Registration is open now for Family Weekend, scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Oct. 27-29. We’ve worked out the technical glitches for online registration, and by now parents of all freshmen should have received a schedule and registration form in the mail. The registration deadline has been extended to Thursday, Oct. 12.

Highlights this year include a city tour with the mayor, a pregame brunch packed with entertainment and a traditional Native American sunrise ceremony on Mount Sentinel. Friday evening’s Fam Jam at the Adams Center promises fun for family members of all ages and a $1,000 scholarship as the grand-prize giveaway.

For the first time in the history of UM, student employees this fall are receiving paychecks twice a month.

Instead of being paid on the first of the month, checks now will be issued on the first and 15th, something for which students have long lobbied.

There are roughly 2,500 student employees at UM, all of whom will now be able to collect every two weeks. Students are encouraged to sign up for direct deposit, which will speed paychecks to their bank accounts.

The catalyst for the new twice-a-month cycle was new computer equipment installed at Human Resource Services over the summer.

“For some time now the student employees have been asking for some accommodation with regard to how often they get their money,” said UM President George Dennison. “And we worked pretty hard to get it done.

“I understand, having been a student once myself, how difficult it is to only be paid once a month,” he said.

If your student is a night owl but her roommate isn’t, the Mansfield Library is ready to accommodate her schedule.

Students can use the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. The library has expanded its hours to be open 111 hours per week, providing students with a place to work that fits schedules and preferences determined through a survey conducted by UM Continuing Education.

The new schedules were tested by the library during 2006 spring and summer sessions.

“Students definitely use the library during the late-night hours,” said Bonnie Allen, dean of libraries at UM, “and student use justifies the additional funding for staffing during that period.”

The Mansfield Library is located across the mall from the University Center, which is open until midnight during the school term. Students who work after dark in the library can call the Grizzly Personal Safety Escort service at 243-2777 so they don’t have to walk home alone.

Campus is a beautiful place for a morning stroll, and that’s just one reason UM has hosted the Missoula Heart Walk for the past six years.

Another is that UM researchers have received tens of thousands of dollars in grant funding from the American Heart Association, the beneficiary of the fundraising event, and this is one way to give back.

Scores of UM students, staff and faculty members have formed teams to walk in the 3.2-mile event that starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, on the Oval.

Team Dennison, led by UM President George Dennison, usually raises the most money, since this is a cause that owns a big chunk of his heart. His wife, Jane, UM’s first lady, underwent heart surgery two years ago and made a full recovery.

Blogs, MySpace and Facebook are the hottest thing going among college students these days. UM will soon join the trend, introducing student bloggers on the University’s Web site.

“Voices” will replace the current “Faces” feature on the UM home page, bringing the day-to-day activities, experiences and thoughts of 10 diverse students to life online.

The UM Voices blogs are intended to give prospective students an idea of what life at UM is like, as well as to foster a sense of community among UM students, employees, alumni and friends.

The students were chosen by a committee of representatives from University Relations, Enrollment and New Student Services, the Information Technology Office and the UM Web Development Committee.

To nearly anyone, best-selling author, igloo builder, hunter, trapper and Alaskan Seth Kantner’s life is anything but ordinary.

Kantner’s debut novel, “Ordinary Wolves,” was met with rave reviews from publications such as the New York Times Book Review and Outside magazine when it hit the shelves in 2005.

Now that book, written by a UM alumnus, has been chosen for the first-year reading experience this fall, said Associate Provost Arlene Walker-Andrews. The program encourages all first-year students to read the same book so they have one more thing in common as they begin college.

Kantner will be on campus to give a talk about “Ordinary Wolves” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, in the University Theatre. Also connected to the first-year book experience, Anna Klene will give a speech titled, “Alaska, Great Land of Change: Some Geographic and Historic Context for 'Ordinary Wolves'" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, in the University Center Theater.

Wildlife Biology Professor Dan Pletscher will present a speech titled “Wolves in Montana: Separating Fact From Fiction” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in Urey Lecture Hall.

First-year students also can enter an essay contest with a $400 prize for first place. The essay must be about the reader’s reaction to the book.

“You can enjoy both ‘the outdoors and a great education’ at UM, a school that ‘is whatever you want it to be,’” begins the two-page profile of UM in The Princeton Review’s current edition of “The Best 361 Colleges.”

Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in the nation and two Canadian colleges are included in the 2007 edition of the book, published this month. Two Montana schools made the list, UM and Montana Tech of UM.

In addition to outstanding academics, important criteria considered for inclusion in “The Best 361 Colleges” are location, cost, size and campus culture.

UM also is included in The Princeton Review’s lists of “Best Western Colleges,” which covers a 15-state region, and “America’s Best Value Colleges.”

For its record of having excellent service-learning programs and blending academics with community work, the University also is listed in The Princeton Review’s “Colleges with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement.”

UM holds one of the world’s largest garage sales, according to a recent article in the New York Times travel section. The claim, the author writes, rests on “the size of its garage.”

On Saturday, Sept. 16, the three-story structure, located just off Campus Drive next to the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, will once again be filled with the best bargains in the world -- or at least in Missoula.

From 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that day, the “World’s Largest Garage Sale” will offer community members an opportunity to turn unwanted items into cash. The parking garage is a covered structure, so rain or shine the event will be held.

The public event is a fundraiser for the UM Advocates, a campus service organization. Previous sales at the semi-annual event have drawn nearly 100 sellers and thousands of shoppers.

Alumnus and acclaimed author James Grady will read from and sign his newest novel, “Mad Dogs,” from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, Oct. 13, at The Bookstore at UM.

Grady, author of the classic “Six Days of the Condor,” is donating profits from UM sales of “Mad Dogs” to the University. He earned a journalism degree from UM in 1972 and was a Distinguished Alumni Award winner last year.

“Mad Dogs” will be released in hardback this month by Forge Books. Books may be pre-ordered online and will be available for pickup during UM’s 2006 Homecoming, Oct. 13-15, or shipped the following week.