Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Established	1874
Type	Statutory
Dean	Kathryn J. Boor
Academic staff	371[1]
Undergraduates	3,365 [2]
Postgraduates	936
Location	Ithaca, New York, USA
Website	www.cals.cornell.edu

The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (abbreviated to CALS or Ag School) is a statutory college at Cornell University, a private university located in Ithaca, New York.^[3] With about 3,100 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students enrolled, it is the third-largest college of its kind in the United States and the second-largest undergraduate college or school at Cornell. It is the only school of agriculture in the Ivy League. The undergraduate business program at CALS is one of only two such Ivy League programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).^[4]

As part of Cornell's land-grant mission, the college jointly administers New York's cooperative extension program with the College of Human Ecology and it runs both the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, New York, and the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, in addition to many other research facilities around the state.^[5]

For 2007-08, CALS total budget (excluding the Geneva Station) is $283 million, with $96 million coming from tuition and $52 million coming from state appropriations. The Geneva Station budget was an additional $25 million.^[6]

History

Deans of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Liberty Hyde Bailey	1903–1913
Beverly T. Galloway	1914–1916
Albert Russell Mann	1917–1931
Carl Edwin Ladd	1931–1943
William Irving Myers	1943–1959
Charles Edmund Palm	1959–1972
W. Keith Kennedy	1972–1978
David L. Call	1978–1995
Daryl B. Lund	1995–2000
Susan Armstrong Henry	2000–2010
Kathryn Boor	2010–present

Established in 1874 as the Department of Agriculture, the department became a college in 1888. In 1904, eminent botanist and horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey, along with New York State farmers, convinced the New York Legislature to financially support the agriculture college at Cornell, a private university that had been established in 1865 as New York's land-grant institution. Thus, it became a statutory college, and changed its name from the New York State College of Agriculture in 1904 to the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1971.^[7]

In 1898, the State Legislature established a separate New York State College of Forestry at Cornell.^[8] However, the school ran into political controversy, and the Governor vetoed its annual appropriation in 1903. In 1910, Liberty Hyde Bailey, the Dean of Cornell's Agriculture College, succeeded in having what remained of the Forestry College transferred to his school. At his request, in 1911, the legislature appropriated $100,000 to construct a building to house the new Forestry Department on the Cornell campus, which Cornell later named Fernow Hall. That Forestry Department continues today as the Department of Natural Resources.^[9] In 1927, Cornell established a 1,639-acre (6.63 km²) research forest south of Ithaca, the Arnot Woods.

In 1900, the college began offering a reading course for farm women. In 1907, the Department of Home Economics was created within college. In 1919, the Department of Home Economics became a school within the Agriculture College. Finally, in 1925, the Home Economics department became a separate college, although both colleges continued to work together to provide cooperative extension services.

The World Food Prize has been awarded^{[by whom?][when?]} for the sixth time to a Cornellian. Dr. Andrew Colin McClung, M.S. 1949, was awarded the World Food Prize for helping to transform a large area of Brazil into fertile land. His recommendations regarding key agricultural inputs made this transformation possible.^[10]

Campus

The Agriculture Quadrangle

Agriculture Quad viewed from Bradfield Hall, Ithaca's West Hill and Cayuga Lake in the background

The Agriculture Quadrangle (Ag Quad) contains buildings which house many of the programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It is a quadrangle east of the Arts Quad and west of the College of Veterinary Medicine. The oldest building still standing on the quad is Caldwell Hall, opened in 1913.^[11] The Plant Science Building opened in 1931 and Warren Hall, across from Plant Science, opened in the next year, The art deco style Mann Library on the eastern end of the quad, connecting Warren Hall on the north to the Plant Sciences Building on the south, opened in 1952. Completed in 1990, Kennedy and Roberts Halls, featuring an archway that connects the two halls, extend along the western face of the quad, having replaced the original Roberts Hall (1906). The Computing and Communications Center (1912, formerly Comstock Hall) stands between Roberts and Caldwell Halls.^[12] These buildings are owned by New York State, which pays for their construction and maintenance.

Other facilities

The college operates the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, New York, 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the main campus. The facility comprises 20 major buildings on 130 acres (0.5 km²) of land, as well as more than 700 acres (2.8 km²) of test plots and other lands devoted to horticultural research.^[13] It also operates three substations, Vineyard Research Laboratory in Fredonia, Hudson Valley Laboratory in Highland and the Long Island Horticultural Research Laboratory in Riverhead.

The Dilmun Hill Student Farm is a student-run farm that has been practicing sustainable agriculture on Cornell University's campus since 1996. It is located near the intersection of Judd Falls Rd. and Rt. 366 (Dryden Rd).^[14]

Academics

The undergraduate programs lead to the Bachelor of Science in at least one of the 23 currently offered majors. The college also offers graduate degrees in various fields of study through the Graduate School, including the M.A.T., M.L.A., M.P.S., M.S., and Ph.D.

