University Highlights

Updated Dec. 21, 2010

UM

Facts

Location: Missoula, Montana

Founded: 1893

Affiliation: Public unit of the Montana University System

Classification: Coeducational, doctoral university

Academic calendar: Fall and spring semesters with a three-week winter session in January and two five-week summer sessions.

Accreditation: Regionally accredited by Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. Professional schools and departments are approved by specialized accrediting organizations.

Degrees offered: Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, first-professional and doctoral degrees, and technical certificates.

Campus: 156 acres at the base of Mount Sentinel and next to the Clark Fork River; includes 64 buildings and a 23,500-seat football stadium. UM's 180-acre South Campus offers housing, a golf course and soccer, softball and track fields. The College of Technology occupies two sites in central and west Missoula.

Housing: Nine residence halls; three apartment complexes for students with dependents; and one apartment complex for single junior, senior and graduate students.

Campus organizations: One-hundred and fifty clubs dedicated to academics, volunteer service, diversity, recreation, Greek life, politics, religion and many other interests.

Varsity sports: Men — football, basketball, indoor and outdoor track, cross-country and tennis. Women — volleyball, basketball, indoor and outdoor track, cross-country, tennis, golf and soccer.

Club and intramural sports: Eighteen club sports and more than 30 intramural sports.

Athletic conference: Big Sky Conference, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

Football wins against MSU-Bozeman: 69

Football losses against MSU-Bozeman: 36

Marks of Distinction

• Three faculty members have received the coveted Guggenheim Fellowship Awards worth more than $30,000. Wildlife biology Professor L. Scott Mills was named a fellow in 2009. In the Department of English, Judy Blunt received the award in 2006 and Debra Magpie Earling earned the distinction in 2007.
• UM senior Hilary Martens was named one of Glamour magazine's "Top 10 College Women." (June 2007)
• For the first time, a UM student was awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship, worth up to $50,000 per year. The prestigious award went to Dawson Dunning, a 2005 wildlife biology graduate from Otter. (July 2006)
• UM radio-television students swept first-place awards at the Region 10 convention of the Society of Professional Journalists, placing first in every broadcast category in which awards were given for the society's Mark of Excellence Competition. (April 2006)
• A UM photojournalism student, Mike Greener, won first place and $2,000 in the picture story/series category of the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program. (April 2006)
• Two UM students, Hilary Martens and Elizabeth Morton, won Goldwater Scholarships, worth up to $7,500 per year. (April 2006)
• UM has produced 11 Truman Scholars, 14 Goldwater Scholars and 31 Udall Scholars. (2007)
• UM has produced more Udall Scholars (28) than any other school in the nation since the award's inception in 1996. The 2006 scholarship winners are Kelly Hopping and Michael O'Brien.
• Four UM students were among 24 in the nation named 2005-06 Doris Duke Conservation Fellows. (February 2006)
• UM's College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences is ranked fourth nationally out of 92 schools and colleges of pharmacy in biomedical research funding. (2006)
• UM’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library houses the earliest authorized edition of the Lewis and Clark journals.
• UM’s grizzly mascot, Monte, was named 2004 (and 2002) Capital One National Mascot of the Year.
• Marketing Professor Jakki Mohr was named the 2005 Montana Professor of the Year. The award is presented by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in conjunction with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Mohr is the sixth UM professor in a row to earn the statewide recognition, joining History Professor Harry Fritz, 2004; retired English Professor Gerry Brenner, 2003; retired music Professor Esther England, 2002; economics Professor John Photiades, 2001; and history Professor Mehrdad Kia, 2000.
• For the seventh consecutive year, UM's School of Journalism placed in the top 10 of the 2004 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. (2005)
• Fourteen student reporters and photographers participating in UM's Native News Honors Project won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. The prestigious award, which recognizes outstanding reporting on the disadvantaged, is often called the "poor people's Pulitzer." (2005)
• UM Radio-Television students swept the television categories in the Region 10 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards. With 19 awards, the students took first place in nine of 45 categories. (2005)
• The University's Epsilon Mu chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha earned a Best Chapter Award for 2004-05 from the National Political Science Honor Society. (2005)
• UM President George Dennison has served longer than any other president in the University's history, surpassing the previous record of 13 years and eight months in April 2004.
• UM's Ethics Bowl Team reached the "final four" of the 10th annual Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. (2004)
• Touting top mascot Monte garnered UM the "Best of Show" in the national Admissions Marketing Report competition. (2004)
• UM's Reserve Officer Training Corps was ranked ninth out of 271 ROTC programs in the nation. (2004)
• With 41 alumni volunteers serving in the Peace Corps, UM is No. 10 on the organization's list of "Top Producing Colleges and Universities." The ranking, earned three years in a row, puts UM ahead of other medium-sized institutions such as Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard. (2005)
• UM ranks 17th in the nation and fifth among public universities in producing Rhodes Scholars (see list, right).
• The Grizzly football team won the Division I-AA National Championship in 1995 and 2001 and was national championship runner-up in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
• Seventy-eight percent of all UM pre-med students are admitted to various medical schools. The national average acceptance rate is 40 percent.
• UM journalism graduates have won eight Pulitzer Prizes.
• On May 21, 2003, UM student Jess Roskelley became the youngest American to summit Mount Everest.
• In June 2003, UM journalism student Danielle Cross placed first in the radio news competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, known as the “College Pulitzers.”
• The School of Law’s moot court team won the 2000 national championship.
• UM’s institutional theme, “The Discovery Continues,” earned the Virginia Carter Smith Grand Crystal award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District VIII. (2001)
• UM’s Griz Gear line of clothing earned the 2001 Synergy Award from the National Collegiate Licensing Association.
• UM’s graduate program in creative writing tied for 10th place in U.S. News and World Report’s list of America’s best graduate programs.
• President George W. Bush’s first two nominees for U.S. District Court judgeships were UM law alumni Richard Cebull of Great Falls and Sam Haddon of Missoula, sworn in in 2001.
• UM political science Professor Peter Koehn was one of 12 nationwide named a Fulbright New Century Scholar in 2001.
• The School of Business Administration had the highest first-time pass rate in the nation in the 2000 Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination.
• UM biologist Doug Emlen received a 2001 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, one of the highest honors bestowed by the U.S. government.
• “A University Stands,” a UM promotional video remembering the Sept. 11 attacks, earned a Gold Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. (2002)
• UM’s athletic program was named No. 75 among the top 200 Division I programs. (2002)

Missoula

Facts

Location: A western Montana valley surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.

