November 16, 2010

 

Contacts:

Alex Tyson, Billings Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau, 869-3726
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Dr. Ron Sexton, former chancellor of Montana State University Billings, will be honored Wednesday by the Billings Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau as the 2010 Roche Jaune Awards for Business Excellence Lifetime Achievement recipient. 

 

Dr. Ron Sexton in front of McMullen Hall

He will share the honor with past recipients Don and Marilyn Floberg, Sam McDonald and George Selover. The celebration of his achievement and announcement of other awards for business and chamber leadership will be Wednesday from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Alberta Bair Theatre. It is the fourth year that the chamber has offered the awards.

 

Sexton retired in August after serving as chancellor of MSU Billings since 1995. He now works chair of the Montana State University Billings Foundation’s Opportunity Fund Campaign for Student Scholarships. 

 

Billings Chamber/CVB Vice President Alex Tyson says, “Rarely are there opportunities to recognize the great people who help make Montana’s Trailhead such an ideal place to live, work and play. The Roche Jaune Awards are a chance to show gratitude for the contribution and commitment residents make to Billings and Dr. Sexton is one of these significant individuals in the community.”

 

Sexton is a Billings native and graduated from Eastern Montana College in 1959, with a bachelor’s of science degree in social sciences and history, and a minor in health, physical education and recreation. In 1964, he earned the master’s of science degree in guidance and counseling, with a minor in psychology, from EMC. After being awarded a doctor of philosophy-education degree from the University of Oregon in 1971, Sexton completed post-doctoral study at Boys Town in Omaha, Neb., under the auspices of the University of Kansas.

 

He served as a faculty member and clinical director for the College of Education at Central Michigan University from 1971-1977, but the pull of home brought him back to the Eastern Montana College campus in 1977, when he became director of the EMC Institute for Habilitative Services and a professor in the School of Education. 

 

August 1987, he was named EMC’s academic vice president and professor of special education and reading. On July 1, 1994, he became acting chancellor when Dr. Bruce Carpenter retired and continued as a professor of special education and reading. Then, on March 22, 1995, Sexton was appointed chancellor of Montana State University Billings. 

 

For more information on the Roche Jaune awards, go to www.billingschamber.com