From the Desk of the Dean:
Hello MRJCON friends, colleagues, and alumni,
There’s something special about fall at Montana State—it’s a season of fresh beginnings, new possibilities, and renewed energy. This year, our excitement is multiplied: nearly 150 new students have joined our Bobcat Nurse family, and more than 500 continuing students have returned to campus ready to advance their journeys. The start of the year is always inspiring, and this issue of the Bobcat Nurse newsletter is filled with stories that reflect just how remarkable this moment is for our college.
A Transformational New Chapter
For the first time in our 88-year history, Bobcat Nurses are poised to learn in facilities built specifically for nursing education. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Mark and Robyn Jones, construction is moving quickly across all five campuses. Our Great Falls campus celebrated its move into a brand-new building this summer, and students are already thriving in state-of-the-art classrooms and labs. Bozeman and Billings are on track for Spring 2026, while Kalispell and Missoula will welcome students to their new homes in Fall 2026.
These facilities are more than buildings—they are a transformation. Equipped with cutting-edge technology that links our five campuses, simulation suites that provide safe, high-quality training, and welcoming study spaces that bring students together, they redefine what it means to become a Bobcat Nurse.
Help Us Put the Heart Into Our Homes
The Jones gift has made construction possible, but we are working now to ensure each building is fully equipped with the technology, tools, and furnishings that bring learning to life. I invite you to join us in this historic moment: your gift will directly provide the resources that turn walls and windows into vibrant centers of nursing education. Together, we can put the “heart” into these new homes for our students.
Highlights Across the College
This newsletter also celebrates the powerful work happening across MRJCON:
- AHEC and the Montana Office of Rural Health, part of our college, are training nurses to respond to sexual assault and to deliver culturally informed care for Indigenous Montanans.
- Our new nurse-midwifery program just completed its first successful year, expanding vital maternal health access across the state.
- Cancer care services are reaching further through our partnership with Barrett Hospital in Dillon.
- Students on our Kalispell campus gained national recognition with a trauma simulation featured by NBC Montana.
A Historic Moment for Bobcat Nurses
It is truly an extraordinary time to be part of this college. With new facilities, bold research, innovative programs, and the dedication of our students, faculty, and alumni, we are shaping the future of nursing in Montana and beyond. Thank you for your steadfast support and advocacy—you are helping us write the next chapter of the MRJCON story.
With gratitude and excitement,
Educating Nurses in Great Falls since 1937. Opening a new chapter in 2025.
The new Great Falls campus was opened to students at the start of this semester, and so far they are loving it! A grand opening celebration will be held at the building on 10/6/2025, if you are interested in attended please reach out to Pam Schulz at pam.schulz@montana.edu.
A major upgrade from the former campus:
Progress is moving along nicely on the other 4 campus buildings as well.
Montana's future Nurses still need your help!
With your help to finish these new facilities, we can more than double the total number of advanced practice registered nurses graduating from MSU, which includes family nurse practitioners, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives. This is the workforce needed to meet the primary care, mental health, and maternal health needs of our rural, frontier and tribal communities. Your partnership is essential for us to meet these goals. We need to finish building and equipping these world-class facilities for educating Montana’s future registered nurses and advanced practice providers.
MSU Nursing college research to be featured in London’s Florence Nightingale Museum
“It is a distinct honor for the work of MSU nursing to be featured in the Florence Nightingale Museum. This demonstrates the caliber of our professors, the work they are doing and our deep commitment to pursuing MSU’s land-grant mission to Montana,” said Sarah Shannon
Caring for Indigenous Montanans trainings reach more than 1,500 current and future health care workers in first year
A resource offered by Montana State University's Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Center that aims to improve health care for Native Americans in Montana reached more than 1,500 health care workers and students in its first year.
MSU grant helping train Montana nurses responding to sexual assault
The three-year, $1.5 million grant was awarded in July 2024 to MSU’s Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing and the Montana Office of Rural Health and the Area Health Education Center by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
The work aims to increase the state’s number of sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANEs, who provide comprehensive physical exams to victims of sexual assault, outline pregnancy prevention resources, and connect victims to advocates, survivor services and other follow-up care. They can also collect physical evidence to aid in crime reporting and investigations.
MSU and partners bring cancer care to rural Montana
Years of effort by Montana State University’s nursing college and its partners have helped increase access to cancer care in rural Montana.
Barrett’s new infusion suite opened on Oct. 1, 2024, to high demand from patients in the Dillon area. By the end of 2024, the hospital had recorded a total of 45 clinic visits and 30 treatment visits. That has already reduced patient travel by over 38,000 miles and saved people over $10,000 in fuel costs alone,
A breakthrough grant from the Merck Foundation has brought oncology services to Barrett Hospital and HealthCare in Dillon, a town in southwest Montana with around 4,000 residents. With a new infusion center that opened in 2024, scores of rural patients can receive care close to home instead of traveling over two hours to a hospital in Bozeman.
Midwifery program completes successful first year
Launched in fall of 2024, the program aims to help more Montanans become nurse-midwives and improve health outcomes across Montana. It was made possible by a historic $101 million donation from Mark and Robyn Jones to MSU in 2021 and support from Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings.
MSU nursing students practice trauma simulation in Kalispell
In Kalispell, Montana State University nursing students got to experience a simulation of a real-world trauma situation. Simulation in Motion Montana brought its simulation-based education to northwest Montana to help students learn how to navigate a critical situation firsthand.
A letter to Dean Shannon, from Taylor Newton Class of 2023
My name is Taylor Newton, and I am an alumni from the Montana State University Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing program. I was on the Bozeman campus from 2019-2023.
When I started nursing school, I was newly diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. As difficult as it was to be nineteen years old with hearing aids, an even bigger complication arose when I realized I couldn't use my stethoscope my parents got me for Christmas with my hearing aids. I was scared I was going to miss important assessments of my patients, like breath sounds, irregular rhythms and incorrect blood pressure. Naturally, I was worried I wouldn't make it as a nurse, I would miss critical details in my patient's assessments, and I would need to find a different career path. This was a tremendously difficult moment, because I had dreamed of being a nurse for as long as I could remember.
With countless hours of research for products that would contribute to my success in nursing school, you granted me the ability to auscultate adequately in the clinical setting by assisting with purchasing this stethoscope. It changed everything for me. I felt more confident ni my assessment skills and regained the love and hope for nursing I have always had.
This stethoscope will always hold a special place in my heart, and it is bittersweet to part with. Once I was able to use it on my patients, I felt like I could do anything, despite my hearing loss. I wanted to return this stethoscope to you, in hopes you will save it and donate it to the next nursing student you encounter, who is scared that their career as a nurse will be hindered by their ability to hear. And then I want them to thrive!
Thank you for generously helping me when Ineeded it most. Ihave been an RN for two years now and grow to love my job even more every day.
Sincerely,
Taylor Newton, always a Bobcat Nurse
Student Highlight
Great Falls Nursing Student Hadley Barbie wins statewide volunteering award.
This spring, Hadley Barbie, a nursing student, received the Montana Student Volunteer Award, which is sponsored by the governor’s Office of Community Service and Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement. Read more about Hadley's achievements here.
The Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing continues to expand its programs, grow enrollment, and create knowledge to improve health. Become a part of our journey by making a donation to an area of passion for you!
Please contact our MRJCON Development Director, Alex McGee at 406 994-2433 or alex.mcgee@msuaf.org, with any questions around giving to the MRJCON