The Bobcat Nation

Associated Press

BOZEMAN - Montana's brain drain is reversing itself, says the president of Montana State University.

"A lot of people think that most of the graduates from Montana universities are leaving the state," and that's not the case, said Geoff Gamble. That's because Montana has more jobs in general and more high-tech jobs, particularly in the Gallatin Valley, Gamble said. "It's one of the benefits of helping drive a new economy - a new, knowledge-based economy."

MSU's latest statistics show 62 percent of its 2004 grads are staying in Montana, said Carina Beck, career services director.

That was up from 57 percent the year before and 51 percent the year before that, based on hundreds of responses to MSU Career Services' annual survey of graduates.

"It looks like a trend, which is really very exciting," Gamble said.

Ralph Hutcheson, founder of the laser crystal company Scientific Materials, said the firm hired just one MSU graduate in 1990 in a technical field.

Five years later, five graduates and last year the company hired 10 MSU graduates, he said.

Hutcheson, who worked for years to boost the state's high-tech economy as one of the original members of the state's Research and Commercialization Board, said high-tech is becoming "a very significant business" in the Gallatin Valley.

Starting salaries are lower in Montana, Beck said, "but we encourage students to consider the cost of living as well."

She also advises students that as their experience and education increase, salary differences tend to shrink.

Teachers and nurses are among those most likely to remain in Montana.

Of education, health and human development majors, 74 percent stayed in Montana in 2004, up 11 percent from the year before, the figures show.

A lot of business majors are having success finding work in Bozeman "because of all the startup companies," said Rich Semenik, business dean.

"Fifteen were hired by PrintingforLess in the last three years," Semenik said. "Part of the brain drain was we just didn't have the jobs."