Sharon Alexander, a UM dean, has a new name she wants to SELL you. SELL is the acronym for UM's School of Extended & Lifelong Learning, formerly known as Continuing Education. The state Board of Regents approved the name change during its October meeting.

"We changed our name because our profile has changed so much," Alexander said. "It just made sense that we go with the term school instead of center."

SELL administers the University's online degree and certificate programs, as well as extended courses, professional development opportunities, UM's summer semester and winter session, and UMOnline.

Among its many programs, SELL also houses MOLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers programs that promote learning and personal growth for people 50 and older.

UM will hold informational and public comment meetings next week for a proposed project to convert its current natural gas-fired boiler system to a new system using forest biomass as its primary fuel.

The meetings will take place at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, in University Center Rooms 326-327. Experts will be present at each meeting to provide information about different aspects of the project and to answer questions. A secretary will be on hand to take public comment.

The project is part of University efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, a commitment made in its Climate Action Plan. When completed the biomass boiler project will reduce the University's natural gas usage by 70 percent, provide year-round steam to campus and shrink UM's carbon footprint by nearly a quarter. To protect air quality in the Missoula Valley, UM will use a biomass gasification provider that reduces emissions to at or below those of natural gas.

UM administrators will present the project to the state Board of Regents for approval at the board's Jan. 13, 2011, meeting in Helena.

Students and faculty members of the UM School of Art will once again display their work at the 25th annual Holiday Juried Show and Sale, which will be held Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 9-12, at the Art Annex.

The Art Annex is located on campus adjacent to the Grizzly Pool next to the Adams Center. The sale and show are free and open to the public. Following are dates and times of this year's event, which has been extended an extra day to continue through Sunday afternoon:

• Thursday, Dec. 9: 4-7 p.m. Opening celebration with live music. Awards presentation at 5 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 10: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 11: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 12: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

The show and sale will include representatives of the top UM student work in the 3-D area, ceramics and sculpture. To commemorate the 25th anniversary, works in this year's show will be juried for entry as well as awards. The show will be co-juried by artist and educator Lela Autio and Helena potter Tara Wilson, whose wood-fired vessels have attracted an international audience.

In honor of the 25th year of the event, three pieces in the 3-D area by UM faculty members Trey Hill, Beth Lo and Julia Galloway will be included in this year's sale in a silent auction.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the student organization UM Emerging Ceramic Artists, sponsor of the two-part event. Funds will be used for student projects such as scholarships, visiting artists, travel to conferences and wood for the Anagama kiln firing. For more information, call Lo at 406-243-6476 or the UM School of Art at 406-243-4181.

Recent statistics from the UM Office for Civic Engagement show that students exceeded expectations for community service during the 2009-10 academic year, with a total of 1,641 students completing 161,246 hours of service.

This equates to an economic impact of more than $2.2 million based on the value of a volunteer hour in Montana calculated by the Independent Sector.

"UM has a long and proud history of community engagement," said Andrea Vernon, director of the Office for Civic Engagement. "Student volunteerism and service learning are important aspects of engagement that demonstrate the University's public service mission."

The volunteers include 1,309 students who participated in service learning courses between autumn and spring semesters. UM now offers 40 service learning classes across multiple disciplines that engage students in community-based volunteerism to enrich academic learning. Service learning students logged more than 57,000 hours of community service.

The 180 student volunteers affiliated with UM's Campus Corps AmeriCorps Program accounted for 93,350 hours of service with Missoula community nonprofit organizations. In addition, 152 students volunteered for various extracurricular activities throughout the year for a total of 10,634 hours.

Office for Civic Engagement

Peter Neufeld, co-director of the national Innocence Project in New York City, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, in the University Center Theater at UM. The lecture is free and open to the public and will count as CLE credit for legal professionals.

There will be a reservation-only VIP meet-and-greet to benefit the Montana Innocence Project at 6 p.m. before the lecture. Reservations are $30 and can be made by calling 406-243-6698.

Neufeld is an attorney who, along with Barry Scheck, pioneered the use of forensic DNA in criminal cases. He helped exonerate Jimmy Ray Bromgard, a Montanan wrongfully convicted of rape. Bromgard was exonerated in 2002 after spending more than 14 years in prison.

The Montana Innocence Project, founded in 2008, has reviewed more than 200 cases and currently has 15 under in-depth review with the goal of filing a petition for post-conviction relief sometime this year.

For more information about the lecture, call Caitlin Copple, Montana Innocence Project associate director, at 406-243-6698 or e-mail caitlin@mtinnocenceproject.org.

UM's School of Theatre & Dance will present "Hay Fever," a comic satire from one of England's most celebrated playwrights, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 7-11 in the Montana Theatre, located in the Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center.

