"It's a great honor to be selected as dean of the College of Forestry and Conservation, as its outstanding record of research and innovative instruction have made it one of the nation's finest academic programs in conservation and the sustainable management of our shared natural heritage," Burchfield said. "It is with great humility that I enter into this position, and I pledge to respect the traditions of excellence and inclusivity that make the college a willing and supportive partner to the people of Montana."

Burchfield came to UM in 1996 as an adjunct associate forestry professor and director of the Bolle Center for People and Forests. He was promoted to associate dean of the forestry school in 2003. He served as interim dean from July 2008 to June 2010 and was again named interim dean in October 2010. 

Read more

The UM Foundation has established a scholarship for UM students from Japan who were afflicted by the March earthquake that caused a tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The Japan Rising Opportunity Scholarship demonstrates UM's continued support for its Japanese students and Japan. The UM Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief website provides a link to the fundraising page for those wishing to donate.

Donors who contribute $100 or more to the scholarship fund will receive the "UM's Heart Goes Out to Japan" poster, the product of collaboration between the UM and Missoula communities to support Japan in the aftermath of the disasters.

The new scholarship is for both undergraduate and graduate students from Japan. Students from across the country may apply, but preference will be shown to students from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in the Tohoku Region.

UM Foundation

Teams are forming now for the annual Heart Walk and 5K Run at UM on Saturday, Sept. 24. The event, a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, begins at 10 a.m. on the Oval with a ceremony to introduce heart disease survivors and remember those who have passed away because of the disease.

This will be the first year for the 5K Heart Run, which will start at 11:10 a.m. The course will begin and finish on the UM Oval and offer views of campus and the Clark Fork River. The top finishers in each of seven age divisions, as well as the overall men's and women's winners, will receive prizes in the timed event. The race fee is $20, and participants can register on the Missoula Heart Walk/Run website.

The Heart Walk will start on the Oval at 11:15 a.m. Registration for the walk is free and available online. Participants can choose to form a new team, register with an existing team or sign up individually. Several UM departments have already formed teams and can be found on the website.

Team members will solicit donations to support education and research efforts of the American Heart Association, a nonprofit that raises awareness of cardiovascular disease and promotes heart-healthy lifestyles. No fundraising minimum is required to participate.

Those interested in forming or joining a team also can call Beckie Christiaens, UM Heart Walk campaign chair, at 243-4611 or email beckie.christiaens@umontana.edu.

The Board of Regents approved hiring Donald Blackketter to become the next chancellor of Montana Tech of UM during its May meeting.

Blackketter previously served as dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Idaho in Moscow. He started his new role in Butte on June 27, replacing Chancellor Frank Gilmore, who served for 13 years.

Blackketter has been an active researcher for more than 20 years, focusing on solid mechanics and receiving more than $3.7 million in funding from a variety of sources. He has performed research and published in areas that include composite materials, biomechanics, numerical methods and hybrid vehicles.

Read more

Reisenfeld, a member of UM's Department of Physics and Astronomy, helped build the probe's solar wind concentrator, which gathered charged solar wind particles during a three-year journey in space to determine the composition of the sun with unprecedented precision.

The hard landing made a mess of the Genesis sample collectors. But six years later, NASA researchers have salvaged scientific results from the mission. The surprising findings landed on the cover of the June 24 edition of Science.

The Genesis samples suggest the sun and its inner planets may have formed differently than scientists previously thought. The data revealed slight differences in the types of oxygen and nitrogen present on the sun and planets. The elements are among the most abundant in our solar system. Although the differences are slight, the implications could help determine how our solar system evolved.

Read more

A UM delegation recently negotiated new partnerships with two Chinese universities in Jinan that will bring increased opportunities for faculty and student exchanges and collaborative research.

The delegation's May 24-June 4 visit to China, led by Associate Provost for International Programs Mehrdad Kia, adds promising opportunities with the University of Jinan and is expected to increase international student enrollment at UM.

The visit also led to extensive potential for collaborative activities in multiple units of the Shandong University of Traditional Medicine, especially with UM's School of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences.

