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Around the Oval

Dance Fever

Griz Earn Second NCAA Tournament Berth in Three Seasons

There came a point during the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship game when Wayne Tinkle just sat back, crossed his legs, and enjoyed the show put on by his Grizzlies.

“The guys were in a flow,” Tinkle says of that moment, which came in the midst of what he calls the best half of hoops he’s seen in his six years as UM men’s basketball head coach. “All the hard work and effort the group had put in was culminating right there. And to be able to witness that front and center was a thrill.”

The Grizzlies trounced Weber State University, 85-66, in front of more than 7,000 fans squeezed into Dahlberg Arena. The Griz trailed by five points at halftime, but outscored NBA-bound Damian Lillard and the Wildcats 54-30 in the second half. The victory punched the Grizzlies’ ticket to the NCAA Tournament and put an exclamation point on one of the best seasons in program history.

It was the team’s fourteenth straight win, a school record. That streak also was tied for the longest in the nation heading into the Big Dance. The Griz went 15-1 during Big Sky play, including a 7-1 mark on the road, both school records. The title was the program’s eighth, equaling Weber State’s mark for most league championships, and UM won twenty-five games, the second-best mark in school history.

It was the first time since 2000 that UM hosted the Big Sky Tournament and the first time in twenty years the team won the title at home. The Griz earned the right to host by claiming the regular-season championship with a win over the same Wildcats a week prior.

“Having the tournament back in Missoula and cutting the nets down in front of our home faithful was probably our proudest moment,” Tinkle says. “To do that in front of a packed house and for our campus and community brought us a great sense of pride.”

The Griz, who made the program’s ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament, received a thirteen seed and drew the fourth-seeded University of Wisconsin Badgers in Albuquerque, N.M. The game was played in The Pit, a historic venue on the University of New Mexico campus.

Tinkle liked the seed but knew his squad was in for a challenge with the Badgers of the Big Ten Conference.

“A lot of people really liked our draw, thinking it was better than playing teams like Baylor or Missouri,” Tinkle says. “But I knew Wisconsin was a pretty darn good team.”

Though they were competitive for a while, the Griz were outmatched by the Badgers, who won, 73-49.

“The guys didn’t show as well as they wanted to,” Tinkle says. “But the loss will hopefully add some fuel to the fire to get back there next season.”

Tinkle, named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, will have three starters returning, including the starting backcourt tandem of Mid-Major All-American and Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Will Cherry and Big Sky Tournament MVP Kareem Jamar. Forward Mathias Ward, the team’s third leading scorer, also will be back.

Before his thoughts totally shifted to next season, Tinkle took time to reflect on what an incredible run his team had.

“Looking back and having digested it,” Tinkle says, “it’s amazing. When you look at all the records we set, it obviously rings out that it was pretty remarkable. It’s just a real feeling of joy for all the effort that we put in and where it led.”

Light It Up

Griz Play Spring Game Under the New Lights

Griz football fans clad in maroon and silver migrated across campus toward Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Youngsters scurried around as their parents made their way to their seats. It looked like any other fall Saturday when the Griz play at home, except it was April 14, and this wasn’t a typical home game.

The crowd—8,731, to be exact—turned out for the annual spring game, marking the first time the Grizzlies took the turf under the new permanent lights that surround the stadium.

Usually the Griz play the spring scrimmage on the road to show appreciation to fans around the state, but this year the Grizzly Scholarship Association wanted to do things a little differently. With the addition of the lights, it felt like time to bring the scrimmage home.

“First of all, it’s been over a decade since the scrimmage has been played in Missoula,” says Greg Sundberg, GSA executive director. “It’s a great opportunity to bring a piece of the fall back to the spring. It gets that football fever going, and it’s a great way to get people back into the stadium.”

The scrimmage resembled a home game as close as possible, including a tunnel run, announcer, and, of course, Monte and Mo. The GSA sponsored a full tailgate party that featured music, food, and games for kids hosted by student-athletes.

Eric Schindler, a season-ticket holder, traveled from Helena to watch the Griz play.

“I think this is a great idea to have the game under the lights,” Schindler says. “I have traveled to Butte for the scrimmage and watched it in Helena, but this is a great crowd.”

All proceeds from the scrimmage benefit UM athletic facilities projects.

The game came less than a month after President Royce Engstrom chose not to renew the contracts of head coach Robin Pflugrad and Director of Athletics Jim O’Day. Mick Delaney, a UM assistant coach since 2008, will be the interim head coach through the 2012 season, while Senior Associate Athletic Director Jean Gee will serve as interim AD. Engstrom plans to have a permanent athletic director in place by autumn semester 2012 and a permanent head coach in time for the 2013 season.

