H. Roald Lund spent his entire professional career serving NDSU and North Dakota farmers. His name was synonymous with agriculture in the state during his 25-year tenure in the office of the dean of agriculture.
Lund’s outstanding leadership in agricultural research and academics at NDSU will be recognized with the dedication of the H.R. Lund Atrium in Loftsgard Hall. A social is scheduled there on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 3 p.m. A brief program is set for 3:15 p.m.
“We are thankful for H. Roald Lund’s service to agriculture research and academics at NDSU,” said Ken Grafton, vice president for agricultural affairs; dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources; and director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. “This is just a small token of our appreciation.”
Lund served as dean of agriculture and director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station from 1979 to 1994. He also was director of the NDSU Biotechnology Institute and secretary of the NDSU Research Foundation.
Loftsgard Hall was built in 1988 and was entirely funded under an $8 million supplemental federal appropriations grant for agriculture. It houses the Department of Plant Sciences. The central atrium encloses three floors and was designed, by walkways, to connect Walster and Waldron Halls into a Plant Science Center Complex.
“To be included among the names now in and on the building is a real honor,” Lund said. “To have been able to secure federal funding for a building on the NDSU campus during a period of economics stress in the state of North Dakota was a significant event in my career at NDSU.”
During his career at NDSU, Lund worked with many of the university’s formative agriculture figures. Loftsgard Hall features the busts of former President Laurel D. Loftsgard, professor Henry L. Bolley, and brothers and longtime NDSU faculty members Lawrence R. Waldron and Clare B. Waldron. Loftsgard 114, a 130-seat lecture hall, is named after former faculty member and graduate school dean Glenn S. Smith, and Loftsgard 102, a 48-seat classroom, is named after former agronomy department chair Jack F. Carter.
Lund attended NDSU, then known as North Dakota Agricultural College, earning a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and agricultural education in 1955 and a master’s degree in agronomy in 1958. In 1959, he was named assistant professor of agronomy at NDSU. He earned a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University before returning to NDSU as associate professor of agronomy.
Lund was instrumental in securing funding to construct the Northern Crops Science Laboratory and the Quentin Burdick Building, formerly known as the Industrial Agriculture and Communications Center. Among his many professional activities, he served as an officer in the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
A Fargo native, Lund retired from NDSU in 1998 but remains active with the university. He established the H.R. Lund Freshman Plant Sciences Scholarship, and the H. Roald and Janet Lund Excellence in Teaching Award, which are awarded annually by the NDSU agricultural administration, and contributes to the Harvest Bowl, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in November.
“The ‘AC’ has never lost its love for the public of North Dakota,” Lund said. “Now it’s a first-class research university that has never underestimated the importance of its credibility serving the land and its people.”
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.