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.

Sara Bruya

Sara Bruya is a screenwriter and academic editor with lifelong connections to Missoula and Montana’s arts and cultural life. In 1995, she created the book We Are Missoula: Thoughts on Change in a Growing Community to document sentiments about her hometown at the turn of the century. She later worked with Arts Missoula to manage city-wide cultural celebrations, including First Night Missoula, Germanfest, and New Zealand Day (in honor of Missoula’s sister cities). Since 2009, Sara has served as Managing Editor of the Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. She is also a member of the Missoula Filmmakers Collective, the Montana Media Coalition, and a producer of local film projects and initiatives.

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.

Daniel Charlton

Daniel Charlton was raised in Billings and has appreciated the experiences and affordances that Montana has provided. He completed his undergraduate degree from Bozeman in education: a professor he has been in for over a decade at the high school level and his current position as an Assistant Professor of Education at Montana State University Billings. While attending and completing additional degrees in Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins University, he returned back to his home state to continue the aims of creating a conducive space for literacy and support at both the institutional level but also community-efforts. Utilizing critical and cultural methods, Charlton’s research is concerned by anti-intellectual currents in American thought and culture. His research spans the disciplinary landscape, including sociology, literature, history, and popular cultural artifacts within his analyses. Charlton is honored to serve as a Board Member of Humanities Montana.

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.”

Mark Johnson

Mark T. Johnson is an associate professor with the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education, where he prepares and coaches middle and high school teachers across the country. A former high school History and English teacher, Johnson has spent more than two decades helping students and teachers use historical inquiry to better understand their communities and the wider world. Raised in Great Falls and now living in Helena, his research focuses on the history of Chinese communities in Montana and the American West. He is the author of The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana and is currently working on an illustrated history of the Chinese experience in Montana. Johnson is committed to public history, teacher formation, and making Montana’s diverse stories more visible and accessible.

Slaven Lee

Slaven Lee is the Executive Director of the Missoula Public Library in Montana. Slaven has held leadership roles in library systems serving rural and urban communities, including the King County Library System (Washington), Queens Public Library (New York City), and the Austin Public Library (Texas). Slaven has drawn upon equity and inclusion frameworks to deliver exceptional patron experiences, build meaningful community relationships, and develop innovative services in public libraries. Slaven served as Board President on the White Center Food Bank board in Seattle and was the former Chair of the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center board; Slaven is currently serving on the board of The Western Montana LGBTQ+ Community Center.

Precious McKenzie

Precious McKenzie came to Montana over thirteen years ago, from sunny south Florida. She is a writer, educator, and advocate for the arts. With a PhD in British Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing, Precious has taught English at the college level and has worked as a professional fundraiser for several arts and animal service organizations. She is also a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award that allowed her to perform research and teach in Ireland. Her free time is spent visiting museums, libraries, and bookstores, or enjoying the company of her children and four-legged friends. She loves all things outdoors–except downhill skiing.

 Sabre Moore

Dr. Sabre Moore is the Executive Director of the Carter County Museum. She received her Ph.D. in American Studies with a focus in Public History from Montana State University in 2023, her M.A. in Museum Studies & Nonprofit Management from Johns Hopkins University in 2016, and a B.A. in History from Montana State University in 2013. Her research focuses on museums and rural community vitality, and how power is exercised in practices of place. Sabre has held leadership positions on the Montana Governor’s Tourism Advisory Council and the Board of Directors for the Museums Association of Montana, Visit Southeast Montana, Starry Skies Montana, and Carter County Chamber of Commerce. She is a Site Steward for Medicine Rocks State Park and the Bureau of Land Management in Carter County, Montana.

Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson was raised in his early years on a cattle and wheat ranch in Lodge Grass and later in Billings where he attended Billings West High School. He graduated Montana State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1979.

Since then, he has worked in a variety of roles in the energy industry and has had the benefit and enjoyment of living in a variety of locales and cultures…from the US West, Gulf and East Coasts to Dubai and Montreal.

Although he had not lived in Montana since finishing at MSU, he knew and planned that he would return one day. And so, upon retirement in 2019, he and his high school sweetheart Renee returned and now live in Roscoe under the shadow of his beloved Beartooths, where he is reminded daily how cleansing it can be to live in rural Montana.