Caption: Four CALS deans: (top row, from left) Gerald Stairs, 1973-77 and Darrel S. Metcalfe, 1978-1980; (bottom row, from left) Bartley P. Cardon, 1980-87 and Eugene G. Sander, 1987-2011, currently 20th president of UA

The attention currently focused on Arizona's Centennial in 2012 is a reminder that the University of Arizona celebrated its centennial in 1985.  Also that year, the College of Agriculture commemorated its own 100-year milestone by publishing a book entitled "The University of Arizona College of Agriculture: A Century of Discovery."  

In 2010 the University of Arizona marked its 125th anniversary. To honor tradition begun in 1985, Roger Caldwell, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences professor emeritus, wrote a continuation of the history of CALS for the years 1980 until 2010. The publication covers significant contributions CALS has made over the past 30 years, along with events, trends and themes that have affected and influenced the college. 

Copies can be ordered online for $15 at http://tinyurl.com/68m7pk9

Two other milestones to be recognized in 2012 include the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Morrill Act by President Lincoln, which established the land-grant college system, and the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the US Department of Agriculture:

The Morrill Act of 1862 (Section 4) (signed July 2) commits the state:
• “to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the State may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”

US Department of Agriculture Established May 15, 1862

“…That there is hereby established at the seat of government of the United States a Department of Agriculture, the general designs and duties of which shall be to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants.”