By Katrina Hageman
The Iowa State University Creamery holds a long tradition of success that dates to the late 1880s. This year (2025) marks the fifth anniversary of the Creamery's re-establishment after a 50-year hiatus. It has experienced significant accomplishments and growth since then.
The first creamery on Iowa State’s campus was constructed in 1881, where the Food Sciences Building stands. Expansions occurred in 1892, 1905 and 1927, with each bringing new goals, programs and equipment.
In 1969, many changes occurred in the dairy processing industry, leading to the close of the ISU Creamery.
“There were two major reasons why the Iowa State Creamery closed in 1969,” said Sarah Canova, ISU Creamery business manager. “The landscape of the dairy science and food science education at Iowa State changed and the dairy industry was struggling financially. To keep strong relationships with the dairy industry, the Creamery decided to close its doors due to the perception of unfair competition.”
A focus on students
Stephanie Clark, former professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, saw a need for hands-on experience with a creamery and additional outside-of-classroom learning. Her experience with creameries, industry connections and hard work led to the Creamery’s re-establishment.
“The Creamery offers students unique projects and learning opportunities that look great on resumes and give them applicable skills to use in their future careers,” Canova said. “Students can work on public speaking and communication along with technical skills learned in production.”
During the spring 2025 semester, the ISU Creamery had 25 student employees and two full-time staff members. Many of the students are majoring in food science, dairy science or animal science.
“While working at the ISU Creamery, I have met people from different majors, states and even countries,” said Hannah Even, ISU Creamery employee who graduated this spring with a culinary food science degree. “I have made connections between what I have learned in classes and the day-to-day things we do on the job. One of the opportunities with the Creamery helped me secure a full-time job after graduation.”
Students have opportunities to work in a variety of positions – production, inventory, sales and communication.
“As someone pursuing a field that values communication, organization and leadership, the hands-on experience I’ve gained at the ISU Creamery has been invaluable,” said Claire Hogan, ISU Creamery manager of funds, co-manager of public relations and freshman in agricultural communication. “My experience at the Creamery has been more than just a job. It’s helped bridge the gap between my academic interests and professional aspirations. The leadership roles I’ve taken on have prepared me for workplace challenges, and I’ve grown into someone who can lead, collaborate and adapt.”
Educating and engaging students in experiential learning is just one aspect of the Creamery’s mission. The establishment also seeks to provide extension services to dairy farmers and entrepreneurs and increase consumers’ love for dairy.
“The Creamery deeply values its mission and makes decisions based on fulfilling it,” Canova said. “Educating students and farmers is a top priority through our extension work and employment. We want to give people the resources needed to succeed in the dairy industry and teach them applicable skills.”
The Creamery frequently collaborates with local farmers, who visit the facility and get hands-on learning. Creamery staff walk farmers through the process of starting their own creamery or recommend changes to implement on their farms.
A recent addition to the Creamery’s team was Dylan Liu, assistant teaching professor of dairy science. He took on extension work and has plans to instruct future lab and teaching courses in the Creamery’s facilities.
Variety of ice creams, cheeses
The Creamery offers a variety of products. There are seven different formulas that make a total of 25 flavors of ice cream. Flavor creation and naming is a team effort across Iowa State students, staff and faculty. When the Creamery started selling ice cream, there were six flavors. To boost interest in the facility, a contest was held to have each college choose a flavor to represent them.
Ice cream sandwiches and cheese are other popular items at the Creamery.
In March 2025, the ISU Creamery was awarded a Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant to expand their cheese and ice cream processing. This grant has allowed the Creamery to purchase a new pasteurizer, which will arrive in August, to increase production volume.
Cheddar cheese is offered year-round, while pepper jack is offered in the fall and colby jack in the spring. With the new pasteurizer, gouda cheese will become available in the fall. Yogurt will potentially be offered in the future.
The dairy products are not only sold in the Creamery’s retail store inside the Food Sciences Building, but in many areas around campus. This has increased demand for employees and production, creating continuous growth over the years.
ISU Creamery timeline
1881
The first creamery was constructed where the Food Sciences Building stands. The small wooden structure was built near the cattle barn on campus and designed to handle milk and butter.
1892
The original site became the farm manager’s residence, and a larger creamery was built where East Hall now stands. The new creamery played an important role in the development of a four-year dairy program at Iowa State.
1905
The third creamery expansion occurred. This site was built to have the capacity to teach students about handling milk, butter, ice cream and cheese. This year was a turning point in providing students with new opportunities in the dairy industry.
1928
On Nov. 14, the new dairy building on campus is dedicated. The building was designed to have space for manufacturing butter, handling market milk, cold storage and the capability to conduct chemical and bacterial analysis in dairy products. The building was known as the Dairy Industry Building and is now named the Food Sciences Building. In addition to building a new creamery, numerous laboratories used for teaching and selling products were built.
1969
Devastating changes occurred in the dairy processing industry, leading to the close of the Iowa State University Creamery.
2009
The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition hired Professor Stephanie Clark to increase dairy industry involvement on campus. Clark re-established the Dairy Products Evaluation Team, numerous dairy food science courses and industry research.
2020
After 50 years of the ISU Creamery being closed, it was re-established. This accomplishment offered students new hands-on training, short entrepreneur courses, cheese and ice cream production and a retail store to sell products.
Find a more detailed history on the ISU Creamery's website.