DHC Staff
James McKusick, Dean
James McKusick is Professor of English and Dean of the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana–Missoula. He completed his B.A. in English and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in English at Yale University. Dr. McKusick was a member of the English Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, from 1984 to 2005; during that time he served as Chair of English (1998-2002) and Director of the Honors College (2002-2005).
His research and teaching interests include British Romanticism, literary theory, environmental studies, and the history of science. His books include Faustus: From the German of Goethe, Translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, co-edited with Frederick Burwick (Oxford University Press, 2007); Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology (Palgrave, 2000), Literature and Nature: Four Centuries of Nature Writing, co-edited with Bridget Keegan (Prentice-Hall, 2001), and Coleridge's Philosophy of Language (Yale University Press, 1986). He has also published more than twenty articles and over two dozen reviews in such journals as Eighteenth-Century Studies, English Literary History, European Romantic Review, Keats-Shelley Journal, Modern Philology, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Romantic Circles, Romantic Pedagogy Commons, Studies in Romanticism, University of Toronto Quarterly, and The Wordsworth Circle.
Dr. McKusick has been the recipient of grants and scholarships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fletcher Jones Foundation, and the Maryland Humanities Council. He currently serves as President of the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association and Executive Director of the John Clare Society of North America.
Laure Pengelly Drake, Director of External Scholarships and Advising
laure.pengellydrake@umontana.edu
Laure Pengelly Drake was born in Missoula, Montana, and attended Hellgate High School. She completed a B.A. in history from Carleton College and an M.A. in history from The University of Montana; she is A.B.D. on a Ph.D. in history from the University of Rochester. Her dissertation research concerns the relationship between religion and politics in the early New Left.
Laure served as a VISTA volunteer in the early 1980s in southern Idaho. She has taught in Idaho and the Czech Republic and has taught "Introduction to Humanities" in the Liberal Studies Program at The University of Montana. She served as executive director of the Poverello Center and as associate director of Montana Campus Compact. She worked as a grants specialist at UM's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Currently Laure is the Director of External Scholarships and Advising at the Davidson Honors College. She volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, the Campaign for Human Development, and other organizations.
Andrea Vernon, Director, Office for Civic Engagement
I joined the Davidson Honors College in 1997 as the director of Volunteer Action Services. Our newly restructured office, now called the Office for Civic Engagement, is a very rewarding place to work. It is wonderful working with UM students who have a high level of commitment and motivation to get involved and make a positive difference in their community through volunteerism. Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious!
I have worked in the service learning and volunteerism field for the past nine years. I recently graduated from UM with my doctorate in Educational Leadership in which I focused my studies on student affairs and higher education administration.
Karen Kaley, Assistant to the Dean
I came to Missoula to attend The University of Montana in 1974. I graduated in 1979 and have been learning and working at UM for over thirty years now. I joined the staff in the Davidson Honors College in 1995 and am still very happy assisting the many fine students, faculty, and staff who are associated with our program.
I have a variety of responsibilities in the Honors College , including managing our budgets, assisting the dean with the daily operation of the College and helping to coordinate many of the programs and events we sponsor. I also serve as a General Advisor to students in the Honors College who have not yet declared a major. One of the best things about my job is the opportunity to work with faculty, staff and students from every department on campus.
Andi Armstrong, Administrative Associate
Andi packed up and came to Missoula from her hometown of Helena, Montana, for her first year of college at UM in the fall of 2000. During her undergraduate career she had the opportunity to study abroad through the Honors College, taking an art history course in London. When she didn’t have her nose in a book, she occasionally sang in women’s choir or attempted to fold herself into pretzel shapes in yoga class. Andi graduated with high honors, receiving a B.A. in English literature and a minor in Spanish in 2005 and thereafter began work on her M. A. in English literature.
With a warm welcome from staff, faculty, and students, Andi began working at the Davidson Honors College in August 2007 and finished her Master’s thesis in 2008. She has learned the ropes at the Honors College and looks forward to a new year and a new batch of students! Her plans include continuing to take courses at the University and spending more time enjoying the outdoors: hiking, skiing, and riding her bike.
Laurel Aroner, Administrative Associate
I moved to Missoula in May of 2006 for one simple reason: for as long as I can remember, I have always loved it here. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California and lived there for most of my life. Before my move to Missoula, I had only lived outside of the Bay Area one other time—I lived in Davis for 4 years where I completed a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of California at Davis. After college, I moved back to the Bay Area and worked in the Political Science department at the University of California, Berkeley.
I enjoyed working at UC Berkeley so much that I decided to try to get a job at UM and here I am! I have been at the DHC since August 2006 and I am really enjoying working with the students, staff, and faculty (I’m always happy to see people walking through the door!). So far, my decision to move here has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am really enjoying all the outdoor activities available here, the people, and everything else that is Missoula.
Vickie Mikelsons, Director of Development
Although I lived in Alaska for four years and have traveled in Europe and the U.S., I am a native Montanan, born in Kalispell and raised in Missoula. I graduated from The University of Montana in 1983 in education.
After working in banking, law offices, real estate sales,
and as a substitute teacher, I settled into development and have been
at The University of Montana Foundation since 1985. I feel a strong commitment
to education, to UM, and to raising private support on behalf of the
Davidson Honors College. It is tremendously rewarding to assist alumni
and friends of the University in making their gifts to the Davidson Honors
College and seeing their generosity provide:
•scholarships for highly motivated and deserving students
•thought-provoking new honors courses
•study abroad and internship opportunities
•a chance for students to participate in undergraduate research
•Forensics Team support so its members can participate in more speech and debate competitions
•opportunity funds for student travel to honors conferences, for guest lecturers and presentations,
•for field trips, and other kinds of educational enhancements.
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