REMEMBERING GEORGE WITH CHARLIE BRIGGS

When George Dennison passed away earlier this year, it prompted us to reach out to many of the folks with whom Dennison had worked to establish, grow and support Campus Compact and National Service in Montana. Recently we heard from Charlie Briggs. Charlie is a University of Montana alum, and is the public policy and development officer with Easter Seals Goodwill of the Northern Rockies. When I got my start with Campus Compact, Charlie was director of the Governor's Office of Community Service. He shared some thoughts about George here. Thank you, Charlie.
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In Montana, the Commission is housed in the Governor’s Office of Community Service (and established in statute by the 1993 Legislature), and I served as the second Executive Director from September 1997 – February 2001.  It’s interesting that George was so personable, at least in our dealings it was usually on a first-name basis (which was certainly not the case in meeting with him at the university environment, such as Main Hall).  We had a warm, yet professional working relationship.  He was a decidedly strong leader of the Commission.  George was passionate about national service, and quickly embraced the creation of the Corporation for National Service in 1992-93 (early in the Clinton years, though
initial grants I recall came out at the end of the George H.W. Bush term).  He was appointed Chair by Gov. Racicot, who also embraced national service and created the Office under the Governor, and served as Chair through the Martz Administration.

George was a very direct, clear communicator, and a very engaged Chair of the Montana Commission, developed effective working relationships with a diverse commission membership, making sure everyone was engaged.  He was also most supportive of the work our staff did to prepare and the protocols to award AmeriCorps grants, which included creation of the Montana Campus Corps, under Campus Compact, and other grants such as the Learn and Serve grants awarded in cooperation with the Office of Public Instruction.  He was also committed to maintaining a positive working relationship with the Corporation’s State Office, under the leadership of Joe Lovelady, and then John Allen.

Charlie Briggs

I left the Montana Commission in 2001 to become ED for the Texas Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, the state commission originally created under Gov. Ann Richards, but enthusiastically embraced by Gov. George W. Bush.  I only mention this because the Texas Campus Compact when I started was really a fledgling university organization there.  As University President, George had really invested in making Campus Compact a priority in the Montana University System.  A couple years into my tenure, I helped convene a meeting of campuses in partnership with their Compact, and asked George to be the keynote speaker.  He readily agreed, made time in his schedule and flew to Austin at his own expense to provide the keynote, but also spent time conferring with campus executives about the importance of supporting national service among university students through the Compact.  That underscored how instilled in George was the importance of campus-based service learning and strengthening civic engagement.  I think that is an important part of his legacy that will hopefully stand the test of time.

Charlie Briggs
March 2017

REMEMBERING GEORGE: HABITS OF THE HEART WITH JOHN ALLEN

George Dennison, (originally printed in the Spring 2010 Montanan)

In January, we lost a dedicated, visionary leader when George Dennison passed away. Since then, we've put the call out to friends and colleagues of George to send us pieces about working with him and what it meant. This piece comes from John Allen, who worked as Montana state director for the Corporation for National and Community Service office. John's retired now, but he served on the Governor's Commission on Community Service with George. John helped establish MTCC's VISTA program and wrote this piece on the occasion of George's retirement. It ran originally in the Spring 2010 issue of the Montanan, UM's alumni magazine.
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"I know President Dennison as a builder who has made Montana a better place. One can easily see all the growth at UM—the new stadium, the powerhouse football team, increased student enrollment, the rise of the University’s academic reputation, and other milestones. From my personal experience and knowledge, Dennison’s legacy also is about building foundations that we can build on to create more and better volunteer programs, a more civically engaged population, and, consequently, a stronger democracy.

During my thirty-five years working in community service, civic engagement, and volunteerism, and ten years as the Montana director for the Corporation for National and Community Service (known as the domestic Peace Corps), I worked with Dennison to encourage civic engagement and volunteerism. He is a builder—a visionary with a can-do attitude. I can’t count the number of times in meetings where he would say, “Let’s get it done.” He is able to connect seemingly unrelated issues while fostering relationships between far afield entities, like college volunteers working with senior volunteers to collect for food banks or young volunteers teaching senior volunteers about computers. Dennison realizes a successful democracy depends on an educated and civically engaged population. 

