Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship


The Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship, previously known as the MSU College of Business is the business school of Montana State University, a public land-grant university located in Bozeman, Montana. The college offers a Bachelor of Science in Business degree at the undergraduate level and a Master of Professional Accountancy degree at the graduate level. The college is named for MSU alumnus Jake Jabs, president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse who donated $25 million in 2011 to the university to modernize the college.

About

The Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship offers a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree in business with four option areas: accounting, finance, management, and marketing. The college offers five minors: accounting, business administration, entrepreneurship and small business management, finance, and international business, as well as an 18-credit business certificate and 15-credit entrepreneurship certificate. The college offers a one-year Master of Professional Accountancy program. The college is accredited through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. It is the most rigorous accreditation a business college can earn. Only 5% of the business schools worldwide have this accreditation. As a part of Montana State University, the college operates on a semester system. The college is directly managed by a Dean, who is advised by a National Board of Advisors composed of alumni and other successful business professionals.

History

When the Agricultural College of the State of Montana was established in 1893, the first college catalog announced a division of business that would include "book-keeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial correspondence, penmanship, commercial law, and business ethics, etc." The first class offered at the new college was a business course offered by Homer G. Phelps, who had been conducting business institutes in Bozeman and Livingston, Montana. Initially the business curriculum was supported by the college to ensure that women would enroll. Economics and agricultural economics would eventually provide a more theoretical approach to some of the business subjects, but in the beginning, typewriting, shorthand, business machine operation, and office management constituted the basic courses. The secretarial and business options maintained a strong attraction for years, but in time, Leona Barnes, Bernice Lamb, John Blankenhorn, Alfred Day, and Harvey Larson presided over the transition to a truly professional business curriculum. It wasn't until 1958-1959, when the department of commerce emerged to join with the new College of Professional Schools. While general business remained the most popular option, accounting attracted an increasing number of students. In 1975, the core areas of the school were realigned and emphasis was placed on accounting, finance, management, marketing, and international trade.
In 1981, the School of Business received accreditation. When data became available in the early 1980s, it was discovered that Harold Holen's accounting program had achieved top rankings nationwide in the percentage of students taking and passing the CPA exam.
In October 2011, the university announced what was then the largest private gift in the history of the Montana higher education system─$25 million from MSU alumnus Jake Jabs, president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse. Eighteen and a half million dollars of the gift went toward the construction of a new building, Jabs Hall. The remainder of the gift funded new scholarships and academic programs. The School of Business was renamed the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship in 2013.

Student and faculty profiles

Students

In 2018, the incoming freshmen class had an average high school GPA of 3.27 and an average ACT score of 23. In 2018, out of 275 graduating students, 175 were male and 100 were female. A total of 95 students graduated with the management option, 53 in accounting, 61 in marketing, and 66 with the finance option. The Master of Professional Accountancy program had 10 females and 11 males. In 2018, a total of 124 students graduated with a business minor: 11 in accounting, 31 in business administration, 62 in entrepreneurship & small business management, 14 in finance and 6 in international business.
During fall semester 2018, there were a total of 66 student athletes enrolled in the college. Sports represented: Alpine skiing, basketball, football, golf, rodeo, Nordic skiing, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and the spirit squad. There are ten student clubs or organizations affiliated and supported by the college: American Marketing Association at Montana State, Beta Alpha Psi/Accounting Club, Collegiate DECA, Enactus, Finance Club, International Business Club, Management and HR Club, Montana Investment Group, Women in Business, and MSU LaunchCats.
The spring 2019 cohort of business students scored in the 94th percentile on the Major Field Test – Business, administered to business seniors in more than 495 institutions across the country. Based on the Career Destinations self-survey through the Montana State University's Career, Internship & Student Employment Services, 94% of undergraduates reported full or part-time employment or continuing education in AY2018. The MPAc graduating class reported 100% had full or part-time employment or continuing education immediately following graduation.

Faculty

The 2018 fall semester faculty profile consists of 28 tenure-track faculty, 33 non-tenure track faculty, eight communications coaches, and seven emeritus faculty. Faculty members have earned Ph.D., Juris Doctor, and MBAs or master's degrees from well-known institutions including Stanford, Michigan, Oregon, MIT, Arizona State, University of Utah and others. Students also learn from non-tenure track faculty who have held senior positions in companies including Booz Allen Hamilton, ESPN, FedEx, NASDAQ, and Saatchi & Saatchi. Several faculty members are local business owners.

Jabs Hall

Jabs Hall, is a LEED Gold building designed to promote both formal and informal collaborative learning across multiple disciplines. Housing the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship, the building contains classrooms, collaboration areas, and office spaces. The building's layout and features intend to make the work of students, faculty, and staff transparent to encourage interdisciplinary learning and active engagement. There are 11 classrooms with south-facing windows, two computer classrooms, nine student team and conference rooms, the Risa K. Scott Collaboration Lab for interdisciplinary classes and activity, and two fireplaces. Groundbreaking for Jabs Hall took place in 2013 with the opening of the building in 2015.
Jabs Hall received first place recognition as the best project in the higher education/research category within the mountain states region of the Engineering News-Record Regional Best Projects Awards. The award celebrates and honors the building teams that created the best projects nationwide in 2015. Jabs Hall was recognized with a top project excellence award from the Montana chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies.

Centers and programs

The Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship hosts two centers of excellence.

Bracken Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Business Education

The Bracken Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Business Education was created in 2002 through a $3 million donation from the family and friends of Gary K. Bracken, a 1961 alumnus. The center facilitates excellence in undergraduate business education through a high quality learning environment and a resource center for business students to focus on career and internship opportunities, student club support, as well as study abroad and other international and fellowship opportunities. The Bracken Business Communications Clinic, a part of the Bracken Center, offers one-on-one coaching by business communications professionals to improve students’ writing, speaking, interviewing, and oral presentation skills.

Jabs Entrepreneurship Center

In November 2001, the Montana University System Board of Regents authorized the creation of The Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West and a minor program in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. The center established a unique partnership between the college and TechRanch, a technology business incubator in Bozeman. The center moved into Reid Hall in 2010 to expand opportunities for students. Jake Jabs, president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse announced in December 2010 that he would give more than $3 million to the college. The gift was earmarked for the renamed Jabs Entrepreneurship Center.
The Jabs Entrepreneurship Center also includes the Alderson Program for Entrepreneurship. Funded by a generous gift from Jim and Connie Alderson, the program was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the national top 10 entrepreneur emphasis programs in 2004 and 2005.
The Alderson Program and Jabs Entrepreneurship Center were named by the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy as an Economic Development Best Practices Program national finalist in 2005. The Center for Entrepreneurship was also a finalist for EDA's 2007 Excellence in Economic Development Award. Both the program and center have received several grants from prominent funding organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, Coleman Foundation, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor and Small Business Administration.

Additional programs

Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship alumni with significant ties to the business world or have succeeded in their chosen profession.