Even with the change in leadership, the team shined under the bright lights. The offense played sharp, scoring fifty-two points and amassing 545 total yards. Four quarterbacks combined to throw for 390 yards and four touchdowns.

“It’s good to see the strength, pride, and tradition of the Montana Grizzlies carry on through the adversity they face right now,” says former kicker Brody McKnight.

The Griz open the season at home September 1 against the University of South Dakota Coyotes, who are led by former UM coach Joe Glenn.

—Alyse Backus

BY THE NUMBERS

13: Number of consecutive semesters UM student-athletes have maintained an average cumulative GPA above 3.0
3.06: Cumulative GPA of UM’s 272 student-athletes, compared to 2.91, the cumulative GPA of UM’s general student population
3.69: Cumulative GPA of the women’s cross country team, the highest of UM’s sports teams
20.5: Percentage of student-athletes on the autumn semester dean’s list

Green Thumbs
Students Reap Benefits of Memorial Greenhouse Renovation

A disarray of storage bins, discarded junk, and various odds and ends. Until recently, that’s what took up most of the space in UM’s Memorial Greenhouse.

Today the greenhouse no longer serves as a storage unit. It’s a bustling hub of research that benefits students in the College of Forestry and Conservation.

Where dust once accumulated, students now watch over tiny seedlings, which will be harvested and used in reforestation efforts. Thanks to a recent and ongoing renovation, the greenhouse, which sits next to the Forestry Building, provides students with hands-on learning opportunities that didn’t exist before.

Decades ago, the Memorial Greenhouse was the answer to the University’s concerns that graduate-level forestry students couldn’t complete the needed greenhouse studies. Montana’s inclement weather conditions made year-round fieldwork impossible, and professors actually began discouraging students from pursuing the master’s program in forestry because of the lack of greenhouse space.

Plans for a new greenhouse were taking shape when tragedy struck Montana. In 1949, the Mann Gulch wildfire claimed the lives of thirteen smokejumpers in the Helena National Forest. Six of those firefighters were UM students, three of whom belonged to the School of Forestry. In 1950, the University dedicated the greenhouse to those whose lives were lost. When the building opened its doors in 1951, it became the only structure in the state specifically dedicated to the victims of the Mann Gulch tragedy.

While the greenhouse always remained partly functional, its technology fell behind and lacked modern means to really provide the forestry program with what it needed.

In 2011, after three decades of limited use and with three Dumpsters full of junk removed from the interior, the greenhouse was modified into 2,500 square feet of bays for potting, sowing, fertilizing, and irrigating seedlings. The greenhouse now supports a seedling nursery program and houses 20,000 seedlings of about fifteen different plant species. Students sell some of the seedlings to conservation partners, which generates revenue that goes directly back into the seedling nursery. UM’s Wildland Restoration Program also uses the greenhouse to grow plants. In addition, the greenhouse hosts elementary school classes and other community groups to teach about the process of growing the seedlings.

Chris Keyes, the director of UM’s Applied Forest Management program and one of the key players in the renovation, says the seedling nursery relies heavily on student greenhouse volunteers and a growing number of community members.

“The vision is to teach not only the University, but bring in the community as well,” Keyes says.

Another goal of the nursery is to turn out UM graduates who have experience in forest regeneration. Keyes says there are more disturbed forests worldwide, and the demand for workers well-versed in reforestation is rising. Many different majors, from wildland restoration to international conservation, can benefit from greenhouse experience.

“It’s not just about growing seedlings,” Keyes says. “It’s about problem solving to go out there and do it. Students should be involved every step of the way.”

—Alyse Backus

UM Professor’s Company Earns $2.5 Million Contract

The National Science Foundation has awarded Sunburst Sensors a $2.5 million contract to provide instruments for its studies.

Sunburst Sensors is owned by Mike DeGrandpre, a chemistry professor at UM, and Jim Beck, the company president.

DeGrandpre invented Sunburst’s Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments [SAMIs]. The instruments measure pH and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in bodies of water. More than 100 of these oceanic instruments will be manufactured in Missoula.

DeGrandpre developed Sunburst Sensors in 1999 as a way to bridge his research to the private sector. Beck, a mechanical engineer, joined the company in 2005 to diversify and improve Sunburst’s product line. The company employs a lab technician, two engineers, a research scientist, and an accountant.

DeGrandpre and his company will work with the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a nonprofit organization that represents ninety-nine leading public and private ocean research and educational institutions. Its mission is to advance research and education to promote effective ocean policies.

