Dr. Howard Erickson ’59, Manhattan, Kansas, earned his bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine in 1959 and his doctor of veterinary medicine in 1959, both from K-State. He has taught in the college since 1981 and is an ambassador for the College of Veterinary Medicine and K-State.

After graduating with his D.V.M., he joined the U.S. Air Force as a commissioned officer. While in the Air Force, he received a Ph.D. in veterinary physiology from Iowa State University in 1966. He joined the faculty at the Air Force's School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas. 

Erickson returned to K-State as a professor of physiology in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology. He has been a prominent researcher in exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in horses and an outstanding instructor. Erickson has received numerous awards and honors during his time at K-State, including the Merial Teaching Excellence Award, the E.R. Frank Award, the IVX Teaching Excellence Award and was the first recipient of the Roy Walter Upham Endowed Professorship of Veterinary Medicine.

Erickson has a passion for the history of veterinary medicine and has shared his enthusiasm both through his teaching and his writings. In 2005, he co-authored the book, A Century of Excellence, which chronicles the first 100 years of veterinary medicine at K-State. 

He serves as secretary-treasurer for the K-State Veterinary Medicine Alumni Association and was the past president of the American Veterinary Medical History Society. Erickson retired in 2011 as professor emeritus, and continues to share his love of history and the veterinary profession by teaching the history of veterinary medicine.  

Erickson and his wife, Ann, have two adult sons, Jim and David.