TGIF Takes A Break
 

This is the last TGIF News of the year, as Finals Week concludes today and we join students on winter break.

UM offices will be closed on the following three Mondays: Dec. 25, Jan. 1 and Jan. 15. Optional Wintersession classes run Jan. 2-19 and regular spring semester classes begin Monday, Jan. 22.

TGIF will return Friday, Jan. 19, with your weekly update of UM news, events, information and sports.

May your holidays be warm, bright and safe. See you in 2007!

UM Events Calendar 

 Professor’s Book Makes Business Week’s Top 10
 

UM communications Professor Emeritus William Wilmot does not believe that innovation begins with a lone genius who comes up with a great idea.

He and Curtis Carlson, president and CEO of SRI International, believe that innovation is a collaborative process.

Their book outlining that process -- “Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want” -- has been chosen by Business Week reviewers as one of the top 10 business books of 2006.

The book was published in August by Crown Publishing Group.

SRI International is the company that pioneered the computer mouse, speech-recognition systems and many other successful innovations such as hypertext, robotic surgery and high-definition television.

Wilmot is director of the Collaboration Institute, which offers workshops that use the book’s five disciplines to help participants shape innovation plans to fit their needs.

“The success of any innovation requires tapping into the genius of teams,” Wilmot said, “and those teams must be interdisciplinary, with a shared vision, complementary skills and shared rewards.”

Information about the book and the workshops is available online.

Collaboration Institute 

 Administrator Works To Rebuild Afghanistan
 

UM’s assistant athletic director of fiscal operations has a lot of plans to make. But his planning sessions these days have nothing to do with scholarship distribution or budgetary concerns.

Maj. Ed Wingard must make decisions about how to rebuild the nation of Afghanistan.

Wingard, who has served in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard since February 2005, gave a short presentation to UM staff and administrators Dec. 4, during a 15-day leave to the States.

Wingard came to UM after working at Portland State University and was here little more than a year before shipping out.

He is part of Task Force Phoenix, an inter-service group that focuses on rebuilding and promoting education systems in the war-torn country.

“Girls can go to school now,” Wingard said. “Boys can learn on computers.”

In a country where the Taliban ruled with harsh oppression and where the average lifespan is still only 43 years, Wingard said international forces there are making a real and important difference.

Wingard’s stay in Missoula ended the day before the Griz met the University of Massachusetts in a semifinal football game, so he said he would be doing what any true Griz fan might do: praying his flight will be delayed.

 

 UM To Maintain Current Wintersession Format
 

Wintersession at UM is an intense, three-week academic period in which students can sneak in a course or two between fall and spring semesters.

UM President George Dennison had considered changing Wintersession to “intersession” -- moving it from January to late April and early May -- starting in the 2007-08 academic year. In past years, he said, winter sessions were not well attended and didn’t make fiscal sense. However, a recent jump in Wintersession enrollment caused him to rethink his position.

Last year 1,104 students enrolled in Wintersession, and this year 1,692 students already have enrolled, raising the full-time equivalents (FTEs) from 98 to 159 -- a 60 percent increase. Dennison said he had not seen these data when he made the proposal for change. Wintersession will run Jan. 2-19 in 2007.

“This 60 percent growth in one year is significant,” Dennison said, “and certainly appears to point in the right direction.” As a result, he decided to continue Wintersession for a few more years to determine if the growth will continue.

A new rule allowing students to count Wintersession courses as part of their spring semester total might account for part of the enrollment jump.

Wintersession 

 Public Health Association Honors Professor
 

UM psychology Professor Tom Seekins received the 2006 Alan Meyers Award from the Disability Forum of the American Public Health Association at the association’s annual meeting in Boston.

The award goes to individuals who combine excellence across the areas of research, teaching and advocacy to improve the health and quality of life for people with disabilities.

Seekins is director of the Research and Training Center on Rural Rehabilitation at UM’s Rural Institute.

In 1988, with colleagues at UM and at the University of Kansas, Seekins began work on an approach now called community-based participatory research. The approach involves people with disabilities and service providers in all phases of designing and conducting research.

Seekins and his colleagues first worked with groups to define health issues that were being confronted by people with disabilities. After analyzing the research data, they began to understand more effective ways to deliver health promotion information, especially to rural communities.

The research led to the Rural Institute’s successful and cost-effective Living Well with a Disability Program.

Rural Institute 

 UM Leads Technology Development Initiative
 

The UM Information Technology Office recently completed a project that will help educational institutions worldwide collaborate on the development of advanced Web technologies.

In June 2006, UM was commissioned by CampusEAI Consortium -- a global, nonprofit organization that focuses on helping educational institutions implement e-business solutions -- to lead a project creating the Community Development Center.