“Awarding the Ocean Observatories Initiative contract to Sunburst Sensors is affirmation of the quality of our technology and is a credit to the hard work by my business partner, Jim Beck, and the employees at Sunburst Sensors,” DeGrandpre says. “Through this contract, Sunburst Sensors will become a leading contributor to our understanding of the ocean carbon cycle and ocean acidification.” 

Sunburst Sensors got its start in UM’s MonTEC business incubator and now has an office located on West Broadway in Missoula.

The President's Perspective

Welcome to the spring 2012 issue of the Montanan. This is an issue that highlights so many of the wonderful accomplishments of our students, graduates, and faculty. The people who are associated with The University of Montana are what make it a great institution, and I take tremendous pride in what those individuals and groups have accomplished and what they contribute to the University, to Montana, to our nation, and beyond.

The past several months have presented an especially challenging time for the University. Unfortunately, like college and university campuses across the country, we have experienced a surge in reports of sexual assault and related matters. Those of you who have followed the news media know that we have been dealing with this matter in an ongoing and high-profile way. We have taken as proactive of an approach as possible, with our goals being to bring a halt to sexual assault on our campus, to care for those who have been assaulted, and to rid our learning environment of those who commit assault. Many people have poured their hearts into this effort. We have made tough decisions, and we are emerging from this episode as a stronger, safer, and smarter campus.

Along the way we have kept our nose to the grindstone; we have kept our focus on our strategic directions outlined in UM 2020: Building a University for the Global Century. Our vision is to be one of the nation’s leading institutions, with a globally focused approach to education, research and creative scholarship, and outreach. I am proud to say we have taken many important steps toward fulfilling that vision.

For example, we recently launched the Global Leadership Initiative, a program for undergraduate students that runs parallel to their coursework and activity associated with their major field of study. The first class of GLI Fellows, selected from the incoming freshman cohort, embarked upon its examination of the “big questions” through special interdisciplinary small seminar courses. In subsequent years, the Fellows will participate in a Models of Leadership program, a major experience beyond the classroom such as study abroad, and a capstone course in which they work with one another to design, research, and propose a solution to a significant problem or opportunity with global implications. Our GLI kick-off event occurred just weeks ago, and you can read about it in this issue of the Montanan.

We strengthened our portfolio of graduate research programming through the addition of a new Ph.D. program in systems ecology, an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ecosystems on a scale from molecules to mountain ranges. The first group of students has already enrolled. Supporting that effort was the establishment of an Institute on Ecosystems in cooperation with other institutions in the state.

Another exciting new program is the addition of a minor in Arabic studies. At the strong encouragement of our students, faculty members designed and received approval for the program, and some students will graduate this May having fulfilled the requirements for the minor. Our Mansfield Center has operated a highly successful Defense Critical Language and Culture Training Program for the past few years, and I recently had the opportunity to see firsthand students immersed in the study of Pashto.

The University of Montana is moving forward into the future, focusing on educational opportunities for students that will position them to be the leaders of our state and nation. I hope you enjoy reading about their success in these pages. Thank you for your interest and support!

Royce C. Engstrom
President

New Digs
VETS Office Helps Student-Veterans Transition to College Life

Until this past autumn semester, student-veterans at UM had one place on campus to call their own: a desk in the back of a cramped room in the Emma Lommasson Center. This is where they would go to check on their education benefits and report any difficulties. The desk, piled high with paperwork, and the harsh light from overhead fluorescent bulbs didn’t make for a very welcoming environment, especially for those coming back from a war zone.

The new Veterans Education and Transition Services [VETS] office, however, has changed all that. The office is a converted house that sits on the southeast edge of campus, serving as a one-stop shop for administrative tasks dealing with student-veterans’ education benefits, as well as a place to decompress and transition into the college lifestyle.

“I tried to make my old office as inviting as possible, but it just couldn’t be done,” VETS Director Justin Raap says. “There was no privacy. I used to see vets only when they needed their money, and now I see them all the time. They actually come in and talk now.”

College is different for vets. They go from a world of intense structure to total freedom. The transition from starched uniforms, rigid daily schedules, and the stress of war to textbooks and college football games can be difficult. Many are still transitioning back to civilian life and can feel a loss of the camaraderie they experienced in the military. Raap, a veteran himself, envisioned a place that alleviated that sense of loss and addressed student-veterans’ roles at the University.

“Vets are a very distinct subculture,” Raap says. “We definitely have a series of shared experiences that greatly differs from a standard student. It’s going from making no decisions to doing whatever you want. I get a lot of deer-in-headlights expressions on that one. Freedom of choice is a completely foreign concept.”

