Royce Engstrom, who became UM's 17th president Oct. 15, has started a new video series. "The President's Update" offers another tool for the president to communicate with the Missoula campus, as well as the affiliated campuses in Butte, Dillon and Helena.

The first video is online at the President's Office website. Future videos will be available there and on the official UM YouTube channel.

Links to each new video will be e-mailed to all employees and students when the videos become available. UM e-publications also will offer access to the videos. Engstrom hopes the videos will be shared widely, especially among students.

"I hope this becomes an effective way to communicate our priorities and other important University information widely across our affiliated campuses," Engstrom said. "This is a new process for me and our staff, and we will continue to refine and improve the series as we move forward. We want to keep these videos simple, conversational and, above all, useful."

Engstrom said many videos will be filmed in his office, but he expects some will be shot on location at the affiliated campuses. He also said the videos will occasionally feature other speakers.

UM presents the Robert T. Pantzer Presidential Humanitarian Award each year to a person from the University or state who has substantially contributed to making campus a more open and humane learning environment.

The award honors Pantzer, UM president from 1966 to 1974, whose open-door policy was a hallmark of his administration. Pantzer also provided outstanding leadership in the preservation of unfettered academic inquiry and expression.

The Pantzer Award Committee seeks nominations of individuals who have demonstrated similar characteristics. Nominations should include the nominee's resume and a statement describing how the individual fits the criteria. Previous nominations may be reactivated by request and by providing any additional or updated information.

The nomination deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18. The award will be presented at UM's Charter Day ceremonies Feb. 17, 2011. Send nominations to Pantzer Award Committee Chair, Office of the Provost, The University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, or fax them to 406-243-5937.

Information about the call for nominations also is available on the Provost's Office website.

Provost's Office

Montana residents and visitors will have an unprecedented opportunity to view selected works by some of the most notable artists from the late 18th to the early 20th century at an exhibition opening Friday, Nov. 12, at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture at UM.

The exhibition, "Renoir, Magritte, Gauguin and Other Masterpieces from a Private Collection," is largely centered on portraiture and includes works by Alexander Archipenko, Rosa Bonheur, William Bouguereau, Max Ernst, Paul Gauguin, René Magritte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, George Romney, Théophile van Rysselberghe and John William Waterhouse.

An opening reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at MMAC, which is located in UM's Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center. The exhibition will be on view at the museum through March 12, 2011.

In conjunction with the exhibition, MMAC Curator of Art Brandon Reintjes will present an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute course titled "Questions of Connoisseurship" at UM. The course will begin Jan. 17. Reintjes also will present a lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at the Masquer Theatre in the PAR/TV Center.

UM art history Professor Valerie Hedquist will give a lecture in conjunction with the exhibition at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, in the Montana Theatre of the PAR/TV Center.

Concurrent with the masterpiece exhibition will be "Three Centuries of European Prints," a display of works on paper drawn from the same period. The works are from MMAC's Permanent Collection and have never before been exhibited. They will be on view in the museum's Paxson Gallery. The Permanent Collection, which has existed since 1894, contains more than 10,000 artworks.

MMAC will provide expanded hours during the exhibitions. Gallery hours will be from noon to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, and from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

For more information, visit the MMAC website or call 406-243-2019.

"Montana Journal: Patrolling the Big Sky," a television magazine produced by UM radio-television students, will premiere at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, in the University Center Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

The program, which will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, on MontanaPBS, takes viewers along for rides with the men and women of the Montana Highway Patrol. "Patrolling the Big Sky" travels to Wolf Point, the Bitterroot Valley and Kalispell.

"Montana Journal" is produced by senior-level students in the UM journalism school's Department of Radio-Television. Kagan Yochim, radio-television adjunct instructor and MontanaPBS producer, teaches the class and oversees the student production.

UM School of Journalism students have produced stories previewing the initiatives and contested statewide races on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The stories have appeared in newspapers across the state and also are available on the UM student-produced website, Montana Votes 2010. The site also features stories about voting and campaign tactics this season.

After the election, the students will produce stories about the decisions state legislators will face in their 2011 session.

