Timeline

2001
On September 11, terrorists attack the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing nearly three thousand people. Universities across the country hold memorials and candlelight vigils.

2002
The first Solar Decathlon takes place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on the very same ground where you are standing. Fourteen teams participate, most of them from land-grant universities. The University of Tennessees Living Light Homehere at the Folklife Festivalcompetes in the 2011 Solar Decathlon.

2007
University of Missouri Extension and local stakeholders launch the Mississippi River Hills Association, a non-profit organization that provides resources for farmers, winemakers, artisans, and tourism officials who promote Missouris land and culture along the river.

2008
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities launches the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative to increase the number and diversity of middle and high-school science and mathematics teachers in the United States.

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The Pride of the Southland marching band from the University of Tennessee nears the Capitol while participating in the celebration of Barack Obamas inauguration in January 2009. Marching bands from land-grant universities, including several from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, participated in the parade. Photo by Betty Meyer, courtesy of University of Tennessee

1991
Iowa State University holds the worlds first bioethics institute, a conference of bioethics educators, to address moral concerns in the life sciences, such as the genetic modification of plants and animals.

1994
The U.S. Congress passes the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act, which confers land-grant university status to American Indian tribal colleges. These colleges are known today as the 1994s.

1997
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa create a mouse named Cumulina. She is the first animal cloned from adult cells to reach old age. Her thirty-one months of life as a mouse are equivalent to ninety-five human years.

1999
Many experts predict calamity when computer clocks switch from 1999 to 2000. However, the Y2K bug causes relatively few problemsconfirming the research of Philip Tetlock, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, whose twelve-year study finds that most experts incorrectly predict events in their field, and that only one in four show a substantial willingness to admit their error.

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Multicultural education and student diversity became increasingly important during the 1990s at public and land-grant universities. The Indiana University Folklore Institute, established in 1962, attracted undergraduate and graduate students from around the world. Here, the new graduate student class of 1994 poses outside the main Folklore Institute building. Photo courtesy of Indiana University Folklore Institute

1983
For the first time in its history, Time magazine names an inanimate object its Person of the Year. The object is the personal computer, which is quickly revolutionizing and democratizing all levels of education. Time predicts, The entire world will never be the same.

1985
American farms have become so successful that their production exceeds demand, causing prices to fall and threatening their livelihood. The National Crisis Action Rally at Iowa State University attracts more than fourteen thousand farmers from across the country.

1986
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is established with a founding membership of eighteen institutions. Today, the association represents more than four hundred colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the United States, Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

1989
The Berlin Wall falls on November 9, causing Communist regimes in Eastern Europe to crumble. With greater freedom to cross borders that previously had been restricted, academic exchanges between West and East become much more common.

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Agricultural research made innovative use of computers in the mid-1980s. Here, Tom Hartsock (holding the piglet) and Benny Erez rig computer equipment at the University of Maryland to inform them when a sow was near giving birth. Photo courtesy of Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries

1970
On April 22, the first Earth Day is celebrated at hundreds of colleges and universities to promote environmental appreciation and awareness. Twelve days later, members of the Ohio National Guard shoot and kill four students at Kent State University during an antiwar demonstration. Protests at universities across the country erupt in response.

1971
To protest the small numbers of African Americans at the University of Floridaonly 343 students out of 20,000Black students sit-in at the presidents office. Dozens are arrested and placed on academic probation.

1972
The United States bans the toxic insecticide DDT, thanks to the combined efforts of the Environmental Protection Agencyan agency created in 1970 in the wake of Earth Dayand the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1979
The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is separated to form the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. Department of Education provides funding to improve access to education through several initiatives, including assistance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and tribal land-grant colleges.

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Following the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975, students marched on the University of California, Davis, campus. Photo courtesy of UC Davis Special Collections

1960
Four African American students at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State University) stage a sit-in at the segregated Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolinanow on display at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History. The sit-in encourages other college students to challenge racial inequality through civil disobedience.

1964
Students at the University of California, Berkeley, link First Amendment rights with academic freedom to form the Free Speech Movement.

1967
Protests and demonstrations against the Dow Chemical Company, which produces napalm for use in Vietnam, take place at hundreds of colleges and universities during the school year.

1968
The assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy inspire teach-ins and research to investigate violence in America.

