Board of Regents Meeting
November 21-22, 2002
Missoula, Montana

Montana State University-Billings
Chancellor Ronald P. Sexton, Ph. D.

         University Honors Program:Dennis Nettiksimmons, Associate Director of the UHP, announced that there are 66 new students in this year's incoming freshman class in the UHP, twice the size of previous classes.

         David Karnos, Philosophy: His 1993 book, Falling in Love with Wisdom, just came out in Chinese Translation, published in China. He also recently published a book chapter, There Is Always Another Island, in Encounters with Alphonso Lingus, ed. Alex Hooke and Wolfgang Fuchs (Lexington Books, Fall 2002).

         Bill Plank, Modern Languages: His book, The Quantum Nietzsche: The Will to Power and the Nature of Dissipative Systems, was published Spring 2002.

         Patricia Vettel-Becker, Art: She recently published an article, "Destruction and Delight: World War II Combat Photography and the Aesthetic Inscription of Masculine Identity." Men and Masculinities 5:1 (July 2002): 80-102. Her book, Shooting from the Hip: Photography, Masculinity, and Postwar America (University of Minnesota Press: Spring 2003), is forthcoming.

         Matt Benacquista, Physics: He is currently serving as Chair of the Galactic Binary Populations task force of the LISA International Science Team, and recently published an article, "Gravitational radiation from black hole binaries in globular clusters" Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 19, No. 7, p. 1297, 2002. He has been invited to give a talk, "Gravitational wave observations of populations of compact binaries" at Source Simulation and Data Analysis Focus Group at Penn State on October 29.

         Matt Redinger, History: He has an article in the most recent edition of the leading Catholic history journal in the country, The Catholic Historical Review, "To Arouse and Inform": The Knights of Columbus and U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1924-1936. Another article by Redinger, Burke, Lippmann and Walsh: Private Diplomacy in the Mexican Church-State Crisis, was just accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Diplomatic History.

         Bob Robertus, Process Plant Technology Instructor, received a "scholarship" to attend the annual meeting of the Gulf Coast Process Technology alliance meeting in Houston in October.

         Dave Gurchiek, Paramedic Instructor, spoke at the Wyoming State EMS Conference, September 6-8th to roughly two hundred EMT/Paramedics/RN's.

         Celebrated American Indian Heritage Day September 26-27, 2002. Presented a ceremonial Tipi raising, and the ITIC sold traditional Indian tacos. There were more than 70 students attending the cultural presentations by four Native Americans serving on a panel to address diversity and Native American lifestyles.

         Liberal Arts Building, floors 2 thru 8 are completed. The first of three elevators will become operational the end of this month with the remaining elevators to come online next February. The furnishing for the new 95 person tiered classroom will arrive early November, and the Gallery and 1st floor will be completed for this Spring semester.

         The back-up propane distribution system will be online the end of November.

         The new unified voice-mail system is up and running.

         Tim Urbaniak and Orrin Koenig traveled to Sheridan, Wyoming on September 12th for a presentation to the Sheridan-Johnson County chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society.

         All Health Administration programs, BSLS, BSHA and MHA are now online.

         The Drug Free Communities Grant was awarded for $100,000 per year for the next three years.

         Analicia Pianca, International Studies, started as the new director last week.

         Student Opportunity Services was awarded $26,215.00 of the Supplemental Grant Aid.

         Oliver Chen, Mathematics: He is writing a series of books on Java, a computer language. At this moment, two books have been finished. They are: (1) Console Application Oriented Java Programming with Cojava (2) Advanced Console Application Oriented Java Programming with Cojava. They have been recognized by Marquis Whos Who (in its 57th edition 2003).

         Keith Edgerton, History: He has published an article, "A Tough Place to Live: The 1959 Montana State Prison Riot," in Fritz, Swartout, and Murphy, eds., THE MONTANA LEGACY (Montana Historical Society Press, 2002).

Montana State University-Northern
Chancellor Alex Capdeville

         Athletics - Mike Lane, a former standout wrestler and assistant coach at MSU-Northern, has been named recipient of a Sears Directors Cup Postgraduate Scholarship. During his career, Lane was a two-time All-American, finished first at the Midwest Regional Tournament (twice), and was captain of Northern's 1999 National Championship team. Lane will undertake his graduate studies at Chadron (Nebraska) State College and will be employed as a graduate assistant wrestling coach. Lane will pursue a degree in Secondary Education Social Science Administration and hopes to teach & coach at the collegiate level.