While in China, the UM delegation also strengthened academic ties and developed new training programs with two existing UM partner universities in Shanghai and Beijing.

Read more

Nicky Phear, instructor and program director in UM's Climate Change Studies Program, and UM student Mara Menahan pedaled across Bhutan on July 2-15 to see firsthand how climate change affects the Himalayan country and its people.

The two were joined by Katy-Robin Garton, a documentary filmmaker with Missoula-based Sprout Films, in the inaugural "Bhutan Ride for Climate," which was conceived through a partnership between UM's Climate Change Studies Program and the Washington, D.C.-based Bhutan Foundation.

The trip brought together 15 teenagers from Bhutan and the U.S. to cycle 300 kilometers, crossing three passes of more than 10,000 feet to explore perspectives on climate change from farmers, foresters, monks, micro-hydro engineers and conservationists. The ride ended at a regional climate summit in Thimphu, where students offered recommendations to political leaders based on their experience.

Read more

The Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society (PEAS) Farm, a joint project of UM and Garden City Harvest in Missoula, is featured in an essay included in the book "Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in North America," released this month by The University Press of Kentucky.

The book is a volume of essays by pioneering educators directly involved in the founding and management of what "Fields of Learning" editors Laura Sayre and Sean Clark describe as the 15 of the most influential student farms in North America. Josh Slotnick, a lecturer in UM's Environmental Studies Program, contributed the book's essay about the PEAS Farm.

Read more

The UM College of Arts and Sciences has recognized two faculty members for their teaching excellence and dedication to students.

Duncan Campbell, associate professor of psychology, and Nathaniel Levtow, associate professor of liberal studies, each received a Helen and Winston Cox Educational Excellence Award during UM Commencement ceremonies May 14.

The awards, given annually since 1996, go to nontenured faculty members and are based on superior contributions to the education of UM students.

President Royce Engstrom has announced that a former associate dean and his wife have committed $3 million to the UM College of Forestry and Conservation. Joel and Patricia Meier of Denver have included a provision in their wills to fund an endowed chair in the Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management program.

"The Patricia and Joel Meier Wildland Recreation Management Chair will allow us to attract a leader in what is already a nationally renowned program at UM," Engstrom said. "We are grateful for Joel and Patti Meier's generosity. It certainly will help UM better serve students and the world."

The UM Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management program prepares students for careers with land management agencies, nonprofits and nature-based tourism or for graduate studies in related areas.

Read more

UM has launched a new e-publication, Montana Field Notes. It focuses on the diverse landscapes, ecology, history and culture of Big Sky Country and the important work being done statewide by the University.

The spring 2011 issue includes stunning photographs of Montana landscapes. Articles cover diverse topics such as UM Crown of the Continent studies, eastern and western Montana, UM's Flathead Lake Biological Station and West Yellowstone.

UM recently joined the likes of Duke, Penn State, Purdue and Pepperdine as winners of a 2011 Campus Technology Innovators award. UM's Academic Planner, a homegrown Web application that helps students plot short-term course schedules and develop long-term academic strategies, was deemed one of the 10 best innovations in higher education out of 393 nominees.

The awards are presented annually by Campus Technology magazine, a monthly publication focused on the use of technology in higher education.

Academic Planner provides advanced search tools to help students sift through hundreds of University course offerings and create primary and alternate course schedules.

Read more

Joseph O. Hickman, the current director of TRiO Student Support Services at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, will take on that same role at UM starting Aug. 8.

Hickman replaces Ray Carlisle, who retired in September after 37 years with the University. He will bring to the job extensive knowledge of TRiO Student Support Services, a federally funded program offering a range of services aimed at increasing the success rate of eligible students.

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture at UM will present "60 Artists, 60 Artworks, 60 Years: Celebrating the Archie Bray Foundation" through Sept. 10.

The exhibition, on view in the museum's Meloy and Paxson galleries, pays tribute to the 60th anniversary of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena. Its diverse selection of ceramics created by past Bray residents, who include UM faculty and alumni, exemplify the breadth of creative expression generated at the internationally renowned Montana institution. Drawn from MMAC's Permanent Collection and four private Missoula ceramic collections, the exhibition features artists from various periods in the Bray's history.

