Montana Education Excellence

On Tuesday, they followed instructions from the man who made Johnny Depp look like a proper pirate: Martin Schaer. He was the camera operator for two of the three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and more than two dozen other major motion pictures.

The Montana University System, which includes MSU, UM and the state’s community and tribal colleges, recently launched a Web site that includes core courses available online. The courses are also transferable between each campus.

Upward Bound provides guidance to eligible high school students whose parents have not attended college. It offers the students month-long summer camps throughout their high school careers to learn about the opportunities of higher education. The program also offers counseling throughout the year.

Regarding the STARBASE program, First Lady Nancy Schweitzer said, "This new program will help kids experience math and science in a very real way. It is an exciting and innovative program."

Spectorium of Science, a weekend of events showcasing new science exhibits from the San Francisco Exploratorium, will take place at The University of Montana Friday and Saturday, June 22-23.

Langston will join more than 900 UM students with physical or developmental disabilities. Collectively, they make up the university’s largest single minority group, with 6.5 percent of the enrollment. Later this week, she’ll attend a transition seminar designed to highlight those challenges and how to overcome them.

The grant will pay for new computers throughout the campus, including those in student labs and in faculty and business offices.

The small, six-member faculty has pulled in more than $3 million in the last four years in various grants for work ranging from NASA’s ORION project – the successor to the space shuttle – to creating models of receding ice sheets around the globe for use in schools.

“This is a healthy process,” says Dean. “There’s a reason schools go through these reviews, and it’s to make sure we don’t get complacent, thinking we’re doing just well enough. As a program, it will only make us better.”

Tyler Trevor will begin his new job on July 15, subject to final approval from the Montana Board of Regents, said Commissioner Sheila Stearns.