John Allen

Often he would lead dialogues among leaders in community service about the importance of volunteerism. Building civic engagement to him was not only an academic interest; it was about something bigger and getting it done. Dennison provided the vision and leadership at the University, in Montana, and nationally to increase civic engagement. He served on the national Campus Compact board and was instrumental in building, in Montana, one of the most successful branches in the nation. Campus Compact promotes civic engagement at the university level. Year after year, UM ranks among the top universities nationally for civically engaged students, outranking many prestigious schools. For fifteen years Dennison was the chair, visionary, and leaderof the Montana Commission on Community Service, which promoted civic engagement. With his leadership, the commission developed and implemented more programs and created an environment that encouraged collaborations not often seen in larger states. Civic engagement experts considered the Montana Campus Compact and Montana Commission on Community Service as models for the nation, a direct result of Dennison’s longtime commitment and leadership. He gave tireless effort and always made himself available." 

John Allen

REMEMBERING GEORGE: PART 3

George with Emma Lommasson in 2006.

We're opening this space to friends and former colleagues of George Dennison, so we can remember him and the good work he did. This piece comes from Steve Nelsen of Helena, MT. Steve is retired now, but he is the founding director of the Montana Conservation Corps and was the director of the Governor's Office of Community Service, working with George who was Commission Chair. Thanks for contributing, Steve.
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It's pretty easy to be cynical about the leaders of our institutions when their brilliant narrative wanes in the face of obstacles to their pursuit of lofty public policy goals.    However, when George Dennison talked about civic engagement he was "the real deal".  As a History professor George understood that citizens working to help each other formed the basic fabric of our democratic society, and was relentless in his efforts to reinvigorate involvement of Montana's citizens. 


When Marc Racicot was elected Governor  he adopted national service as one of his signature programs. He created the Governor's Office of Community Service and  tagged George to Chair the Commission. At the time,  I was Director of the fledgling Montana Conservation Corps  and was pleased to have a University President chairing the Commission that we hoped would be a major funding source.  Frankly,  I had few  expectations that he would  be more than a nice "figurehead". It quickly became apparent that  George was serious about  leading Montana's national service programming.  He took time from his crazy busy schedule to support the Corps in its' infancy. He came to swear in  Members, graduations, and  provided numerous contacts with potential partners. He even flew to spend a day with a crew in the Yaak, where they threw him a pair of waders  and took him to a wetlands project.  Only later did I learn that he had directed his scheduler to give priority to AmeriCorps Programs. His presence gave us credibility, stature and legitimacy at a critical time in the infancy of the Conservation Corps . George laid more than a couple of bricks in the foundation of the Montana Conservation Corps. 

I also observed the support he gave to other AmeriCorps programs.   I watched as he brought together virtually every college and University in the state to participate in Campus Compact.  This may have been his crowning fete.  If you've had any dealings with Institutions of Higher Ed you know how difficult it is to bring them together on any issue,  yet, in a few short years George had the Presidents of all these institutions, from Carroll  to Dawson Community College dedicating staff to Campus Compact and preaching the Gospel of Civic Engagement as though it were their lifelong passion.  Maybe it was, but I doubt we would have seen this unified effort mobilized without the leadership and persuasiveness of George.    

It seemed that he never passed up a chance to spread the gospel  of civic engagement and to

Steve Nelsen

institutionalize its presence .  He highlighted civic engagement at  Griz pregame Presidential breakfasts, used it as the theme of Commencement  Addresses,  and even co-opted the Cat/Griz venue to present Awards to alumni for the community involvement.   He spoke with passion about the vital role of civic involvement in a democratic society, and how it was the foundation for citizen led government.    We miss you George.  We could use you in these dynamic times. 


