150 Points of Pride

The Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a proud and distinguished history. As part of Iowa State's sesquicentennial celebration, 150 points of pride related to the College - accomplishments, discoveries, contributions, highlights, famous and interesting people - will be posted here. These postings will coincide with 150 days of the 2007-2008 academic year, beginning Aug. 20, 2007 and ending May 2, 2008, with time off for the Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. Check back each Monday for five new items.

Floyd Andre

Floyd Andre

Floyd Andre was the fifth dean of the agriculture college at Iowa State. He received all of his degrees from Iowa State with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy in 1931, a master’s degree in 1933 and a doctorate in entomology in 1936. He was an instructor in the Department of Entomology and Zoology from 1936 until 1938. Following experience in administration in Washington, D.C. and the University of Wisconsin he returned to Iowa State. By 1949 he was dean of the College of Agriculture as well as director of the Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. He held those positions until his death in 1972, providing strong leadership during more than two decades of growth in student numbers and course offerings. He lived in the Farm House from 1949 until his death. The Floyd Andre award was established in 1978 and is presented annually during Homecoming Weekend. This citation honors an Iowa State University alumnus who has made an outstanding contribution to production agriculture, agricultural business or in a position to have a significant influence on Iowa agriculture.

Fast fact: The Floyd Andre Scholarship for Excellence in Agriculture is available to incoming freshmen. The person must be an Iowa resident planning a career in farming or related occupation.

Agricultural Education at Iowa's Land Grant

The Department of Agricultural Education and Studies was formed in 1988 with the merging of the Department of Agricultural Education and the Department of Agricultural Studies. The Department of Agricultural Education’s primary purpose was to prepare agriculture teachers for secondary schools while the Department of Agricultural Studies program was established to administer the Farm Operation Curriculum. With two different original primary purposes, these two departments shared a focus on agricultural education and thus a marriage of Agricultural Education and Studies took place. The work of this department is apparent in the strong history of agricultural education in high schools across the state. Currently there are 242 high school agriculture teachers in Iowa, with 211 of them being graduates of the Iowa State University Department of Agricultural Education and Studies.

Fast Fact: Eighty-seven percent of the agriculture teachers in Iowa are graduates of the Iowa State University Department of Agricultural Education and Studies.

Louis Thompson

Louis Thompson

Louis Thompson earned his bachelor’s in agronomy at Texas A&M, followed by master’s and doctorate degrees in agronomy at Iowa State. After four years in the Army during World War II, Thompson taught one term at Texas A&M before moving to Iowa State College to teach. From 1950 to 1958 he was professor-in-charge of a new program called Farm Operation, commonly shortened to Farm Op. This curriculum was so popular that one-third of all new agriculture students were enrolled in it by 1954 and Thompson was named “outstanding faculty member” in 1957 by Alpha Zeta. In 1958, he was promoted to associate dean of agriculture in charge of academic programs. From 1964 to 1972, the Iowa State University College of Agriculture had the largest enrollment among land grant colleges. Thompson credited “outstanding teaching, advising and placement” as the reasons so many students were attracted to the agriculture program at Iowa State.

Fast fact: In 1960, Thompson developed a widely acclaimed statistical method, using weather data, to estimate the size of the Soviet Union’s wheat crop. Although he continued to administer the college’s teaching program until his retirement in 1983, he became best known as a climatologist.

The Ag 450 Farm

Ag 450 Farm

The Ag 450 Farm has been student-managed since 1943, serving as a laboratory for students enrolled in Agricultural Education and Studies 450, Farm Management and Operation. AgEdS450 is the senior-level capstone course for Agricultural Education and Agricultural Studies majors. Other Iowa State agricultural students frequently enroll in the course. Thousands of students have experienced the opportunity to manage and direct the operation of a diversified grain and livestock farm by enrolling in the class. Students apply management and production skills learned in other courses. Problem solving, decision-making and communication are emphasized throughout the semester. The Ag450 Farm allows students to be involved in everyday management decisions and practices of a typical central Iowa farm. A 187-acre farm was purchased for $150 per acre in 1942. A farm herdsman was hired for $75 per month and the first crop was planted in the spring of 1943. The first livestock program included several bred gilts, a team of mules and chickens. Slightly more than 1,400 acres are currently farmed and feeder pigs are finished on contract.

Fast fact: The Ag450 Farm is the only completely student-managed farm at a land grant university in the United States.

William Murray

William Murray is credited with developing the concept for the Ag450 course and farm. Murray received a bachelor’s degree from Coe College, a master’s from Harvard and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He came to Iowa State University in 1927, with teaching and research interests in farmland valuation and finance. Murray was convinced that while enrolled at Iowa State, students needed the experience of managing an actual farm to better prepare those entering farming or other related occupations. His dream became reality when the first Ag450 class was offered in the 1943 winter quarter, with Murray as the instructor. He served as head of the Department of Economics and Sociology at Iowa State from 1943 to 1955. Murray played a prominent role in the creation and early history of Living History Farms, a 600-acre, open-air museum that tells the story of Midwestern agriculture. In 1967, he helped organize the Living History Farm Foundation. He served as research director of Living History Farms from 1967 to 1974, and as its president from 1974 to 1981.

Fast fact: Murray also was involved in Iowa politics, and was Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial candidate in 1958 and 1966.

*Some historic photographs courtesy of the University Archives.

150 Points of Pride Archives