Montana State University history

Finally, in 1895 Ryon was replaced with Rev.

In 1896 the construction for the Main Building (Montana Hall) and the Agriculture Experiment Station (Taylor Hall) began, ending two years later.

The university football team was established in 1897, and the college graduated its first four students that same year.

The curriculum expanded into civil and electrical engineering in 1898.

Bozeman had a large red-light district by 1900, alcohol was plentiful and cheap, and there was little in the way of organized entertainment such as theaters to occupy the student body.

The first graduate degree was awarded in 1902.

In 1905, following Reid’s resignation, Doctor James M. Hamilton became the third president of MSU. Hamilton wanted the college to focus on technology.

Havre, city, seat (1911) of Hill county, north-central Montana, United States It lies along the Milk River, to the east of the Fresno Dam and Reservoir and to the north of the Chippewa (Ojibwa)-Cree Rocky Boy’s Reservation.

Northern had its beginnings in 1913 when the Thirteenth Legislative Assembly of Montana established Northern Montana Agricultural and Manual Training School to be located at Fort Assiniboine.

The bobcat is MSU’s mascot. it was selected in 1916 for its cunning, athletic prowess and independent spirit.

Hamilton resigned in 1919 to become Dean of Men, and his successor was agricultural expert Alfred Atkinson.

Atkinson became president in 1920’s, the year as the Prohibition Era.

The iconic, barrel vaulted Gymnasium Building (now Romney Gym) was built in 1922, replacing a dilapidated "drill hall" and giving the school's men's basketball team its first home court.

State tax revenues plunged, and fewer buildings were constructed on campus after 1923.

Responding to a plea from Montana citizens for an institution of higher education in central or eastern Montana, the fifth unit of the Montana University System -- Eastern Montana State Normal School -- was established March 12, 1927, with Doctor Lynn B. McMullen named the first president.

Montana Governor J. E. Erickson gave the commencement to the first three graduates (one of whom was 52 years of age) in March, 1928.

Montana State University-Northern (founded 1929) is within the city limits.

In 1930, the college built Gatton Field, a football field on what is now the site of the Marga Hosaeus Fitness Center.

The entire college was originally located in temporary quarters at Havre High School, but in 1932 four departments were moved to East Hall, the first building on the present campus.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 to provide federal funding for public works construction as a means of economic stimulus.

Although the institution was granted several acres of land nestled under the famous Rimrocks, classes had to be held in downtown Billings until the first building, McMullen Hall, was completed in December, 1935.

President Atkinson resigned in 1937 to become president of the University of Arizona.

An upsurge in campus drinking occurred after the end of Prohibition, and in 1940 the Student Union Building (now Strand Union Building) was built to provide students with a gathering spot on campus that (it was hoped) would keep them away from the saloons downtown.

President Strand resigned his office in 1942 to accept the presidency of Oregon State University (in which role he served for 19 years). With Montana still not yet having emerged from the Great Depression, the college struggled to find a new president.

In 1943, the state board of higher education appointed MSC economist Roland "Rollie" Renne to be the new acting president of the college.

When the war ended in 1945, Renne’s prediction was proven correct.

In 1949, the Normal School changed its name to Eastern Montana College of Education.

That’s right, on March 7th, 1957, an astounding 1,000 male students descended on the female-dorm, Hamilton Hall, in a panty raid.

Gary K. Bracken grew up in the small, rural town of Sidney, MT and graduated from the College of Business in 1961 with a degree in accounting.

Doctor Renne resigned as president of Montana State College effective 1 January 1964, to run for Governor of Montana.

Originally MSU was called the “Agriculture College of the State of Montana” and in 1965 the name officially changed to Montana State University.

Despite many shared opinions, the protests and growing radicalism that had been affecting campuses across the nation reached MSU. It began in 1966 with a hundred students protesting the Vietnam War.

Enrollment surpassed 3,000 in 1967, and in that same year the College of Liberal Arts was established.

Growing student unrest over the football team's use of decrepit Gatton Field (while the basketball team used modern Brick Breeden Fieldhouse) led to a proposal by Johnson in April 1968 to build a 16,000-seat stadium funded by student fees.

