Pub. 6 2018 Directory

12 THE MONTANA ARCHITECT | 2018 | www.aia-mt.org A Year of Change and Success RALPH JOHNSON, AIA APA T his past summer saw the retirement of long time School of Architecture Assistant to the Director, Jean Koelzer, and accountant, Sharon Matney. Those of you who graduated from MSU, served on any board, attended a presentation or interacted in any way with the school over the past twenty years are likely to have done so with the help and guidance of Jean and Sharon. Jean’s unmatched energy, institutional knowledge, amazing memory and guidance provided by the director cannot be replaced. Sharon brought a quiet, thoughtful and understanding voice to the endless list of tasks she managed in support of both the faculty and students. Of course, it is only after they are gone that we all recognize the full extent of their daily accomplishments. Their unmatched support of the faculty, love of the students, engagement with the profession and absolute commitment to the School of Architecture has been a key element in fostering and maintaining the school’s sense of a socio/cultural community in which everyone is important, listened to and respected. They will be greatly missed by us all. Coinciding with the departure of Jean and Sharon, four new staff mem- bers have been hired to expand the administrative support provided to the School of Architecture. Vailarie Eubanks is the school’s new Business Office Manager. She is fulfilling her dream of moving from the skyscrapers of New York City to the landscape and mountains of Montana. In doing so, she brings great energy, enthusiasm, and new strategies for meeting the ever changing expectations of the University. Working with Vailarie is Joiyce-Anne Likness, who brings extensive private business experience to the role of Accounting Administrator for the School of Architecture. In addition to staff changes, Tom McNab, longtime Director of the Community Design Center, chose to retire and return to consult- ing so you will continue to see him in practice and at AIA events. He will be missed by students, faculty, and the clients throughout the state who have benefited from the wealth of his expertise and the work of his students. Director Andrew (Andy) Vernooy elect- ed to return to teaching where he has fulfilled our long sought-af- ter desire to have a tenured faculty member qualified and teach- ing both the structures curriculum and design studios. We are certain that the integration of structural and studio thinking will serve to make our students better members of our profession and more capable of leading an integrated design team. Prior to his