TGIF will join UM students on Thanksgiving break Nov. 23-25. The e-newsletter will resume regular weekly publication on Friday, Dec. 2.

Happy Turkey Day!

UM students have called marketing Professor Jakki Mohr “dynamic, demanding, innovative and inspiring.” Now they can call her the best professor in Montana higher education.

Mohr has been named the 2005 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Montana Professor of the Year. She accepted the award Thursday in Washington, D.C., along with top professors from other states.

The award comes as part of the U.S. Professors of the Year program, which salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the nation -- those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. The recognition program is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Mohr’s award marks the sixth consecutive year a UM professor has won the prestigious honor. She was nominated by UM President George Dennison, a cadre of her colleagues and students past and present.

UM will host the 41st annual Montana Model United Nations Conference on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 21-22. More than 400 students from 18 Montana and Idaho high schools will attend.

During the event, each student will represent one of the 191 U.N. member states, debating and writing resolutions to address important international issues. Students also will participate in one of eight committees.

The conference begins Monday with opening ceremonies in the University Theatre at 8:35 a.m. Former Ambassador Mark Johnson, executive director of the Montana World Affairs Council, will deliver the keynote address.

Students meet in committees from late Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon.

Two American Museum of Natural History biologists have overturned conventional thinking that islands are evolutionary “dead-ends."

The scientists' new study shows that birds from widely dispersed South Pacific islands have contributed to continental bird biodiversity in Australia.

One of the scientists, Christopher Filardi, currently is a visiting scholar at UM’s Wilderness Institute. Filardi is a biodiversity scientist in the museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and the Department of Ornithology. His colleague and co-author is research scientist Robert G. Moyle.

For many years, scientists have assumed that continental species colonize islands in a one-way process. This new study shows islands actually can be sources of new species that colonize back onto continents. In other words, biodiversity also flows from islands to continents, not just from continents to islands.

The study was published in the Nov. 10 issue of the journal Nature.

A historic mental health partnership between the Chippewa-Cree Tribe on the Rocky Boy's Reservation, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and UM is showing positive results with children.

School counselors in Rocky Boy and Box Elder are working with members of UM’s Montana Center for the Investigation and Treatment of Childhood Trauma to help children who have experienced traumatic events. Initial results suggest promising gains.

A key aspect of the project is the use of a school-based mental health tool known as Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools.

Following the completion of the 10-week CBITS programs, three out of four children showed significant decreases in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

The project is funded by a $1.6 million federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

UM student Kari Samuel of Billings may have set a rare and impressive record.

Samuel is a finalist for three prestigious scholarships: the Marshall Scholarship for study at a British university, the Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University and the Mitchell Scholarship for study at an Irish university.

Dean James McKusick of UM’s Davidson Honors College believes the triple honor is unprecedented at the University.

A senior, Samuel majors in microbiology and political science with an option in public law. She has won numerous awards for her academic achievements, including the National Merit Scholarship, the UM Presidential Leadership Scholarship and scholarships for research in her fields of study.

Samuel will interview for the Rhodes Scholarship this month in Des Moines, Iowa.

UM Professor Philip West, who made his first trip to Japan as a study-abroad student in the late 1950s, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award that will take him back to Japan in January.

West is the University’s Mansfield Professor of Modern Asian Affairs and teaches courses for UM’s history department and East Asian Studies program. During 1991-2002 he directed the University’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center.

Through July 2006, West will be at International Christian University in Mitaka City, Tokyo, Japan, where he will offer a seminar for Japanese history majors. The seminar will focus on the Asia-Pacific War through the lens of literature, art, letters and diaries.

While in Japan, West also will conduct research that extends his recently completed manuscript “Letters of the Asia-Pacific War in the Future of Remembrance.”

Fulbright scholars from France and Kazakhstan have made UM their research home during the 2005-06 academic year.

UM was selected to host Sylvain Delzon, a postdoctoral ecology researcher from the University of Bordeaux 1 in Talence, France, and humanities Professor Dina Mukhamedkhan of Kazakh Academy of Labor and Social Relations in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The two visiting scholars join approximately 850 outstanding foreign faculty members and professionals that the Fulbright Scholar Program will bring to the United States during 2005-06 to teach and conduct research.

Lara Birkes, a 2001 UM graduate, has been awarded a Fulbright grant that will allow her to continue her studies in international business in Morocco during the 2005-06 academic year.

Fulbright Scholars are selected on the basis of their academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

During 2001-04 Birkes served as a legislative correspondent for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, worked as a research assistant for the Senate Committee on Finance and was a legislative aide. She has traveled to Egypt, Israel, Honduras, Costa Rica and Taiwan for study and work related to trade policy.

