September 25-26, 2003

ITEM 120-2007-R0903  Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry upon John R. Amend; Montana State University-Bozeman

THAT: Upon the occasion of the retirement of professor John R. Amend from the faculty of Montana State University, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of the State of Montana.

EXPLANATION: Dr. Amend received a B.A. in Physics and Education from Pacific Lutheran University in 1960. While in college he worked in the Electrical Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Alaska Communications System. He received the Signal Corps Award for Exceptional Performance for his engineering work on a communications project in Alaska. He taught high school physics and chemistry from 1960 until 1965. In 1964 he earned a M.S. in Chemistry from Montana State College - the last class to receive "college" diplomas. He earned a PhD in Chemical Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1967. He joined the Montana State University faculty with a post-doctoral appointment in 1967, and as Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1968. He was appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1975. In 1970 and 1973, Dr. Amend held positions as visiting scientist at Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. From 1985-1993 he served as Associate Head, Acting Head, and Head of the Montana State University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

More than 27,000 students have enrolled in Dr. Amend's general chemistry, analytical chemistry, and graduate courses since 1968. He was recognized as one of two MSU nominees for "Outstanding Educators of America" in 1974. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award, presented by the Phi Kappa Phi honorary and the President of Montana State University in 1979, and the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award in 1985. He was recognized three times by students as Montana State University's Professor of the Month - in 1990, 1991, and 1997.

Dr. Amend has authored or co-authored eleven nationally published chemistry texts, one of which was translated and published in Italy in 1995. He is author of sixty-one papers and book chapters, and has presented more than 100 invited seminars in the U.S. and Canada. He is co-author of one U.S. patent concerning analog computer design (rights held by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) and has one patent pending.

Dr. Amend's research and education programs have been continually funded since 1967, averaging about $110,000 in new funding each year for a total of about $4,000,000. More than 40 undergraduate and graduate students have worked in his laboratory and were funded by his projects. In 1990 his PhD student Ronald Furstenau received Montana State Unversity's Outstanding Doctoral Award. Lt. Col. Furstenau is now Deputy Head of the Department of Chemistry at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Also in 1990, Dr. Amend and his research group received Zenith Data System's national "Masters of Innovation" award for data acquisition hardware and software they had developed. This technology was sold by the University to a Montana Corporation that marketed it in the U.S. and Canada for twelve years.

Interactive computers developed by Dr. Amend=s research group modeled world energy supply and demand and watershed management. These were used by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Energy, and the Bureau of Reclamation as a central element of their national energy and water public education programs. A world energy management computer simulation developed by his group was featured in the energy exhibit in the U.S. Pavillion at the Brussels Worlds Fair.

Dr. Amend created a number of professional training opportunities for college and high school chemistry faculty. From 1966-1975, with funding from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation, he directed the longest-running Nuclear Chemistry summer workshop in the country in the country. This series of nine six-week workshops enrolled about 270 faculty. Since 1994 he has conducted fifteen week-long summer workshops in computer-based measurement for college and university faculty. These workshops brought more then 250 faculty from the U.S. and Canada to the MSU campus. He also directed a two-year, monthly workshop program for Montana tribal college science faculty with sponsorship by NIH, twenty-eight weekend-long Eisenhower workshops enrolling about 800 Montana High School science teachers, and NSF-sponsored year-long bi-weekly workshops for science faculty from tribal colleges and high schools on the Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and Salish-Kootenai reservations.

Dr. Amend served as Montana State University's Faculty Council Chair 1999-2000 and represented the faculty to the Regents. He initiated, with President Gamble, the Large Class Task Force. This group of 36 faculty contact 90% of the freshman and sophomore student each semester. With President Gamble's assistance this Task Force raised $250,000 for improvement of the large lecture rooms on campus. Dr. Amend chaired the Science-Technology Core Committee during development of the University Core Curriculum in the 1980's. He also served on the University Promotion and Tenure Committee and chaired the Gaines Hall building and Renovation Committee from 1993-1997.

Dr. Amend received Pacific Lutheran University's Centennial Alumni Recognition as one of 100 outstanding alumni honored on the University's 100th anniversary in 1992. In 1993 he received the Montana Science Teacher's Association Award for Exceptional Service to the Science Teachers and Students of Montana. In 2003, Dr. Amend received the Two Year College Chemistry Association's national Award for Outstanding Service to Chemical Education. Also in 2003, he was honored with membership in the Order of the Engineer in recognition of his contributions to engineering education.

For these and other contributions, the Board of Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer Dr. John R. Amend the rank of Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana State University and wishes him well for many years in the future.