Montana Education Excellence

MSU students from several Montana towns were on an MSU College of Business team that placed third in a recent regional competition.

Says Montana Governor, Brian Schweitzer, “MAPS offers a great supplement to arts education in our schools and gives those interested in film valuable experience in an industry where hands on training is vital. The training and experience Media Arts students receive will likely lead them into quality jobs in the future, whether in the film industry or not.”

The trio’s success was "extraordinary," said Carroll math, engineering and computer science professor Kelly Cline.

"It means we’re doing some things right," Cline said. "To have a winner here in Helena, Montana, is just extraordinary."

Essentially, the 4th and 5th graders are virtually running and walking across the entire continental United States during this school year (September 7, 2005 through June 9, 2006). Weekly individual distances are calculated and totaled to advance each class forward on a predetermined 3,200-mile route across America. Our research has shown that no individual class has ever successfully completed a virtual trek across the entire United States during a single school year.

The Creativity Forge, a 6,000-square-foot computer- and machine-stuffed facility, allows students to put to use what they learn in books and from professors. And along the way, they build relationships with Montana businesses and other schools who are interested in the forge’s work.

"I believe this ranking is a very strong indicator of the high quality of pharmacy faculty in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy," said Dave Forbes, dean of the College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences, which encompasses the UM pharmacy school. "Additionally, we are the only pharmacy school ranked in the top four schools that is not attached to a medical school."

Robots big and small are spreading across Montana, as hundreds of students build robots to compete in regional competitions this spring, according to Donna Minton, deputy director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium based at Montana State University.

Every day we don’t provide them the very best is an opportunity lost.