1969
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrinboth graduates of land-grant universitiesbecome the first humans to walk on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

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In 1969, United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, became the second college founded in response to a movement by tribal leaders to establish colleges in their communities. These colleges now include thirty-seven institutions, which were added to the land-grant system in 1994. Here, students assemble for a group photo on the steps of the main education building at United Tribes Employment Training Center, as it was known initially. Photo courtesy of United Tribes Technical College

1950
The National Science Foundation is established to promote science, advance the national health and prosperity, and secure the national defense. Universities utilize NSF grants to modernize their facilities and laboratories, support the research of their graduate students and faculty members, and advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge.

1954
In its historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and declares that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. All public schoolsincluding public and land-grant universitiesmust desegregate with all deliberate speed.

1955
Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, thereby accelerating the movement for civil rights in the United States. Civil rights are also extended when the University of Illinois adopts a policy that all new buildings must accommodate students with disabilities.

1957
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the worlds first artificial satellite and the first human-made object placed in Earths orbit. The resulting space race further expands university programs in science and engineering.

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In the 1950s, early computer technology began appearing at land-grant universitiesand could take up the better part of an entire room. Here, Harvey Christensen of the Mechanical Engineering Department works on the Oregon State College Electronic Analog Computer (OSCEAC) in 1957. Photo courtesy of Oregon State University Archives

1941
More than 56,000 Army ROTC members are called into active duty. Japanese American students at the University of Hawaii form the Varsity Victory Volunteers; many of them later serve in the segregated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Teamthe most decorated unit for its size and length of service in U.S. military history.

1942
Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) begins offering classes in radio, camouflage, and aeronautics. Montana State College (now Montana State University) sends its remaining male students to harvest sugar beets in the eastern part of the state, due to a shortage of farm workers.

1943
Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) begins offering classes in radio, camouflage, and aeronautics. Montana State College (now Montana State University) sends its remaining male students to harvest sugar beets in the eastern part of the state, due to a shortage of farm workers.

1944
The Servicemens Readjustment Act is signed into law. Known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, it provides educational benefits to roughly eight million returning veterans by the end of the decade. American colleges and universities award twice as many degrees in 1950 as in 1940.

1947
The University of Illinois opens a campus in Galesburg for students with disabilities; the majority of its students are returning war veterans.

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With many young men in uniform, more women received technical training to help with the war effort, including these Engineering Cadettes at Iowa State University. To be eligible for the program, young women needed to be over eighteen, have reached their sophomore year, and have taken at least one mathematics course. They were paid ten dollars per week. Photo courtesy of Special Collections, Iowa State University

1931
Oregon State Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) is forced to cut sixty-six positions and reduce everyone elses salaries. Staff members must donate one days salary each month for unemployment relief.

1933
With the support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal creates new programssuch as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, and Tennessee Valley Authoritythat aim to assist farmers and rural people in the United States.

1935
The University of Californias Department of Viticulture and Enology, which had closed in 1919 due to passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, reopens on the UC Davis campus, two years after the Twenty-first Amendment repeals Prohibition on December 5, 1933. This academic department has provided instruction and conducted research on winemaking since the 1880s.

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Despite the hard timesor perhaps to provide relief from themdiversions such as band performances and sporting events continue at university campuses. In 1930, John Philip Sousafamed composer and Americas March Kingstands in front of the University of Illinois marching band, which spells his name. Photo courtesy of Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, University of Illinois

1921
Land-grant universities attempt to moderate illegal drinking on campus in novel ways, according to newspaper reports. The University of Wisconsin appoints a sober, maidenly senior to serve as a custodian of morals, and his word is law at dances. The Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) pays bouncers seven dollars a night to eject intoxicated students from college events.

1923
Montana State College (now Montana State University) celebrates its first Womens Day with awards for outstanding female athletes and dramatic productions featuring women. It is one of many campuses that establish womens days during this decade.

1928
The Capper-Ketcham Act authorizes additional support for the Cooperative Extension system, especially to ensure federal funding for the salaries of agriculture, home economics, and 4-H agents.

1929
The U.S. stock market crashes on Black Tuesday, October 29, creating economic uncertainty for all educational institutions.

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Farm youth show their sheep at a judging contest held at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University). During the 1920s, 4-H programs expanded their club offerings and organized national meetings. Photo courtesy of Special Collections, Iowa State University

1914
The USDA and the land-grant universities play key roles during the years of World War I (19141918) by helping the United States expand its agricultural and industrial output to sustain other nations preoccupied with the military conflict, and by developing scientific and technological know-how in support of the American war effort.

1916
Congress passes the National Defense Act, which requires land-grant universities to maintain Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) programs. Shortly after the United States enters World War I in April 1917, most of the approximately ninety thousand officers in ROTC are called into active duty.

