Bear Briefs

President’s Office Art—Two paintings by influential modernist British artists are now available for public viewing at UM. “E.O.W. on her Blue Eiderdown” by Frank Auerbach and “White Relief” by Ben Nicholson are on view in the Main Hall President’s Office lobby, open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The paintings are on loan to the Montana Museum of Art & Culture from a private collection. Auerbach helped spearhead a renaissance in British figurative art. Nicholson (1894-1982) was one of the most important and controversial British modern artists. For more information, call 406-243-2019 or visit http://www.umt.edu/montanamuseum.

Grizzly Guy—Chris Servheen, a UM wildlife biologist and mammalogist, has been honored for his 30 years of significant work in grizzly bear conservation with the 2008 George B. Rabb Conservation Award. Servheen, who serves as the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, was chosen for the award by the Chicago Zoological Society. Servheen studies the negative impact that building developments have on grizzly populations and works to reverse that impact. He leads research projects that use unobtrusive Global Positioning System collars. When placed on grizzly bears in the wild, these collars yield a wealth of information about how the animals change their movements and habits in response to human activity. The Rabb award honors the animal welfare and worldwide conservation leadership of George Rabb, president emeritus of the Chicago Zoological Society.

Courses for Veterans—UM’s College of Technology has started offering free college prep courses for qualified veterans. The classes are meeting in the evenings twice per week until May 6. Course offerings include basic computer skills, writing and math. Classes are offered at COT through the Montana Veterans Upward Bound program. For more information or to enroll in one or more classes, call 877-356-VETS or visit http://www.vubmt.com.

Airwave Excellence—Two UM radio-TV students have earned honors in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Natalie Neumann, a junior from Sidney, and Dan Boyce, a junior from Lewistown, won accolades in the radio features competition. Neumann placed eighth with her stories and won $500. Her work focused on a graffiti artist, a cartographer whose work has been impacted by climate change and the Run for Respect, which was part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Boyce placed 14th in the competition with his stories on a homeless man, UM’s Foresters’ Ball and the new Native American studies center on campus. Both students’ work aired on Montana Public Radio and KBGA College Radio. The Hearst Journalism Awards are known as the “college Pulitzers.” They recognize, reward and inspire exceptional college journalists and the faculty and programs that contribute to their success.

Helping the World—New figures show UM retained its top 25 ranking for producing Peace Corps volunteers. UM is No. 17 on the 2008 list that ranks medium-size colleges and universities with enrollments between 5,001 and 15,000. UM now has 23 alumni serving in the Peace Corps. This year’s ranking places UM ahead of Brown and Yale universities. The University of Virginia topped the list with 72 volunteers. The Peace Corps was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, and more than 190,000 Americans have served in the organization since then. Volunteers have been invited by 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology.

Limited Campus Cruising—With construction of an expansion to Washington-Grizzly Stadium in full swing, students and visitors to campus are reminded that a portion of Campus Drive is closed to through traffic. Parking also will be in short supply this semester, so people are encouraged to use Missoula’s Mountain Line buses, which are free with a Griz Card, or convenient Park-N-Ride locations provided by the University. Park-N-Ride services are free and open to the public. Schedules are online at http://www.umt.edu/asum/ot. For Mountain Line bus schedules and routes, visit http://www.mountainline.com.

Connecting Campuses—A new 21-foot Champion bus now serves UM students traveling from the main campus to the UM College of Technology. The bus is equipped with a lift and is the first of a series of three new buses that will be arriving at UM. The new buses are a result of Associated Students of UM negotiations with University administrators for improved transportation options for the campus community. UM students overwhelmingly passed a fee increase for the ASUM Office of Transportation to purchase the new buses, and UM administrators facilitated a loan process so that purchase of the new buses could begin. Bus service between campus and COT runs every 20 minutes. The first semester that this service ran, it carried 20,827 riders. Complete information about student and public transportation options for getting to and from UM and COT are online at http://www.umt.edu/asum/ot.

Projects That Protect—The UM Wilderness Institute is now accepting proposals for grants that support historical research, creative writing and wilderness studies projects that explore Montana’s land and people. The grants range from $400 to $1,000 and are awarded through the University’s Matthew Hansen Endowment, which was established in 1984 as a memorial to Hansen and his ideals. The proposal deadline is March 1, and awards will be announced in April. Projects should encourage mindful stewardship of the land and contribute to the preservation of Montana’s heritage. For more information call 406-243-5361, e-mail wi@cfc.umt.edu or go online to http://www.cfc.umt.edu/wi.

International Addition—The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes understanding and cooperation in U.S.-Asia relations, has invited Mary Byron, a managing director of Goldman Sachs in Japan, to join the foundation’s board of directors. Byron heads Sachs’ Technology Division and also is responsible for the Asia regional Technology Division. The foundation has offices in Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and UM’s Missoula campus.