University of Missouri-Rolla faculty, staff and students have joined Rolla community members to form the Rolla Community Tsunami Relief Fund to raise funds for assistance to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in southeast Asia. To date the groups have raised more than $5,000.

The University of Missouri-Rolla, the only university in the United States with an ISO-14001-certified campuswide Environmental Management System, has been selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to help promote EMS within college and university communities and in public sectors.

As the spring semester started last week, the University of Missouri-Rolla became the first university in the United States to offer a minor in explosives engineering. Also new this semester, UMR is offering a demolitions course that is the first of its kind in the nation.

Dr. Mariesa Crow, the transition dean of the University of Missouri-Rolla School of Materials, Energy and Earth Resources (SoMEER) since October 2003, was named dean of the school effective Jan. 1.

Enrollment on the first day of classes at the University of Missouri-Rolla is expected to be 4,699, slightly up from last year’s first-day enrollment, says Laura Stoll, UMR registrar.

As part of its campaign to deter online music theft, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is again targeting college and university campuses, where the incidence of illegal distribution of copyrighted music is high.