Dr. Tim Urbaniak

City College Drafting and Design Technology Instructor


TimDr. Tim Urbaniak’s interest in student learning goes beyond the classroom. He has for two decades shared his passion for drafting and design with students and has embedded innovative service learning projects into his instruction, providing students with endless opportunities for experiential education.

“Tim is the embodiment of excellence in Service Learning,” one of his colleagues said. “His list of projects is impressive to say the least and is a long history of projects that contributed to the greater community while making a positive impression of our campus.”

A pillar to the institution’s service learning mission in 1996, Dr. Urbaniak co-authored an internal MSUB Foundation $10,000 grant to use digital technology to document Montana rock art sites, assisting archaeologists and historians in their research through applications of technology.

He has instituted numerous projects every year since, ranging from architectural and civil projects placing campus buildings into Google Earth to a 3D scanning and civil documentation of Pompeys Pillar.

A former student said Tim is an outstanding professor that is always willing to go above and beyond both in and outside the classroom.

“His projects allowed my classmates and I to step out of the classroom and into the community while applying what we had been learning to a real world situation.”

His most recent service learning project, sponsored by the Montana State Parks (MSP), has provided students with an opportunity to complete digital scans of some of the state’s most remarkable historical sites, information of which is invaluable to the (MSP) allowing them to digitally preserve historical structures and landscapes for generations to come.

“Our partnership with Tim and MSUB is unmatched in terms of an opportunity where students are shown practical applications for technology and MSP was provided with extremely valuable baseline documentation of historic buildings,” Dr. Sara Scott of MSP Heritage Resources Program said.

In his final semester of teaching for City College’s Drafting and Design Program, he retires on a high note along with student and alumni volunteers who are assisting with the digital architectural and civil documentation of the Moss Mansion in Billings and of the Charter Oak Mine west of Helena.

“The greatest reward has been watching the students engage the projects, in many instances expressing their excitement not only about the technologies being used that would soon apply to their chosen career, but how through this hands-on approach they have connected to the fabric of our history and community,” Dr. Urbaniak commented.