Logan Health donates land for new MSU nursing education building in Kalispell

BOZEMAN — Logan Health has signed a letter of intent to donate land for a new nursing education building in Kalispell to be built with a portion of a $101 million investment by Flathead Valley philanthropists Mark and Robyn Jones to Montana State University.

“We’re excited to be involved in this investment in the education for our future nurses. There’s no better training than learning alongside the highly qualified, experienced nurses at Logan Health, and we’re honored to host nursing students from many programs within the state,” said Logan Health Medical Center President and Chief Nursing Officer April McGauley. “This new facility will help increase the number of graduating nurses, which will help us better serve our patients.”

In August 2021, Mark and Robyn Jones announced a philanthropic investment of $101 million to Montana State University for the construction of new, larger, state-of-the-art educational facilities on the five campuses of its nursing college in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula. This investment provides the first opportunity to have university-owned facilities in Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula, which currently utilize leased facilities.

MSU’s nursing college, now named the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing, provides baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral educated nurses but has been unable to significantly increase its number of graduates due to limited space. With the Joneses’ philanthropic investment providing new facilities in five cities across the state, the college aims to fill the state’s projected shortfall of nurses by 2030.

“Montana State University’s ongoing partnership with Logan Health is critically important to our nursing college’s efforts to meet the state’s projected shortfall of registered nurses,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “We are grateful to Logan Health for this incredible gift and equally grateful for their continued partnership.”

Logan Health will provide land located on the north side of its Kalispell campus for the new nursing education building.

“We are pleased to be part of this project and are excited to have enhanced nursing education on our campus,” said Logan Health President and CEO Dr. Craig Lambrecht. “Partnerships like these offer significant benefits to our community and will positively impact patient care for years to come.”

Mark and Robyn Jones are the founders of Goosehead Insurance Inc., which has offices across the nation. Founded in 2003 by Robyn Jones, Goosehead now has more than 2,300 offices in the U.S.

The Joneses, who have a home on Big Mountain in Whitefish, have said their intention with the $101 million is to help address one of the most defining challenges of our time: access to health care, particularly for residents of rural and frontier communities, where there is low population and high geographic remoteness.

The Logan Health land donation will go before the Montana Board of Regents of the Montana University System for approval.