddit posts from the subreddit r/Vanlife. By cross examining how Vanlifers are talking about vanlife online and how they are practicing it in their daily routines, this multimethod thesis should discover how non-traditional housing and healthcare intersect.

2025 Ridge Scholar

Mayah DeMartino: Versus (critical research and scholarship, original visual art, and lyric essay storytelling)

2024 Ridge Scholars

  • Hillary Foreman: Divine Child: A Quilt (Creative Nonfiction) 
  • Katelyn Melcher: The Em“BODY”ment of College-Age Dancers (Clinical Psychology) 
  • Alexa Runnion: Pregnancy Redefined: Exploring Transmasculine Birthers Narratives (Communication Studies) 
  • Emily Senkosky: A River’s Reciprocity: A photo story on the consequences of damming and climate change on global river community livelihood (Natural Resources and Environmental Science Journalism) 
  • Skylar Tibbetts: Index of Obsessions (Creative Nonfiction) 

2023 Ridge Scholar

  • Caterina Zischke-Rincon, Creative Connections: A Social Prescribing & Arts Approach to Holistic Well-Being

2022 Ridge Scholars

  • Rosemary Jeter, Exploring Identity, Privacy, and Cohabitation during Eating Disorder Recovery
  • Christina Leas, Seed Saving Networks and Social-Ecological Resilience within the
  • Bitterroot and Missoula Valleys of Montana
  • Lillian Martz, Interpersonal Protective Factors for Youth Suicide
  • Hana Meshesha, The experience and process of healing from sexual trauma among sexual violence survivors in non-dominant groups

2021 Ridge Scholars

  • Tre Blohm, Paleoepidemiology of Neolithic Europe: Assessing the Biocultural Condition of Populations across Europe and the Rise of Pathogens
  • Gabriella Graceffo, Under the Skin
  • Emily Hicks, The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Nature, and Cognitive Function in Native Students
  • Lila Osborn, Food Insecurity in Butte, Montana

2019 Ridge Scholars

  • Pheobe Bean, Uncovering the Neuropsychological Experience of Injured Veterans Through Photography Essays
  • Reece Brandon, Mind Over Body: An Integrative Look at Nervous System Injuries
  • Callie Caughie, The Experience of Age: A Multimodal Approach to Understanding the Psychosocial Influences on Aging
  • Danielle Cooney, Parental Decision-Making: Navigating the Medical Ethics of Neonatal Intervention in the 21st Century
  • Erica Johnson, A Needs Assessment of Patrons Experiencing Homelessness at the Missoula Public Library
  • Sabrina Singh, Belonging Among Dementia Caregivers

2015/2016 Ridge Scholars

  • Sarah Aronson, The Glacier Behind the Town: A Story of Unrequited Love and Loss
  • Jolene Brink, Ecological Atmospheres: The Accumulating Body 
  • Brook Clark, Diagnosis Threat in Survivors of Cancer: The Effects of the Chemo-brain Schema on Self-Reports of Cognitive Functioning.
  • Jeff Galius, Fatherland: Silence, Postmemory, and the Multigenerational Trauma of War
  • Tressa Jones, cold laps
  • Patrick O’Conner, The Health of the Nation: Tobacco and Public Power in the United States, 1865-1933
  • Spencer Ruchti, Slam Poetry: An Online Intervention for Treating Depression
  • Cassidy Schoenfeld, Violet: The Greatest of Danes, Doing the Greatest of Things
  • Evan Stewart, Assessing Sanitary Practice and Health Knowledge in Humli Schools.
  • Ryan Thiel, Brand Name vs. Generic Drugs: An Exploration of Narratives Within Drug Advertising and its Perceived Impact on College Students
  • Alana Trumpy, Comforter