         Northern to host Montana Historical Society The Montana Historical Society will be holding their 29th annual Montana History Conference on the MSU-Northern campus October 24-26. This year's theme highlights the history of Havre, Hill County, the Hi-Line and nearby reservations. This conference brings together scholars, writers, and historians to talk about the physical, social, and cultural boundaries in Montana's history. We are delighted to have the event held on campus. This will be a great opportunity for Northern to showcase themselves to many people from across the state.

         Hi-Line Higher Education Consortium Northern held a Hi-Line Higher Education Consortium meeting on Friday, October 11. This group consists of administrators from MSU Northern and our four area Tribal Colleges and has been established to help us become better acquainted with the programs offered at each institution. Our goal is to look toward a shared commitment to our Northcentral Montana constituents and higher education opportunities in the region. Our experiences and continued successes in the Elementary Education program is demonstration of this goal, and we feel there are other undeveloped partnerships that would be valuable to pursue. The first meeting had a participation of 14 persons and the conversation dealt with a structure for the group. Similar meetings will be held each semester to further pursue a working relationship with these area tribal colleges.

         NCATE The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) will visit the MSU-Northern campus on October 26-30. The College of Education and Graduate Programs has worked hard to prepare for the visit; and their work has already received early accolades from the national NCATE office. That office was so impressed with the "conceptual framework" developed by the MSU-Northern education program that it asked the institution if it could be used as a model for other colleges and universities throughout the United States. NCATE has also referred "accreditation first-timers" to Northern for help on their conceptual framework.

         Northwest Commission on Colleges Northern will be hosting a five-year interim visit from Northwest Commission on Colleges October 31 and November 1. Two evaluators will be on campus and meet with various members of the campus community to help with their assessment.

         Rural Business Enterprise Grant MSU-Northern was recently notified that our USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant proposal was funded. We have been working with a group of artists on the Rocky Boy Reservation to organize an arts & crafts cooperative. The grant dollars will be used to facilitate their development through education and training. The total grant amount was $19,000.

         MCDC - USDA Rural Development awarded a two-year, $291,652 grant to the Montana Cooperative Development Center to help develop the center's ability to deliver technical assistance to new and existing cooperatives around Montana. The overall goal of the grant is to help the center improve rural communities in Montana by giving those communities the resources, infrastructure and technical assistance they need to create cooperatives that help bring value-added processing, jobs and tax base into the local area.

Technical assistance services include: training for community members who will be organizing and working in the cooperative; grant writing assistance to help groups obtain the funds they need to start a cooperative; legal and financial assistance to help groups incorporate and set-up their cooperative; and access to the marketing and feasibility research needed to ensure that the cooperative can produce and sell its products at a profit.

         Bus Tour MSU-Northern recently completed an administrator/faculty bus tour to high schools in northeastern Montana. The tour included stops in Opheim, Scobey, Plentywood, Medicine Lake, Froid, Sidney, Bainville, Brockton, Wolf Point, Poplar, Nashua; Glasgow, Whitewater, Malta and Chinook. Faculty presented class demonstrations to students and Alex Capdeville, Chuck Jensen, Regent Lynn Hamilton, Judy Bricker and Jim Potter met with Superintendents, H.S. Principles and H.S. Guidance Counselors to discuss ways that Northern can better meet the educational needs of students and faculty in these communities. Lunches and dinners were held with community members, business leaders, alumni, school administrators and local legislators.

         Alumni Auction The Northern Alumni Association held it's 20th Annual Scholarship Social and Auction on Saturday, October 5th in Donaldson Commons. The event is the main fundraiser for thirteen Alumni scholarships, which support a variety of Northern students. The grand total raised this year was $7,426, which is the second highest amount in the 20-year history of the event. MSU-Northern is grateful to the Havre community for their continued support of this event with their many donations. Many campus employees also offer their support by working the event.

         Department of Justice Grant award MSU-Northern has been awarded a Department of Justice: Grants to Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women on Campus grant in the amount of $203,931.  These grant funds will be used to establish the Student Outreach Services (SOS) program, a central office on campus that will serve as the hub for women's and gender-equity issues.  The center will provide programs and promote public safety for women on campus.  Center personnel will collaborate with on- and off-campus agencies to develop and deliver a coordinated community-campus response effort as well as training programs to educate campus administrators, faculty, university security, and student services staff to respond effectively in sexual assault, domestic violence/abuse, dating violence and stalking cases.  

