DATE: 15 May 2001

TO: Board of Regents

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

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

         Alexander Badyaev (Ph.D. 1999, UM) received the 2001 Dobzhansky Prize from the International Society for the Study of Evolution. The Dobzhansky Prize, considered the most prestigious award given to young evolutionary biologists, recognizes outstanding contribution to the study of evolution.

         Specialized Accreditation:

o         In April 2001, the School of Business Administration joined an elite group of schools in receiving separate accreditation from the AACSB for both its undergraduate and graduate programs in Accounting.

o         The Department of Music received reaccreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music through the year 2010.

o         In March, the Pharmacy Technology Program received accreditation by the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Commission on Credentialing through the year 2006.

         The School of Journalism finished sixth among 109 accredited programs in the national Hearst Awards Competition.  Students in all sequences won points for their entries, with the highest number awarded to Katrin Frye who took first place in radio news.

         The University of Montana has received the award for best licensing program in America by its peers. The University received the Synergy Award for its use of integrated marketing.

         Nominated for a Northwest Regional Emmy award in the Cultural Affairs/Fine Arts Series category, Backroads of Montana, produced by KUFM-TV at The University of Montana, will compete with KING-TV, Seattle. The nominated episode of Backroads profiles a rural mail carrier in Roundup, a fire lookout near Nine Mile, a Glasgow metal sculptor, a labyrinth near Victor and American Indian pictographs and petroglyphs near Forestgrove.  Backroads of Montana celebrates its tenth anniversary on May 20.

         Members of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recently elected Professor Johnny W. Lott, Department of Mathematical Sciences, to serve as President for a two-year term.

         Julie Sullivan (B.A. 1987, UM School of Journalism) became the seventh UM journalism graduate to receive a Pulitzer Prize. She received the Pulitzer as part of a four-person reporting team from Portland's daily newspaper, the Oregonian.

         Mark Angelo (M.S. 1978, UM School of Forestry) has received the Order of Canada, Canada's highest lifetime achievement award recognizing people who have made a difference to that country. Angelo, head of the British Columbia Institute of Technology's Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation Program, received the award for his river conservation efforts over the past 25 years.

         Two UM students won prestigious Morris K. Udall Scholarships of $5,000 each for the academic year 2001-2002. Caroline Plumage of Fort Belknap and Rachel James of Palmer, Alaska, join a select group of 80 students from 39 states nominated by their professors and selected on the basis of academic merit.

         UM students Amanda Deisher of Terry and Zachary Wilson of Missoula will join 302 students in the nation to receive $7,500 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships for the 2001-2002 academic year. The two students, both juniors, competed on the basis of academic merit in a field of 1,164 math, science, and engineering students nominated by faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.