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April 27, 2009 | Vol. 37, No. 31

In this issue:

Reception Set To Honor UM's Top Performers
Chief Justice of Canada To Present Lecture
USGS Grant Goes To UM Researchers
'Walk N Roll' Days This Week
Panel To Discuss 'Saving Creation'
Attention Dreamweaver, Contribute Users
Staff Senate Meeting Schedule
Faculty Senate Meeting Schedule
President Dennison's Office Hours
Faculty/Staff Socials
News About U
Publications

Campus Links

Recent UM Publications

Welcome to ForUM, the e-newsletter for University of Montana staff, faculty and administrators. ForUM is published weekly during the academic year except during scheduled academic breaks.

If this issue of ForUM is truncated, the problem can be resolved by going to the following IT announcement: Truncated E-mail Messages Resolution.

Reception Set To Honor UM's Top Performers

UM staff, faculty and administrators are invited to celebrate the achievements of campus colleagues at the annual Faculty and Staff Awards Reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, in the University Center Ballroom.

The awards presentation begins at approximately 4:15 p.m., and refreshments will be served. Nineteen awards will be presented to some of UM's highest achievers. President George Dennison will present a departmental award, a team award and 17 individual awards during the reception.

All faculty and staff awards carry $1,500 stipends, except the $3,500 John Ruffatto Memorial Award and the $3,000 J.B. Speer Award for Distinguished Administrative Service.

In addition, President Dennison will recognize the years of dedicated service given to UM by 37 administrators, faculty members and staff members who are retiring at the end of the academic year or have retired since last year's reception. Each retiree will receive a Centennial Circle engraved brick commemorating their years of UM service.

Employees also will pick up pins for years of service in increments from five to 40 years.

Following are this year's Faculty and Staff Award recipients:

Academic Administrator Award: Dan Pletscher, director and professor, Wildlife Biology Program.
Tom Boone Town and Gown Award: Richard Drake, professor and chair, Department of History.
Nancy Borgmann Diversity Award: Gregory Larson, associate professor, Department of Communication Studies.
Distinguished Scholar Award: Stewart Justman, professor and director, Liberal Studies Program.
Distinguished Service to International Education Award: Aaron Andreason, professor, Department of Management and Marketing.
Distinguished Teaching Award: James Jacobs, professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Outstanding Faculty Advising Award: Cynthia Garthwait, professor, School of Social Work.
Graduate Assistant Teaching Award: Sean Barker, Department of Music.
Most Inspirational Teacher Award: James Burfeind, professor, Department of Sociology.
Outstanding Mentoring Award: Sue Samson, professor and head of Information and Research Services Division, Mansfield Library.
John Ruffatto Memorial Award: David Firth, associate professor, Department of Information Systems and Technology.
J.B. Speer Award for Distinguished Administrative Service: Teresa Branch, vice president for Student Affairs.
Campus Interaction and Meritorious Job Performance Award: Joe Tredik, electrician, Residence Life.
Excellence in Job Performance Award: Dani McLaughlin, administrative associate, College of Arts and Sciences.
Outstanding Service to the Campus Community Award: Paulette Nooney, graduations coordinator, Registrar's Office.
Outstanding Service to the External Community Award: Sally Mauk, news director, Montana Public Radio.
Outstanding Service to the Students Award: Marlene Hendrickson, UM Productions advisor and ASUM fund accountant.
Departmental Assessment Award: Health Professions Department, College of Technology.
Outstanding Teamwork Award: the Staff Work Group for Student Success.

Chief Justice of Canada To Present Lecture

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada will give UM's 25th Blankenbaker Lecture on Professional Responsibility today at noon in the Music Recital Hall.

The Right Honorable Beverley McLachlin will present "Canada and the United States: A Comparative Perspective on Our Constitutional Traditions and the Legal Profession." The event is free and open to the public.

The judge will provide background about the differing political and constitutional traditions of Canada and the United States. She also will address the similarities and differences in regulation of the legal profession, as well as the supreme courts in both countries.

USGS Grant Goes To UM Researchers

UM researcher Tom Martin and plant ecologist John Maron recently were awarded a five-year $1 million grant from the U.S. Geological Survey's Climate Change Science Program. Only 10 programs across the country received the funding.

For the past 25 years, Martin has studied climate change and its impacts on animals and plants in the mountains of Arizona, where snow levels keep retreating to higher elevations, wiping out some species and bolstering others. The grant will fund continuation of Martin's unparalleled long-term project.

Read the Full News Release

'Walk N Roll' Days This Week

UM will participate in Missoula's Bike Walk Bus Week by hosting "Walk N Roll" days Monday through Friday, April 27-May 1.

The ASUM event aims to encourage people to get to campus on those days any other way than driving alone. Options include walking, biking, carpooling or using public transportation. Public transportation options for getting to and from campus include riding shuttles from Park-N-Ride lots or taking Mountain Line buses, which are free throughout Missoula during Bike Walk Bus Week.

During "Walk N Roll" days, volunteers at all University entrances will hand out raffle tickets to those who arrive on campus using options to get to UM other than driving alone. Raffle tickets also can be picked up at the UC. Raffle prizes include a cruiser bike, bike trailer, headlights, locks and numerous other donated gifts.

The raffle drawing will take place at noon Friday, May 1, on the Mansfield Mall. Entertainment will be provided by the popular band Broken Valley Roadshow.

The ASUM Office of Transportation also will offer a sneak preview of a new bus service slated to begin this fall if students vote to support a transportation fee increase of $3.50 per semester. From Monday to Wednesday, April 27-29, the new service will shuttle students, faculty and staff between the main campus, COT and the South Park-N-Ride.

ASUM Office of Transportation

Panel To Discuss 'Saving Creation'

A panel discussion of a new book by UM philosophy Associate Professor Christopher Preston, "Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III," will begin at 6:30 p.m. today in Turner Hall, Dell Brown Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Panelists will include the author, UM Regents Professor of Philosophy Albert Borgmann, philosophy Professor Deborah Slicer and special guest Holmes Rolston III, a leading international thinker in the fields of environmental philosophy and science and religion.

Attention Dreamweaver, Contribute Users

Beginning July 1, UM's Web Technology Services will no longer support Dreamweaver/Contribute for new UM Web sites.

WTS will work with UM departments and programs to migrate existing Dreamweaver/Contribute sites to the new Cascade Content Management System (CMS). The CMS allows the University to support more users in a more efficient manner.

After July 1, WTS will continue to provide support for Dreamweaver/Contribute sites only if the departments are in the queue for conversion and haven't been moved yet. Existing Dreamweaver/Contribute sites may remain on the UM Web server but must be managed by the individual departments.

Departments that move their sites to the CMS will receive:

A skeleton of the site created by WTS.
A new page that combines the basic look of the existing site with the new CMS. (For an example, visit Office of Alumni Relations.)
Assistance from WTS to move site content within a scheduled timeframe.

All UM departments and programs are encouraged to sign up to move their sites to the CMS as soon as possible. To sign up for a new CMS-based Web site, visit the WTS Web site.

Web Technology Services