Baucus Institute Updates: Charter Communications Reception, Donation; Leaders Program Announces Invitation for Inaugural Class

Charter Communications held a welcome home to Montana reception for Ambassador Max Baucus and his wife Melodee Hanes on Friday, November 17 in Bozeman, Montana. The event was an opportunity for longtime friends and supporters to gather to celebrate Max and Mel’s return to Montana and the creation of the Max S. Baucus Institute, a nonpartisan public policy institute located at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana that focuses on economic development, public service, and leadership. At the close of the reception, Charter Communications presented Ambassador Baucus with a check for $5,000 to support the mission of the Institute.

The Institute recently sent out a call for applications from University of Montana students for an opportunity to be part of the first class of Baucus Leaders in the summer of 2018. The Institute seeks four exceptional UM students to make up our first class of Baucus Leaders. One Baucus Leader will be placed as an intern in the each of the following Washington D.C.-based legislative offices: Senator Jon Tester, Senator Steve Daines, and Representative Greg Gianforte, and one Baucus Leader will intern with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Each internship will start on or around June 4 and end on or around August 3. Applications are due Monday, January 7, 2018.

Baucus Leaders will be selected based on academic performance, commitment to public service, and interest in the political process. The program is open to all full-time students at the University of Montana, undergraduate and graduate, who are in good academic standing at the time of applying and who will be enrolled as full-time students at UM during Fall Semester 2018. Contact Sam Panarella, Director of Max S. Baucus Institute, with any questions about the new program.

In Memoriam: School of Law Remembers Larry Elison

Professor Emeritus, Larry M. Elison, died on November 11, 2017, his 85th birthday, from complications of pneumonia. Professor Elison worked most of his life in Missoula, Montana as a law professor at the School of Law. Professor Elison started his career at the Law School in 1962, teaching torts, criminal law and criminal procedure. He later taught constitutional law, his favorite subject area, and served as the lead author of the definitive treatise on the Montana Constitution. Professor Elison was a very popular teacher who masterfully employed the Socratic method to encourage students to use their understanding of the law to debate, defend and, ultimately, improve their use of legal knowledge.

Students described Professor Elison and his teaching as “excellent” and the “greatest,” regularly commenting on his enthusiasm and passion for Constitutional Law. One student summed up his classmates feelings when he stated “Professor Elison is a great professor. He is academically and intellectually demanding without being intimidating or demeaning.” Another student concluded with “[t]his is a class that I will remember forever! Thanks!”

A memorial and celebration of Professor Elison’s life will be held at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law on Thursday, December 21, at 5:00 p.m. in Room 101, with a reception to follow at 231 S. Fifth Street East. Donations may be made to the Law School to help establish a scholarship in Professor Elison’s name.