UM business dean Christoper Shook leaving for Bowling Green

The dean of the College of Business will leave the University of Montana this June to serve as dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Shook joined UM in 2016 in the first dean position at UM to be endowed – funded through philanthropy – by donors and alumni Mark Burnham and Eric Sprunk.

“While it was not an easy decision to leave the College of Business at this exciting time of transformation, I’m really excited to be closer to my daughters, son-in-law and especially my grandchildren,” Shook said.

Provost Jon Harbor said an interim dean will be appointed before Shook steps down.

Shook helped upgrade the School of Business Administration to the College of Business – confirming its status as the top business school in Montana, the No. 1 college of business in the Big Sky Conference and one of the best in the Northwest.

UM’s College of Business offers undergraduate majors in accounting, finance, international business, management, management information systems and marketing. At the graduate level, it offers the only separately accredited Master of Accountancy in Montana and the first Master of Science in business analytics in the Pacific Northwest.

Its Master of Business Administration – the only degree of its kind in the state – allows students to earn their diploma either on campus or fully online, and can also be taken as part of dual degree programs with law, pharmacy and physical therapy.

“The College of Business is a place where students can go to get an education that lets them turn their passion into their job,” Shook said. “We provide real-world experiences and contacts that they can leverage after graduation.”

The college also is known for graduating students who enter the workforce not only with business skills, but real-world acumen. Its list of notable and accomplished alumni is extensive and includes highly successful entrepreneurs, as well as current and former executives at Fortune 500 companies and locally influential startups.

U.S. News and World Report has ranked UM’s College of Business as the top business school in the Big Sky Conference for the past two years.