The MSU-Bozeman College of Nursing was founded in 1937 and has received continuous national accreditation since 1949. Since its inception, the College has been a multi-campus program, making effective use of educational and clinical resources in the state. The College's administration is located on the main campus of MSU-Bozeman, where most undergraduate students complete lower division nursing requirements. Students move to one of the campuses located in the state's major populations areas, Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Missoula, to complete their upper division course work. With their greater population concentrations, these communities possess health care facilities that provide the degree of complexity, size and diversity of patient population needed for upper division clinical experience. Each of the College's campuses has resident faculty who serve both undergraduate and graduate students. As a multi-site program in a rural setting, the College meets a number of challenges related to maintaining program identity and quality in each location. At the graduate level, for example, accessibility is balanced with close supervision by combining distance education, "face-to-face" classes and on-site clinical supervision. Graduate students may access courses from any of the College's four campuses via teleconference, online, and interactive video.
