GREAT FALLS — Montana State University’s Mark & Robyn Jones College of Nursing officially opened the doors to its new nursing education building in Great Falls, marking a major step forward in expanding access to healthcare education in Montana.
The grand opening, held at 1704 29th Street South next to the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, drew a crowd of students, faculty, and community members.
Brianna Juneau reports - watch the video here:
The event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony and self-guided tours through the new facility.
“We now have spaces that were designed for education that really have that state of the art capacity and technology for us to be able to help our nursing students graduate with the very best education,” explained Sarah Shannon, the Dean of the new Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing.
The celebration holds special significance, this being the first completed project in a statewide effort to expand MSU’s nursing program on all five MSU campuses. This comes from the $101 million investment from Mark and Robyn Jones in 2021, the largest private gift ever given to a college of nursing in the U.S.
The donation funds all five new facilities in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Missoula. The remaining buildings are expected to open between 2026 and early 2027.
Dean Shannon added, “What's really special about this project is it didn't take just one person or two or three or ten. This is truly a village that has come together.”
The Great Falls facility, which opened for students for the 2025 Fall semester, features three classrooms, a foundational skills lab, and an advanced simulation center designed to give nursing students real-world clinical experience before entering the workforce.
The project symbolizes a growing commitment to addressing Montana’s nursing shortage and providing education that meets the healthcare needs of both urban and rural communities across the state.
Natalie Partridge, a current MSU nursing student at the school, said that access to the college has made a difference. “Coming from a small town, I really like that I'm able to come here, get all of my education to hope for. One day I can go back to my small community or a small community and provide the resources available.”
The land for the new building was donated by Benefis Health System. Benefis CEO John Goodnow said the partnership demonstrated a shared goal of strengthening local healthcare.
With the new facility, MSU’s program makes access to the increasingly sought after Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) easier to obtain, built directly for the next generation of Montana nurses.
(NOVEMBER 28, 2023) The groundbreaking ceremony for new buildings for Montana State University nursing program took place in Great Falls on Tuesday at the Grandview at Benefis Town Square.
The Mark & Robyn Jones College of Nursing Great Falls campus is preparing to begin the construction of a new building. It is one of five MSU nursing buildings across the state that is possible due to a $101 million donation from Mark and Robyn Jones.
“This is a great day,” Waded Cruzado, President of MSU said, “It's a new day for Great Falls, for Benefis Hospital, and for Montana State University, and my heart is full of gratitude."
The donation, which is the largest private donation to a nursing school in United States history, will go toward scholarships, numerous MSU nursing facilities, and a certified nurse midwifery program, as well as the five buildings across the state.
“These are very special people who wanted to do something that would impact the health and wellbeing of all Montanans,” Sarah Shannon, Dean of MSU Nursing College said.
The Joneses are the founders of Goosehead Insurance Inc., and split their time between Texas and Montana. Although not at the event, they shared their gratitude to the MSU Nursing community in a letter.
“Thank you to the current and future nursing professionals who invest their careers in the care of their communities,” the Joneses letter, read by Dean Shannon, said, “You are the heroes in our eyes.”
“Getting this very generous gift from Mark and Robyn Jones enabled us to provide the best quality of buildings and facilities for our future students and the future Bobcat nurses,” Cruzado said.
While the Joneses donation was incredibly large and impactful, it is not the only act of service that helped make the new building in Great Falls a reality.
Benefis Health System, led by Benefis CEO John Goodnow, donated the land where the new facility will be built.
“The donation of the land was absolutely essential as part of the program,” Cruzado said, “What John Goodnow, Benefits Hospital, and the board have allowed us to do, number one, they serve as leaders in the state. And secondly, it allows us to use more of those dollars from that gift for the purpose of being invested in the education of those students.”
Cruzado, Goodnow, Shannon, and other leaders then ceremoniously grabbed shovels and dug up dirt from the worksite, brought to the Grandview in an MSU-branded trough. The Great Falls building is expected to be completed in 2026.