UM Professor Dennis Swibold, who teaches the journalism school's Community News Service course, said news organizations and others are free to republish the stories or link to the website, as long as they retain the students' bylines. 

Seattle-based architects Chris Hellstern and Stacey Smedley will present "Learn About Designing Living Buildings" on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at UM.

The presentation of the University's Sustainability Lecture Series will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in Gallagher Business Building Room 122. It is free and open to the public. Living buildings harvest all their waste and energy needs on site and generate no waste once they are built.

The architects will talk about the award-winning design for the Living Building Science Wing of Bertschi School, a Seattle elementary school. In 2009 the Restorative Design Collective, a group of Seattle-area professionals, asked the school to join them in the Living Building Challenge to create what will be the first Living Building in the state of Washington. The purpose of the challenge was to define the highest measure of sustainability possible in the built environment based on the best current thinking.

For more information about the presentation, call UM Professor Vicki Watson at 406-243-5153 or e-mail vicki.watson@umontana.edu.

The University Center Gallery at UM will display works by artists Stephanie Johnsen and Rebecca Weed from Monday, Nov. 1, through Tuesday, Nov. 23, in an exhibition titled "Undergo."

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, in the UC Gallery, located in UC Room 227. The event is free and open to the public. The UC Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

Johnsen earned a bachelor's degree in printmaking and printing and drawing from Utah State University. She currently is completing her second year as a master's candidate in printmaking at UM. Weed earned a bachelor's degree from Montana State University-Billings and is completing her thesis in painting at UM.

"Undergo" will display works that explore the events a person or object undergoes that result in progression and change.

Montana's CJ Atkins out-jumped his defender in the end zone with five seconds left to give Griz football a 24-21 win over Northern Arizona on Oct. 23 in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. 

The junior receiver was one-on-one with NAU freshman cornerback Randy Hale in the corner of the end zone when senior quarterback Justin Roper lobbed in the 1-yard pass. Atkins and Hale both touched the ball in the air, but Atkins pinned the ball to his helmet with both hands and came down with the winning touchdown.

Montana had a balanced 133 rushing yards and 132 passing yards on the way to 265 yards of total offense. NAU had 301 yards of total offense in a game that saw 19 punts.

UM senior running back Chase Reynolds ran 23 times for 83 yards, and Roper was 17 of 30 for 118 yards and two TDs. Griz receiver Antwon Moutra racked up 63 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. Griz linebacker Jordan Tripp led all defenders with 11 tackles and a sack.

Northern Arizona scored five first-half goals and went on to a 5-0 victory Oct. 22 over Montana on a cold, windy and rainy day in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Montana played to a 0-0 double-overtime draw Oct. 24 with Northern Colorado at South Campus Stadium in Missoula. The match was the Grizzlies' final home appearance for the season. Montana, which was eliminated from Big Sky Conference tournament contention after the Oct. 22 match, earned its fourth point in conference play at 1-4-1. The Grizzlies are 2-12-3 on the season.

Montana will face Eastern Washington on Friday, Oct. 29, in Cheney, Wash., with an opportunity to move up to fifth place in the final regular-season standings with a victory.

The UM volleyball team won for the fourth time in five matches on Oct. 22 with a commanding 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-19, 25-23) of Montana State in Bozeman. The victory gives the Grizzlies a pair of 3-0 sweeps over the Bobcats this season.

Montana kept its hold on third place in the Big Sky Conference standings with the win. The Grizzlies improved to 6-3 in league play and moved back to .500 for the first time since the opening weekend of the season at 10-10.

The Bobcats had no answer for Montana's middle tandem of senior Jaimie Thibeault and junior Brittany Quick. The twosome combined for 21 kills and just three errors in 31 attacks to hit .581.

Quick was spectacular for the second consecutive match, finishing with a match-high 13 kills on .632 hitting. Senior Brittney Brown had a match-high 13 digs, and freshman setter Kortney James had her ninth double-double of the season with 35 assists and 10 digs.

Montana will be on the road Oct. 29-30 for the fourth time in five weekends when the Grizzlies play at Portland State (12-8, 7-2 BSC) Friday, and at Eastern Washington (4-15, 3-6 BSC) Saturday.