While in Morocco, Birkes will investigate the practical implications and economic effects of the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement signed in August 2004.

The UM Department of Drama/Dance presents the Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptation of “Peter Pan” in the Montana Theatre of the Performing Arts and Radio Television Center.

Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25, 26 and 29 and Dec. 3 and 6-10. Matinee performances start at 2 p.m. Nov. 25-26 and Dec. 3.

To reserve seats, call the drama/dance box office at (406) 243-4581. Box office hours are 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“Peter Pan” tells the tale of the Darling family, whose lives are changed forever with the arrival of Peter Pan. The Darling children -- Wendy, John and Michael -- find adventure, danger and delight on their travels to Never Land with Peter and his everlasting boyhood.

The Department of Drama/Dance is presenting its annual Fall Dance Showcase through Saturday, featuring 14 original pieces, 13 student choreographers and more than 30 dancers.

The showcase offers two separate programs that alternate performances each evening. Program I is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19. Program II is at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Nov. 18, and 2 p.m. tomorrow. Both programs will be held in the Open Space, downstairs in the PAR/TV Center.

The performance represents the latest work from students in the University’s dance program, ranging from modern dance to ballet to jazz. It is entirely student-run, including lighting, stage management, costumes, sound design, choreography and performance.

For tickets, call (406) 243-4581 or visit the box office in the PAR/TV Center between 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or one hour before performances.

At Saturday’s Griz-Cat game, two student-athletes from UM and two from Montana State University will take home honors as the Montana Campus Compact’s 2005 Montana Athletes in Service.

Before kickoff, two members of the Grizzly track and field team -- Shannon Selby, a UM graduate student in accounting, and Drew Babcock, a junior in athletic training -- will be recognized for their commitment to civic engagement, years of service and impact on the community.

Selby has advocated for Montana’s elderly population and donates her time reading and talking with residents at Riverside Healthcare Center. Babcock volunteers for the Montana Special Olympics and serves as a Big Brother to Missoula children.

Award recipients from MSU are seniors Kelli Phillip and Alioune Beye.

The awards will be presented by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, UM President George Dennison and MSU President Geoffrey Gamble.

The UM football team squashed the Sacramento Hornets in California last Saturday with a running back duo that Sac State couldn't counter.

Lex Hilliard and J.R. Waller racked up huge yards against a vulnerable Hornet rush. Hilliard ran for 155 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. The 31-14 win places Montana alone at the top of the Big Sky Conference with an 8-2 overall and 5-1 conference record.

The third-ranked Montana Grizzlies conclude their 2005 Big Sky and regular-season schedule Saturday with the 105th playing of the Griz-Cat game. UM takes on the 22nd-ranked Montana State Bobcats at 12:05 p.m. in Bozeman in the D.A. Davidson Big Sky Classic.

The game will be televised locally by Montana CBS affiliates, including KPAX-TV in Missoula. It also will be shown on the Altitude Sports and Entertainment channel, available on both DirecTV and Dish Network.

The UM women's basketball team shot 48.3 percent in the second half Sunday afternoon on the way to a 72-54 victory over Deja Vu at Dahlberg Arena.

The score was tied 32-32 at the half, but in the second half the Lady Griz posted 40 points while limiting the former Lady Griz standouts to just 22 points. Sophomore Johanna Closson led all scorers with 18 points. Freshman Tamara Guardipee had a double-double by the half and finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

The Lady Griz open regular-season play tonight at Utah State. Game time is 7 p.m. at USU's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan.

Montana Volleyball dropped game one, but rallied for a 3-1 victory in a home match with Weber State last Friday in Big Sky Conference play.

Combined with Montana State's 3-1 victory over Idaho State, the Grizzlies maintained the possibility of qualifying for their first league tournament since 2000. But they had to defeat Idaho State Saturday night. In that match -- in which the winner would go to the 2005 Big Sky Conference Tournament and the loser would end its season -- the Bengals came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Grizzlies 3-1.

The Bengals earned the No. 6 seed to this weekend's tournament at Sacramento State. The Grizzlies end their season 14-15 overall and 3-11 in Big Sky matches.

The Grizzly basketball team shot 75.9 percent in the first half, earning a 97-64 exhibition-game victory over the St. Martin's Saints last Friday in Dahlberg Arena.

The Grizzlies' five starters, all of whom reached double figures by early in the second half, combined to shoot 63.8 percent from the floor and score 84 of UM's 97 points.

Leading the Griz against the Saints were seniors Virgil Matthews and Kevin Criswell. Matthews scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Criswell scored 21 points, also on 7-of-9 shooting.

Montana opens regular-season play tonight at Boise State.