Steve Nelsen 

Helena, Montana

REMEMBERING GEORGE PT. 2

I had the pleasure of working with George Dennison for nearly 20 years at the University of Montana. His visionary leadership and support for civic engagement programming provided the basis for all of my professional work at UM and statewide. 

Under his leadership, UM’s service learning and civic engagement initiatives were launched and institutionalized. In addition to being one of the founding presidents of Montana Campus Compact, he also created UM’s Volunteer Action Services office which later became the Office for Civic Engagement. Thousands of UM students each year continue to engage in volunteer and service learning activities because of the foundation and infrastructure of support he built. It is noteworthy that while George is known for the many physical buildings he built at UM, he was also responsible for laying the structural foundations for many programs and initiatives that also have endured over time. 

I always appreciated George’s straightforward leadership style. Even though it was intimidating at times, it provided clarity for direction of programming and partnerships. His legacy of engagement will live on throughout UM and Montana for a long time to come and we will always be grateful for his leadership in this field.

REMEMBERING GEORGE DENNISON

George Dennison, 1935-2017. Photo by Erik-Stenbakken

Earlier this month we lost George Dennison to non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Known to many of us a "President Dennison" or later, just "George" after enough years and when it didn’t feel strange or disrespectful. It’s hard to overstate the forward-thinking, future shaping work that George committed himself to. On a daily basis working for Campus Compact and with higher ed. in Montana I still feel the impact of his belief in service, civic engagement and higher education’s role in supporting American democracy, and global citizenship. The list of Dennison’s accomplishments while administering the University of Montana is too long to mention here, so I’ll focus instead on his role with Montana Campus Compact, and a few parts of his service legacy.

George, along with his colleagues from seven other Montana higher education institutions, founded Montana Campus Compact in 1993. They believed that higher education has an important role to play to shape our nation's, state's and community leaders, and that by actively engaging with community, higher education offered students opportunities to apply their learning, learn valuable skills, and address real challenges. He offered office space on the campus at UM to our fledgling Compact, and we’ve been here hosted and supported by UM for the past 20+ years. I’ve worked for Campus Compact since 2000, and I remember my first impressions of President Dennison when I started this work. He was an imposing figure, he said what was on his mind, commanded the respect of others and worked incredibly hard to position the University of Montana and Campus Compact as leaders in civic engagement work. He’s one of the few people I can think of whose presence I associate with the word gravitas. When he talked, you listened. On the other hand, it was clear he loved what he did, and he had a great smile and sense of humor.

My first job with Campus Compact was as a VISTA leader, and I served with the AmeriCorps Member Advisory Council that year. We sent our members to the Montana Commission on Community Service which George chaired, to observe the meeting and report on AmeriCorps members and VISTAs collaborative work. I remember George ran a very efficient meeting and adhered closely to Robert’s Rules.  The Commission had awarded AmeriCorps funding for about seven years at that point, and were working to branch into additional lines of business that advanced their mission. I remember that the idea of creating a service scholarship for incoming college freshmen had been percolating with the Commission for a time. George believed that Montana needed greater infrastructure for service, and volunteered to call the (then) Student Assistance Foundation, and bring a proposal to his colleagues with Campus Compact, and see what could happen.  Soon thereafter, the Youth Serve Montana scholarship was born, and 100 incoming college students who’d demonstrated active citizenship and volunteerism were receiving $1000 to advance their college studies. It was pretty impressive to witness, and to this day, that legacy lives on and each fall we work with the same partners to award 100 scholarships. Student Assistance Foundation is now called Reach Higher Montana, but otherwise we still work closely both with them and the Governor’s Office of Community Service.

That’s a small part of the legacy that George Dennison left in Montana, but an example of how easy he made it look. We will do our best to open this space for others to remember George. He was a giant in this world, and he helped shape much of the infrastructure that continues to support service, civic engagement and education in Montana.  I remember him well, and it’s humbling to get to work in a field that he helped to start in Montana. Thanks for all you did George, we miss you.