Neil Shubin, author of UM's 2010 First-Year Reading Experience book selection, "Your Inner Fish," will give the next installment of the President's Lecture Series at UM on Thursday, Oct. 28. He will present "Finding Your Inner Fish" at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre.

Earlier that day from 3:40 to 5 p.m., Shubin also will give a seminar titled "Fossils, Genes and the Evolution of Limbs" in Gallagher Business Building Room 123. The lecture series events, held in conjunction with UM's First-Year Reading Experience and co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, are free and open to the public.

Shubin is the Robert R. Bensley Professor and associate dean of the University of Chicago's Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and serves as provost of Chicago's Field Museum. He will talk about his 2008 book, "Your Inner Fish," which tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth.

Shubin also will hold a book discussion for UM first-year students and answer their questions at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in Gallagher Business Building Room 123.

The Pacific Northwest International Section of the Air & Waste Management Association will hold its 50th annual conference Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 3-5, at UM.

The 2010 conference, "Training our Future Environmental Professionals," will be hosted by the Montana Chapter of PNWIS. This year will be the first time the conference has taken place on a university campus.

The conference features presentations on regional and local environmental issues, including Libby asbestos contamination, the Milltown Dam removal, wood-smoke air pollution in western Montana, the pros and cons of biomass boilers, and more. More than 200 environmental professionals and students from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana are expected to attend.

For more information, call UM Assistant Professor Tony Ward, conference chair, at 406-243-4092 or e-mail tony.ward@umontana.edu.

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UM's fifth annual Day of Dialogue will be held Thursday, Oct. 28, at the University Center. The free daylong symposium brings campus and community members together for presentations, performances, workshops and exhibits that encourage dialogue about diversity.

Participants can explore topics such as race, gender, ethnicity, ability/disability, religion, sexual orientation, class, social hierarchy and privilege. Day of Dialogue events, which are participatory in nature, are created by UM students, faculty and staff and community members.

Events begin at 8:10 a.m. with UM staff education sessions. Vice President for Student Affairs Teresa Branch will give Day of Dialogue opening remarks at 9:10 a.m. in The Payne Family Native American Center.

Participants then can select from more than 15 free educational sessions that begin at 9:40 and 11:10 a.m. and at 2:40 p.m. on the third floor of the University Center. Sessions also will be held at 12:10, 1:10 and 2:10 p.m. at the UM College of Technology.

Cultural entertainment will take place at noon in the University Center Atrium, and "Art in Progress," a University Center Gallery show in conjunction with Day of Dialogue, will hold a reception and artist talk at 5 p.m. in the gallery, located in UC Room 227.

In conjunction with Day of Dialogue, UM Regents Professor of History Paul Lauren will present a lecture titled "Human Rights in Words, Images and Sounds" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the University Center Theater. The presentation is an event of the Provost's Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series at UM.

For more information, call Tina Brown, Day of Dialogue coordinator, at 406-243-5082 or e-mail dayofdialogue@mso.umt.edu.

Sandy Ross, associate dean of the UM Graduate School, has been selected as the Sloan Mentor of the Year by the Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute on Teaching and Mentoring.

The compact is a partnership of regional, federal and foundation programs that focus on minority graduate education and faculty diversity.

Ross serves as principal investigator of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership grant, which supports the Sloan American Indian Graduate Program for science graduate students at UM.

A professor of physical biochemistry in UM's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ross specializes in time-resolved, excited-state and single-molecule spectroscopy and microscopy.

UM has entered an Environmental Protection Agency Waste Wise Game Day challenge and will be recycling and composting during tailgates and at the Grizzlies football game against the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks on Saturday, Oct. 23. The theme of the game is "Go Griz, Go Green."

The Grizzlies vs. Lumberjacks game begins at 1 p.m. in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Accepting EPA's Waste Wise Game Day challenge is part of a continuing effort by the University and UM Grizzly Athletics to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability initiatives and environmental stewardship.

EPA encourages colleges across the country to compete to see who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most waste by asking them to design a waste-reduction plan for one home football game in October and measure the results. Schools can collect common materials for recycling and food to be composted. The amount of waste generated and recycled will determine which school is the greenest.

For more information about Saturday's "Go Griz, Go Green" events, call Jennifer Hart-Hill, ASUM sustainability coordinator, at 406-243-4856 or e-mail asum.sustain@mso.umt.edu.

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UM students, faculty and staff can check out yellow cruiser bikes for up to two days at no charge through the Associated Students of UM Cruiser Co-op program.