Programs and training will be made available to students, faculty and staff, as well as interested members of the local community.

The University of Montana-Missoula
President George M. Dennison

         UM Mathematics Professor Rick Billstein received $4.7 million in new funding to update and disseminate the innovative math curriculum designed by him and his UM colleagues with input from many of the nation's best math teachers. The four years of fresh funding comes from the National Science Foundation, Billstein's book publisher, and other sources. Professor Billstein's system, MATH Thematics, focuses upon an exciting, effective way to teach math to middle school students. In addition, Professor Billstein received another National Science Foundation grant worth $825,000 to fund a satellite center of the Show-Me Project at UM. The Show-Me Project works to reform and update middle-school math curricula nationally with the use of more standards-based material.

         UM's School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to increase the number of American Indians with advanced degrees in health sciences professions. The $1.8 million endowment, built over the next two years, will help the School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences to recruit more American Indians into graduate studies.

         Preliminary enrollment of students with disabilities using Disability Services for Students at The University of Montana jumped 24.9 percent for Autumn Semester 2002 over the previous fall semester. During Autumn Semester 2001, 514 students were enrolled at the fourth week of classes. This year, the fourth week count stands at 642, an increase of 128 students. Another 125 or more will enroll with Disability Services before the semester's end.

         The National Association for Student Personnel Administration (NASPA) Region V will honor Vice President for Student Affairs Barbara Hollmann with the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean at the regional conference, 7-9 November in Portland, Oregon. The seven regional award recipients will receive consideration for the national award given at the annual NASPA Conference next March.

         University Villages received new computers, educational and recreational programs, printers and scanners--worth about $20,000--through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and Microsoft Corporation. The technology grant, which brings computers to low-income children through after-school and weekend programs, was made possible through cooperation with the Boys and Girls Club of Missoula.

         On 27 September, UM-M celebrated American Indian Heritage Day with an array of events that included a sunrise ceremony attended by UM-M administration, faculty, staff and students. Arleen Adams, 1999 UM alumni and Salish tribal member, and family assisted with the ceremony as 45 individuals walked from the "M" trailhead to the first switchback as a traditional song was sung and a prayer was given.

         UMs Bureau of Business and Economic Research has earned the 2002 Award of Excellence in Publications for Outlook, a special report that provides readers with the latest economic forecasts, business trends, and natural resource industry reports. The award was presented at the Association for University Business and Economic Research conference held recently in Las Vegas, Nevada.

         UM English Professor Patricia Goedicke received the 2002 Helen and Laura Krout Memorial Ohioana Poetry Award, one of 17 awards given annually by the Ohioana Library Association of Columbus to honor creative accomplishments of Ohioans.

         Two graduates of UM's School of Journalism received top honors in the Mark of Excellence Awards presented by the Society of Professional Journalists at the organization's national convention in Fort Worth, Texas. Danielle Dellerson and Natalya McLees, 2002 graduates of the UM Department of Radio-Television, won first place in the television spot news category for a report on the murders of three women in Florence. In addition, UM senior Johanna Feaster was one of three finalists in the radio feature category. She won the regional competition with her story on the damage done by skateboarders in Missoula.

         The Rural Sociological Society honored Sociology Professor Paul Miller with the Kenneth Wilkinson Rural Policy Award, a national award presented in recognition of Professor Miller's many years of research and professional service regarding the issues of hunger and homelessness and his work in helping the U.S. Bureau of the Census develop better measures of hunger.

         Fifteen UM students from the Department of Military Science participated in the National Advanced Leadership Camp at Fort Lewis, Washington, this summer. Of the fifteen students, eight finished in the top one-third of their platoons. In addition, Cadet Joshua Hyland received honors as the number one graduate from his company and ranked number two of the 350 student participants.

The University of Montana Western
Chancellor Stephen Hulbert

         NCATE Accreditation. On October 21, 2002 the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) notified the University that its professional education unit had received continuing accreditation. The decision by NCATE's Unit Accreditation Board completed the final phase of program review and mirrored action by Montana's Board of Education in July, which provided approval for the University's sixteen endorsement areas within Teacher Education.

