DATE:  20 March 2001

TO:  Board of Regents 

FROM:  G. M. Dennison, President, The University of Montana

RE:  Campus Report for the March 2001 Board of Regents' Meeting 

         Barbara Hollmann, Vice President for Student Affairs, has been selected to participate in the 2001 Fulbright U.S.-German International Education Administrators Seminar. She will spend two weeks in May visiting German universities in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Hamburg. 

         The University of Montana's institutional theme, The Discovery Continues, won the highest honor awarded in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Out of over 300 entries, UM's submission in the Public Relations category was one of only six Grand Gold winners in consideration for the Virginia Carter Smith Grand Crystal Award for CASE District VIII. This marks the first time a Montana school has won the Grand Crystal Award. CASE is the largest educational organization in the world. 

         In additional CASE news, Bill Johnston, Executive Director of the Alumni Association and State Legislative Lobbyist, was elected Chair-Elect for the District VIII Board of Directors. This is the first time that an advancement professional from Montana has been so honored. It is also the first time a professional from a state other than Washington or Oregon has served in this position. 

         Montana Public Radio News Director Sally Mauk has won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA). Winning entries were for "Fires of 2000," "Native Games," and "Copenhagen Jazz." Regional winners advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Award competition in June. 

         Kathy Crego, Director of Human Resource Services, and Mark LoParco, Director of Dining Services, were recently named co-directors for the Montana University System Achievement Project (MAP). MAP, a new compensation and classification structure for staff within the Montana University System, serves as the foundation for change in leadership expectations, accountability, and communication among staff and managers. 

         In February, a 53-foot semi-tractor bearing a giant Montana Grizzlies logo earned UM-M a Merit Award from HMR Publications Group in a national advertising awards competition. The traveling billboard advertises the University and the Grizzlies. 

In the same competition, UM-M won a Bronze Award for the 1999 President's Annual Report. University Relations produced the report in which UM-M's new institutional theme, The Discovery Continues, was introduced.  

         A four-person team of UM law students won the regional championship at the National Student Trial Advocacy Competition held 4 March 2001 in Phoenix, Arizona. The competition included 16 teams from ten law schools, including the University of California, Berkeley and Arizona State University. The regional win qualifies the UM team to compete in the national finals on 22 March in New Orleans. Montana teams have advanced to the national finals seven times in the last 13 years and won the national championship in 1992. 

         David Aronofsky, UM Legal Counsel, received a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach law and provide higher education consulting to the University of Montevideo in Uruguay this summer. 

         The University of Montana ranks 21st in the nation for the number of graduates who are currently serving abroad as Peace Corps volunteers. Thirty-seven former UM students are now in the Peace Corps.