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multifaceted instructor Retracing the remarkable career of K-State’s Dr. Howard Erickson.
Story by Joe Montgomery The town of Wahoo, Nebraska, currently with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants, boasts quite a list of notable individuals over its 150-yearlong history. Among them are a Nobel Prize laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, Hall of Fame baseball player, state governor and an Academy Award winning producer. Wahoo is also the hometown to Dr. Howard Erickson, professor emeritus, who happens to have had a diverse and impactful career, including a calling to help capture history, in particular, for the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Career of many facets Dr. Erickson began his education at Luther College in Wahoo, and then he attended K-State and earned his DVM in 1959. He received a doctorate from Iowa State University in 1966, while serving in the Air Force. “My career has had very many different facets,” Dr. Erickson recalls. “I started out in practice, sort of a mixed practice – mostly large animal. In the Air Force, I worked in public health over in England, and then I became a graduate student, sponsored by the Air Force, at Iowa State University working with an artificial heart project for three years. Then I rejoined the Air Force and was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, at the School of Aerospace Medicine 20 | wildcatveterinarian