After last Saturday's win over the New Hampshire Wildcats, the seventh-ranked Montana Grizzlies football team needs one more win to make it to the Dec. 17 NCAA Division I-AA championship game. They'll play the ninth-ranked Sam Houston State Bearkats for the honor this Saturday, Dec. 11, in UM's Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The semi-final game kickoff is 12:02 p.m.

The game again will be televised nationwide on ESPN2. UM football games have been broadcast on ESPN only five times before -- once for each championship game played in 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001, as well as last weekend's quarterfinal playoff game. This will make the sixth.

The Montana Grizzlies and their fans have gotten a flurry of awestruck press lately. The New Hampshire Union Leader described last week's Wildcats' loss as taking place "in what must be the best darned I-AA football house in all the land. Hey, where else do they not only shoot off cannons to celebrate touchdowns and field goals -- they go through some serious gunpowder with this team -- but also fire a shot as a five-minute warning as halftime ends to warn tailgaters to come back in for the second half? And where else do they keep enlarging their stadium, and keep putting avid folks in the seats, to the point that 20,919 gregarious Griz fans packed the place Saturday night?"

The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph said: "You knew something was different when five parachutists landed, one after another, near midfield to usher in yet another NCAA Division I-AA playoff game at the University of Montana. You knew this was a surreal climate when three choppers buzzed overhead, a cannon fired a booming shot and a mascot named Monte the Grizzly entered the field in a 1950s sedan and then danced to deafening cheers. This is what the University of New Hampshire faced Saturday in the NCAA quarterfinals. Atmosphere, tradition and noise that rocked your chest cavity like rarely before. And, oh yeah, there was Montana, a pretty good football team."

Temples and pagodas are only part of the eastern culture UM students will see in the class Experiencing Southeast Asia. The course includes a mandatory spring seminar session followed by the summer travel session, tentatively set for June 11 to July 2, 2005.

Participants in the academic, travel and service course will work at a school for homeless children, visit a nature preserve, work with children with disabilities and visit Luang Prabang, Laos -- a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The four-credit course is offered by UM's Office for Civic Engagement. It costs $2,350, which includes airfare from Missoula, travel within the countries overseas, food and lodging. A $200 deposit is required. Interested students can pick up an application at the Office for Civic Engagement in Social Science Building Room 126.

For more information, call (406) 243-5128.

The sixth annual Great UM Christmas Cookie Cook-Off will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, in the Lommasson Center's Food Zoo. This year's theme is "A Global Christmas."

UM students, employees and their families are invited to join University Dining Services in spreading holiday cheer by baking Christmas cookies, half of which will be donated to local nonprofit organizations such as youth homes, senior homes and shelters. The other half can be taken home.

Sysco Foodservice of Montana is donating cookie dough and decorations, while UDS is supplying facilities and personnel. The event also will feature face-painting stations, beverages, music, a children's table and, of course, a visit from Santa.

Last year's Christmas Cookie Cook-Off yielded about 563 dozen cookies, half of which were shared with local charities.

The student-led Footbridge Forum, a one-hour discussion held once a month on University radio station 89.9 KBGA, recently concluded a semester-long discussion on alcohol abuse and underage drinking.

With the theme "Cocktail Culture," the program brought together students and community members to discuss the problem and possible solutions. Six panelists -- three UM students, a Big Sky High School student, a UM career counselor and mother of two teen girls, and a local bartender -- shared their opinions on the radio show. The show also aired listeners' input via live phone calls and e-mails read on the air.

The Footbridge Forum, which debuted in fall 2003, is produced by Angela Marshall, a senior in broadcast journalism, and Beth Saboe, a senior in broadcast journalism and political science. Denise Dowling, assistant professor in the Department of Radio/Television, is the adviser.

The next season of Footbridge Forum begins Monday, Feb. 28. Applications for student and community participants are taken every semester. To get involved, visit the KBGA Web site and click the Footbridge Forum link or e-mail footbridgeforum@kbga.org.

UM alumni and friends are invited to nominate individuals for the Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Awards, which will be presented at Homecoming 2005.

Nominees should be UM graduates and former students who have distinguished themselves in a particular field and brought honor to the University, the state or the nation. The focus of the award is career achievement and/or service to UM.

Nomination forms may be downloaded from the Alumni Association's Web site or picked up at its office in Brantly Hall. Forms and accompanying letters of support are due April 1.

The next deadline for Montana Committee for the Humanities grant requests of more than $3,000 has been moved from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20, 2005.

Nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply. The UM-based MCH will convene its winter board meeting in Helena on Feb. 18, 2005. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the biennial awarding of the Governor's Humanities Awards.

For information and application materials, visit the MCH Web site or e-mail humanities.mt@umontana.edu. MCH is an independent nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Personalized UM Bricks are the perfect gift for the Griz who has everything.

This holiday season, have his or her name engraved on a brick in Centennial Circle, which surrounds Rudy Autio's landmark grizzly bear statue on the western edge of the Oval.

Centennial Circle was established in 1993, when UM celebrated its 100th birthday. Paved with red bricks, the circle's classic Main Hall and Mount Sentinel backdrop remains a favorite place for picture-taking.

Centennial Circle Bricks cost $150 each and may be engraved with the names of students, alumni, family members, friends, teachers and anyone else who merits special recognition. Brief messages also are an option. Bricks may be engraved with up to three lines of 14 characters per line.

Proceeds from brick sales go toward special UM projects and marketing.

Senior forward Kamarr Davis scored a game-high 20 points and freshman forward Andrew Strait added a career-best 16 points as the Montana Grizzlies defeated the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds 69-57 Thursday in the UM Adams Center's Dahlberg Arena.

Saturday night wasn't as good for the Griz, as Doron Perkins took the ball from Matt Dlouhy and drove the length of the floor for a layup with 2.7 seconds to play to lift Santa Clara to a 77-75 non-conference win over Montana. Kevin Criswell, whose running three-point attempt at the buzzer banked out, led the Griz (2-3) with 17 points. Matt Dlouhy added 15, Matt Martin had 13 and Kamarr Davis chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Montana embarks on a two-game road trip this week, facing Southeast Missouri last night and Missouri Saturday.

The Lady Griz got a career-high 22 points from junior Katie Edwards, 18 coming on a career-best six three-pointers, and a career-high 14 assists from senior Lynsey Monaco, holding off a late rally to defeat the University of Portland 75-68 last Sunday at UM.

Senior Hollie Tyler added 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Lady Griz, who improved to 4-1 with the win.

The Lady Griz played at Idaho Wednesday, then returned home to face Gonzaga today.