UND enjoys banner year 2006 will go down in University of North Dakota history as one of its best years. Besides significantly increasing its research enterprise with awards, grants, and new building projects, UND was awarded White House honors, scored top marks for its entrepreneurship programs, won several athletic titles and honors, and launched a Mars planetary exploration suit that captured global attention. UND also opened more doors overseas, signing agreements with universities and research institutes in Asia, Canada, and Europe, and participating in several key international academic events and conferences. President Charles Kupchella personally led several missions, including an invitation-only event in Shanghai for university presidents from around the world. At home, UND sealed deals with several companies tied to the funding and building of four brand new research centers on campus that will significantly boost in the University's research enterprise. UND in 2006 announced its commitment to join Division I athletics. The University has long been renowned for its Division I hockey program and will now move all of its athletic programs into the top division. UND's global research, scholarship, and education commitments, its entrepreneurial programs, and its move to Division I are all part of the University's strategic charter to advance into the top 100 public research universities in the nation. UND's research activities -- including a record $94 million in direct support from external sources -- have a record economic impact of about $164 million and fund about 1,600 jobs in the region. Here is a list, in no particular order, of UND's top accomplishments, events, and people in 2006: * A UND-led team launches a prototype Mars planetary exploration suit that earned global attention and top grades for its practical, low-cost design. The suit-part of NASA-funded project that included several North Dakota colleges and universities, was designed and built by students and their faculty advisors and was tested in the alien terrain of the North Dakota Badlands. http://www.universityrelations.und.edu/dimensions/june2006/ * The UND Foundation receives its second-largest gift ever, a $10 million bequest from the late Roy and Elnora (Hopper) Danley, '37. Roy died in 1994 and Elnora, a Brinsmade, N.D., native, passed away this year at the age of 91. Prior to death, the Danley's bequeathed the majority of their estate to the UND Foundation, which posts a record gift year totaling more than $20 million. http://www.undalumni.org/PressReleases.htm * President Kupchella is invited to participate in an international forum for university presidents at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST). Kupchella also met with Chinese policy makers and higher education leaders at USST, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary, to discuss UND's vision for future higher ed collaboration with the Peoples Republic of China. http://www.und.edu/faculty_qa/11292006.html . Kupchella also leads several other international missions in 2006, including a memorandum of understanding with the University of Manitoba, a trip to Oxford University, and a visit to UND by the president of Osh State University in the Kyrgyz Republic. * The College of Business and Public Administration surpasses its goal of $20 million in a vibrant capital campaign, supporting extensive renovation of classrooms, laboratories, and offices in Gamble Hall. http://www.universityrelations.und.edu/dimensions/june2006/13.html * The School of Medicine and Health Sciences is fully reaccredited, receiving praise for its dean, faculty, and curriculum. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education lists several areas of institutional strength at the school, including the vision and energy of Dean H. David Wilson in implementing the patient-centered learning curriculum. Wilson also is elected chair-elect of the Council of Deans at the Association of American Medical Colleges, which represents all 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools. http://smhs.med.und.nodak.edu/UNDSMHS/PublicAffairs/printable.cfm?anid=189 http://www.med.und.edu/publicaffairs/printable.cfm?anid=222 * UND dedicates a brand new American Indian Center during the Indian Association's 37th annual Time-Out/Wacipi. The new center provides increased space and visibility for a series of services that do an exceptional job of serving American Indian and non-native students. The dedication events include a celebration of achievements honoring nine outstanding American Indian UND alums. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1779 * A $20 million Wellness Center opens in September, under the supervision of Laurie Betting, who is named to the new position of assistant vice president for wellness. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/print_article.php?uletterID=850 * The University's Research Foundation breaks ground in December for its $12 million, 50,000-square-foot research building, funded initially by grants from the state of North Dakota, the city of Grand Forks, and the James L. Knight Foundation. The Center for Life Sciences and Advanced Technologies will anchor the UND Research Foundations 19.5-acre Research Enterprise and Commercialization Park. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/uletter.php?backID=3#1472 * UND breaks ground in August on the $3.9 million Northern Plains Center for Behavioral Research. The 30,000-square-foot, three-story center, funded by the National Institutes of Health-National Center for Research Resources, will be used by the College of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology faculty to explore conditions such as Alzheimers disease, alcoholism, diabetes, nutritional disorders, and other conditions by helping patients alter their behaviors. