News

August 26, 2026

New leadership takes helm

Dr. Eric Berg stands by Hultz Hall sign

Hello alumni and friends,

I am excited to share this alumni newsletter as the newly appointed Interim Department Head of NDSU Animal Sciences! Some of you may already know me from class or from Saddle and Sirloin club. For those of you who don’t, I have been on faculty at NDSU since November of 2006 in a research and teaching capacity. Prior to coming back to NDSU, I was in the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri – Columbia for eight years. I am a proud NDSU alumnus who received a B.S. degree in Animal & Range Science and Ag Education in 1988 and an M.S. degree in 1991. From there I attended Purdue University, where I received my Ph.D. in Meat Science and then spent 18 months doing a postdoctoral fellowship at Texas A&M in the late 1990s.

You probably didn’t open this newsletter to read about my life story, you got it to learn about the many, many great things going on in Animal Sciences at NDSU. In this publication you can read about our new hires, faculty who have been recognized for research and Extension accomplishments, award-winning instructors being recognized for excellence in the classroom, program updates, student activities and so much more. On top of those achievements, I want to throw a few numbers at you.

  • 121: That’s the number of students enrolled in the Introduction to Animal Science as of this writing. Class enrollments continue to increase from 113 (Fall 2025), 95 (Fall 2024), and 82 (Fall 2023).
  • 80%: The percentage of students who apply to attend NDSU after getting a tour of the Animal Science program. That’s 80 percent of 124 students since August 1, 2025. We have the second-highest yielding program at NDSU.
  • $2.89 million: The amount funded through external research grants for currently active research projects in the Department of Animal Sciences.
  • Seven: The number of livestock producers and (or) allied industry executives to serve on the Animal Science Departmental Advisory Committee; forming soon.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the newsletter and if you made it this far reading my opening statements, send me an email (eric.p.berg@ndsu.edu) to let me know. I will reply.

Wishing you and yours all the best,

Eric P. Berg