         The American College of Thessaloniki. Vice Chancellor Karl Ulrich and Dr. Judy Ulrich visited the American College of Thessaloniki in Athlens, Greece in October. Western and the American College have finalized exchange agreements. The first Western students are in residence in Athens during the 2002-2003 academic year.

         Faculty Accomplishments.

Dr. John Xanthopoulos, Associate Professor of Education, has been invited by the Department of Education of the University of Athens in Greece to prepare a chapter in a book honoring Professor Byron Massialas. The title of Dr. Xanthopoulos' contribution will be "The Challenge of a Global Age: Global Illiteracy."

Dr. Andrea Easter-Pilcher, Associate Professor of Biology, and Brian Pilcher are co-authors of a paper titled: "First results of beaver (Castor fiber) reintroduction in the Volga-Kama National Nature Zapovednik (Russia)." The paper will be published in: Folia Zoologica (Vol. 51-2002), International Journal of Vertebrate Zoology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Dr. Amarjit Sethi, Professor of Business, completed the following reviews: "Team Revolution: Multidisciplinary Teams@Work", Prentice Hall Publishing; "Entrepreneurship: Avoiding the Pitfalls", Prentice Hall Publishing; "E-Commerce: Real Issues & Cases, by M.C. Knapp, Thomson: Southwestern.

Dr. Amarjit Sethi was a keynote speaker at the Business Ethics Conference in Ottawa, Canada this summer. He presented a seminar on "Ten Commandments for CEOs for Ethical Behavior."

Dr. John Xanthopoulos has received an appointment to the Board of Directors of the National Council for Social Studies for the period of July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2005.

In October, UMW Environmental Science graduate Cody Clark and Dr. RobThomas, Professor of Geology, presented at the national meeting of the Geological Society of America on Cody's senior thesis project entitled: The Formation of In Situ Carbonate-Siliciclastic Shelf Deposits by Storm Processes: The Early Triassic Dinwoody Formation, SW Montana.

Dr. Mark Krank, Professor of Psychology/Education, has two publications in press for fall publication. The first is Krank, H. M., Moon, C. E., and Render, G. F. "Cognitive Style and Middle School Learners" in Journal of College Reading and Learning while the second is "Do Inclusive Practices Positively Impact Discipline Referrals for Special Needs Students?" in The Rural Educator.

Library Director Michael Schulz and Instructional Technologist Kevin Kvalvik recently gave a presentation at The U.S. Department of Education's 2002 PT3 Grantee's meeting in Washington D.C. The theme of the meetings was "Connecting With the No Child Left Behind Act". Their presentation was entitled "Large Scale Technology Center Development" and included a virtual walkthrough of Western's new Swysgood Technology Center. Dr. Judy Ulrich, Professor of Education, also gave a presentation at the meetings on her experiences working with students and teachers using technology-mediated experiential learning.

         Two graduates of Western's teacher education program, Kitty Logan and Julie Cajune, received prestigious Milken Family Foundation Education Awards for 2002. The two were among only 100 selected nationwide based on their commitment to excellence, innovation in teaching methods, and outstanding educational leadership, including their ability to motivate students.

Dawson Community College
President Terry Hetrick

         In preparation for the upcoming DCC bond issue election on November 5th, the college has provided information to the residents of the community college district regarding the new gymnasium, performing arts center, and library expansion needed at the college. Information has included weekly tours of the campus; hosting a community appreciation day; publishing an informational brochure on the proposed facilities; writing informational letters to the local newspaper editor supporting the project; making presentations to civic clubs, organizations and businesses; and publishing informational ads on the project.

         Five DCC instructors have been recognized as "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" for 2002. These five faculty members are Holly Dershem-Bruce, Marcia Holas, Tom Ree, Jim Schultz, and Lisa Shields.

         DCC has been selected as one of seven recipients of the "J. Edgar Hoover Memorial Scholarship" for 2002. This scholarship is awarded by the Former Agents of the F.B.I. Foundation as a result of a nomination submitted by one of its members. The other six recipients include Florida State, Department of Criminology; Seton Hall University; Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus; Lafayette College; Southern Illinois University; Central Missouri State; and Arizona State University West. Seven scholarships have been awarded each year since 1978 by this foundation.

         Holly Dershem-Bruce, DCC Law Enforcement instructor, was recently recognized as the CCCOnline Faculty Member of the Year for 2002. CCCOnline is a consortium of sixteen colleges including DCC that provides educational programs via the Internet. Holly teaches an Introduction to Political Science course for CCCOnline. Ms. Dershem-Bruce is only the third faculty member to be so recognized by the consortium since its inception.