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1887 * The Energy & Environmental Research Center gets a $67 million federal cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate a regional program to determine the best ways to manage our countrys carbon emissions through carbon dioxide sequestration. http://www.undeerc.org/newsroom/newsitem.asp?id=274 * UND earns a spot on the first-ever U.S. President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for its consistent excellence in community engagement. This Honor Roll responds to President George W. Bush's call to service by building on and supporting the civic engagement mission of our nations colleges and universities. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1959 * Stardust, the first mission conducted by UND operating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) DC-8 research aircraft, was named the top astronomy story of the year by Astronomy magazine. Scientists aboard the DC-8 gathered data and captured imagery of the Stardust space capsule during its fiery re-entry to Earth's atmosphere on Jan. 15, 2006. The DC-8 also participated with the atmospheric sciences in an exploration of hurricane origins in Senegal, and in West African deserts. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1981 ; * President Kupchella announces in June that the University will begin the process to move the rest of its athletic programs to Division I. Nationally recognized for its successful athletic programs, UND currently competes in Division I mens and womens Hockey and in Division II in 16 other sports. The decision followed a five-month, comprehensive review by the Universitys NCAA Classification Task Force, which gave its final report to Kupchella at the end of May. http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1833 Other top 2006 accomplishments, events, and people at UND UND is named one of the top 10 "Best Schools for Entrepreneurs" in the nation by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. UND also earns kudos for being one of the most entrepreneurial schools overall in the nation. http://www.innovators.net/entrepreneur_dept_ranking.htm About 20 American Indian special education teachers spend two days at UND in June as part of a four-year, $1 million grant to United Tribes Technical College and the UND College of Education and Human Development to support American Indian educators in earning a masters degree in learning disabilities or early childhood special education. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1815 UND's research enterprise in 2006 generates a record $164 in regional economic impact; through the end of November, UND scientists had submitted a record $115 million in proposals, up from about $102 million for the same period in 2005, with a record $41.28 million in actual awards, up from $39.5 million in 2005. Joe Polo, a UND engineering student, wins a Winter Olympics bronze medal as a member of the U.S. curling team. http://www.engineering.und.edu/news/releases.html Donna Pearson and Anne Walker, both from the College of Education and Human Developments Department of Teaching and Learning, host at UND eight top Russian secondary school English and social studies teachers. http://www.und.edu/dept/our/uletter/03102006.html Mary Wakefield, associate dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of the Center for Rural Health, receives the 2006 Nurse Researcher Award from the American Organization of Nurse Executives. http://www.med.und.edu/depts/rural/news/021506.html Richard Van Eck, instructional design and technology, earns the cover of the March/April issue of Educause -- a national education magazine -- with a story about his development of digital curriculum theory. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1773 Kathryn Rand, associate dean of law, and Steven Light, a political scientist in the College of Business and Public Administration, appear on C-Span 2 (Book TV) for a presentation about their nationally acclaimed book, Casino Compromise-Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1737 The UND Center for Innovation launches a student-run angel fund sponsored by Bart and Lynn Holaday. http://www.innovators.net/news_events/08-31-06%20News%20Release.htm UND is classified as a high research activity institution of higher education in a new ranking system developed and recently announced by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1776 Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion broadcast live on March 4 from the Chester Fritz Auditorium. http://www.cfa.und.edu/garrison.html UND Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) senior research manager Bethany Bolles and EERC research scientist Marc Kurz, both also space studies graduate students, travel to Sri Lanka in March as part of a research project that will use satellite remote sensing to survey irrigated U.S. farmland and U.S. and Canadian wetlands. http://www.space.edu/aerospace/News/CurrentNews/filereader2.php?id=45 UND engineering alumna and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg dives into NEEMO mission of the coast of Florida in preparation for space flight. http://www.und.edu/grad_news/ UND Aerospace Dean Bruce Smith garners the North Dakota National Guard State Meritorious Service Medal for his outstanding services as a member of Gov. John Hoevens Task Force MIND. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1874 UND chemistry chair and world renowned molecular structure theorist Mark Hoffmann is invited to Japan to present a detailed report on his research to a group of high-level peers at the University of Tokyo. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1807 UND astrophysicist Mike Gaffey earns the world's top two astronomy honors simultaneously -- the Planetary Division of the Geological Society of America G. K. Gilbert Award and the Meteoritical Society Leonard Medal -- the equivalent to getting both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1775 UND launches a nationally unique Global English online program for the growing population of students whose native language is not English. http://www.conted.und.edu/certificates/courses/globalenglish/ UND astrophysicist Tim Young nets international attention for his supernovae observations, which are published in Nature, and travels to Turkey, French Guyana, with Ron Marsh, computer sciences, to Webcast solar eclipses. Also, the team Webcasts the Mercury transit in Grand Forks. http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1893 ; http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1947 ; http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1771 ; http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1535 UND space studies professor Santhosh Seelan, a widely respected authority in geospatial technologies and satellite imaging and one-time head of India's satellite data distribution center, is invited by a Haitian science and engineering group to produce recommendations and strategies to redevelop Haitis economy. http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1860 Space studies prof Paul Hardersen and earth system science and policy grad student and amateur astronomer Vishnu Reddy make their mark internationally for their asteroid hunting work. http://www2.und.nodak.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1884 ; The UND Flying Team -- all student pilots -- triumphs among the country's top flying teams in the National Collegiate Flying Association's Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference in Ohio. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/print_article.php?uletterID=163 For the third year running, Chuck Kimmerle, Office of University Relations, scores Photographer of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE); Kimmerle also wins another personal gold from CASE. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1849 UND launches an online Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology degree program. It's the only M.A. in forensic psychology to be offered online by a nationally recognized, fully accredited university. http://www.conted.und.edu/ddp/mafp/ UND inaugurates the Journal of Native Aging and Health -- supported by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the Center for Rural Health, the School of Communication, and the National Resource Center on Native American Aging -- to publish scholarly articles that address aging, health, and related issues for American Indians. http://www.und.edu/dept/scomm/JNAH/jnah.html UND professors Tom Gilsdorf, mathematics, and Kathleen Dixon, English, are named Fulbright Scholars for the 2006-2007 academic year. Gilsdorf is researching ethnomathematics in Mexico, and Dixon is researching pop culture in Bulgaria. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1952 The National Institutes of Health ranks the College of Nursing 11th among the country's top 100 nursing programs in terms of research funding. http://www.nursing.und.edu/news.cfm?msgid=62 Matt Allner, a Sioux City, S.D., public school science teacher and UND space studies graduate student, participates in an exclusive NASA project that takes him to the Atacama Desert in Chile and to a research center in Utah. The Utah project is supervised by NASA astrobiologist Jon Rask, a graduate of UND space sciences. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2006/11/20/news/latest_news/72d88f779a9b4e398625722c00795ef2.txt The College of Business and Public Administration hosts the first-ever entrepreneurship educators forum for teachers from most of North Dakota's public, private, and tribal colleges and universities. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1974 The Carnegie Foundation includes UND in its new community engagement classification, one of only 76 schools nationwide to earn this distinction. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/uletter.php?backID=3 Vice President for Research Peter Alfonso and noted UND neuroscientist Jonathan Geiger travel to India to learn the secrets of a successful research park. Dr. Alfonso also co-chaired a session with Dr. Geiger, chair of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Therapeutics, at the Silver Jubilee Conference of the Indian Academy of Neurosciences. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/uletter.php?backID=3 UND begins building its new flight training facility for the UND Aerospace Foundation and the Robeson Community College Flight Training Center in Lumberton, N.C. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1979 UND breaks ground for a state-of-the-art $20 million residence hall slated to open August 2007. http://www2.und.edu/our/uletter/print_article.php?uletterID=280 UND's spectacularly successful Ralph Engelstad Arena celebrates its fifth anniversary. http://www2.und.edu/our/news/story.php?id=1927 UND athletics enjoy a great year: the UND women's basketball team, under head coach Gene Roebuck, finishes the regular season undefeated and ranks No. 4 nationwide in a USA Today poll. http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/wbball/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=5387 UND teams win NCC championships in football, men's swimming and diving, and women's basketball and golf; the men's hockey team claims the Broadmoor Cup by winning the WCHA playoffs. The hockey team, in its second year under head hockey coach David Hakstol, returns for the second time to the Frozen Four. The UND football team, under head coach Dale Lennon, makes it to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals after winning the NCC championship. http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/mhockey/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=5099