Dear Alumni and Friends,

Welcome to the spring 2018 issue of our e-newsletter! I love spring because our graduating students are pursuing and accepting the first jobs of their careers. Seeing their years of hard work as well as the support of their loved ones and the dedication of our faculty pay off is a reminder of the power of higher education.

This spring we will celebrate the graduation of 339 undergraduate and 108 graduate students. We’re graduating our largest MBA class ever (you’ll remember that earlier this year we launched our flexible MBA program that allows students to earn their degree anytime, anywhere), and our graduating master of accountancy class is one of our largest in recent history. It’s exciting to think about the collective impact these future alumni will make in their careers.

Among the good news you’ll read about in this issue of our e-newsletter is the memorandum of understanding our college recently signed with the Shanghai International Studies University School of Economics and Finance. This agreement opens the door for student and faculty exchanges and joint research. It creates opportunities for the exchange of knowledge that will benefit both institutions. For our students and faculty, it represents a way to connect with a leading international university, something we already do here at the college, but that we’re thrilled to extend through a growing relationship with our colleagues in China.

You’ll also read about the announcement that our master of accountancy program recently ranked in the top 20 nationwide by Public Accounting Report. To everyone who contributed to this ranking — thank you. Our fantastic reputation in accounting is built on years of faculty dedication to student success and to engaging with the broader profession of accounting. Alumni achievements and support are also key to sustaining this reputation. To foster this success, earlier this year, we established the Montana Accounting Circle as a way to provide private support to continue excellence in accounting education.

You’ll also see in this issue that we have some events to look forward to this spring. The annual John Ruffatto Business Startup Challenge, which we host together with the Blackstone LaunchPad at UM, gives university students from across Montana the opportunity to present their entrepreneurial ideas and compete for $50,000 in prizes. Also coming up, our independent, student-run record label, Switchback Records, is releasing its first album. Switchback is run by students in the Entertainment Management Program, which prepares students to work in the business of entertainment, so we’re pleased to give our students the unique experience of conceiving of and launching an album.  

I hope you'll take the time to explore this latest edition of our newsletter, which is packed with details on some of the topics I’ve mentioned here as well as other college news you don’t want to miss. For updates between these emails, please follow @UmontanaBiz on social media, and if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at officeofthedean@mso.umt.edu.                                                                                                

Thank you for reading! And go GRIZ!