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Spring 2000
CONTENTS

Smokin'

The Last Best Good Story

Not Your Father's Generation

Hooked On Teaching

Bucking Trends

Amazon Dreams

C'est Missoula Vie

AROUND THE OVAL
SPORTS
CLASS NOTES
ALUMNI NOTES


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Alumni News

UMAA Annual Expenses and Income Summaries, Fiscal Year 1999
The UM Alumni Association has as its mission statement, "to identify and meet the needs of the University, its alumni, students and friends." The association has been doing just that since its founding in 1901. The association's board of directors over the last decade has made strategic decisions to increase outreach programs. This raised level of activity implies funding challenges. During the same period of time, the directors have also looked at all appropriate revenue generating activities. As a consequence, the association's budget has increased from $40,000 in 1989 to an excess of $240,000 in 1999.

The accompanying charts indicate the percentages of revenue raised from different sources and corresponding expenditures by programs in fiscal year 1999. UMAA is successful because of your financial and personal support. A strong Alumni Association means a strong University. Thank you for your continued support. Get Involved ... Stay Involved.

Bill Johnston

Winter Memories
A photo on page 20 in the Winter 2000 issue of the Montanan brought the following response from Bob Friaf:

"As I was paging through the latest Montanan, I was totally surprised to see the picture of students skating on the Oval in the winter of 1962, as I am one of those pictured. I am the second skater from the left. I don't remember who the other skaters were, but I was the only one with speed skates and I really enjoyed being able to zip around not only the Oval, but almost the entire campus. I remember skating from Craig Hall to the fieldhouse with only a few bare patches to watch out for. Those of us who were skaters enjoyed several days of being the only ones who could stand up under those conditions and we were completely bummed out when the maintenance department decided we had had enough fun and sanded the sidewalks. They were going to make us quit skating on the Oval but Dean Andy Cogswell came to the rescue and said as long as the ice held up and we didn't run over any students or professors, we could continue. Those were great days. Had we had a Washington-Grizzly Stadium then just think what we could have done with some water and cold weather!"

Bob has been a physical education teacher for 33 years, the past 24 in the Missoula Public Schools. A speed skater in high school, he works out daily with his grade school students, doing warm-ups, crunches and activities that keep him part of each class. Bob and his wife, Sylvia, reside in Lolo and enjoy bicycling and camping.

Charter Day 2000
Whoever said getting older's no fun? On Thursday, February 17, UM turned 107 and it was a grand occasion. That morning the University presented awards to five outstanding University personalities at ceremonies in the Montana Theatre. Christopher Peterson received the Student Service Award and dedicated it to his cousin, a cancer victim, who long ago became a role model for Chris. Jim Marks, Director of Disability Services for Students, received the Robert T. Pantzer Award for helping make the University a more open and humane learning environment. President Pantzer was in the audience and clapped proudly when Jim received his award. Professor Jerry Esmay, chair of the computer science department, received the Montana Faculty Service Award. Jerry directs the annual Montana State Science Fair and gave special recognition to his staff. Phyllis Washington received the Neil S. Bucklew Presidential Service Award and presented UM's School of Education with new scholarship funds. Jan Fowler Dargitz received UMAA's Montana Alumni Award for years of volunteer work for the association, the delegate program, recruitment and scholarship donations.

That afternoon the Alumni Association served birthday cake in the UC atrium. In the evening, Monte, the University's mascot, distributed gifts donated by UMAA to lucky fans at the Griz-Cal State basketball game. Birthday cake was given to theatregoers at the Montana Repertory Theatre's "A Grand Night for Singing," and to attendees at the Sixth Annual Native American Lecture held at the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West.

Awards, music, speeches, cake, balloons, flowers, gifts, a blue sky Montana day—a fine way to celebrate the University's chartering 107 years ago and to honor its alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends. This getting older isn't bad at all.

And the Winners are . . .
Following each out-of-town Grizzly football game last fall, the Alumni Association held a drawing for the registered tailgate attendees with Griz gear as prizes. At the close of the football season, we held a special drawing for all dues-paying members of the association. Winners of this drawing were alumni Glen Ingrum '82 from Spokane, Washington, and James C. Wallace '80 from Absarokee. Glen will receive two tickets to the 2000 Homecoming game, a night's lodging and dinner for two. Jim will receive two tickets to the 2000 Griz-Cat game, a night's lodging and dinner for two. Congratulations, Glen and Jim! Thanks for supporting your Alumni Association.

Latin Professor Leaves Estate to UM Two generations of UM Latin, Greek and mythology students benefited from Marguerite Ephron's intellect, and countless future generations who never had the opportunity to study Latin declensions with her will benefit from her foresight and generosity.

When Professor Ephron died last year, she left $1.3 million—a sizeable portion of her estate—to UM for the Henry and Marguerite Ephron Presidential Scholarship, the Ephron Opportunity Fund in the Davidson Honors College and the Ephron Scholarships in Modern and Classical Languages. She and her late husband, Henry, had established the foreign languages scholarships in the 1980s; after his death in 1992, she started the other funds.