By facilitating the exchange of programming code, documentation and expertise, the center will allow technology professionals to build on the ideas and work of other member institutions.

“The Community Development Center is good for UM because we’ll be able to implement emerging technologies faster and cheaper than we could if we tried to build them on our own or had to buy from a vendor,” said Gordy Pace, UM Director of Web Technologies.

“This is why we joined CampusEAI -- to be part of a community of great institutions openly sharing knowledge and building on one another’s work and innovative ideas.”

CampusEAI Consortium 

 Students Work For Diabetes Prevention
 

Three Fort Peck Community College students are working to mentor and educate their community about steps that can be taken to prevent and manage diabetes.

The FPCC freshmen -- Jake Riediger, Connor Gourneau and Scott Smoker -- are members of the Campus Corps of the Montana Campus Compact, a UM-based program that works to prepare active citizen leaders for Montana.

The students develop and distribute educational materials, participate as advocates and act as health and exercise advisers. Their work is accomplished in conjunction with the FPCC-Poplar Wellness Center, the Spotted Bull Treatment Center in Poplar and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Transitional Living Unit.

The diabetes prevention effort at the wellness center is focused primarily on mentoring youth and healthy lifestyle education.

“Young boys on the reservation look up to them and see them as role models,” said Judy Linthicum of FPCC Community Services.

Montana Campus Compact is a coalition of state college and university presidents, chancellors and deans committed to the civic purposes of higher education. MTCC programs benefit Montanans by creating and supporting community service projects, service-learning activities and campus-community partnerships.

Montana Campus Compact 

 Apply For 2007 Americorps Vista Projects
 

The Montana Campus Compact is now accepting applications for the January 2007 term of service in the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America program.

The program offers recent college graduates and others who are seeking fulfilling work the opportunity to serve for one year in communities throughout Montana.

Volunteers receive a modest living stipend, health insurance and the option of receiving an education award or cash stipend at the end of a term of service.

VISTA members work with state campuses and communities to engage citizens and to increase volunteer opportunities and resources to assist low-income populations. Their efforts address critical needs in the areas of school performance, housing, hunger and disaster preparedness.

Positions are available in Whitefish, Missoula, Great Falls, Lewistown, Livingston, Kalispell, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Havre, Glendive, Miles City, Boulder, Browning and Polson.

Apply online at AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps 

 Grizzlies Miss Train To Chattanooga
 

The second-ranked Montana Grizzlies lost 19-17 Friday to the University of Massachusetts, which advances tonight to the Division I Subdivision National Championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Grizzlies ended their season with a 12-2 overall record during a night game in UM’s Washington- Grizzly Stadium, while the Minutemen improved to 13-1 overall.

The Montana offense struggled, recording 250 yards of total offense next to the 460 yards racked up by the Minutemen. The Grizzlies had 167 yards through the air and only 83 yards on the ground. UMass had a balanced attack, with 226 yards rushing and 234 yards passing.

Montana Grizzlies 

 Griz B-Ball Team Wins Three At Home
 

The Montana Grizzlies basketball team won 72-65 over the UC Riverside Highlanders last Saturday at UM’s Dahlberg Arena.

Sophomore forward Jordan Hasquet led the Grizzlies with a team-high 18 points, four rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Andrew Strait chipped in with 17 points and five rebounds.

Sunday, host UM won 87-47 against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Hasquet again led the Griz with 17 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

The Grizzlies next defeated the Montana Tech Orediggers 92-63 Wednesday in a nonconference game. Montana was led by senior forward Matt Dlouhy, who netted a career-high 26 points shooting 10 of 17, including a career-best six of eight from three-point range. Junior forward Andrew Strait added 24 points.

The win improved Montana’s record to 6-5. The Grizzlies return to action Tuesday Dec. 19, on the road at Oral Roberts. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. MST.

Montana Grizzlies 

 Morales Hot At WSU And Idaho
 

Montana sophomore Mandy Morales had a career-high 33 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead the Lady Griz to a 71-60 victory last Friday night at Washington State.

Morales went 6 for 12 from 3-point range -- 5 for 8 in the second half -- and added five assists, four rebounds and three steals. The next evening, Morales scored 28 points to lead the Lady Griz to an 85-66 victory over Idaho in Moscow.

The win was the fifth straight for Montana, which improved to 8-1. On the streak, Morales is averaging 28.2 points, 5.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 49.4 percent from the field, 54.8 percent from 3-point range and 89.5 percent from the line.

After a break for final exams, the Lady Griz wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule with a two-game trip to California, playing Sunday, Dec. 17, at Cal State Northridge and Wednesday, Dec. 20, at Santa Clara.

Montana Grizzlies