North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as the state's land-grant university. As of 2021, NDSU offers 94 undergraduate majors, 146 undergraduate degree programs, 5 undergraduate certificate programs, 84 undergraduate minors, 87 master's degree programs, 51 doctoral degree programs of study, and 210 graduate certificate programs. It is classified among "R1-Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
NDSU is part of the North Dakota University System. The university also operates North Dakota's agricultural research extension centers distributed across the state on. In 2015, NDSU's economic impact on the state and region was estimated to be $1.3 billion a year according to the NDUS Systemwide Economic Study by the School of Economics at North Dakota State University. As of 2024, it was also the fourth-largest employer in the state of North Dakota.
History
19th century
The bill founding North Dakota Agricultural College was signed on March 8, 1890, one year after North Dakota became a state and seven years after initial plans to start an agricultural college in the northern portion of the Dakota Territory. NDAC was established as North Dakota's land-grant institution.On October 15, 1890, Horace E. Stockbridge became the first NDAC president and the board of trustees was formed. Classes were initially held in six classrooms rented from Fargo College. The first class of students were admitted on September 8, 1891. College Hall was completed in 1892 and was the first building on campus.
20th century
In 1908, the school's alma mater "The Yellow and The Green" was written and a year later the school's official colors, Yellow and Green, were selected. In 2015 a change was made where only the first verse of the alma mater is recognized by the university, due to ethnic references in the third stanza.NDAC continued to grow and was renamed North Dakota State University on November 8, 1960, after a statewide referendum. The name change was to reflect the increasing field of study breadth of the institution.
A area including twelve historic buildings was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as North Dakota State University District in 1986.
21st century
Around the start of the 21st century, NDSU began a phase of growth.NDSU surpassed 10,000 students in the fall of 2000 for the first time, and by the fall semester of 2009, it increased enrollment by another 10% to 14,189 students. Enrollment in 2018 stood at 13,650.
Research, athletic programs, and campus facilities benefited from increases in student enrollment. Between 2000 and 2007, NDSU added a number of undergraduate programs and thirty-one graduate programs. Several buildings have been built or expanded and remodeled over the past seven years, including the Wallman Wellness Center, Memorial Union, and the College of Business.
In 2004, all athletic programs moved to Division I.
In 2023, President David Cook outlined plans to merge two out of the seven colleges into five in an attempt to save $7.6 million. This also resulted in some majors with high program costs and lower enrollment being eliminated. There are plans to create new majors to meet workforce needs for the future.
Campuses
North Dakota State University is primarily in Fargo, North Dakota. It has several campuses, including the main campus, NDSU downtown, and several agricultural research extension centers.Main campus
The main campus sits on and has over 100 buildings. Its appearance is maintained by the university's extensive agricultural programs. The main campus boundaries are 19th Avenue N. to the north, University Drive to the east, 18th St. N. to the west, and 12th Avenue N. to the south.Located in the historic Minard–South Engineering quad is the Babbling Brook. The area has trickling waterfalls, fish and flowers, an amphitheater seating area, and "buffalo-rubbed" rocks. This area offers a space for outdoor classes and small performances.
Southern area
The southern area of the campus has many of NDSU's historic buildings.Central area
The central area consists of the Shepperd Arena, many academic buildings, and the Quentin Burdick Building. The Engineering Complex was torn down in 2024 as part of a large construction project to modernize and boost the engineering department, the Richard Offerdahl '65 Engineering complex. It is expected to be completed in fall 2026.The Memorial Union is also in the central campus and serves students' social needs. It has several large rooms for presentations and functions. Several skyways connect the Union to other buildings on campus such as the Quentin Burdick Building.
In 2014, NDSU began construction on the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics building. It has been completed and renamed the A. Glenn Hill Center.
