Kiah Abbey

Kiah Abbey, alumna, President’s Commission on the Status of University Women award winner (2013) and Women’s Center student of achievement (2014) was the ASMSU president during her junior year. Abbey led campaigns to implement a Montana University System non-discrimination policy as well as Montana State University’s undergraduate pregnancy policy, which ensured accommodations for students who were pregnant or had pregnant partners. She was the Sustained Dialogue program coordinator and dialogue facilitator, a contributor to the Bias Incident Reporting Policy, a peer educator with the VOICE Center and an advisory board member of MSU’s Leadership Institute. The controversy surrounding her and Vice President Lindsay Murdock’s efforts to end the tradition of screening oppressive and sexist pornographic films in the Procrastinator Theater made her notorious with the student body.  Abbey is now deputy director for Forward Montana, a progressive nonprofit working to educate and engage young voters in the election process by building inclusive empowering communities. She began working with Forward Montana as a volunteer and joined the staff after graduating from MSU. Currently, Abbey serves as treasurer on the Susan Wicklund Fund Board and has served on the Montana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for four years.

Kiah Abbey’s work as the ASMSU president led to initiatives that will continue to help students for decades.  Her valuable work with Forward Montana will also surely have a lasting impact, and she still enjoys destroying the patriarchy on her weekends!