Photo from www.governor.nd.gov John D. Odegard will receive the Rough Rider Award this year.

John D. Odegard, founder of the UND School of Aerospace, has been selected to posthumously receive the Roosevelt Rough Rider Award. The award is considered to be the highest honor awarded by the state of North Dakota.

According to the state of North Dakota’s website, “The award recognizes present or former North Dakotans who have been influenced by this state in achieving national recognition in their fields of endeavor, thereby reflecting credit and honor upon North Dakota and its citizens.”

Recipients of the annual award are selected by the Governor in consultation with the Secretary of State and North Dakota Historical Society. Governor Jack Dalrymple announced Odegard’s selection last Thursday, saying, “John D. Odegard was an extraordinary leader, entrepreneur, pilot and educational administrator who took two donated aircraft and a small office in UND’s Business College and built an aviation program that has grown into the largest and the best in the world.”

Odegard, who passed away in 1998, was a native of Minot, ND, and he received both a bachelors and masters degree from UND in 1966 and 1967 respectively. He was very active on campus as he revitalized the school’s fly club and logged thousands of flight hours in a variety of aircraft.

He founded the Department of Aviation within the College of Business in 1968 with only two donated airplanes and 12 students. He quickly excelled in the field and was elected president of the University Aviation Association in 1971. He established the nation’s first air traffic control training tower for college students that same year.

Odegard received a series of awards throughout his illustrius career, including the National Air Transportation Association with its Excellence in Pilot Training Award and the Frank G. Brewer Trophy from the National Aeronautics Association. Additionally, he was named the North Dakota Business Innovator of the Year and is a member of the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, the North Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame and the Norsk Hostfest Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.

The aerospace program was granted full status as a college in 1983, and the school was the first in the nation to offer an aviation degree combined with an accredited undergraduate business degree. The school was renamed the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences in 1998 after Odegard lost his difficult fight to cancer. It now has close to 2000 students from all over the country and world and continues to be on the cutting edge of aviation.

The National Air Transportation Association with its Excellence in Pilot Training Award and received the prestigious Frank G. Brewer Trophy from the National Aeronautics Association for his distinguished and inspiring leadership in creating new educational opportunities. He was named North Dakota North Dakota Business Innovator of the Year and was inducted into the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, the North Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame and the Norsk Hostfest Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.

Patrick A. McGuire, author “Flight of the Odegard”, sums up Odegards’ life and work shortly but accurately: “His legacy and spirit continue to live on at UND Aerospace, the house that John built.”

Sean Cleary is a News Editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]