Mongolia In Montana

If you’re in or near Bozeman, Montana, this week you should take in ”Discover Mongolia at Montana State University” that’s going on all this week.

Bolortsetseg Minjin (below), a paleontologist from Mongolia who is currently a visiting scholar at the Museum of the Rockies, will kick off the Discover Mongolia week with a presentation about dinosaurs in Mongolia. Her talk is set for noon, Monday, Nov. 17, in SUB room 275.

In 2007 Bolortsetseg founded the non-profit "Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs" (ISMD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The goal of the organization is to build a museum in Mongolia to preserve dinosaurs and other national treasures, and to further science education in the country. Since 2005 she has worked with MSU's Jack Horner, who has supported her efforts to improve Mongolian paleontology. She is working on the paleobiology of the Cretaceous dinosaur Psittacosaurus while at the Museum of the Rockies on a post-doctoral research position. [although you’ve missed her talk I’m sure she’s still around campus]

The Oscar-nominated film "Mongol," the story of Genghis Khan, will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the SUB's Procrastinator Theater. Directed by Sergei Bodrov, the sweeping film tells the story of Khan, who was a slave before conquering half the world in the early 1200s.

Traditional Mongolian music, song and dance will be performed by Mongolian students at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in SUB Ballroom A. There are currently five students from Mongolia studying at MSU as well as three scholars and professors.

Mongolian students will read to area children at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at the Bozeman Public Library. The students will read from the book "The Khan's Daughter," as well as give a demonstration of Mongolian writing.

Mongolian cultural artifacts will be on display throughout the week at the MSU Library. In addition, an exhibition of the top 15 photographs taken by MSU students while on MSU's Study Abroad programs will be on display throughout International Education Week in the SUB's Exit Gallery. Paintings done by Mongolian children, ages 5-16, will be displayed at the Bozeman Public Library.