Welcome to ForUM, the e-newsletter for University of Montana staff, faculty and administrators. ForUM is published weekly during the academic year except during scheduled academic breaks.
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UM Named To Community Service Honor Roll
The Corporation for National and Community Service honored UM with a place on the 2009 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
UM has earned a place on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll each year since it was launched in 2006.
During the 2008-09 academic year, UM students engaged in academic service-learning provided more than 13,000 hours to the Missoula community. Students also participated in nearly 11,000 hours of extracurricular volunteering and in more than 111,500 service hours through the AmeriCorps national service program, which helps with tuition support.
The Independent Sector, a leadership forum for charities, foundations and corporate giving programs, has determined the value of a volunteer hour by state, and Montana's hourly rate is $14.13, said Andrea Vernon, director of UM's Office for Civic Engagement. Using that hourly rate as a guideline, the almost 136,000 volunteer hours by UM students brought an economic impact to the Missoula community of nearly $2 million.
Office for Civic Engagement
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Pharmacy School Retains Top-10 Ranking
The Skaggs School of Pharmacy at UM ranks No. 7 nationally for earning grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health.
According to figures from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the UM school raked in $11.2 million in NIH funds in 2009, earning a top-10 ranking among 112 pharmacy schools and colleges across the nation.
"We have been ranked in the top 10 since 2003," said Dave Forbes, dean of the College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, which houses the pharmacy school. "I think this ranking shows we have world-class researchers here in Montana doing great work to advance the frontiers of science."
When individual faculty members are considered, UM also ranks No. 7 nationally for garnering NIH research funds. The pharmacy school has the equivalent of 30 full-time Ph.D. faculty members who successfully competed for an average of $374,000 apiece in 2009.
"Two of UM's top-three funded scientists are in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy," said Vernon Grund, associate dean for research and graduate education. "They are Dr. Andrij Holian, who directs UM's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, and Dr. Michael Kavanaugh, who directs UM's Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience."
Skaggs School of Pharmacy
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Expert To Speak About Sustainability Ethics
Willis Jenkins, the Margaret Farley Assistant Professor of Social Ethics at Yale Divinity School, will present a lecture titled "Sustainability Ethics: Religion, Science and Cultural Change" on Monday, March 15, at UM.
The event, sponsored by UM's Environmental Studies Program, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the North Underground Lecture Hall. It is free and open to the public.
Jenkins, who also holds a secondary appointment at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, teaches courses in social and environmental ethics, including courses for the joint degree program of Yale's divinity and forestry schools. He is the author of "Ecologies of Grace: Environmental Ethics and Christian Theology," which won the 2009 Templeton Award for Theological Promise.
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Exhibition Opens At MMAC March 18
An exhibition that chronicles American jazz legends as they traveled the globe on behalf of the U.S. State Department will open at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture on Thursday, March 18.
"Jam Session: America's Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World" is an exceptional collection of photographs and documents drawn from important archives around the country. These materials range from the mid-1950s through the 1970s, when Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Sara Vaughn and others served as cultural ambassadors.
An opening reception featuring music by jazz pianist David Morgenroth will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. March 18 in the lobby of UM's Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center.
"Jam Session" will be at MMAC through Saturday, April 24. The exhibition includes more than 80 compelling images of musicians visiting 35 countries across four continents, providing a unique insight into the successful diplomatic initiative that built international friendships through jazz. Millions of people experienced the concerts, which introduced many to the styles and variations of this uniquely American art form.
During the exhibition, the museum will unveil its new audio tour system, Guide by Cell, which will allow visitors to use cell phones, iPods or MP3 players to listen to the musicians play jazz standards.
"Jam Session" was organized by Meridian International Center. The exhibition has been curated by Curtis Sandberg, Meridian's vice president for the arts, with Penny M. Von Eschen, an expert in the history of jazz diplomacy and author of "Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War."
Sandberg will present a lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the Masquer Theatre of the PAR/TV Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Montana Museum of Art & Culture
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News About U
 Anthropology and Native American studies Professor Neyooxet Greymorning served as an expert witness in a case about the effectiveness of language teaching methods for the Inuit of the North Slope, Barrow, Alaska. In January, Greymorning ran a three-day Accelerated Second Language Acquisition teacher training workshop for Cree and Dene language teachers at Fort McMurray, Alberta, and, a week later, was invited by board of education Director Leo Fox of the Kainai Nation, Alberta, to observe and assess their language teachers.
Native American Professor Kathryn Shanley has been elected president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. Shanley will begin her duties as president in May at the NAISA conference, which will be held in Tucson, Ariz.
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Submissions must reach University Relations, 317 Brantly Hall, by noon Tuesday for inclusion in the following week's newsletter. Be sure to note that the submissions are for ForUM. E-mail submissions may be sent to campnews@mso.umt.edu. Items will be included as space permits. For more information, e-mail Brenda Day, ForUM editor.
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