MISSOULA — With evidence mounting that Montana schoolchildren are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression – and as educators continue to leave the state for higher-paying careers elsewhere — the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation has mobilized to provide kids and teachers a better tomorrow.
The University of Montana Foundation announced this week that the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation has made a $9.4 million gift to fund a signature initiative for the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education at UM. The effort will offer a two-pronged solution to some of the state’s biggest challenges in K-12 education and behavioral health.
“This gift has the potential to transform K-12 education in Montana, giving our children the support they need to thrive and empowering our educators,” UM President Seth Bodnar said.
The Phyllis J. Washington Children and Educators Initiative is designed to help stop the downward spiral of youth behavioral health in Montana. It also incentivizes the best and brightest Phyllis J. Washington College of Education graduates to stay in the state to serve Montana youth.
According to the most recent Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 40% of students reported occasionally feeling hopeless or chronically sad in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, only one-third of the College of Education’s bachelor’s degree graduates and half of master’s degree in counseling graduates stay in Montana to begin their careers. Part of improving behavioral health among Montana students involves stabilizing the education workforce.
The Phyllis J. Washington Children and Educators Initiative furthers the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation’s deep commitment to education in Montana with the following transformative programs:
The Institute for Positive Education
Through the new Institute for Positive Education, the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education becomes the first in the nation to integrate positive psychology as the guiding focus of its curriculum. Positive psychology is a research-basedapproach championed by John Sommers-Flanagan, a professor in UM’s Department of Counseling. It emphasizes the development of strengths-based well-being rather than suppressing negative behaviors.
Positive psychology practices have been shown to elevate mood, increase hope, decrease depression, enhance problem-solving skills and improve physical health. The Institute will equip all new educators with skills and strategies to build a better foundation for well-being and resilience in Montana’s children.
“The Institute for Positive Education will infuse the principles of positive psychology into educational environments throughout Montana and beyond,” Sommers-Flanagan said. “If we focus on growing and nurturing strengths, skills and virtues within teachers and students, then anxiety, depression and trauma will shrink in their significance, because students will have internal ways of managing their distress.”
By creating a curriculum that emphasizes positive psychology, the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education will reshape how teachers and counselors are trained and inspire universities around the nation to do the same. As Mrs. Washington has said of the College, “It’s more than a building. It’s about building a better education.”
The Institute for Positive Education will develop new courses in positive psychology such as “Evidence-Based Well-being for Educators” and “Applications of Positive Psychology for Families, Communities and the Media.” It also will offer continuing education for graduates of the program, facilitate conferences for teachers and counselors from all over Montana and train UM faculty and staff to integrate positive psychology skills across campus.
“This initiative will rebuild the way we conceive of behavioral health education in the state,” said Dr. Daniel Lee, dean of the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education. “By infusing the principles of positive psychology and positive education into every course that we teach, we can do even greater things than we already do."
The college will soon launch a search to hire a director for the institute and will fill clinical faculty and other support positions in order to begin curriculum integration in fall of 2025.
The Phyllis J. Washington Scholars Program
The most recent data from the UM Alumni Association shows less than half of College of Education graduates stay in Montana. Issues like low starting salaries and high housing costs can make launching and sustaining a teaching career in the state challenging. The Phyllis J. Washington Scholars Program allows educators to begin their careers on more solid financial ground, making them more likely to be able to remain in Montana.
Candidates displaying academic excellence and the highest standards of achievement will receive funding to support the cost of UM’s bachelor's degree teaching or master’s degree counseling programs. Phyllis J. Washington Scholars must commit to finishing their degrees within four (bachelor’s) or two (master’s) years, maintain a 3.75 grade point average and commit to teaching in Montana schools for three years after graduation.
Phyllis J. Washington Scholars will be eligible to have up to a third of qualified student loans repaid for each year of service in Montana schools, for up to three years.
Scholars will also participate in continuing education summer programs to continue to enhance their skills and maintain a network of support with other scholars.
The college will begin accepting Scholar applications this spring for the first cohort of teachers and counselors beginning in fall 2025. The college will admit two additional cohorts of teachers and one additional cohort of counselors through 2027.
“This initiative will transform how teachers and counselors are trained,” Bodnar said. “It will give school children the skills to become more resilient. It will change so many lives throughout Montana for the better, and it’s all possible because of the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. We are deeply grateful for their continued generosity.”
The college was officially renamed the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education in 2009, following a transformative gift from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation funded the construction of a new wing of the Phyllis J. Washington Education Center, which was unveiled in 2019, and provided expanded space for early childhood education, counseling and the Montana Digital Academy. A wing of the center houses the ALI Auditorium, which hosts classes, statewide meetings and national conferences.
