Montana State opens new nursing education building in Billings

BILLINGS - On Wednesday morning at Montana State University's new nursing education building, located on a tree-lined block between the Billings Clinic and Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital campuses, the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing began its next chapter.

Hundreds of attendees applauded as MSU President Brock Tessman, nursing college dean Sarah Shannon, Billings nursing campus department head Jeanne Conner, students in scrubs, and other advocates and clinical partners cut a gold-and-white-striped ribbon in front of the new building.

Sept. 23 marked the official opening of the third of five new MSU nursing education buildings across the state. The building on the Great Falls nursing campus opened last October, and Bozeman's Jones Hall opened last week. Buildings on MSU nursing campuses in Kalispell and Missoula will celebrate their grand openings in October.

The new infrastructure comes after a historic $101 million investment in MSU's nursing college by Mark and Robyn Jones, founders of Goosehead Insurance, in 2021.

Before the ribbon cutting and self-guided tours, attendees listened to remarks about the value of the new building to students and everyday Montanans.

"Mark and Robyn Jones made the courageous decision to believe in and partner with Montana State University to help solve the growing need for highly trained nurses in communities across our state," said Fran Albrecht, president and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation. "We share their belief that investing in nursing education is one of the most meaningful ways that we can care for and improve health outcomes for our Montana families."

MSU President Brock Tessman thanked his predecessor, Waded Cruzado, for her instrumental role in securing the donation. He said the Joneses' gift was a statement about the future and what's to come for Bobcat nurses.

"It's a statement in the faith in our current students and those who have yet to enroll," Tessman said. "But it's also a statement about the excellence that has existed over the decades embodied by the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing."

Conner, the department head, praised the longstanding relationships MSU has maintained with Billings Clinic and Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital. In addition to directly teaching students during their clinical shifts, the hospitals also donated the land - valuable real estate in the heart of Billings - where the building stands.

"We have a long tradition of successful collaborative relationships with healthcare agencies in Billings and in the surrounding communities that provide clinical opportunities and excellent education experiences for our students," Conner said.

Construction began in Billings in 2024. All together, the five new buildings will help increase the number of Bobcat nurses who graduate each year by around 100 students. That means across the five campuses, by 2030, MSU will graduate around 400 bachelor's-prepared nurses each year, about 70% of whom choose to stay in Montana to start their careers.

The Billings campus has already moved to increase enrollment, with 48 traditional bachelor's students this year compared to 40 last year, said Conner. In the nursing college's five-campus, one-college model, students complete their prerequisite courses in Bozeman, then apply to one of the five nursing campuses across the state to finish their degrees.

"This building has changed the way students experience higher education. In this space that is specifically designed for teaching, learning and envisioning the nursing care of the future, the talents of our enthusiastic and creative faculty have been fully unleashed," Conner said.

The two-story, approximately 24,400-square foot new building features three large classrooms and a foundation skills room where students learn key tasks such as health assessment and insertion of IVs and catheters. It also includes a simulation center where students practice care on computerized manikins, with three rooms dedicated to labor and delivery, pediatric care and adult care, each with a control room and three pre-brief/debrief rooms. The building also contains a slate of student-centered spaces, including study rooms, study nooks, day-use lockers, a break room and an outdoor terrace overlooking campus. Instruction began in the new building in May.

Students at the grand opening said the dedicated, large building is a huge improvement from past facilities; classes were previously held across several buildings at the MSU Billings campus. Now, they have a homebase and can connect more easily with other nursing students outside of their direct groups.

Ellie Smith from Billings and Anna Johnson from Pittsburgh, both senior nursing students, said having larger spaces, more beds and realistic equipment will improve their patient care in the future.

"It helps being able to actually use equipment, like suction tools, on a manikin instead of just pretending to, because ultimately in a hospital setting, you don't just pretend to do something to someone new," Johnson said. "And especially when we get into clinicals, we won't feel super uncomfortable because we got to practice a lot of things here first."

In her remarks, Dean Shannon thanked those who were involved in bringing the building to life, including the contractor, Langlas Construction, architecture firms Cushing Terrell and CO Architects, and MSU's Planning, Design and Construction team.

She also announced that the simulation spaces in all five buildings would be named in honor of Anna Pearl Sherrick, the founding leader of MSU's nursing college.

"Our college's vision is to transform the lives and the health of Montana's communities," Shannon said. "We are so grateful to the support of everyone here today who has allowed us to continue pursuit of that mission."

Clinical partners also expressed their excitement about the investment, including MSU alumna and chief nursing officer at Billings Clinic Dania Block.

"The education I received at Montana State University gave me a foundation. It opened doors, it challenged me to think differently and prepared me for opportunities I never could have imagined," Block said. "In many ways, this building represents more than a place to learn. It represents generations of opportunity."

"Today is about much more than bricks and mortar," said Janet Harris, chief nursing officer for St. Vincent Hospital, who also spoke Wednesday. "It is an opportunity, a calling, and a community dedicated to investing in the future of healthcare."