Latitude: 46’55’’ N

Longitude: 114’05’’ W

Population (2000 U.S. Census):
Missoula city — 57,053
Missoula County — 95,802
Montana state — 902,195

Montana population per square mile: 6.2

Missoula county population per square mile: 33.5

Founded: 1860 as the Hellgate Trading Post

Fort Missoula built: 1877

Distance above sea level: 3,210 feet

Peak of Mount Sentinel: 5,158 feet

Average high temperature in September: 70.9 F

Average annual snowfall: 54.8 inches

Sunny days per year: 74.7

Sister cities: Neckargemuend, Germany, and Palmerston North, New Zealand. (Montana also has sister-state relationships with Kumamoto, Japan; Taiwan, China; and Guangxi, China.)

Nearby attractions: Rattlesnake Wilderness, five minutes; Snowbowl Ski Area, seven miles; Glacier National Park, 139 miles; Yellowstone National Park, 269 miles. There are 3.1 million acres of wilderness within a 100-mile radius of campus.

Length of average commute: 17.5 minutes

Media Recognition

• Missoula is "one of the of the best mountain towns in the nation," according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. (August 2007)
• Country Home magazine called Missoula one of the "Top 25 Best Places to Live" and one of the "Top 10 Best Green Small Cities." (April 2007)
• Forbes magazine called Missoula one of the "Best Small Places for Business." (May 2006)
• The Washington Post wrote: "Missoula, home of the University of Montana, is the state's second-largest city, a mountain-ringed hub of collegiate culture -- and, as it turns out, an oasis in a coffee addict's desert. ... Tiny Missoula teems with proudly independent java joints, all of them at least very good, some serving locally roasted coffee." (Sept. 4, 2005)
• Missoula is the sixth-best city in the country, according to Men's Journal. The magazine's "50 Best Places to Live" rankings also kept Missoula in first place for cities with populations under 100,000. Missoula ranks in fourth place among best adventure towns. The article said Missoula's "proximity to top-shelf trout fishing, mountain biking, hiking, and skiing, along with relatively mild winters, draws an eclectic mix of students, ranchers, and literati." (April 2005)
• Men's Journal ranked Missoula the No. 1 small town in the nation in its article, "The 50 Best Places to Live." The article said, "Missoula sits on a glacial lake bed at the intersection of five valleys and four rivers -- two of which, the Bitterroot and the Clark Fork, slice right through town (giving Norman Maclean his title 'A River Runs Through It'). During summer there's blue-ribbon trout fishing in every direction, and mountain bikers rule the old logging roads and ski runs above town. During winter, which is generally milder than in the rest of the region, Montana Snowbowl boasts the state's best tree skiing." The article also quotes local author James Lee Burke: "Missoula ruins so many careers. People visit, and then throw everything away just so they can stay." (June 2004)
• "Crowd pressure, generally, just doesn't exist in Montana," wrote Sports Illustrated in an article about golfing. "If you like golf -- and no waiting at the first tee -- Big Sky Country is for you." (May 2004)
• "Montana's nice scenery and the local university go a long way in a small place," said Inc. magazine when it ranked Missoula No. 2 among small cities in its article "Top 25 Places for Doing Business in America." (March 2004)
• "Looking for a small town with sophistication? [Missoula] is the place to move if you want both big-city amenities and out-and-out wilderness," said an MSN article titled "Best Places for Outdoor Activities." The article continued, "You'll find city attractions such as restaurants, shops, galleries, museums, theater, and a symphony. But take just a step out of town and you'll be surrounded by millions of acres of national forest, wilderness, and recreation areas, where you can go hiking, camping, fishing, biking, white-water rafting, and skiing." (2004)
• In an article titled "Missoula: Home of High-Country Culture," SkyWest magazine said, "Isolated, surrounded on every side by difficult terrain, [Missoula] is nonetheless, urbane, artistic, hip. ... Perhaps its greatest assets are a legacy of quiet accomplishment and citizens positively smitten with their town. Good things tend to happen here." (Fall 2003)
• SKI magazine touted Missoula as a "safe, friendly town with little crime and tremendous open spaces." The article also said, "A rough exterior belies a surprisingly intellectual town with great skiing. Just don't tell anyone." (2004)
• Outside Magazine placed Missoula No. 15 on its list of the “40 Best College Towns.” The article said, “John Updike once called Missoula the Paris of the nineties, because of the city’s legendary population of writers, but Paris lacks three world-renowned trout rivers and proximity to Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.” (2003)
• Forbes magazine called Missoula the No. 11 small place for business and careers. (May 2003)
• Ranked No. 1 in the state by the ePodunk Historic Small Towns index. (2001)
• Ranked No. 5 among small cities nationally in the ePodunk College Towns index. (2001)
• Named “Best Community in the West” by Sunset magazine. (1999)
• Named No. 11 best place by Utne Reader. (1997)