Highlights Of The Year

The state Board of Regents gave the nod for a new UM Paleontology Center that includes an associated Fort Peck Field Station amid the fossil-rich Cretaceous formations surrounding Fort Peck and Glasgow. Organized under UM's Department of Geology, the new center will promote paleontology education and research and serve as a repository for important fossil discoveries. It also will boost public outreach in paleontology. To create the center, UM created a partnership with Fort Peck Paleontology Inc., a nonprofit formed by eastern Montana residents to promote study and research of the area's spectacular fossils, including dinosaurs, plants and invertebrate remains. "It's a paleontology wonderland out there, filled with fossil vertebrates and plants, as well as invertebrate life," says George Stanley, UM geology professor and the new center's director.


A School of Law Moot Court team won the right to compete in the national finals for the eighth consecutive year, giving UM the longest such winning streak in the nation. The team earned a finals berth during the Northwest Regional Moot Court competition in November after beating a University of Washington team in the final round. Members of the first-place team are law students Jill Petersonof Great Falls and Jonathan McDonald and Paul Shae, both of Helena. Another UM law school moot court team comprising Joe Gillis, a student from Connecticut, Becky Rutz of Kalispell and Maggie Weamer of Billings won the Best Brief Award. UM most recently won the National Moot Court Finals in 2000.


The UM pharmacy school, located within the College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, changed its name in 2005 to honor its most important benefactor. The school is now the Skaggs School of Pharmacy in recognition of L.S. Skaggs, whose many contributions have helped propel the school to its current No. 5 ranking in the nation for earning pharmacy research funding. The change created the first named school in UM history. His name already graced the building that houses the pharmacy school. Through his ALSAM Foundation, Skaggs recently committed $3.5 million to construct a biomedical research addition to the Skaggs Building. The gift helped meet the requirements of a $3 million challenge grant from the National Institutes of Health to add a 59,000-square-foot addition to house new interdisciplinary labs, offices and more. "It is entirely appropriate that we name our school for Mr. Skaggs," said Dean David Forbes. "The investment he and his family have made at The University of Montana has been instrumental in moving our program into its current position as one of the nation's top pharmacy programs." The school was on the brink of losing its accreditation when Forbes arrived at UM more than 15 years ago. Forbes rapidly began steering it in the right direction, attracting world-class faculty who receive top research grants.


Photojournalism Assistant Professor Teresa Tamura was named a 2005 faculty fellow at National Geographic magazine. The only fellowship recipient this year, Tamura spent her summer at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., learning all facets of magazine production.


UM students have called marketing Professor Jakki Mohr "dynamic, demanding, innovative and inspiring." Now they can call her the best professor in Montana higher education. Mohr, a faculty member in the School of Business Administration since 1997, was named the 2005 Montana Professor of the Year. The award came as part of the U.S. Professors of the Year program, which salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the nation those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. The program is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Mohr's award marks the sixth consecutive year a UM professor has won the prestigious honor.

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