         Considerable progress has been made on the construction of the DCC Recreational Complex (men's baseball and women's fast pitch softball fields and winter recreation areas for our community). All the earthwork has been completed, sprinkler systems have been installed, and foundations for the backstops have been poured, but fencing and installation of sod for the two fields are yet to be completed. The sledding hills and ice skating rink are 90% complete.

Flathead Valley Community College
President Jane Karas

         FVCC held community forums in Flathead and Lincoln counties on the master planning process and FVCC's plans for the future.

         This fall FVCC's enrollment has increased 13% to 1290.07 FTE.

         The FVCC Board of Trustees voted to proceed with a bond initiative to implement the college's master plan. The Board officially adopted a resolution calling for a school election to renovate and expand the current Kalispell Campus to meet community needs. The bond will be for $15,816,000, and an election will be held on December 12, 2002. The ballot will be mailed out to all Flathead County voters in late November, after the general election.

         Dr. Gregg Davis, Economics Instructor and Director of the Center for Business Information and Research at FVCC, presented a paper entitled, "Building a Purchasing Parity Index for Marketing Tourism," at the Association for University Business and Economic Research annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Center for Business Information and Research serves the community at large with expertise in business information and consulting.

         Dorothy Hintz, Director of Instruction and Student Services and English Instructor at the FVCC Lincoln County Campus, published an article in the September 2002 issue of the English Journal, the official journal of the Secondary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English.

         Jack Gladstone, renowned Blackfeet Indian singer, songwriter, lecturer, and storyteller, entertained a crowd on campus in October, for a community celebration. The FVCC Office of Native American and Multicultural Affairs joined hands with the group, "Not In Our Town," to present the celebration.

         The Montana Historical Society and Flathead County Libraries collaborated to bring a traveling museum exhibit to FVCC entitled, Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936 1941. The exhibit is based on the work of four Farm Security Administration photographers who were detailed to Montana in the 1930s and early 1940s to document the effects of the depression on our state. The photo exhibit will be available for viewing through November 22.

         The college hosted the Montana Committee for the Humanities (MCH) Speakers Bureau program, "Hope in Hard Times: Documenting the Great Depression," by MSU-Bozeman Professor Mary Murphy. The free lecture was presented in conjunction with the Montana Historical Society photo exhibit, Hope in Hard Times, which is also on display at FVCC.

         The FVCC Foundation is sponsoring the 8th annual Christmas Tree Excellence Gala, "Romancing the Holidays," on December 5. The goal is to raise scholarship funds for talented and deserving students to attend FVCC, and has netted more than $207,290 since it was started in 1994. $1 raffle tickets will be sold to give the purchaser a chance to win one of six beautifully decorated community Christmas trees and great gifts.

         "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?," a depression-era free community lecture, was held at the Flathead County Library last month. Bill Rossiter, retired FVCC English Instructor, along with his guitar, banjo and autoharp, encouraged attendees to share personal and family recollections of the 1930's. His program showed the irreverent, resilient American spirit, not through history and literature, but through folk songs and "illiterature."

         The Flathead Valley Community Theatre will present, "Cabaret," this month, as it's first production this season. David Ackroyd, local professional of state, television and screen is directing. The company comes from three community theatres in the Flathead Valley, and local professionals are helping with costuming, choreography and musical direction. The cast and crew have been rehearsing since last May, and all are looking forward to opening night November 8!

         Dr. Tunde Adeleke, professor of African American Studies at UM, lectured about African American History and Culture on October 19. Originally from Nigeria, Dr. Adeleke lectures and publishes extensively, and was sponsored by the FVCC Native American and Multicultural Affairs.

         FVCC art students held an exhibit opening October 24, at the Hockday Museum of Art. "That Damned Can!" was an exhibition of FVCC student drawings from Instructor John Rawlings drawing classes over the past six years.

         The FVCC Office of Native American and Multicultural Affairs sponsored a college-wide moment of silence and special program to commemorate the tragedy of September 11, 2002, on the one-year anniversary.

         A Halloween party and haunted house for small children was presented by the FVCC Student Senate and Healthy Lifestyles Committee on Halloween night. Several hundred little goblins and ghosts attended to play games, receive treats and prizes, and go through the haunted house.

