Our Team

As founder and director of the Regional Learning Project, Sally oversees a team of specialists with a focus on regional history, geography and culture. This work includes working with tribal elders and educators to assemble and produce authentic classroom resources; and providing professional development opportunities for educators through workshops and online courses. She is responsible for program direction and management, grant-writing, research and production, assisted by a team of researchers and production specialists.

Sally has spent over thirty years working with the native tribes of the West. Trained as an anthropologist (Ph.D., CU, Boulder, 1980), she has worked as an archaeologist, ethnographer, and ethnohistorian. Since 2001, as director of RLP, she has interviewed nearly 150 members of 37 tribes. She has had the privilege of hearing their stories, then working with tribal representatives to ensure appropriate recounting for project websites and documentary films. She served as executive producer and director for the documentaries Native Homelands Along the Lewis and Clark Trail, Contemporary Voices Along the Lewis and Clark Trail, and Why Save a Language? Interviews and primary document research provide the content for several DVDs she produced for elementary and middle school classrooms.

Sally has spent her entire life in the Rocky Mountains and her favorite pastime is meeting with “oldtimers” along its back roads. This passion is visible in all the projects of RLP.

Contact Sally to arrange a presentation for your organization (keynote topics).

Sally Thompson Summary Vita

Kim is part of the creative team at the Regional Learning Project in Missoula. She’s a recovering entrepreneur with a diverse background. After 23 years engaged in three small businesses and community leadership in Missoula, she set out to begin a new career. Successfully completing an historic preservation project, she obtained a nomination to the National Historic Register for a district in the Pioneer Mountains of Montana. She also accomplished special projects for the Montana Museum of Art & Culture.

Following her interests in regional history, historical art, old trails, place-based learning and a storied landscape, as well as a clear graphic arts expression, she landed with the Regional Learning Project in 2002. Developing technology skills as needed, she accomplished the production of RLP’s first website, Trail Tribes, noting that contributing to the research and content development of that site was a rich experience. (Trail Tribes is recognized by the National Committee for the Humanities as an outstanding educational resource.)

Kim has engaged in primary research across the country with Dr. Thompson. Extensive knowledge of 19th century maps of the Missouri and Columbia River basins led to the publication of six historical map collections. She designed and co-produced several websites, including: Montana Tribes, a digital archive; Time Travelers: Teaching American History in the Northwest, an online textbook containing 45 weeks of instructional content; and Indian Education Leadership Training. When the Regional Learning Project was contracted to produce sites for Washington State Historical Society and the Newberry Library, Kim worked on design and development for both of those projects. Serving as associate producer on RLP’s early documentary films and helping to create their classroom DVD series and accompanying teacher guides was a challenging and satisfying collaborative effort. Kim strives to illustrate RLP materials with appropriate historical and contemporary images, contributing to the high standard of quality they maintain.

Kim acknowledges Montana’s Indian Education for All initiative as an exciting development in education and a model for other states to integrate a tribal perspective in the way we tell our history. Doing this work has expanded her understanding of historical and contemporary relationships, and she believes it is a great time to be engaged in educational curriculum development.

Elizabeth Sperry joined the Regional Learning Project (RLP) in February 2007 as a researcher and technical writer. Her contributions to RLP include content development for RLP films, teacher guides, web-based K-12 educational resources pertaining to Native American culture and history, and transcriptions of RLP oral history interviews. Prior to her position with RLP, Elizabeth has worked in museum collections management and cultural and historical interpretation. Her academic background includes B.A. degrees in Native American Studies and Anthropology, and an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Montana. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Anthropology with a focus on the ethnohistorical study of Metis, Cree and Chippewa of Montana in the twentieth century.

Happy joined the Regional Learning Project in October 2007 for year 3 of Time Travelers: Teaching American History in the Northwest, conducting research for Professor Michael Mayer’s weekly lectures. Happy has continued working for RLP on a variety of other projects, including research and writing for RLP’s newest teacher guides, the Montana Tribes website and the Tribal Legacy Project. She has an M.A. in history from the University of Montana and a B.A. in Spanish from Duke University. Before RLP, she worked for the Latin American division of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that works all over the world to strengthen democracies through political development programs, and taught at the Missoula International School, a local Spanish immersion school that runs from preschool through eighth grade. While RLP has provided invaluable experience in her field of interest, Happy will be moving on in August 2009 to pursue a Ph.D. in history at the University of Montana.

Marianne Zugel has been working as the film editor for the Regional Learning Project since August 2008. She received her B.S. in Biology from Georgetown University in 1986 and worked for many years in basic science research and biotechnology. She came to Missoula in 2002 to attend graduate school at the University of Montana where she focused on ecology, sociology, and film. She received a fellowship to produce a documentary, Powder River Country, as her thesis project and received her M.S. in Environmental Studies in 2004.

Jon-Michael Deldin is the web developer and system administrator for the Regional Learning Project. He graduated from the University of Great Falls with BAs in biology and chemistry, and he is currently pursuing post-baccalaureate studies in computer science. He lives in East Missoula with girlfriend, Kristi, and their three dogs. Outside of RLP, Jon-Michael can be found writing open-source code, taking photos, hiking, mountain biking, and snowboarding.

Beckie Christiaens is the Director of Fiscal and Personnel Services for Continuing Education. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Accounting and Management from the University of Montana. She also has a minor in Office Systems Management and is currently working towards her Master's in Public Administration from the University of Montana. Beckie's professional experience started in Public Administration as the Business Manager for Hamilton School District where she served students and taxpayers. Her next public service opportunity came in the form of the Controller and Assistant Finance Director for the City of Missoula. Currently, she is proud to serve the Regional Learning Program at the University of Montana in the capacity of fiscal services support! She enjoys running, yoga, reading, hanging out with friends, and spending time with her 4 boys (husband included)!

Christine Wren is an educator whose 25 years of teaching include a wide range of settings. Her passion for gardening and the natural world first steered her toward teaching in an environmental education program. She moved forward to receive a B.A. in Creative Writing and a professional license in Elementary Education at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she later completed her M.A. in Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language. Christine has taught in elementary classrooms, as a Literacy specialist, an ESL teacher, an academic tutor, and a Visiting Naturalist. Her background also includes education curriculum development and review projects. She lives in the foothills outside of Lolo, Montana, in a place where she’s finally landed in the outdoors she loves and calls home.

Christine is excited about her role supporting the Regional Learning Project as an educational curriculum consultant. She provides expertise and assistance for the development, organization and presentation of classroom resources and educational materials. She also teaches RLP designed professional development workshops for educators. Her philosophy of using integrated academic content with hands-on, inquiry-based learning is a great match with the Regional Learning Project’s approach.

Narcisse Blood is an educator at Red Crow Community College and represents the Blood Indians of the Canadian Blackfoot Confederacy. He aims to provide his people's perspective based on their language and the experiences and stories that have been passed down from one generation to the next.

Coming soon.