For Chris Goidich, a first-year UM student who came to Missoula after serving more than twenty years in the Navy and Army, the VETS office is a safety zone.

“This gives vets a place to go to be a unit again and have a home,” Goidich says. “It is a feeling of belonging again.”

The goal is to give vets some breathing room away from the hustle and bustle of campus. Oversized couches line the walls, and flat screen TVs often play movies while a warm pot of chili simmers in the kitchen.

The VETS office runs under Raap with the help of six work-study students, including Goidich.

“We really care about being here,” Goidich says. “Justin has taken people and given them lives again. I had nothing when I came out here, and he gave me support.”

In addition to providing assistance with administrative needs, a computer lab is available for student-veterans to print, copy, and fax for free. The center regularly hosts cookouts, military celebrations, and get-togethers for UM veterans and their families, as well as providing a space just to talk.

Raap hopes to extend the office’s services to include more peer-to-peer mentoring and programs focused on student retention.

“I really want to be able to pull back and let vets find answers themselves,” says Raap. “That’s what they are used to doing.”

—Alyse Backus

Meet Grizwald

Meet Grizwald, The University of Montana’s cartoon bear. In the winter 2012 issue of the Montanan, we asked readers to submit captions interpreting Grizwald’s actions in a humorous way. This issue’s winning caption was sent in by Jim Dalbec of Great Falls. Congratulations, Jim, you’ve won a Griz stadium blanket. Stay tuned! In an upcoming issue of the Montanan, a new cartoon featuring Grizwald will need a caption. You could be the next winner!

The Bottom Line:

68: Percentage of UM faculty who spend at least one hour each week engaging in community or public service, compared to 50 percent at other public institutions

224,884: Record-setting number of rides given by ASUM’s bus service during autumn semester 2011

14: UM’s rank for producing Peace Corps volunteers among schools with 5,001 to 15,000 undergrads

45: States represented by visitors to the Montana Museum of Art & Culture at UM during the past two years

774: Career wins for Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig in his thirty-four seasons at UM

Notable Quotable

The Montana Board of Regents recently approved a new minor in Arabic studies at UM. Coursework in the minor is designed to help students achieve an advanced level in Arabic based on standards of foreign language proficiency established by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. The content of the Arabic studies minor includes linguistic and cultural components such as the orthographic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and sociolinguistic systems of the Arabic language; and the literature, history, politics, geography, religions, economy, and cultures of the Arab world.

The regents also approved a new interdisciplinary minor in global public health at UM. Coursework will emphasize a global perspective on issues of public health policy and science and applications to international and domestic situations. Students will learn about public health challenges, such as parasitic and vector-borne diseases, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, tuberculosis, climate change impacts, trauma and violence, avian influenza, obesity, and the role of indigenous healers. Courses will use insights from disciplinary approaches that include epidemiology, anthropology, biology, political science, community health planning, communication studies, and ethics.

UM recently created its first Retirees’ Association. The association will provide all UM retirees the opportunity to remain involved with the University community through a variety of specially designed activities, events, and service opportunities. “The creation of this new association acknowledges the significant contributions retirees have made to UM and facilitates their active engagement in the campus community,” says Amy Kinch, UM faculty development coordinator. The UM Retirees’ Association is open to all faculty, staff, and administrator retirees of UM, including those from the College of Technology, as well as their spouses/partners and the spouses/partners of deceased retirees.

Washington Post popular culture critic Hank Stuever will be the 2012 T. Anthony Pollner Professor at UM’s School of Journalism. Stuever will teach a course on pop culture coverage and will mentor students working at the Montana Kaimin, the campus newspaper. Stuever joined the Post in 1999. He was a feature writer for a decade before becoming the paper’s TV critic in 2009. The Pollner professorship was created in 2000 to honor the memory of UM alumnus Anthony Pollner. It brings to campus each fall a nationally prominent journalist who teaches for the semester in the journalism school. “I’ve always secretly hoped I would get a chance like this someday, to not only teach a class and share what I know, but also learn from a group of committed students who care deeply about journalism and writing,” Stuever says. “And I’m impressed by what [UM] and the Pollner family have created with this unique position.”

UM COT Team Competes in Shell Eco Marathon

A team of students and instructors with the UM College of Technology tested the limits of an energy-efficient vehicle they spent several months building when they traveled to a national competition this spring.

The team—led by Brad Layton, director of the COT’s Energy Technology Program, and energy tech student Grant Myhre—brought its aluminum-framed, solar-powered car to the Shell Eco Marathon March 29-April 1 in Houston.