Miles Community College
President Darrel L. Hammon

         Ron Dorn has been hired to be Dean, Administrative Services/Budget Director. Ron has taken Wayne Muri's position. Ron has held similar positions at Boise State University, Friends University, Albertson College of Idaho, University of Maine @ Fort Kent, Lamar Community College, and most recently, MacMurray College. Also, Sandy Myers has accepted the position of Director, Academic Development Center/Adult Basic Education. She comes from West Virginia Northern Community College.

         Johnnie Thomas, local community historian and art benefactor, purchased the famous "Crazy Horse" through the Billings "Horse of Course" public art horse project. Recently, Ms. Thomas has announced that Miles Community College Library will stable "Crazy Horse." John Fynn, Billings artist-quilter, designed and quilted "Crazy Horse."

         Miles Community College is part of the Eastern Montana Electronic Telecommunications Consortia that recently received a Rural Utilities Service grant for $430,071. This distance learning project includes several eastern Montana K-12 districts, Dawson Community College, Miles Community College, and Montana State University-Billings. The purpose of the grant is to upgrade the video conferencing systems in each of the units and develop appropriate programming for secondary, postsecondary, and community learners.

         Miles Community College hosted its annual Miles Community College Educators' Conference, October 17-18. Approximately 150 teachers and paraeducators from eastern Montana attended.

         Sponsored by Miles Community College, the Raising Our Community Kids Safely (ROCKS) program, an after-school program for youth in the community, received it two-year extended license. Additionally, Joyce Vera, its director, was appointed to the Montana Child Care Research and Referral Advisory Board.

         Four Miles Community College faculty are being honored in this year's edition of Who's Who Among America's Teacher 2002. According to Parke H. Davis, the Publisher of this publication, This is a great honor because these teachers have been chosen by their community as the most influential educators within your school. Miles Community College Who's Who Among America's Teacher 2002 faculty are Delores Cameron, Bette Jewell, Garth Sleight, and Nancy Swope.

         Miles Community College Building Technology students are surveying and setting up the hockey rink for the Miles City Youth Hockey Association.

         Miles Community College Information Technology students, led by Instructor, Nancy Swope are working with the Miles City Chamber of Commerce, Custer County, and the City of Miles City to develop a shared web page and then train their employees on how to develop additional web pages and maintain the site.

         Beau Hill, a former Miles Community College Bull rider, has qualified for the National Rodeo Finals.

Montana Tech of The University of Montana
Chancellor Frank Gilmore

         Dr. Pat Munday published "A millionaire couldn't buy a piece of water as good: George Grant and the Conservation of the Big Hole River Watershed"   MONTANA: THE MAGAZINE OF WESTERN HISTORY.

         Graduate student Daniela Bocioaga was awarded a grant from the Psychological Society of America to study the effects of algae bioremediation on the Berkeley Pit.

         Professor Robert Ziegler, Liberal Studies, will serve on the Nineteenth-Century French StudiesAdvisory Board.  He also read a paper on French Studies at Ohio State in October.

         Career Services hosted its 3rd Annual Career Fair on September 12 with over 60 companies.

         The Applied Health Science program is partnering with the Nursing program to continue the service-learning and continuing health education offered at the Montana State Prison in collaboration with the Montana State Prison's Rehabilitation Services Department.

         Dr. Andrea Stierle with Co-PI's Drs. Don Stierle, Doug Cameron, and Grant Mitman was awarded a $200,000 USGS grant to study The Chemistry and Biochemistry of Life in the Berkeley Pit Lake System.  Dr. Stierle was also awarded an NIH/BRIN grant to study The Use of Signal Transduction Pathways to Isolate Bioactive Metabolites from Berkeley Pit Microbes.  She was also keynote speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products in New Hampshire last summer.

         Dr. Don Stierle, Chemistry, was an invited lecturer at the American Society of Pharmacognosy National Meeting in New Jersey this summer.  His presentation was "Investigation of the Microorganism Complex in the Berkeley Pit Lake System".

         Drs. Andrea and Don Stierle are collaborators on a Phase II SBIR-NIH grant with Montec Rsearch to study a new fermentation methodology to increase fungal production of desired metabolites.

         In cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey and a grant from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, Mike Stickney of the Montana Bureau of Mines & Geology upgraded the antiquated Missoula seismograph station to a U.S. National Seismic System broadband digital seismograph.  Data streams from the state-of-the-art sensors are telemetered via satellite and the Internet to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado and the Earthquake Studies Office in Butte.

