Montana State University's College of Nursing campus in Kalispell has had many homes in its 24-year history, including the basement of the Logan Health Medical Arts Building.  

But the college’s seventh landing place makes students feel like they are at the main campus of Montana State University, said campus assistant department head Sarah Wangerin.  

The two-story, approximately 20,000-square-foot building at 311 Heritage Way is equipped with modern technology and student-centered spaces. There are state-of-the-art simulation labs, administrative offices and plenty of areas for students to connect with one another in the building located near the Logan Health campus.   

“The building has given our students a campus and a place to build community. They have spaces to study together. We find them studying on the picnic tables, on the patio upstairs and in the conference rooms. They can support each other in ways that they could not before," Wangerin said.  

Sixty-seven students are enrolled in classes at the Kalispell campus this fall, which was unveiled to the public on Oct. 12 with a ribbon-cutting and speeches from Montana State University and Logan Health officials.  

A historic $101 million donation from Mark and Robyn Jones in 2021 allowed the university to fund and staff a nurse-midwifery program and construct new buildings on five nursing campuses in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Missoula and Kalispell.  

The buildings replace a patchwork of older and mostly leased spaces the college operated out of before completion of the five major construction projects in 2025 and 2026, according to Montana State University. 

The 2021 gift was the largest donation to a U.S. nursing school at the time. MSU Alumni Foundation President and CEO Fran Albrecht told the crowd at Monday's ribbon-cutting that they "may never know the true impact of the Jones' gift." She reflected on the care her mother received in her last days from dedicated nurses and healthcare professionals.  

"I think about you as students and the fact that you will take care of so many throughout your career, and the fact that you are also taking the baton from so many who have worked so many hours diligently for years and are ready to hand off the baton. They need you, and we need you throughout Montana, and I thank you for saying yes to growing in your professional career as a nurse," Albrecht said.  

College of Nursing Dean Sarah Shannon said the Jones' investment makes strides toward closing Montana's nurse shortage. Students complete prerequisites on the main campus in Bozeman and then move to one of the upper division campuses to finish the nursing program. She said by 2030, MSU expects to graduate over 400 bachelor's prepared nurses each year, with over 70% expected to remain in Montana when they get their first job.  

"More than half of all the new nurses licensed in Montana each year are Bobcat nurses. We also graduate more than 50 new graduate-prepared nurses each year, who will become nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse leaders, nurse administrators, nurse scientists and nurse educators," Shannon said.  

The five new buildings across the state will help increase the number of nurses who graduate each year by around 100 students, according to MSU.  

In her remarks, Shannon announced that the simulation spaces in all five buildings would be named in honor of Anna Pearl Sherrick, the founding dean of MSU’s nursing college. She said a $2.5 million donation from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust equipped all the simulation labs with the latest technology.  

She also thanked building contractor Swank Enterprises, architecture firms Cushing Terrell and CO Architects, MSU’s Planning, Design and Construction team and Logan Health for the land donation. 

Logan Health Flathead Valley President Josh Neff told the crowd that the history of Montana State University and Logan Health run a similar path, with 130 years of serving Montanans.  

"There's an incredible legacy that's interwoven into the thread of who we are and the responsibility that we have as an organization to do great collaborations like this to care for Montanans," Neff said.  

The relationship between Logan Health and the university allows for students to observe and participate in real-life clinical settings. Neff said the partnership also benefits the push to better serve rural communities, where they "need to be focused on increasing access to care, and not just today, but tomorrow, and through perpetuity." 

"I'm excited about this work. I'm excited that we have an opportunity to partner with Montana State University and do the things that we need to do in terms of our part of educating the clinicians for tomorrow," Neff said.  

Many current students and alumni of Montana State University's nursing program were present at the ribbon cutting. University President Brock Tessman spoke about Kayla Anderson, a fifth-generation Montanan from Kalispell who was able to continue her education in the new nurse-midwifery program following the donation from Mark and Robyn Jones.  

Anderson embarked on her career after receiving her bachelor's degree from Montana State University's nursing program. She worked in a three-room birth center in the Philippines where she helped deliver more than 100 babies.  

When she returned home and wanted to continue her education in obstetrics, she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she didn’t have to look further than her hometown of Kalispell and alma mater of Montana State University, Tessman told the crowd.  

"The biggest thing we do is offer a transformative educational experience to any and all Montanans so that they can go back to their communities and make their families healthier, happier and more vibrant than they have been," Tessman said.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Montana State University held a celebration on Oct. 12, marking the opening of its Kalispell nursing campus as part of the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing. The building on Heritage Way is a roughly 20,000-square-foot building with classrooms and simulation labs. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Montana State University held a celebration Oct. 12 marking the opening of its Kalispell nursing campus as part of the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing. Nursing college dean Sarah Shannon addresses the crowd gathered for the event. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Logan Health President Josh Neff talks during a ceremony Oct. 12 for the opening the Kalispell campus for Montana State University's Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing. Logan Health donated the land for the building. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Montana State University President Brock Tessman talks about the impact of the five nursing campuses opened in Billings, Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula as part of the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing during a ceremony Oct. 12 in Kalispell. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Montana State University nursing student Meadow Johnson, who is set to graduate in December, talks with visitors about the medical simulation manikin in one of the simulation labs on the second floor of the Montana State University Kalispell nursing campus on Oct. 12. (Heidi Desch/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Shown on a computer monitor, a Montana State University nursing student talks to members of the community in one of the Kalispell nursing campus building simulation labs on an Oct. 12 tour of the building. (Heidi Desch/ Daily Inter Lake)