The competition challenged teams of high school and college students from around the country to design, build, and test energy-efficient vehicles. It took place on the city streets of downtown Houston.

Though the team experienced some technical difficulties during the competition and was just shy of the fifteen mile-per-hour pace needed to post an official run, Layton called the Eco Marathon “a fantastic learning experience.”

“My team really went above and beyond my expectations and built a car that we are really proud of,” he says. “And it definitely turned some heads at the competition.”

Layton says the team built the entire vehicle, which they’ve worked on since September, with minimal outside machining assistance, including all the design, solar cell soldering, fiberglass layup, circuit design, welding, and assembly.

“Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this entire competition is that the car must complete the six-mile race with more energy than it had at the starting line,” Layton says. “It’s essentially like finishing a trip without ever stopping for gasoline and having more in the tank than when you left. The trick is to pull in more photons than you burn.”

In next year’s competition, Layton says, the solar division will be combined with the electric one, which should make for some interesting vehicles.

“In fact, my students are already planning for next year’s competition in hopes of another solid performance,” he says.

Facetime: Clayton Christian ’96

Clayton Christian didn’t take the traditional route when it came to college. He bounced in and out of school for ten years before completing his degree in business management and finance at UM. The Montana native left college twice to take ranch management positions in Hawaii and Montana. Before graduating from college, he bought his first business, Stewart Title of Missoula County, Inc.

Christian values higher education, in part because he took a different route to earn his degree. He recently assumed his new role as Montana’s commissioner of higher education after serving six years on the Board of Regents, four of those years in the chairman or vice chairman role.

Christian has three children. His daughter Lauren is a UM senior. Lyndsey, his youngest daughter, is a freshman at Montana State University, and his son, Colter, is an eighth-grader in Missoula. His wife, Dawn, completed her doctoral degree in physical therapy at UM.

Why did you return to school? We moved back to Missoula when my wife enrolled in physical therapy school. I went back to school at that time. It always felt like I would finish. It was just a matter of blending it in with life. From the day I left, I assumed I would return and finish my degree, and I got the opportunity to come back and finish at UM.

What was it like to be a nontraditional student at UM? At the time, I was working full-time and had a family. In a lot of ways, it really helped me focus on what was important. As an older student, you are on a different track. I was there to get it done. I took a lot of credits and it took me a couple of years to finish.

What was your experience like on the Board of Regents? Like any new board member, you have a sense of what you are getting into, but really don’t know until the work begins. It really became a passion for me. I’ve always appreciated higher education. I feel like it’s the driver behind not only personal success but also economic success for the state. It creates opportunities for individuals, states, and countries. As a board member, I felt it was extremely rewarding to help set policy for the state and help the 48,000 students in the system.

When the search began for the next commissioner of higher education, you were surprised to hear about your nomination. What was that like for you? I was thrilled to be chair of the Board of Regents and really liked working at that level. My family has been very supportive of the work I have done on the board. I spent time with my family in discussion about the job of commissioner. They know I find it really valuable, and that it has become a passion for me to invest myself in higher education. But the commissioner nomination took me by surprise.

What are you looking forward to as you take over the role of commissioner? I have worked closely with [outgoing] Commissioner Sheila Stearns. I think we have an excellent system, and we are moving in a good direction. I am not looking to change directions. I feel I can bring some continuity and keep moving down the same path. Our focus is access, affordability, and efficiency. My priorities for the past six years as a board member will be my priorities as commissioner.

What have you learned from Commissioner Stearns? I have learned a lot from Sheila. The most important concept is that we are in public education and we are publicly funded. Sheila had an incredible ability to reach out to Montanans and policymakers across the state and disseminate the message of what higher education can do for individuals and the state.

What are your goals for the Montana University System? As the board’s CEO, it was important for me to understand the regents’ priorities and the direction they want to go. It’s mostly what you would expect. For example, support for faculty and staff, need-based aid for students, graduate education and research, and an integrated information system. The integrated-systems approach is something I have a real interest in because I think it would improve the experience for students. It allows students to move more freely between universities. From a student’s perspective, instead of having to choose between fourteen different institutions, they can choose the MUS.

What do you think are the strengths of the MUS? The overriding strength is we have been able to attract an unbelievable amount of talent in our faculty, staff, and administrators. That’s our greatest strength and greatest challenge. We have to figure out how we can retain that high-quality talent.

What were some of your favorite classes at UM? I really enjoyed the business classes that I took. But roadside geology is one that sticks in my mind as one of the best classes, which is the great thing about a college education. It provides a broad set of opportunities out there, in and out of your major.

—Interview by Alyse Backus

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