The Franke Global Leadership Initiative- University of Montana, Missoula
Position Type: VISTA
Service Commitment: April 6, 2026 – April 5, 2027
Final Application Deadline: March 6, 2026
Car required? Recommended
Driver’s License Required? Yes
Position Summary:
The Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) mission is to provide a globally-focused education through the pillars of global awareness, leadership, and experiential and interdisciplinary learning. It is a 12-credit certificate program open to all students at the University of Montana that pushes students to work through a variety of challenges within global themes (inequality and human rights, culture and politics, resources and sustainability, public and global health, and technology and society).
The goal of this project is to improve the Franke Global Leadership Initiative’s processes for recruitment, retention, and civic engagement. Another aspect of the project is to strengthen and improve Franke GLI’s partnership with Soft Landing Missoula in order to foster a culture of service learning and service leadership in the Franke GLI. This project will help the Franke GLI to identify resources to expand their capacity to recruit, retain, advise, and serve students while also evaluating longer-term funding sources to increase their staffing.
The VISTA member will help the Franke Global Leadership Initiative expand data tracking to better understand the student population and how to serve students’ needs. Through Franke GLI’s partnership with SLM, the VISTA will specifically focus on the recruitment and retention of students from low-income and first generation college student backgrounds. The VISTA will develop systems for organizing and analyzing data related to student participation and barriers to access. VISTA will track financial aid and Pell Grant status. The VISTA will search for and draft grants to enhance program opportunities. The VISTA’s collaboration with the UM Foundation will raise money for scholarships to support international experiences as well as campus-based scholarships to assist students with tuition and college related expenses
Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement (MCNCE) serves as the intermediary for this project. MCNCE is a CEO-led coalition of colleges and universities that support civic engagement, service learning, and volunteerism across the state. Every year we place cohorts of full-time, part-time, and summer AmeriCorps members with schools, colleges, nonprofits, and government agencies in Montana. The AmeriCorps projects we facilitate increase educational equity, break down barriers between higher education and community organizations, and address the root causes of poverty in communities across the state.
Benefits Include:
- $24,962 VISTA Living Allowance (full year) = $957.46 bi-weekly
- $7,395 Education Award or $1800 cash award
- Relocation Allowance
- Health Insurance
- Personal & Medical Leave
- Non-Competitive Federal Hiring for one year
- University of Montana access & resources
- Access to regular professional trainings through MCNCE & University of Montana
Professional Skills You Will Gain
- Communications
- Curriculum Development
- Higher Education Administration
- Indigenous Community Outreach
- Intercultural Relations
- Leadership
- Marketing
- Nonprofit Administration
- Partnership Development
- Partnership Management
- Post-Secondary Education
- Program Assessment
- Program Development
- Public Speaking
- Rural Community Outreach
- Student Affairs
- Teamwork
- Time Management