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Welcome to ForUM, the e-newsletter for University of Montana staff, faculty and administrators. ForUM is published weekly during the academic year except during scheduled academic breaks.

"The President's Update," a video series for UM President Royce Engstrom to communicate with the campus community, is now available on the President's Office website and on the official UM YouTube channel.

Countdown to Winter Break   ForUM will be coming to your mailboxes for the last time this semester on Monday, Dec. 13, and then will take a winter break until the first day of spring semester classes on Monday, Jan. 24, 2011.

UM Technology Launches Company   Two new patents for brain imaging agents discovered at UM have produced 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. "A fantastic team has come together to create this new business, which has licensed this technology from the University," said Joe Fanguy, UM director of technology transfer. "We need to continue to strive to find these types of partnerships that can help researchers like John transfer their discoveries to a more clinical setting." Gerdes, whose department is based in UM's College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, has developed tracer molecules that target specific transporter proteins in the central nervous system. These molecules have quick-decaying radioactive atoms attached to them that allows for Positron Emission Tomography scanning. The PET scans detect the tracer molecules when they are bound to the biomarker protein inside the brain, allowing the biomarker proteins to be quantified. Read the Full News Release

Learn More About Biomass Boiler Project   UM will hold information and public comment meetings this 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.

UM Center Upgraded to School   Sharon Alexander, a University of Montana 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. "When I came here in 1990, we were just a small unit. Now if you look at our programs, budget, who we are, what we do and our integration into the mainstream programs of the University, it just made sense that we go with the term school instead of center. Also, there are many centers at the University, but we were the only one with a dean," said Alexander, who will retire at the end of this year. "It really was quite easy to sell this new name here on campus." SELL administers the University's online degree and certificate programs, as well as extended courses, professional development opportunities, UM's summer semester and Wintersession, and UMOnline, which offers courses using an Internet-based system. 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. School of Extended & Lifelong Learning

Reading Series Features Author David Gates   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. For more information visit the Creative Writing Program website, call Karin Schalm, program coordinator, at 243-5267 or e-mail karin.schalm@mso.umt.edu. Creative Writing Program

Forensic DNA Pioneer to Speak at UM   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. 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 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. Nationally, 261 people have been exonerated with DNA evidence, including three Montanans. 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. Montana Innocence Project

Student Volunteers Boost Economy   Recent statistics from the University's Office for Civic Engagement show that UM students exceeded expectations for community service during the 2009-10 academic year, with a total of 1,641 students completing 161,246 hours of community 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. Volunteers include students who participated in service learning courses and those affiliated with UM's Campus Corps AmeriCorps Program, as well as students who volunteered for various extracurricular activities throughout the year. "UM has a long and proud history of community engagement," said Office for Civic Engagement Director Andrea Vernon. "Student volunteerism and service learning are important aspects of engagement that demonstrate the University's public service mission." Office for Civic Engagement

Training Focuses on Military Families   As children with parents in the military enter the holidays with family deployed overseas, UM's 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. Participants are asked to RSVP today by calling Nancy Berg at 243-4973 or e-mailing nancy.berg@mso.umt.edu. Institute for Educational Research and Service

Give Input on Freshmen Preregistration Process   The Office for Student Success, Enrollment Services and the Registrar's Office have launched a discussion board on the topic of preregistering new freshmen into core courses for their first semester. The UM community can comment on what worked well and how to improve the process for 2011. Those who participated in any way in the preregistration of new freshmen -- helping define a department's core courses, building schedules for new freshmen during the June preregistration or advising students during summer and fall orientations -- are asked take a few moments to share their thoughts. Technology enhancements and communication improvements already are under way, and suggestions on those and other issues are critical. For more information, e-mail Office for Student Success Executive Director Sharon O'Hare at sharon1.ohare@umontana.edu.

Volunteer to Read Scholarship Applications   The Financial Aid Office General Scholarship Program needs readers for the 2011-12 General Scholarship Competition and invite faculty and staff to volunteer. The reading period will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 23-24, in the Brantly Hall Presidents Room. Volunteers will be asked to read and rate a scholarship packet of 10 applications, which should take about one hour. To RSVP or for more information, call Kathy Gaskill at 243-5379 or e-mail kgaskill@mso.umt.edu. Those who volunteer will be sent a reminder in early February.

Student Refunds Go Electronic   UM is partnering with Higher One, a financial services company, to provide students with electronic refunds starting spring semester 2011. Students will receive a bright green envelope in the mail with their UM Debit Card. The UM Debit Card is not a credit card. Students will use the card to log on to the UM Debit Card website to choose one of three options currently available for receiving refunds: a free OneAccount checking account with Higher One to receive an Easy Refund; an ACH Transfer to an existing bank account; and, for spring semester 2011 only, a paper check. By opening a OneAccount, the UM Debit Card becomes a MasterCard debit card and can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Students who opt for the ACH Transfer or the paper check should keep the UM Debit Card to use if they decide to switch to the OneAccount Easy Refund option in the future. Because the debit card is a new way of handling refunds, the University has created a Business Services website to provide information about the card and how to get refunds. It is important that students do not lose this card and that they keep their addresses up to date through CyberBear.

President Engstrom's Office Hours   Each semester President Engstrom welcomes members of the campus community to meet with him to discuss issues and topics of their choice. Please call 243-2311 or e-mail prestalk@umontana.edu to make an appointment to meet with President Engstrom during these times. President Engstrom's remaining scheduled office hours for autumn semester are: Tuesday, Dec. 14: 3-5 p.m.

Faculty/Staff Socials   The final social of autumn semester, co-sponsored by the Faculty Senate and Academic Affairs, will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, in the Davidson Honors College Lounge.

News About U    Anthropology and Native American studies Professor Neyooxet Greymorning gave a guest lecture Nov. 18 on Comanche medicine for UM's Native American Medicine course taught by Rustem Medora. Mathematics Professor Bharath Sriraman is an organizer of the Banff Workshop on Teachers as Stakeholders in Mathematics Education Research to be held Dec. 5-10. The workshop brings together 25 participants from around the world to unify approaches to mathematics content presented in textbooks aimed at teacher education. Sriraman will edit a handbook on sustainable models of longitudinal professional development that have been successfully implemented in Australia, Europe, Israel and North America, which will be produced at the workshop. The handbook will be released in 2012 by Springer Science.

Publications   Minnick, Cheryl (contributing author). 2010. Resumes that Pop! Barron's Educational Series. Sriraman, Bharath (co-author). 2010. "Conjecturing Via Reconceived Classical Analogy." Educational Studies in Mathematics. Open access on Springerlink DOI: 10.1007/s10649-010-9274-1. Sriraman, Bharath (co-editor) 2010. The Elements of Creativity and Giftedness in Mathematics. Vol. 1 of Advances in Creativity and Giftedness. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. 240 pp.