Bumpers College sponsors Centennial Symposium
Oct. 10, 2005Contact Information:
Howell Medders, 479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
Dr. Donna Graham, 479-575-2254, dgraham@uark.edu
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- A centennial symposium sponsored by Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas will focus on the evolving role of colleges of agricultural and life sciences.
The symposium will be from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 17, in the H.L. Hembree Auditorium in the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building on Maple Street.
Associate Dean Donna Graham said the speakers are nationally respected scholars involved in shaping the future of land-grant universities. They are Victor L. Lechtenberg, vice provost for engagement at Purdue University, and Gary Moore, professor of agricultural and extension education at North Carolina State University.
The symposium is the first in a series sponsored by an endowment created with memorial gifts received from family and friends of Dr. George E. Templeton Jr., a professor of plant pathology who died in 1996. A second symposium in the series is planned for Dec. 2.
The college's centennial celebration will conclude Dec. 3 with a "Party of the Century" gala for alumni, faculty, students and staff at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.
Senator Dale Bumpers will be the keynote speaker at the gala banquet. Alumnus John Philpot, a noted Arkansas humorist, will emcee the gala dinner program, which will include students wearing costumes from each era of the college's history, video highlights and music by the Claudia Burson Quartet.
An exhibit on the history of the college is on display in the atrium of the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building. A time capsule to be opened in 50 years will be placed in the Agriculture Building.
Hugh Ellis Morrow of Fayetteville, who graduated in 1904 from the University of Arkansas, was the first graduate to receive a bachelor's degree in agriculture. The College of Agriculture was established in 1905, with William Vincenheller as the first dean.
Over the past 100 years, nearly 12,000 graduates in the agricultural, food and life sciences have had their names inscribed on the university's senior walk.
The name of the college was changed to Agriculture and Home Economics in 1954 and to Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences in 1995 when the home economics department was renamed the School of Human Environmental Sciences.