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Biography
Jane Jelinski Jane Jelinski, a Wisconsin native, has a B. A. degree from Fontbonne College in St. Louis, MO and taught fifth and seventh grades prior to moving to Bozeman in 1973. A stay-at-home mom with a five year old daughter and an infant son, she was promptly recruited by the Gallatin Women’s Political Caucus to conduct a study of Sex-Role Stereotyping in K Through 6 Reading Text Books in the Bozeman School District. Sociologist Dr. Louise Hale designed the study and did the statistical analysis and Jane read all the texts, entered the data and wrote the report. It was widely disseminated across Montana and received attention of the press. Her next venture into community activism was to lead the successful effort to downzone her neighborhood which was under threat of encroaching business development. Today the neighborhood enjoys the protections of a Historic Preservation District. During this time she earned her MPA from Montana State University. Subsequently Jane founded the Gallatin Advocacy Program for Developmentally Disabled Adults in 1978 and served as the Executive Director until her appointment to the Gallatin County Commission in 1984. She has recently published the account of her controversial appointment in the Fall issue of the Gallatin History Museum Quarterly. People can order copies of the issue off their website: http://gallatinhistorymuseum.org/the-museum-bookstore/shop/. She was re-elected three times and served for fourteen years. She was active in the Montana Association of Counties and was elected President of the Association in 1994. She was also active in the National Association of Counties and served on numerous policy committees. In 1998 Jane resigned from the County Commission 6 months prior to the end of her final term in order to accept the position of Assistant Director of the Montana Association of Counties. Her duties with the Association were to lobby for counties, provide training and research for county officials, and publish a monthly newsletter for counties. In 2001 she was hired as Director of the MSU Local Government Center where she continued to provide training and research for county officials as well as municipal officials. There she initiated the Montana Mayors Academy in partnership with MMIA. She taught State and Local Government, Montana Politics and Public Administration in the MSU Political Science Department before retiring in 2008. Jane has been married to Jack for 47 years, has two grown children and three grandchildren.
Publication Date
Fall 2015
Recommended Citation
Jelinksi, Jane and Barrett, Evan, "Biography of Jane Jelinksi" (2015). Biographies and Photos of Series Participants. 6.
https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_bios/6