Julia Haggerty, head of the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science at Montana State University, will present the final event in the university’s Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Series for the 2025-26 academic year on April 21. The lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Museum of the Rockies’ Hager Auditorium and will be followed by a reception. The event is free and open to the public.
The annual Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Series highlights outstanding faculty for their scholarship and leadership, drawing attention to topics relevant to both academia and broader communities. This year’s closing lecture underscores Montana State University’s commitment as a land-grant institution focused on research, education, and outreach that addresses important challenges facing rural regions.
Haggerty will discuss her personal and academic journey in a talk titled “Shared Prosperity in Times of Transition: Resource Regions and the Practice of Neighboring.” She said her work centers on remote resource regions with small populations that depend on resource-based economies—areas often described as “left-behind” in national discussions. “I initially planned to be a veterinarian so I could work with farmers,” Haggerty recalled. “While working as a wildlife tech in New Mexico to prepare to apply to vet school, I discovered the tensions that can exist between livelihoods and environmental protection in rural areas, and that is what started me on this academic path.”
Haggerty explained that her research examines how changes in markets or policy—such as those related to energy demand or mineral supplies—affect people living in rural places like Montana. “My work is about how resource-dependent regions experience big shifts in markets and policy, specifically those affecting demand for energy and natural resources,” she said. “Whether the motivation is climate mitigation or a quest for domestic mineral supplies, what are the implications for how people make a living…and their relationships with centers of capital and political power? Montana is a case in point.”
Her teaching at MSU has included hands-on research experiences across various parts of Montana where students explore intersections among resources, economy, and society. Haggerty described her department as one of MSU’s most diverse: “The Department of Earth Sciences encapsulates snow science, geology, water research, volcanology, paleontology and more.” She hopes attendees will consider new ways to build economic ties between central regions and less-connected places through practices such as neighboring: “I’m using the idea of neighboring to highlight…economic ties that support mutual long-term benefits between central regions and less-connected places.”
Montana State University leads all state institutions with annual research expenditures exceeding $288 million according to its official website. The university also contributes through volunteer efforts aimed at improving lives statewide according to its official website. It ranks among top global universities per Center for World University Rankings according to its official website.
MSU enrolls approximately 17,165 students split evenly between residents and nonresidents according to its official website. As Montana’s land-grant institution based in Bozeman—a prominent research university surrounded by wilderness—the school offers extensive programs while serving both local communities and broader audiences through public service initiatives according to its official website.
Haggerty concluded by saying she hopes attendees leave inspired about resilience opportunities within resource-dependent communities: “I hope people who attend will be inspired by opportunities for resilience…and will leave excited about staying in relationship with rural places.”
More information about this year’s series can be found at www.montana.edu/news/24752.