When about 150 students rallied in front of Montana Hall in 1969 to ask for co-ed and "open visitation" dorms (e.g., to allow men into women's dorm rooms, and vice versa), Johnson threatened to call out the city police.

Doctor Carl W. McIntosh was named MSU's eighth president in June 1970.

In 1972, he persuaded the legislature to allow MSU to participate in the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) medical education program, which allowed 20 (now 30) Montana citizens per year to begin medical school at MSU before completing studies at the University of Washington.

However, in 1973 President Nixon’s budget cuts hit MSU hard, it decreased the federal funding many programs relied on.

In 1974, women faculty at MSU sued, alleging gender discrimination.

In 1975, Montana's first Commissioner of Higher Education, Doctor Lawrence K. Pettit (a former MSU professor of political science) launched an investigation of several Montana colleges and universities.

In March 1976, Pettit announced he was confiscating $1 million in surplus student fees from MSU — money he argued the university was trying to hide from state auditors and the legislature.

The public outcry about the "hidden million" led the Board of Regents to request McIntosh's resignation on 30 June 1977, which he tendered. (Pettit resigned the following year, his combative attempt to turn the commissioner's office into a sort of chancellorship having failed.)

Until the 1980’s, all Montana State University freshmen were given green beanies during the first week of orientation.

Tietz's major goal, increasing research funding, was greatly helped by a 1981 decision of the legislature to refund indirect cost payments back to the university.

The Visual Communications Building, a film and tv center, was also constructed under Tietz in 1983.

A third building, the modern home of the Museum of the Rockies, opened in 1989.

Tietz finally resigned in March 1990 because he was tired of battling bureaucracy.

Michael P. Malone was named MSU's Acting President on 1 January 1991, and permanently appointed to the position in March 1991, Malone was named MSU's 10th president.

Montana State University celebrated its centennial in 1993.

On 1 July 1994, Montana restructured the Montana University System.

Doctor Ronald P. Sexton was appointed the ninth Chief Executive Officer of MSU Billings in 1995.

The MSU community was shocked when Malone died of a heart attack on 21 December 1999, at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.

Malone's successor, Geoffrey Gamble, was named the 11th president of Montana State University on 5 October 2000.

In December 2002, the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship (JJCBE) at Montana State University received a $3 million gift from the family and friends of JJCBE alumnus, Gary K. Bracken.

In July 2003, the Board of Regents approved the request to establish this gift as an endowment from Gary K. Bracken for The Bracken Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Business Education.

In the spring of 2004 the university formally launched its fifth college - the College of Health Professions and Science.

On 30 June 2006, former MSU basketball player Branden Miller and former MSU football player John LeBrum were charged with murdering local cocaine dealer Jason Wright.

In August 2007, Sports Illustrated ran a front-page article, "Trouble in Paradise", that recounted drug use, violence, theft, intimidation, and illegal activities by current and former MSU student athletes and the complicity of low-level coaching staff.

Gamble announced his retirement on 22 March 2009.

Waded Cruzado, the former president of New Mexico State University, succeeded Gamble as president, taking office on 4 January 2010.

The campaign was successful and resulted in a new end zone opening for the fall 2011 season.

The College of Technology received another name change in June 2012 when the MUS Board of Regents approved changing its name to City College at Montana State University Billings.

Renne was president of the college for 21 years, the third-longest of any individual (as of 2013). With the passage of the G.I. Bill just eight days before his appointment and the end of the war in sight, Renne realized that servicemen returning from the war were going to flood college campuses.

It offers sixty bachelor degrees, forty-five master’s degrees and doctoral degrees in twenty-three fields! In 2014 the enrollment was over fifteen thousand students and that number is only growing.

MSU marked its 125th anniversary in 2018 with a year of celebratory events.

In November 2019, the Board of Regents voted to raise Cruzado's salary by $150,000, citing her performance as president and amid reports Cruzado had received a larger offer from another university.

In 2020, Cruzado's salary stood at $476,524 per year.

In 2021, Doctor Stefani Hicswa became the first female chancellor at MSUB.