Bear Briefs

KUFM Kudos-UM's Broadcast Media Center and KUFM-TV Montana Public Television collected eight national awards for television programs in two awards competitions. Producer John Twiggs won two awards of excellence from the Videographer Awards for his productions "Growing Up in Japan," fea-turing a Missoula middle school's trip to Japan, and the continuing series "How the West Is Fun: Artists in the West," which featured Missoula middle school students interacting with Montana artists Beth Lo, Monte Dolack and Larry Pirnie. The "How the West Is Fun" series also claimed three Telly awards. In addition, UM television producers won awards for "Backroads of Montana: Pancakes and Polo" and for an informational video on the Montana Freedom of Information Hotline.

Outdoors Programs-Outer space, forensics and lasers are just a few of the areas kids can explore this summer during a host of programs offered by the Montana Natural History Center. The Summer Science Discovery Program and Nature Discovery Day Camps let children of all ages experience the fun and fascination of the natural world. The Montana Natural History Center has recruited experts from UM and the Missoula community to teach a variety of nature- and science-related topics. The Summer Science Discovery Program features more than a dozen weeklong, half-day sessions for students ages 8 to 15, depending on the class. Most classes cost $52 for MNHC members and $60 for nonmembers. Nature Discovery Day Camps are for children ages 7 to 11 and feature six weeklong sessions from July 5 through Aug. 13. The cost per week is $100 for members and $125 for nonmembers. For a catalog and registration form, call (406) 327-0405.

Panamanian Ties-The UM-based Montana World Trade Center has received a $6,000 grant to establish relations with trade and environmental officials in Panama. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency grant will be used to bring the Panamanian ministers of commerce and environment to Montana this summer. During the visit Panamanian officials will have opportunities to meet with Montana leaders and environmental companies. For more information, call MWTC's Phil McCreedy at (406) 243-6983.

Folk, Blues-Legendary folk singer Joan Baez will bring her distinctive acoustic sound to a Missoula audience this summer when she performs at the University Theatre Thursday, July 27. Special guest Chris Smither will kick off the Baez concert at 8 p.m. Two nights later, on Thursday, July 29, musical legend Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band will appear at the theater at 8 p.m. Tickets for both shows cost $21 in advance and may be purchased at all TIC-IT-E-Z locations or by calling (888) MONTANA or 243-4051 in Missoula.

Funding Boost-In support of groundbreaking research on a vaccine against HIV, the privately-funded American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) has awarded UM virologist Jack H. Nunberg a second grant for $142,000. With another recent grant of $192,000 from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the total research funding for Nunberg's lab has risen to more than $2 million for his novel approach to creating a way to protect people from AIDS. Nunberg's experimental vaccine involves capturing HIV protein in the midst of binding and fusion with cell-surface receptors. When genetically engineered mice were inoculated with this "fusion-competent" cell complex, they produced antibodies that were able to prevent HIV from infecting other cells in culture. This is the first vaccine to prove capable of inducing high levels of antibody activity against virtually all HIV subtypes in the world.

Busting Prejudice-Confronting and preventing prejudice against members of diverse groups will be the focus of upcoming workshops in Missoula this summer. The half-day and one-day prejudice reduction workshops are led by UM staffers trained by the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition Building Institute. The workshops will teach participants to challenge offensive comments without being confrontational and to act as constructive allies on behalf of other groups. Workshops will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 23, and from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Aug. 19. Registration for the July workshop is $30; the August workshop costs $10. Locations will be announced later. Call University Center Programming at (406) 243-5776 or (406) 243-5754.

Link Down Under-The University has finalized an accord with Australia's Charles Sturt University to support an exchange of students, faculty and staff. UM President George Dennison and CSU Pro Vice Chancellor Peter Hodgson signed an exchange agreement earlier this month. Students from Montana will study at CSU while paying their fees at UM and vice versa. CSU was named Australia's University of the Year in 1997 and is known for its outstanding programs in environmental studies, natural resource management and journalism. Each of its four campuses - located in the countryside a few hours from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra - provides all of the facilities and services of a larger city but without the traffic, pollution, high costs and other problems associated with a metropolitan area.

Undergrad Research-Ten undergraduate students in the Division of Biological Sciences have received funding for summer research projects. The students are all seniors, and they were funded through the Integrated Biological Science Courses Organized Around Research Experiences project (Project IBS-CORE), which is intended to involve more undergraduate students in biological research. Project IBS-CORE is funded by a prestigious $1.4 million grant that was awarded to UM last year by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a nonprofit medical research organization. The 1999 IBS-CORE Undergraduate Research Fellows are: Sandra Beirne of Walla Walla, Wash.; Vanessa Groves of Helena; Levia Jones of Ashland, Ore.; Maryann Hubbard, Suzanne Cox and Todd Osmundson of Missoula; Bethany Poulin of Hollis, N.H.; Davin Ringen of Yuba City, Calif.; Robert Scalise of Springfield, Va.; and Morgan Valiant of Bloomington, Ind.

High Marks-UM student athletes had one of the best academic seasons on record. Athletes scored well in the classroom spring semester, with more than 55 percent achieving grade-point averages of 3.0 or better. The average cumulative GPA for student athletes was 2.92, compared with 2.85 for the general student population. Forty-one student athletes made the Dean's List, and 12 earned a perfect 4.0. More than half the football team carried 3.0 GPAs or better.

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