North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) 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. 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 annual economic impact on the state and region was estimated to be $1.3 billion by the NDUS Systemwide Economic Study by the School of Economics at North Dakota State University. As of 2024, it was also North Dakota's fourth-largest employer.
History
19th century The bill founding North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) 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 northern 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 was admitted on September 8, 1891. College Hall (Old Main) 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 reflected the institution's increasing field of study breadth.
A area including 12 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 for the first time in 2000, and by 2009, its enrollment was 14,189. 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 31 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 of the seven colleges into five in an attempt to save $7.6 million. This also resulted in the elimination of some majors with high program costs and low enrollment. There are plans to create new majors to meet future workforce needs.
Enrollment has fallen from a high of 14,747 in 2014 to 11,952 in 2023. It was stagnant at 11,952 for the years 2023-2025. Enrollment fell once again in 2026 to 11,609, which bring enrollment back down to the 2003 level
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 (STEM) 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 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 (MLLC) 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 football program, the Nodak Insurance Company Football Performance Complex. It has facilities for other sports, such as golf, soccer, baseball, and track & field.
The Sanford Health Athletic Complex (SHAC) 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's 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 was completed 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(3) 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:
Arts and Sciences Engineering Health Professions and Human Sciences Business Agriculture, Food Systems & Natural Resources
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, most students are full-time. Students are 49% male identifying and 51% female identifying.
Admissions As of 2022, 91.6% of applicants were admitted to NDSU, with admitted students having an average GPA of 3.47. Admission is test-optional, NDSU requiring neither ACT nor SAT test scores for admission. Among those applicants submitting scores, the average SAT score was 1170 and average ACT score was 24.
Rankings
U.S. News & World Report ranked NDSU as tied at #231 for the 2025 best colleges and national universities. The university's engineering programs ranked 165 out of 212 engineering programs offering a doctoral degree.
Libraries
Total collections at the NDSU libraries include holdings of approximately 1 million physical items in addition to access to extensive electronic resources. There is a main library, an archival Heritage Collection, and various libraries devoted to specialty fields like architecture, business, health sciences, regional studies, and university archives.
Research
NDSU is classified among "R1-Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". The university is a major component of the Red River Valley Research Corridor. According to the NSF Higher Education and Research Development (HERD) survey, NDSU ranked in the top 100 research universities for agricultural sciences and social sciences in 2017. According to the National Science Foundation, NDSU is the largest research institution in the state of North Dakota. NDSU's annual research expenditures exceed $150 million. Major fields of research at NDSU include nanotechnology, genomics, agriculture, chemistry, and polymers and coatings. NDSU also has a Research and Technology Park on the north side of the main campus.
Athletics
NDSU's sports teams are known as the North Dakota State Bison, or simply The Bison (pronounced "biZon").As of Fall 2019 They are also known as "The Thundering Herd". NDSU's athletic symbol is a caricature of the American bison.