1918
World War I ends with the armistice of November 1918, but even more deadly is the Spanish flu pandemic of 19181919, which kills fifty million people around the world. One-third of the students at the University of Florida fall ill, and several die. Many campuses are quarantined.

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During World War I, many female university students from around the country joined the Farmerettes, working together in their campus victory gardens to produce food for the war effort. Here, the Fresno Farmerettes at the Fresno Normal School (now California State University, Fresno) take a break from their gardening to have some fun in October 1917. Photo courtesy of Pop Laval Foundation

1902
A.B. Graham starts the Tomato Club in Clark County, Ohio. The program, which aims to educate young children about agriculture, is considered the forerunner to 4-H clubs.

1905
Congress establishes the U.S. Forest Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forestry programs at public and land-grant universities are developed to train professionals for the new federal agency.

1906
The Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act provide for federal inspection of meat products and forbid the manufacture, sale, or transportation of harmful patent medicines. The USDAs Bureau of Animal Industry and Bureau of Chemistry become responsible for enforcing these two new laws.

1908
The University of Missouri establishes the nations first school of journalism, partly in response to the popularity of journalists such as Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Upton Sinclair, who are known as muckrakers for their investigative reporting.

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In the 1900s, the USDA continued its fledgling Plant Exploration Program. Professor Niels E. Hansen, shown in 1906 with an alfalfa sample, traveled widely within Russiaincluding to Turkestan and Siberiaresulting in the introduction to the United States of cold-hardy and drought-resistant fruits. Photo courtesy of South Dakota Historical Society

1890
Following the end of Reconstruction in 1877, race relations continue to deteriorate. During this decade, the lynching of African Americans reaches its peak and the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) affirms the legality of separate but equal segregation. The land-grant university system expands to include many Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

1894
Fabian Garcia, later to become a pioneer in chile pepper research, graduates in the first class of New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University). This institution would become renowned for its Fabian Garcia Research Center and Chile Pepper Institute.

1898
The Spanish-American War begins April 25 and lasts until December 10. The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands and makes them an American territory.

1899
Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) graduates its first African American student. Michigan State Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) admits its first.

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Students at the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Greensboro, North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State University), attend sewing class, ca. 1899. The college was established in 1891, just one year after the legislation adding Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the land-grant system. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-118917

1880
Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) opens the nations first botanical laboratory.

1884
Carlos Montezuma becomes the first Native American student to graduate from the Illinois Industrial University (now University of Illinois).

1887
The Hatch Act passes, establishing agricultural experimental stations at land-grant universities.

1887
The American Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations (forerunner to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities) is established, making it one of Americas oldest higher education associations.

1888
George Washington Carver becomes the first African American to attend Iowa Agriculture College (now Iowa State University). In the same year, Pyon Su is the first Korean to earn a degree from a U.S. college, the Maryland Agricultural College (now University of Maryland).

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The 1883 faculty and staff of Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University), included (left to right) E. E. Grimm, professor of agriculture; Ida Callahan, assistant in preparations; B. L. Arnold, president; B. J. Hawthorn, professor of languages; Joseph Emery, professor of math and natural sciences; and W. W. Briston. Photo courtesy of OSU Archives

1870
The first graduating class of three students from Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) includes one woman. The forerunners to University of Illinois and Michigan State University admit women for the first time; other land-grants follow suit during this decade.

1871
Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) is founded in Lorman, Mississippi, becoming the nations first state-supported institution for the higher education of African Americans.

1873
Navel orange trees are introduced into California from plants that the USDA receives from Brazil.

1875
Navel orange trees are introduced into California from plants that the USDA receives from Brazil.

1879
Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine, the nations first state veterinary college, is established.

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One of the federal governments requirements for land-grant universities was that they include military tactics in their curriculum. Here, the West Virginia University Cadet Corps, a forerunner to the Reserve Officers Training Corps, stands for inspection in 1876. Photo courtesy of West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries

1862
The Morrill Act is signed (July 2) and the USDA is established (May 15). The Homestead Act, also signed this year (May 20), helps make land west of the Mississippi River available to farmers.

1865
The Civil War ends April 9; Lincoln is assassinated April 14. The wars conclusion stimulates westward migration and establishment of universities in Western states and territories.

1866
An amendment to the Morrill Act allows universities in former Confederate states to join the land-grant system.

1867
The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization for farmers, is established. It advocates for programs, such as Cooperative Extension, that become formal parts of the USDA.

1868
The USDA Division of Botany is created to preserve herbarium material collected during government expeditions.

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Members of the first class of students graduate from Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University). The seven students were scheduled to graduate in November, but were dismissed in September to join the Union Army. Two were killed during the Civil War. © Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections