Our Team

Glory Blue Earth-Highley

Glory was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana. After high school, she moved to North Carolina where she met her spouse and the father of her three daughters. She comes from a military family—with all branches represented—and is immensely proud of her veteran family members.

Glory and her family were living history interpreters at the Outdoor History Museum in Nevada City, Montana under the guidance of Dan Thyer. The focus was daily life in the mining community, specifically Native American women in mining camps, marriage, and family culture. At that time, she lived in Anaconda and volunteered reading and teaching Native American studies in the schools, focusing on integrative art and hands-on learning. She was part of the Anaconda Coalition for Tolerance Education, helping coordinate Native American education for the community. She also advocated for the Arthritis Foundation, as her daughter is diagnosed with Polyarticular JIA. Senator Steve Daines told her daughter’s story on the Senate Floor, helping CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)—a bipartisan initiative—to be reauthorized for six years. Her daughter was his guest at the State of the Union Address. Glory is a member and registered Sioux with the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes through her mother’s lineage.

In 2015, she completed her 1000-hour degree in massage therapy from Healthworks Institute in Bozeman. She maintains a small practice in Deer Lodge and works for Rock Creek Cattle Company and Whispering Willows Spa as a massage therapist. She is an apprentice healer with a focus on healing the mind, body, and spirit. Glory currently is the president of the Montana Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association. She also sits on a community board for Friends of Law Enforcement Officers working to bridge the relationship between law enforcement officers and the community of Powell County.

David Allan Cates

David Allan Cates is the author of five novels, a collection of short stories, and two collections of poetry. He’s published dozens of short stories and poems in literary magazines, and his essays and travel articles have appeared in Outside Magazine and the New York Times. He was born in Wisconsin, raised cattle on his family’s farm, worked on constructions sites, in offices, restaurants, and on boats. He’s driven taxi, played professional basketball in Costa Rica, and has taught writing at all levels, from prison classes, to public high schools, to universities. He currently teaches private students and serves as the director of Missoula Medical Aid, an NGO that provides public health and surgical services in Honduras, and supports nutrition and agricultural development projects there. He and his wife raised three daughters and live in Missoula.

Jennifer Corning

Jennifer Brevik Corning was adopted into Montana’s geography and rich culture 40 years ago. Completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Billings, she has since worked in electronic and print media, grant writing, and public relations. Service as a trustee for organizations across the state has exposed her to the varied needs and aspirations of communities in Montana. Her free time is filled with family and friends, reading, hobbies, dogs, and any and all outdoor activities.

Ray Ekness

Ray Ekness is the director of the University of Montana Broadcast Media Center overseeing Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS-Missoula. He’s a former UM School of Journalism professor and chair of the Department of Radio-Television. He worked in commercial radio and television in Montana, North Dakota, and Idaho before joining UM in 1989. Ekness has helped produce many Montana PBS programs, including the popular “Backroads of Montana,” “Remembering the Columbia Gardens,” “To Helena and Back: The First Special Service Force,” and “Building Bridges: Back to Ireland.”

Jeanette Fregulia

Jeanette M. Fregulia is the Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History in Carroll College, Helena, Montana. She holds an MA in Middle East Studies from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance History from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research and publications center on commerce, trade, and cultural exchanges between Medieval/early modern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean, and also on the history of the Middle East and Islam. In addition to articles and book chapters, her first book, A Rich and Tantalizing Brew, a History of How Coffee Connected the World was published in March 2019, by the University of Arkansas Press. She has two additional books under advance contract with Taylor and Francis.

Lynda Grande

Lynda is from a fourth generation Meagher county cattle ranch established in 1878. She earned a degree in Ag Business from MSU and has served as an officer in state and local cattle organizations. One of three Montanans on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, she sits on the Export Growth committee working to increase global demand for beef. History, art, music and community service have influenced her life since childhood. She is a graduate of REAL Montana and currently Chair of the Stillwater County Library board.

Mary Hernandez

Mary Hernandez is the Director of the Institute for Peace Studies at Rocky Mountain College with a mission to promote peace and conflict resolution, and to engage in cultural education. She owns Invisage Consulting to provide organizational development, technical support for nonprofits, and facilitate community conversations. Mary strengthened her advocacy for social justice and health issues after earning a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication with the minor in theatre arts from Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings).

She has volunteered and worked in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years with organizations including Venture Theatre, Yellowstone Public Radio, Yellowstone Art Museum, Yellowstone Boys & Girls Ranch (Empowering Youth Project), American Diabetes Association, Leadership Montana, and Tumbleweed Runaway Program.

In service to nonprofit boards and committees, Mary has most recently completed terms on the RiverStone Health Foundation board, and the executive committee of the American Civil Liberties Union National board and its ACLU Montana affiliate board.

Beyond work, Mary enjoys time with family and friends, discussions with her book club of 30 years, food adventures, taking in the visual and performing arts, and travel.

Karen Reiff

Karen Reiff grew up in southwestern Montana.  She received her law degree from the University of Montana and LL.M. in taxation from the University of Washington.  She practiced law for 19 years at Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams, P.C. in Great Falls, Montana. Karen’s practice focused primarily on estate and business planning for clients in the Golden Triangle.

Karen and her husband, Nathan, love Great Falls and the surrounding area. They have both been active on several nonprofit boards in Great Falls. Their daughter, Kate, attends Montana State University in Bozeman.  Karen is honored to serve on the board for Humanities Montana.

Esther Beth Sullivan

Dr. Esther “Beth” Sullivan grew up in Livingston, Great Falls, and Bozeman. She loved visiting her grandparents and extended families in Lima and Helena. The daughter of two amazing Montana teachers, she and each of her siblings went on to become teachers themselves. Beth earned her bachelor’s degree at Rocky Mountain College, and then taught middle school language arts in Missoula. She pursued graduate school in theatre studies at Washington State University (MA) and University of Washington (Ph.D.). From there she taught as a faculty member in the Theatre Department at Ohio State University and served in various administrative roles for 16 years. When she married a fellow Rocky alum who happened to live in Alaska, she moved to Anchorage where she began work as the director for the Rural Alaska Native and Adult Distance Education Program at Alaska Pacific University (APU). Over nearly 14 years at APU, she served as faculty member, program director, department chairperson, and academic dean. At the end of 2018, she and her husband retired and returned to Montana. Across her career from Montana to Ohio and Alaska, she is proud to have developed academic programs that expanded access particularly for first generation, rural, and Indigenous students. She is also proud of the work she did to integrate cultural studies across curricular offerings, especially through the arts. She is happy to be back in Montana, living close to Rocky, in the shadows of the Rims, under the brilliant Billings sky – and humbled to be working on the board of Humanities Montana.

W. Clark Whitehorn

W. Clark Whitehorn earned a PhD in History from the University of Colorado. He is currently executive editor for Bison Books, the western trade imprint for the University of Nebraska Press. His previous publishing experience includes serving as editor-in-chief at the University of New Mexico Press, director of publications at the Montana Historical Society, and director at the University of Nevada Press. He is also a veteran of the US Coast Guard. He and his wife, Charlene Porsild, who is President and CEO of the Montana History Foundation, live in Helena, and their son, Noah, attends Montana State University in Bozeman.