         Dr. Courtney Young (Metallurgical & Materials Engineering) and Corby Anderson (Camp Director) continue organizing the 5th International Symposium on Hydrometallurgy.  Over 600 professionals from around the world are expected to attend.

         Tech received a $466,102 equipment grant from NSF to ugrade the rock triazial shear testing device in the Mining Engineering rock mechanics laboratory and to establish a numerical modeling laboratory in Geological Engineering.  Co-PI's for the project are Drs. McNearny, MacLaughlin, Donovan and Ziaja.

         Montana Tech closed FY 2002 with a total grants and contract volume of $5.4 million.

         Professor John Brower of Montana Tech and Professor Bruce Finnie of Pacific Lutheran University co-authored and presented a paper on determining the cost of environmental impact from mining at the annual conference of the Western Economic Association in Seattle.

         Mr. Robert Bergantino, MBMG, has been named Honorary Award winner of two scholarships by the Northwest Federation of Mineralogical Societies.  The two-year scholarships have been awarded to two Montana Tech students.  Mr. Bergantino is also an expert on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

         Tech's Nursing Program and the Belmont Senior Citizens Center received a grant to develop a community based nursing clinic to serve seniors in Butte. The project Director is Allison McIntosh.

         Acting Library Director, Ann St. Clair, recently went to Shanghai, China on an academic exchange.

Montana State University
President Geoff Gamble

      Due to a record Fall Semester enrollment of 11,934, MSU-Bozeman was able to announce that it would be reducing the Spring semester surcharge that had been necessitated by the budget reductions instituted during this past Summer's special session of the Legislature. Enrollment gains occurred at every level and the number of students increased both from Montana and from out-of-state.

      President Bush's science advisor, John H. Marburger III, visited Bozeman and the MSU campus Oct. 18. Marburger, who heads the Office of Science and Technology Policy, visited with MSU faculty studying lasers, biofilms, infectious diseases, life in extreme environments and other topics. He also gave a public lecture attended by more than 200 people.

      A $600,000 National Science Foundation grant was awarded to MSU to help establish new high-tech businesses in the state.  Partners in the project are MSU TechLink, which finds NASA and Department of Defense technologies for companies to commercialize, with the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity; the College of Business at MSU-Bozeman, which trains students in entrepreneurial skills; and the Technology Venture Center in Bozeman. The TVC is a private, not-for-profit organization that links entrepreneurs with investors, mentors and a business incubator. Will Swearingen, of Tech Link is the project leader.

      MSU-Bozeman is involved in improving student performance in science by bolstering the effectiveness of new middle and high school science teachers. Working with the National Science Teachers Association, MSU will mentor beginning teachers, using on-line and face-to-face mentoring approaches. The project will serve close to 90 percent of rural districts in Montana and is funded by the National Science Foundation. Elisabeth Swanson is the project leader.

      MSU educators are helping teachers in Azerbaijan revamp the country's 10th-gradecivics curriculum. Twenty trainers from Bozeman will travel to Azerbaijan within the next six months to help teachers there implement the new curriculum. Funding for the project has come to MSU's Office of International Education from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

      The Montana Faith-Health Cooperative, an organization formed to assist the neediest Montanans by enhancing and expanding partnerships between faith-based groups and community-based organizations, has received $614,555 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide technical assistance and sub-awards to faith-based organizations and community-based organizations that provide social services to needy Montanans. The Cooperative grew out of a collaboration between the Montana Office of Rural Health, based at MSU-Bozeman, and the Montana Association of Churches.

      At ceremonies during Ag Appreciation Weekend, November 15-16, four Montanans were named outstanding agricultural leaders by Montana State University-Bozeman. Kevin Halverson of Big Timber has pioneered a value-added lamb cooperative called Sweet Grass Natural Lamb. David McClure and his wife Joyce run a diversified operation near Lewistown. Dave has been president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation since 1987. Greg Bennett of Ronan positively impacted hundreds of young people during his 25 year tenure as a high school vocational agriculture teacher. Since "retiring," Bennett worked as a crop adjuster and as inspector of Montana certified and registered seed grains. Throughout a career in broadcasting and public service, Senator Conrad Burns has consistently been a strong advocate for agriculture, not just in Montana, but across our nation. He has set the standard for elected officials who support agricultural producers and products.