NDSU continues to build on coatings-education tradition. (North Dakota State University's Department of Polymers and Coatings)

The department of Polymers and Coatings at North Dakota State University dates back to 1904-1906 when, in Fargo, the first paint chemistry course was offered as part of the chemistry curriculum, and grants from Sherwin-Williams, Glidden, ADM, General Mills, and other companies poured into the program.

As a result, a number of graduates from the NDSU Polymers and Coatings program were offered jobs by Cargill, Glidden, Frost Paint, Twin Cities, Valspar, and other major chemical and coatings companies.

In the 1930s, many paint and coatings companies employed NDSU graduates, most of whom were North Dakota natives. When W. Basch took over the program in the 1940s, he established an industrial advisory board that consisted of NDSU graduates employed by major paint and coatings companies in the country. As documentation, there is a photograph taken on Nov. 6, 1948, in the Congress Hotel in Chicago during an industrial advisory board meeting. Among the more than 40 NDSU graduates pictured were Carlton L. Rydstrom, Bob Carlson, Mautz Paint Co.; Loren Odell, James Bute Co.; Ed Boulder, John Rooney and Frank Siebart of American …