As its title suggests, the exhibition will include a single artwork by each of 60 artists who epitomize the legacy of the Archie Bray Foundation. Featured are works by contemporary Missoula-based artists Adrian Arleo, Julia Galloway, Trey Hill, Beth Lo, David Pledge and David Regan, as well as works by Frances Senska, Rudy Autio, Peter Voulkos, Branson G. Stevenson, Peter Meloy, David Shaner, Kurt Weiser, Jay Rummel and others.

In addition, MMAC will host a satellite exhibition at UM's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library through Sept. 10 titled "Peter and Henry Meloy: Collaborations." The exhibition features functional and sculptural ceramics by the well-known brothers. Peter was a co-founder of the Archie Bray Foundation, and Henry was a New York City abstract expressionist painter. The pieces in the exhibition are on loan from the Henry Meloy Educational Trust.

A memorial for artist and former UM School of Art Chair and Professor Tom Rippon (1954-2010) also will be on view through Sept. 10 on the first floor of Main Hall. Rippon, a ceramics virtuoso who studied with Robert Arneson, is known for his imaginative sculptures that embody humor and whimsy, such as "Tree of Art," a 1996 ceramic wall mural that adorns the east side of the Performing Arts & Radio/Television Center.

Montana Museum of Art & Culture

President Engstrom welcomes members of the campus community to meet with him to discuss issues and topics of their choice. Please call 243-2311 or email prestalk@umontana.edu to make an appointment to meet with President Engstrom during these times.

President Engstrom's office hours for August are:

• Wednesday, Aug. 24: 2-4 p.m.

UM political science Professor Peter Koehn recently received the 2011 Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award, which recognizes faculty and staff who do not have international activities or programs as a primary responsibility, but through their advocacy and leadership have made an outstanding contribution to furthering international education. It is presented annually by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Commission on International Programs, which includes more than 200 member institutions.

Human performance researcher Matthew Bundle, whose research indicates that the artificial limbs of a world-class sprinter give him a major advantage over able-bodied athletes, will join the UM Department of Health and Human Performance faculty this fall. One of his first studies at UM will be a collaboration with specialists at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to help wounded soldiers pursue active lifestyles by experimenting with and enhancing the performance of high-quality artificial limbs.

Regents Professor of Biology Fred Allendorf received the American Fisheries Society's 2011 Award of Excellence. The award, one of the organization's most prestigious, is presented annually for original and outstanding contributions to fisheries and aquatic biology.

Interim Assistant CIO Tom Battaglia assumed his new role for IT-Technology Support Services on July 1. He also will lead the Web Technology Services group during the coming year.

Curriculum and instruction Associate Professor Ann Garfinkle has been named an Act Early Ambassador for the "Learn the Signs. Act Early." campaign, which aims to educate parents about childhood development and encourages developmental screening and intervention.

Anthropology and Native American studies Professor Neyooxet Greymorning was interviewed by and quoted in Indian Country today for an article that went to print May 9 titled "Genocide by Other Means: U.S. Army Slaughtered Buffalo in Plains Indian Wars."

Montana Public Radio news reporter Emilie Ritter won second place in the Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest sponsored by the Society for Professional Journalists. The awards honor exceptional journalism in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Ritter took second in the Radio Spot News category for coverage of Montana Highway Patrol Trooper David DeLaittre's funeral in December.

School of Law professor Fritz Snyder will postpone retirement for a year to serve as interim dean of operations for the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library. Snyder previously served as director of the William J. Jameson Law Library.

Kaufmann, Karen A. 2011. "Movement as a Metaphor: How Persistence, the Tao and the Wisdom of the Ostrich Helped Build School Dance Programs." Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. 82(5).

Kozul, Mladen. 2011. Le Corps érotique au 18e siècle: amour, péché, maladie. Oxford, England: Voltaire Foundation. 244 pp.

Stanton, Thomas H. 2011. "Rule 12(b) Motions." Facts and Findings, 38(1):28-30.