DATE: 14 November 2000

TO: Board of Regents

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

RE: Campus Report for the November, 2000 Board of Regents' Meeting

         UM now has 49 National Merit Scholars' 18 of whom began as freshmen this fall.

         UM received a $7 million grant from the Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) to advance research in neurological diseases.

         The Davidson Honors College grew this fall to over 600 students for the first time since its founding nine years ago.

         UM's Volunteer Action Services and ITRC recently received a Digital Divide AmeriCorps program grant of approximately $245,000 from the Corporation for National Service. The AmeriCorps program will develop computer technology training programs for low-income youth and families.

         The Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) includes UM, Montana State, Idaho, Washington State, Utah State, and Salish-Kootenai in a consortium to coordinate researchers in national parks to lay the groundwork for studies ranging from grizzly bears to noxious weeds.

         Gifts to the UM Foundation in FY 2000 set a record at $15.3 million. Just over 47 percent of that amount--$7.2 million goes to endowments.

         UM became one of 40 institutions in the U.S. to have Access Grid Nodes which are used to engage in new collaborative audio-visual and software transmissions for long-distance collaboration.

         The John C. Hoyt Athletic Complex, the newly-completed west wing in Adams Center funded by private donations, now houses more than 60 Intercollegiate Athletics staff members.

         After a mere six years of existence, the Women's Grizzly Soccer Team recently won the Big Sky Conference Championship and, for the second time, made it to the NCAA Tournament.

         Grizzly Football clinched its fifth Big Sky Conference Championship in six years and will make the 1-AA playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.

         Plans continue for a $300,000 privately-funded renovation of Dornblaser Track, including new bleacher seats, track re-surfacing, and landscape improvements.

         Dennis McAuliffe, Native American Journalist-in-Residence, was chosen by the Freedom Forum to help lead its national diversity initiative. As such, he visits Native American communities as an ambassador for diversity in the nation's newsrooms and serves as a model for recruiting and retaining minority students.

         Dr. Barbara Hollmann, Vice President for Student Affairs, received the Region V Fred Turner Award for Outstanding Service to NASPA, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, at the recent regional conference.

         In October, UM kicked off a Year of Dialogue on multicultural topics and issues which will include guest speakers and classroom discussion on related concerns.

         UM President George M. Dennison has accepted an appointment to the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

         In October two couples--the late Bill and Rosemary Gallagher and Dennis and Phyllis Washington--received UM's Order of the Grizzly Award for significant civic and philanthropic contributions.