Ephron earned a degree in Latin at UM in 1931 and then studied at the University of Chicago, which received a bequest as well. It was while she was at Chicago that she met Henry, who was also a classical scholar and later an expert cryptographer.

From 1935 to 1975, hundreds of UM students flocked to Ephron's mythology classes. She also helped start the liberal studies degree program. Classical languages attracted far fewer, but those who attempted Latin or Greek felt her influence deeply. Longtime friend, Vickie Mikelsons, says "Marguerite admired students who were highly motivated and encouraged their academic excellence."

A mentor and friend to two Rhodes scholars, Ephron had a knack, Mikelsons says, for helping others find their own strengths, whether in the classroom or in life. At the time of her death, a former student wrote the UM Foundation "As a young student in 1971, Marguerite 'saw something' in me that I did not and with her recommendation and support, I received a graduate scholarship . . . that changed my life completely." It was the encouragement she offered and pride in her students' successes that kept so many former students in touch with her. When former students came to Missoula, the Ephron home—not far from campus—was often a stop. She loved to engage in conversation with them and hear of their lives after graduation.

"Her students and her friends were her family," says Mikelsons. And she left her estate to the family.

McFarland Memorial Scholarships Will Go to Native Americans
The widow of former UM President Carl R. McFarland established a scholarship for the University's Native American students as a memorial to her husband.

Patricia Regan McFarland '31 created the Carl McFarland Endowed Scholarships with a $50,000 bequest out of her and her husband's love for Montana and respect for the Native American culture and heritage. Mrs. McFarland died in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the couple moved after McFarland left the UM presidency in 1958.

Scholarships for Native American students are always a priority at UM. "The McFarland Scholarships demonstrate that this University has a strong belief in the importance of encouraging Native Montanans to pursue higher education in the state and especially to obtain their degrees at The University of Montana," says President Dennison. "I've always known my Main Hall predecessors shared the view Jane and I hold that the Native American tradition is such an important aspect of Montana heritage and that our state's people are richer for the opportunity to interact and learn from Indian students at the University."

The Dennisons established the George and Jane Dennison Scholarship for enrolled members of the Salish and Kootenia Confederated Tribes in 1992 as part of UM's capital campaign.

McFarland was the first UM alumnus to assume the presidency when he became the University's ninth president in 1951. He earned bachelors and master's degrees in history as well as a law degree here and received an honorary doctorate of laws in 1949.

Cooperative Effort Nets Athletics Gifts
The UM Foundation, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Grizzly Athletic Association, working together to secure major gifts for athletics, have received $1.25 million in commitments for student-athlete scholarships, recruitment funds for intercollegiate sports, and the construction and equipping of offices for coaches in the Adams Center.

Campus representatives of the three entities, with a team of volunteers headed by Tom Boone of Missoula, have visited several Montana communities since September on their fund-raising tour.

Montanans Find Endowment Tax Credit Attractive
A record number of Montanans took advantage of Montana's Qualified Endowment Tax Credit, giving more than $1 million in 1999 to endowed funds at UM, an increase of 89 percent over 1998.

Montana law allows a credit of 50 percent of the charitable contribution, to a limit of $10,000 per taxpayer. Qualifying gifts include charitable gift annuities, charitable trusts, paid-up life insurance policies, remainder life estates and pooled income fund gifts from individuals, as well as outright gifts from corporations, small business corporations, limited liability corporations, and partnerships.

The number of gifts increased from 27 gifts in 1998 to 67 in 1999.

Phyllis Washington Receives Bucklew Award on Charter Day
Phyllis J. Peterson Washington '64 received the Neil S. Bucklew Presidential Service Award at Charter Day 2000 and named the School of Education as recipient of a $1,000 scholarship to award in her honor next year. The award was created in 1989 by the UM Foundation to acknowledge someone who has worked to foster understanding and cooperation between the University and the state. Washington chaired UM's Capital Campaign—Ensuring a Tradition of Excellence, which raised $71 million for academic programs. She was an active member of the Foundation board from 1990 to 1996 and is now a trustee emeritus.

Center Fund Raising Over the Top
The O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West's fund raising reached the $1.56 level required to match a $520,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, thanks to gifts from Advisory Board Chairman James Scott and the foundation he heads.

Scott and his wife, Christine, of Billings have provided ongoing support for the center and last December they gave $50,000, which, with a $20,000 gift from the Foundation for Community Vitality, completes the University's share of the one-to-three NEH match. The fund-raising effort spanned seven years.

The center was established in 1992 with funding from the estate of William J. O'Neill '24 and named for Carroll '56 and Nancy Fields O'Connor '51, whose $1 million gift was a major portion of UM's share of the NEH challenge.


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