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Think Grizzly, It's Friday | Feb. 27, 2009 | Volume 15, Number 6

In This Issue:

2009 Humanities Award Winners Announced
UM Commercials Deemed Worthy Of Gold
UM Sets Spring Enrollment Record
Insurer Gives $125,000 For Endowed Chair
Alternative Spring Break Trips Available
Scholarship Opportunity Available
Free Lectures Explore Ethical Traditions
Library Offers Research Workshop Series
Event To Benefit Guatemalan Co-op
Exhibit Highlights Women's Health Issues
Griz Fall to Wildcats, Beat Bengals
Lady Griz Rule On The Road

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Griz Greetings!

Welcome to TGIF News. This e-mail newsletter is provided weekly, except during the summer and scheduled academic breaks, to subscribers who include students, alumni, employees and friends of The University of Montana.

NOTE: If you have problems seeing all of TGIF using Outlook, visit UM IT instructions to fix truncated e-mail messages.

2009 Humanities Award Winners Announced

UM President George Dennison and philosophy Professor Emeritus Fred McGlynn are among the 2009 Montana Governor's Humanities Award winners announced last week.

The five recipients of the 2009 award are:

George Dennison of Missoula
Brian Kahn of Helena
Fred McGlynn of Missoula
Ricky Newby of Helena
Corby Skinner of Billings

Established by Gov. Marc Racicot in 1995 and presented by Humanities Montana, the awards honor achievement in humanities scholarship and service, as well as enhancement of public understanding and appreciation of the humanities.

The 2009 recipients will be honored during a ceremony and reception with Gov. Brian Schweitzer at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the Capitol Rotunda in Helena.

A banquet will follow the ceremony and reception, with no-host cocktails at 6 p.m. and a dinner and program at 7 p.m. at the Great Northern Hotel in Helena. For reservations or more information, call Clair Leonard at 406-243-6022 or e-mail clair.leonard@humanitiesmontana.org.

Read the Full News Release

UM Commercials Deemed Worthy Of Gold

New video advertisements promoting UM sports and campus lifestyle have taken top honors in recent national and regional competitions.

A video that helps rev up more than 25,000 Griz fans before their football team hits the field in Washington-Grizzly Stadium struck gold in two 2008 awards competitions. Known to many as the "football tunnel run" and to others as "Griz Nation," the three-minute video is about the Montana Grizzlies prepping for games and is shown on the scoreboard's jumbo screen before kickoff.

The football video won a Gold award from the regional Council for Advancement and Support of Education's District VIII competition and a Gold award from the national Admissions Marketing Awards Competition. Two other videos, one promoting Lady Griz basketball and another commercial about life in Missoula and at UM, both won Bronze awards from CASE District VIII.

In addition, the University's recruiting materials and institutional publications won awards in both competitions.

Read the Full News Release

UM Sets Spring Enrollment Record

The numbers are in, and UM has a new record for spring semester enrollment. The latest high mark is 13,825, which is 469 more than a year ago.

The University also set a spring semester record for full-time equivalents -- 12,006.80 -- which is 491.98 better than spring semester 2008. (An FTE represents 15 undergraduate and 12 graduate semester credits.)

Montana resident FTEs jumped 556.17 between spring semester 2008 and spring 2009. Nonresident FTEs climbed 47.75, and distance-learning FTEs increased by 55.

Nearly half of the spring semester enrollment increase was generated by UM's College of Technology, which has 227 more students than spring 2008. UM's main Missoula campus has 242 more students taking classes than a year ago.

Insurer Gives $125,000 For Endowed Chair

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana has pledged $125,000 to the UM Foundation toward an endowed chair in cardiovascular sciences at the University. The gift brings UM closer to the goal of $2.5 million to secure the endowed position.

The endowed chair holder will be a physician or combined M.D./Ph.D. and will serve as a Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences professor at UM's Skaggs School of Pharmacy.

For more information or to learn more about supporting UM's endowed chair in cardiovascular sciences, call Mark Schleicher, UM Foundation's director of development for the College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, at 406-243-4222.

Alternative Spring Break Trips Available

Each spring, the UM Office for Civic Engagement offers an Alternative Break program to encourage students to learn about social, economic or environmental issues faced by communities around the nation.

This year three trips are available that offer a great way to see different parts of the country while performing meaningful service. A one-credit seminar option related to the trips also is available.

During a trip to Moab, Utah, students will help with plateau restoration. Students also can choose to travel to Portland, Ore., to work with hunger and homelessness issues or head to Lame Deer to work with American Indian youth.

Students must apply by Monday, March 2. For more information, call John Parente at 406-243-5531, e-mail john.parente@umontana.edu or stop by OCE in Davidson Honors College Room 015.

Scholarship Opportunity Available

The UM Alumni Association is seeking applications for the Alumni Association Scholarship.

The honor is available to students who have a parent or grandparent who attended UM. Applicants must have attained junior status prior to the beginning of fall semester 2009 and be a full-time student during fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters. Graduate students who received a baccalaureate degree from UM also are eligible.

Completed applications are due to the Office of Alumni Relations by 5 p.m. Fri, March 6. The application form can be downloaded at the Alumni Association Web site.

For more information about the scholarship, call Samantha Kemp at 406-243-4754 or e-mail samantha.kemp@umontana.edu.