In a whirlwind summer weekend, each of the four self-centered members of the Bliss family invites a special guest to the estate without knowing there will soon be a full house. Noël Coward's famously wicked wit and savvy skewering of the 1920s English leisure class are on display at a breakneck pace, leaving the audience breathless with laughter.

Tickets for the show cost $20 for the public, $16 for senior citizens and students, and $10 for children 12 and under. They are available on the School of Theatre & Dance website and at the Theatre & Dance Box Office in the PAR/TV Center. Box office hours are 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour prior to performances.

The UM Creative Writing Program's Fall 2010 Reading Series will wrap up with a reading by David Gates, William Kittredge Visiting Fiction Writer, at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, in the Turner Hall Dell Brown Room. The reading is free and open to the public.

Gates is the author of the novels "Jernigan" and "Preston Falls" and a collection of stories, "The Wonders of the Invisible World." His fiction has appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Tin House and Plowshares. His nonfiction has appeared in Newsweek (where he was a longtime writer and editor), The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, GQ, Rolling Stone, H.O.W., The Oxford American and the Journal of Country Music.

Gates has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and his books have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He teaches regularly in the MFA writing programs at The New School and Bennington College.

Two new patents for brain-imaging agents discovered at UM have led to the creation of a company called Rio Pharmaceuticals, which offers specifically designed molecules to image select biomarker proteins in the brain.

The new technology may help understand, diagnose and follow new therapies for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression.

The lead inventor of the brain-imaging agents is John Gerdes, an associate professor in UM's Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Gerdes' work was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health and is based in UM's College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences.

The new PET imaging tracers offer tremendous clinical, commercial and drug-discovery opportunities, Gerdes said. He and his partners started Rio Pharmaceuticals to market the agents. The company now includes a strong team of scientists and physicians and employs nine people.

As children with parents in the military enter the holidays with family deployed overseas, the UM Institute for Educational Research and Service will offer a free daylong training session for educators and counselors Friday, Dec. 10.

The training, "Military Deployment and Children: What Schools Can Do to Foster Resiliency," will take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in Missoula. Counselor and teacher continuing education credits are available.

The session will teach participants about the unique strains deployment places on children of military families and how to help them be resilient. Deployment often has an emotional impact on children that may shape their behavior or performance in school.

Participants are asked to RSVP by Monday, Dec. 6, by calling Nancy Berg at 406-243-4973 or e-mailing nancy.berg@mso.umt.edu.

Institute for Educational Research and Service

Will Cherry scored 24 points to lead the Montana Grizzlies to a 75-67 come-from-behind win Nov. 30 over a physical Cal State Fullerton team at UM's Dahlberg Arena.

Cherry scored 18 of his 24 in the second half to help the Grizzlies outscore the Titans 52-38 in the frame. The Grizzlies took the lead (46-45) on a free throw by Cherry with 9:24 left in the second and never relinquished it.

The first half was a different story. The Titans scored first and led nearly the entire first half but were not able to build a sizable lead. The Grizzlies kept it close matching the physical play of Fullerton blow for blow. The half ended with the Titans up 29-23.

Junior forward Derek Selvig had 16 points for the Grizzlies and senior center Brian Qvale added 14 for Montana.  Junior forward Art Steward also scored in double figures for the Griz with 11.

Qvale had six blocks, which moves him past Larry McBride (162) to second all-time in Montana history and fifth in Big Sky Conference history with 167 career blocks.

The Grizzlies will host Portland (6-2) at 7:05 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, in Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz let a 14-point second-half lead slip away in a 76-69 overtime loss Nov. 28 to James Madison at the Caribbean Challenge in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Montana got 23 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore Katie Baker and 12 points and nine rebounds from sophomore Alyssa Smith in the loss.

On Nov. 29 Montana was held to 31.5 percent shooting in a 68-52 loss to Florida Gulf Coast in the team's final game of the Caribbean Challenge. The Lady Griz season record is 2-4.

After opening the season with several road games, the Lady Griz will play eight of their next nine at home.

Montana hosted Denver on Thursday, Dec. 2. and will host Gonzaga at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The UM volleyball team's season came to a close Nov. 28 with a 3-2 loss to Portland State in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Conference tournament in Oregon.  

The Grizzlies, the tournament's No. 4 seed, jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the No. 1 seed Vikings rallied to win the final three sets and advance to the tournament's championship match.

Montana was nearly flawless in the opening two sets, posting back-to-back 25-18 wins to silence the home crowd. The Grizzlies hit .235 and held a 9-to-1 team blocking advantage through the first two sets while limiting the Vikings to .061 hitting.

Senior Jaimie Thibeault set the early tone in what would be her final collegiate match, putting down 11 kills on .667 hitting and adding five blocks in the first two matches. Senior Brittney Brown sparked the back row's defensive effort with 14 digs through two sets.