Instructor Gary Bishop with a MGMT 463 team

Students are enrolled in either Management 475 - Management Practicum, a senior-level course that has been a successful MSU program for more than 15 years, or Management 463 The Entrepreneurial Experience, the capstone course for seniors seeking a minor in entrepreneurship. Both courses are taught by Gary Bishop, an adjunct instructor of management with a background which includes a twenty-plus year career in the United States Army as an attack helicopter pilot and instructor pilot and more than twenty years of successful senior executive experience in areas such as operations management, leadership, retail management, customer service, corporate training, entrepreneurship and consulting.

During the four-month course, students help manage special consulting projects requested by area for-profit and non-profit businesses and organizations. Past projects have included developing business, marketing and financial plans; identifying ways to improve businesses; suggesting solutions to problems; re-branding a business; market and competition analysis; sales analysis; feasibility studies and assisting with human resources and customer service issues.

The MSU College of Business is taking applications from companies that may want to participate in either of these courses during the spring 2009 semester, which begins Jan. 14 and ends May 8. All types of businesses are encouraged to apply. Participating businesses will need to send a representative to one of two hour-long information sessions prior to the start of the semester. Sessions are from 8:30-9:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 and 1:30-2:30 on Dec. 9. For more information, contact Bishop at 994-7017 or at gbishop@montana.edu.