Campus News

Great Falls College, Montana State-Billings partner on business degrees

Kerry Dolan (foreground), Great Falls College accounting program director, advises a student.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Great Falls College MSU and Montana State University-Billings signed an agreement that will allow students to start their educational journeys at Great Falls College by acquiring an associate's degree in accounting before transferring to MSU-B to get a bachelor's degree in business.

The step is one more way the Montana State-affiliated campuses are partnering to form seamless paths for students to benefit from everything each of the schools offer.

It also marks another way Great Falls College and its MSU sister institutions are working to meet students where they are.

"Great Falls College is committed to making education as accessible as possible for anyone who wants to jump-start a career or move up the ladder at their current workplace or otherwise improve their lives," said Dr. Leanne Frost, executive director of instruction at Great Falls College. "This is one more way Great Falls College and its fellow MSU schools are making this possible."

It may be possible for students to obtain both the associate's in accounting and the bachelor's in business without ever needing to uproot their lives by moving since both Great Falls College and MSU-B have robust online offerings and have been leaders in the state of Montana on delivering online education.

"We were pioneers in online instruction when we started offering classes online in 1998, and we became experts at it well before the pandemic," Frost said. "And MSU-B has also been a real leader in delivering remote instruction. I think this is an incredible opportunity for people across northcentral and eastern Montana."

Beginning at Great Falls College has several advantages as it is considerably less expensive than four-year institutions and offers small class sizes and incredible access to instructors with real-world experience, Frost said.
Kerry Dolan, accounting program director at Great Falls College, worked as a certified public accountant in the Minneapolis area for many years before moving back to her home state to raise her family.

"She was a CPA and is able to give you a perspective into what actually goes into accounting," said Michael Judd, a graduate of the program who is working in the Great Falls area as an accountant.

"Sometimes you don't always get that from the teachers, but she is able to give you a perspective of what is expected of you (in the workplace)."

Several of the adjunct instructors in the program also work in the field.

"We work really hard to incorporate real-world experiences into our curriculum to ensure graduates of our programs are ready to hit the ground running when they get out into the workplace," Dolan said.

Great Falls College also partners with Montana State University-Northern, which offers business classes on the Great Falls College campus.

This step is just the latest move by Montana State campuses to partner for the benefit of students and taxpayers.

The campuses recently launched the OneMSU Network that aims to meet students where they are by having them start at the two-year institution closest to them to complete pre-requisites before transferring into a specialized program at another institution.

Great Falls College's respiratory therapy program is the pilot for the OneMSU Network and a great example of leveraging an area of expertise by an institution and making it available to a much wider audience as Gallatin College in Bozeman and City College in Billings partner with Great Falls College.

Students from across northcentral, southwestern and eastern Montana will be able to complete their pre-requisites at the closest of the schools to them before being accepted into the Great Falls College program that will be offered fully online beginning in the 2021-2022 school year.

It is modeled after Great Falls College's surgical technology program, which has had classes in Billings and Bozeman for several years to respond to a need for surgical technologists in those communities.

The state and nation had shortages of respiratory therapists well before the pandemic, but the respiratory illness Covid-19 has exacerbated the shortage.

The OneMSU Network soon will be offering more programs from other colleges.

"We are incredibly pleased to be one of the founding partners of the OneMSU Network," said Dr. Susan J. Wolff, CEO/dean of Great Falls College. "It is such a great way to bring the expertise of all of our institutions to wider audiences in a way that is cost-effective for both students and taxpayers."

Contact:

Scott Thompson, Great Falls College marketing and communications director, 406-771-4314, scott.thompson@gfcmsu.edu