The program, which began in 2000 with 50 bikes, is administered through the ASUM Office of Transportation. Some of the bikes have been replaced over the years, and the transportation office board recently decided to replace the program's 10-year-old bikes with a new style.

The bikes will still be yellow, heavy duty single-speeds with coaster brakes, but they will be a brand purchased from a Northwest distributor, so parts and replacement bikes will be more readily available.

ASUM's successful Cruiser Co-op program is financed through transportation fees. One of the first student-run bike check-out programs in the country, it has been a model for other campuses nationwide.

Those who wish to check out bikes should bring their valid Griz Card to The Source in the University Center.

ASUM Office of Transportation

The University Center Gallery at UM has issued its annual call for art for the gallery's 2011 exhibition calendar. The gallery exhibits visual arts from local, regional and national artists and also functions as a space for UM students to exhibit and learn.

Between eight and nine artists will be selected to have their work exhibited in the gallery from January through December 2011. Applications are available on the UC Gallery website or in the gallery. The deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 29.

For more information, call Josh Peters-McBride, UC Student Involvement program adviser, at 406-243-5776 or e-mail josh.peters-mcbride@mso.umt.edu.

Montana football's Brody McKnight booted a 25-yard field goal as time expired to lead the Griz past Portland State, 23-21, Oct. 16 in Hillsboro, Ore.

Montana took over at its own 38 with 2:34 left to play, trailing 21-20. The Griz drive advanced 54 yards on 10 plays to the Portland State 8-yard line to set up McKnight's game winner. 

UM quarterback Justin Roper completed 17 of 37 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Chase Reynolds rushed for 107 yards on 23 carries and also caught six passes for 67 yards and a score.

The win put UM into a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference.

Montana (5-2 overall, 4-1 in the Big Sky) faces Northern Arizona in Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Oct. 23. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m.

Senior Kaitlyn Heinsohn's goal in the 37th minute gave the UM soccer squad a 1-0 victory over Idaho State on Oct. 17 at South Campus Stadium. The win was the Grizzlies' first in Big Sky Conference play this season.

The Grizzlies suffered a 4-0 loss at home to Weber State Oct. 15.

Montana (2-11-2 overall, 1-3-0 in the Big Sky) is still within striking distance of being among the four teams that make the league tournament in November.

Montana will face Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado this weekend. The seventh-place Grizzlies will face the Big Sky-leading Lumberjacks Oct. 22 at Flagstaff, Ariz., then return home to host third-place Northern Colorado Oct. 24 at noon at South Campus Stadium.

The UM doubles team of Rebecca Bran and Whitney Paluch made the quarterfinals to highlight the Grizzlies' appearance at the USTA/ITA Mountain Regional tennis tournament in Las Vegas, which concluded Oct. 16.

Bran/Paluch fell to a duo from UNLV, 9-7, with a spot in the semifinals on the line.

The Grizzlies posted records of 10-8 in singles play and 5-3 in doubles for the tournament. With victories by Amanda Bran and Constance Alexander in consolation doubles action, the pair improved to 7-1 together for the season.

Junior middle blocker Brittany Quick had 10 kills on .667 hitting and added a match-high four blocks to lead the Montana volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of Sacramento State on Oct. 16 at the West Auxiliary Gym, 25-17, 25-22, 25-22. The win was the Grizzlies' fourth straight over the Hornets, who had won the previous 18 meetings between the two teams.

Montana won for the seventh time in its last 10 matches to improve to 9-10 overall. The Grizzlies hold down the third-place spot in the Big Sky Conference standings at the midway point of the season at 5-3.

UM's next match is at Montana State at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22.

The Montana women's cross country team had a strong showing on a big stage Oct. 16, finishing 12th in the women's White race at NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. The Grizzlies finished third among the NCAA Mountain Region schools that competed and were the top Big Sky Conference team.

Senior Katrina Drennen, who competed on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course for the fourth time in her career, finished 45th in the White race in a 6-kilometer career-best time of 21 minutes, 16.7 seconds.

Freshman Keli Dennehy, who competed for the first time at the 6-kilometer distance, made a bold statement, finishing less than five seconds behind Drennen. Dennehy placed 48th in a time of 21:21.0.

Montana's top five runners all finished within a 45-second window of Drennen's lead time.

UM also sent five runners to compete in the men's Blue race. Junior Lynn Reynolds finished 89th in a time of 24:51.4, senior Collin Fehr was 212th (26:30.2), sophomore Cody Lund was 227th (27:14.4), sophomore Max Hardy was 228th (27:27.6) and senior Sean Clark was 231st (28:16.9).