North area
Just north of the central area of campus is a large section that consists of academic buildings, residence halls, and dining centers. This area is punctuated by four identical residential high-rises surrounded by grassy quads, as well as two sand-volleyball courts and a basketball court. Between the high-rises a dining center serves their 1,000+ residents. Tunnels connect to the towers to ease travel in bad weather. To the east, another dining center serves other residence halls and their 1,000+ residents. In 2019, Catherine Cater hall opened as a coed dormitory.West area
This area of campus is home to the NDSU Wallman Wellness Center, which houses the Wellness Center department, Student Health Service, and Disability Services. The Wellness Center, built in 2001, expanded in 2007 and added an aquatic addition in 2016, boasting a lap pool, a relaxing pool, and a wet classroom. Mathew Living Learning Center East and West are coed upper-division dormitories.Athletic area
Further north is an area of campus that consists of many athletic facilities including the Scheels Center, Fargodome, Newman Outdoor Field, and others.In 2022, NDSU opened a $54 million practice facility for the bison football program, called the Nodak Insurance Company Football Performance Complex. The complex has facilities for other sports such as golf, soccer, baseball, and track & field.
The Sanford Health Athletic Complex is home to the Scheels Center, the Nodak Insurance Basketball Performance Center, and offices for athletic departments. The SHAC cost $50 million in 2014 as a renovation to the Bison Sports Arena and was completed in 2016. Wrestling and men and women's basketball are held here and the complex also contains the NDSU athletics hall of fame. Adjacent to the SHAC are the Shelly Ellig Indoor Track and Field Facility and Dacotah Field. The Shelly Ellig facility finished construction in 2012 and features an eight-lane track as well as pole-vaulting and throwing equipment. Dacotah field was built in 1938. For winters it has a climate-controlled bubble to facilitate practice.
Research and Technology Park
The Research and Technology Park is a site of research offices and laboratories northwest of the main campus. It consists of firms and that research and develop nano technologies, RFID, polymers and coatings, high performance computing, and others. The Research and Technology Park is a 501c nonprofit corporation governed by a board of directors.The Technology Incubator opened in 2007. The facility is in the NDSU Research and Technology Park. It was developed to assist startup entities and complement the Research and Technology Park. They support various kinds of startups, including ones in biotech, healthcare, and general tech.
NDSU Downtown
NDSU operates several buildings in downtown Fargo. About 4,000 students, faculty, and staff use the NDSU Downtown facilities each year.The project started in 2004 with the purchase and renovation of the former Northern School Supply building, at NP Avenue and 8th Street North downtown. The structure, now known as Renaissance Hall, houses NDSU's visual arts department and architecture department, and used to house the office of Tri-College University, a partnership between NDSU, Concordia College, and Minnesota State University Moorhead. Tri-College University was replaced by the Metro College Alliance in 2025.
In 2006, the NDSU Development Foundation purchased the Pioneer Mutual Life Insurance building and Lincoln Mutual Life & Casualty Insurance building along 2nd Avenue North between 8th and 10th Streets, also downtown. The refurbished Pioneer building is now Richard H. Barry Hall. It is home to the NDSU College of Business and Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics. According to the college, the downtown location and addition of the North Dakota Trade Office have increased interaction with local businesses and allowed the college to expand its offerings, such as a Certificate in Entrepreneurship in partnership with the University of North Dakota, and add three new centers: The Center for Professional Selling and Sales Technology, Fraud Education and Research Institute and the Center for Leadership Practice.
Klai Hall houses the landscape architecture program.
Agricultural research extension centers
NDSU has many research extension centers across the state encompassing over. Major NDSU research extension centers are near Carrington, Casselton, Dickinson, Fargo, Hettinger, Langdon, Minot, Streeter, and Williston.Academics
North Dakota State University is divided into the following colleges:NDSU offers a major known as University Studies that allows a student to study in nearly any area that interests them. To enhance learning among its students, NDSU offers online classes, online academic portals, or technology enhanced classrooms.
NDSU uses a semester system – Fall and Spring with two summer sessions. As of 2022, a majority of students are full-time with student demographics being 49% being male identifying and 51% being female identifying.