This is the last regular issue of TGIF News for the 2004-05 academic year. Look for a summer edition in July. We'll be back Friday, Aug. 26, with your weekly dose of UM news, events and sports. Thanks for reading, and have a great summer!

About 2,500 graduates are invited to participate in Commencement exercises Saturday, May 14, at UM.

General ceremonies will be held in the Adams Center at 9:30 a.m. for UM's College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Technology and at 2 p.m. for the professional schools -- business administration, education, forestry and conservation, fine arts, journalism and pharmacy. After each ceremony, students from various departments and schools will disperse to other campus locations for individual awarding of diplomas.

Joe McDonald, founder and president of Salish Kootenai College and a national leader in higher education, is this year's Commencement speaker. McDonald also will receive UM's highest recognition -- an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters -- during Commencement ceremonies.

Commencement weekend gets under way today with class reunions, campuswide open houses and special receptions for graduates and their families.

UM will give a former campus leader the credit he's due during a ceremony this afternoon.

A new sign designating the Charles H. Clapp Building will be unveiled outside the former Science Complex during a 3:30 p.m. ceremony today, Friday, May 13. The public is invited to join the Clapp family and campus community members for the brief event.

As UM's fifth president, Clapp served from 1921 to 1935, when he died in office. An accomplished scientist and administrator, Clapp was the longest-serving president in UM history until current President George Dennison broke the almost-15-year record a year ago.

The building was officially named for Clapp during Homecoming 1971, and a plaque was installed in the foyer. But through the years the building has been known as the Science Complex, reinforced by a sign reading as such out front. That will change, Dennison said, with the building henceforth being referred to by its proper name.

Montana PBS producers and programs recently received four regional Emmy nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences-Northwest Chapter.

"Backroads of Montana: Coming Home" received a nomination in the Cultural Affairs and Fine Arts Series category. "Backroads" is produced by William Marcus, Gus Chambers, John Twiggs and Ray Ekness.

Twiggs was nominated in the Cultural and Fine Arts Segment category for his work on the "Backroads of Montana" segment "Comertown." Chambers' program "Voices Carry: Missoula's International Choral Festival" received a nomination in the Information Programming-Children and Youth Program category. KUFM-TV Operations Director Daniel Dauterive earned a nomination for Individual Craft for Director (Pre- or Post-Production) for his work on "The Chunkers of Pumpkins."

The 42nd annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards will be presented Saturday, June 25, at the Bagley Wright Theatre in Seattle.

The UM radio-television department's Student Documentary Unit also received a regional Emmy nomination.

Judges nominated the 2004 student documentary "Testing Times: Montana's Struggle to Leave No Child Behind" for the Student Emmy Award. The program tackled the effects on Montana pupils and educators of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Student producers spoke with advocates of both views and traveled to many areas of the state, including Billings, Plentywood, Sand Springs, Lame Deer and Columbia Falls.

The program was produced by Dax VanFossen, who now is an anchor and reporter at KCFW-TV in Kalispell. It was directed by Marina Mackrow, who now works for Fox Sports Northwest in Seattle. A dozen other students also were involved in the production.

UM photojournalism Professor Teresa Tamura recently was chosen as a 2005 National Geographic magazine faculty fellowship recipient.

The only one to receive the award this year, Tamura is the 14th person selected since the fellowship was created.

When Tamura leaves for National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., later this month, she will carry with her questions from her students about the magazine process. She will have the opportunity to learn all facets of magazine production, including conceptualizing and planning a magazine story, photography assignments, photo engineering, editing, layout and art production.

A former staff photographer at the Seattle Times, Tamura plans to take what she learns at National Geographic back to her UM classroom via an electronic presentation.

Four UM students earned prestigious Morris K. Udall Scholarships this year -- more than any other institution in the country since the scholarship program started in 1996.

With four of the 80 Udall Scholarships awarded nationally this year coming to UM, the University broke a tie with Cornell for the No. 1 position.

Winning students who will receive $5,000 scholarships are Zachary Benson of Colstrip; Marcia St. Goddard of Browning; John Powell of Muncie, Ind.; and Jeffrey Ross of Rivers, Manitoba.

The Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation awards merit-based scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated outstanding potential and a commitment to pursuing careers related to the environment, tribal public policy or health care.

Graduates of UM's Creative Writing Program are encouraged to apply for a new, month-long residency at the Montana Artists Refuge in Basin.

The residency will take place next September and is open to program graduates from any year. It is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and provides lodging and studio space.

The Montana Artists Refuge offers artists and writers from a variety of disciplines the chance to step outside their daily routine and work on projects in a quiet, creative and collaborative environment.

Applications must be received by June 30 in the Department of English office, Liberal Arts Building 133, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812. Application forms are available online and should be accompanied by a resume and work samples.

Twenty-four men and 16 women are representing UM outdoor track and field teams at this week's Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Flagstaff, Ariz.

The meet began Wednesday and Thursday with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. The remainder of the events take place today and tomorrow.