Montana Technological University

announced a $7 million donation to the Nursing Department from Dave and Sherry Lesar. This led to renaming the Nursing Department the Sherry Lesar School of Nursing. These funds also contributed to the construction of the Lesar Family Nursing Simulation Center, which opened in spring 2022 in the Science & Engineering building. In 2016, a full Bachelor's of Mechanical Engineering program was added, and the Natural Resource Research Center opened on campus, including a new nano research lab and additional lab space for existing departments.
In 2017 the Montana Board of Regents designated Montana Tech as part of Special Focus Four-Year Universities, the only such designation in the Montana University System, in recognition of Tech's focus on engineering, applied science and health science. This change gives greater independence by reporting directly to the Board of Regents and handling its own finances instead of through the University of Montana. To recognize this, in the summer of 2018, the school's name was changed …