College of Agriculture
Historic Highlights
-
1869 | PURDUE ESTABLISHED
- 1874 | John Hussey, professor of botany and one of six original Purdue faculty members, brings his plant collection to campus, which is still held in the Kriebel Herbarium
- 1879 | Charles Ingersoll becomes the first professor of agriculture
- 1882 | First bachelor’s degree granted for an agricultural curriculum
- 1887 |Joseph C. Arthur, professor of botany, establishes the Arthur Fungarium, with over 110,000 specimens today
- 1895 | Seven graduates awarded first bachelor of science in agriculture degrees
- 1895 | Purdue Agricultural Alumni Association is founded
- 1897 | Purdue confers its first doctoral degree, which is in agriculture
- 1906 | Professor Harvey W. Wiley secures the Pure Food and Drug Act, becoming the “Father of the FDA”
- 1907 | John Harrison Skinner becomes the first dean of the Purdue School of Agriculture
- 1911 | Purdue Extension founded
- 1914 | Moses Fell Dunn donates 360 acres in Lawrence County for Purdue’s first offsite agricultural center
- 1914 | John Harrison Skinner becomes the first dean of the Purdue School of Agriculture
- 1919 | Lillian L. Lamb is the first woman to earn a bachelor’s degree in agriculture
- 1921 | Virginia Claypool Meredith, Purdue’s first female trustee, known as the “Queen of American Agriculture,” is appointed
- 1922 | School of Agriculture awards its 1,000th bachelor’s degree
- 1925 | Jane Cecelia Kinsella is appointed the first female School of Agriculture faculty member
- 1938 | Agricultural Alumni Seed Improvement Association Inc. was founded to market new varieties and hybrids developed at Purdue
- 1951 | Orville Redenbacher (BA ’28, HDR ’88) started his popcorn business with partner Charlie Bowman
- 1969 | During Purdue’s first 100 years, 117 women earned bachelor’s degrees in the School of Agriculture
- 1969 | The Purdue Creamery serves its last ice cream cone
- 1972 | School of Agriculture awards its 10,000th bachelor’s degree
- 1986 | Center for Food and Agricultural Business founded
- 1990 | School of Agriculture awards its 20,000th bachelor’s degree
- 1991 | Purdue Chapter MANRRS established
- 1993 | Global Trade Analysis Project established
- 2004 | School of Agriculture renamed College of Agriculture
- 2005 | Office of Multicultural Programs established
- 2007 | Philip Nelson, professor emeritus of food science, wins World Food Prize
- 2009 | Gebisa Ejeta, a distinguished professor of agronomy, wins World Food Prize
- 2011 | Female students enrolled in the College of Agriculture outnumber male students for the first time
- 2017 | Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina (MA ’85, PhD ’88) wins World Food Prize
- 2018 | Karen I. Plaut is named the College of Agriculture’s first female dean
- 2019 | More than 35,000 undergraduate degrees have been awarded by the College of Agriculture
Featured Stories
Shop smarter this summer: An ag economist's guide to smarter grocery shopping
By learning how to cut through the hype and focus on what truly matters, you can shop smarter...
Global analysis network provides leverage for new Thompson Chair
Channing Arndt, research professor in agricultural economics and director of the Global Trade...
Mapping the development of cotton fibers through multiomics profiling
Daniel Szymanski and his former postdoctoral scholar Youngwoo Lee, lead author on their paper...
Of mice, birds and men: Purdue researcher builds a simulation of how wild birds and rodents affect the spread of avian flu on farms
Trask is writing a new narrative about rats, birds and people as he pursues his doctorate in...
Purdue Researchers Use 3D Printing to Make Open-Source Alternative to Costly Groundwater Sensors
A plume of contamination spreads underground. A building's foundation weakens. A wetland...
From Sweden to Norway to Turks and Caicos
Morgan Hamilton, a rising senior majoring in aquatic sciences, has had an...