Alumni Association

Free Lectures Explore Ethical Traditions

The UM Center for Ethics will present a series of four lectures -- "The Relevance of Ethical Traditions" -- during March and April.

All lectures, which are free and open to the public, will take place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in the Alumni Board Room, located on the third floor of the University Center.

The first lecture -- "Pleasure: Lessons from Aristotle" by UM philosophy Assistant Professor Matthew Strohl -- will take place Monday, March 9.

For a complete lecture series schedule, visit the Center for Ethics Web site.

Center for Ethics

Library Offers Research Workshop Series

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library will offer a Research Workshop Series during March and April for UM faculty members and graduate students to learn about new tools and resources available.

The workshops will address how to keep current and manage research through use of RefWorks, Table of Contents alerts and other tools and resources. The library also will offer a copyright workshop for authors.

Workshop dates, times and information about presenters are on the library's blog. RSVPs are appreciated, but drop-ins will be accepted. To RSVP or for more information, call Kate Zoellner at 243-4421 or e-mail kate.zoellner@umontana.edu.

Event To Benefit Guatemalan Co-op

UM students will host a photography exhibit and raffle from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 6, at Dauphine's Bakery and Café in Missoula to raise money to establish a women's weaving co-op in northern Guatemala.

The event is free and open to the public and will feature live music. Students will raffle off Guatemalan handicrafts, and their photography will be on sale for $30 to $50.

Students decided to hold the event to benefit the Ixil Mayans of Guatemala after traveling to the area for a two-week seminar about social justice and environmental sustainability. In 2008 the indigenous community of Nebaj in the Ixil region hosted 21 UM students in the seminar, led annually by UM Professor Dan Spencer.

The Guatemalan military devastated the Ixil region during the country's 36-year civil war, and the weaving cooperative is part of an effort to rebuild a sustainable economy in the region.

Dauphine's is located at 130 E. Broadway in downtown Missoula. For more information about the event, call Greg Gordon at 406-396-4940 or e-mail fightingbull63@yahoo.com.

Exhibit Highlights Women's Health Issues

A multimedia exhibit to raise awareness of health issues for Montana women with disabilities, especially in the area of breast cancer awareness and screening, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 6, in Missoula.

"Every Woman Matters: Portraits of Montana Women Living with Disabilities" will take place at Begleiter Photography Studio, located at 223 W. Front St.

The event launches the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Right to Know" campaign in Montana. The campaign is designed to increase awareness of the importance of breast cancer screening among women with physical disabilities.

The exhibit features black-and-white portraits of Montana women -- some of them breast cancer survivors, all of them role models and advocates. The portraits, taken by internationally acclaimed portrait photographer Steven Begleiter, are augmented by a multimedia video project produced by UM journalism students and UM Assistant Professor Jeremy Lurgio.

The event's premiere in Missoula kicks off a traveling exhibit, which will next stop in Helena in May to coincide with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. "Every Woman Matters" then will travel to communities across the state and will be available for health conferences and other professional events.

For more information, call Meg Ann Traci, project director of the Montana Disability and Health Program, at 406-243-4956 or e-mail matraci@ruralinstitute.umt.edu.

Griz Fall to Wildcats, Beat Bengals

The Weber State Wildcats defeated the Grizzlies 69-58 Thursday, Feb. 19, in a key Big Sky Conference game in front of the biggest crowd (5,558) in UM's Dahlberg Arena this season.

Griz junior guard Anthony Johnson was Montana's only double-figure scorer with 17 points. With the victory, WSU clinched the Big Sky's regular-season championship and registered its ninth win in a row.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, Johnson scored a game-high 26 points to lead Montana to a 79-64 victory over the Idaho State Bengals in Dahlberg Arena.

Johnson, who now has scored 20 or more points in 10 Big Sky games this season, was 7-of-10 from the field, made all 12 of his free-throw attempts, dished out six assists and scored 20 of his points in the second half.

Griz junior guard Ryan Staudacher scored 12 points. Senior Kyle Sharp added 11 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Visit the Montana Grizzlies Web site for information about the Thursday, Feb. 26, game against Northern Colorado. A win against UNC would give the Grizzlies a second-place finish in the Big Sky and an automatic bye into the conference's post-season tournament semifinals.

Montana Grizzlies

Lady Griz Rule On The Road

Senior Sonya Rogers scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Montana women's basketball team to a 75-51 victory over Weber State in Ogden, Utah, on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Rogers hit three 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes to jump-start the Lady Griz to an early 11-point lead. During the final 31 minutes of the game, Montana led by double figures. Montana shot 50 percent from 3-point range while forcing 24 WSU turnovers. Senior Mandy Morales scored 13 points and matched a season high with eight assists.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, Rogers hit a career-high six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Lady Griz to a 73-39 victory over Idaho State at Pocatello, Idaho.

Rogers led Montana in scoring for the second straight game. Montana, which saw scoring from nine different players, had one other double-figure scorer; Lauren Beck went 5-for-7 from the field for 10 points.

Visit the Montana Grizzlies Web site for a complete report on the Thursday, Feb. 26, game against Northern Colorado.

Montana Grizzlies

Jennifer Sauer, TGIF editor

The University of Montana

e-mail: jennifer.sauer@umontana.edu

phone: 406-243-4878

web: http://www.umt.edu