The departments within the college are:

Animal Science Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management Biochemistry Biological and Environmental Engineering (with the College of Engineering) Biological Sciences Biology and Society Biometry and Statistics [3] Communication [4] Crop and Soil Sciences Development Sociology Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (with the Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Education Entomology

Food Science Horticulture Information Science (with the Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences) International Agriculture and Rural Development Landscape Architecture Microbiology Molecular Biology and Genetics Natural Resources Neurobiology and Behavior Nutritional Sciences Plant Biology Plant Breeding and Genetics Plant Pathology

Rankings

The Undergraduate Business Program at Cornell University (or Applied Economics and Management program) ranked 4th Nationally in BusinessWeek's Best Undergraduate Business Programs for 2008.^[15] In 2009, DesignIntelligence magazine ranked Cornell's undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture programs as 4th and 3rd respectively, in the nation.

Cornell University Esbaran Amazon Field Laboratory

The Cornell University Esbaran Amazon Field Laboratory was inaugurated in July 2001, as a research facility dedicated to education, conservation, and the discovery of novel medicinal compounds from applied field chemoecology, under the direction of Dr. Eloy Rodriguez. The laboratory was constructed in partnership with the Amazon Yarapa River Lodge, an ecotourism venture, with funds granted from Cornell University, the National Institutes of Health, and private donations.

The laboratory is located in the Amazon Rainforest along the banks of the Yarapa River, a remote tributary of the Amazon River in Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. Jaldar, the closest native village, has been brought into an agreement to serve as custodians of the land and manage it in a way consistent with conservation and sustainable use. Further upstream can be found the villages of Nuevo Loreto and Puerto Miguel, and on an adjacent tributary the village of Jerusalem where a local shaman leads students in botanical expeditions.

Research at the EsBaran Field Laboratory relies heavily on the collaboration of local guides with native knowledge of the rainforest. Students engage local children in an exchange of knowledge to facilitate the sharing of perspectives and cultural assets.

Social Media Lab

The Social Media Lab is a laboratory of Cornell University's Communication Department. This lab being one of the Communication Department's primary research lab for undergraduate and graduate students focuses on how people interact in CMC and on online communities. On going studies include deception on the Facebook, analysis of Grindr profile pictures, and disclosure analysis on Facebook.

The faculty and students working in the Social Media Lab are interested in the way people live, behave, think and love online. The Social Media Lab investigates a variety of behaviors that take place online, including language processes, patterns of deception, self-presentation in social networking sites, and the formation of attributions and relationships. The Social Media Lab coined the term “butler lie” in 2009. The butler lie is described as lies that politely initiate and terminate instant messaging conversations. (“Gotta go, boss is coming!”) Like butlers, they act as social buffers, telling others that we are at lunch when we are just avoiding them.^[16] The lab is a state-of-the-art facility, and is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Defense, and Cornell University.^[17] The Social Media Lab is run by professors Jeff Hancock, Jeremy Birnholtz, and Natalie Bazarova.

Notable alumni

See also: List of Cornell University alumni

• Robert C. Baker, inventor of the chicken nugget and turkey hot dog;^[18]
• Bryan Colangelo, president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors^[19]
• Jon Daniels, general manager of the Texas Rangers^[19]
• Arthur Rose Eldred, America's first Eagle Scout, American agricultural official and executive;^[20][21]
• Barbara McClintock, plant geneticist, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine;^[22]
• Keith Olbermann, sportscaster, news anchor and political commentator^[23]

See also

• New York State College of Forestry at Cornell

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ Charter of Cornell University
4. ^ Applied Economics and Management/Cornell
5. ^ Research and Extension Facilities
6. ^ http://www.dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000383.pdf Retrieved 2007-09-12.
7. ^ Overview
8. ^ Chapter 122 of the Laws of 1898.
9. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20071007112429/http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/mission/history/
10. ^ Alum shares World Food Prize
11. ^ "Caldwell Hall". Cornell University. http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilInfo.cfm?facil_cd=1025. Retrieved 2010-09-20. 
12. ^ "Computing and Communication Center". Cornell University. http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilInfo.cfm?facil_cd=1016. Retrieved 2010-09-20. 
13. ^ "New York State Agricultural Experiment Station". Cornell University. http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2006-05-22. 
14. ^ "Drilmun Hill Student Farm". Cornell University. http://www.cuaes.cornell.edu/cals/cuaes/ag-operations/dilmun-hill/index.cfm. Retrieved 2010-09-19. 
15. ^ "Businessweek.com - Best Undergrad Business Schools". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/. Retrieved 2006-02-28. 
16. ^ Austin Considine. "Lying Adapts to New Technology". http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/fashion/lying-adapts-to-new-technology.html. 
17. ^ "Social Media Lab". http://sml.comm.cornell.edu/index.php. 
18. ^ "Chicken Innovator Prof. Baker '43 Dies". http://cornellsun.com/node/17073. Retrieved 2010-03-06. 
19. ^ ^{a b} Grace-Kobas, Linda (9 March 2006). "Focus on Cornell alumni: Toronto Raptors and Texas Rangers choose Cornellians to lead them". Cornell Chronicle. pp. 9. http://www.diggingforthetruth.net/articles/cornellchroniclemarch92006.pdf. Retrieved 24 March 2009. 
20. ^ "BSA's first Eagle Scout". Eagle Scout Resource Center. http://www.eaglescout.org/history/first_eagle.html. Retrieved 2006-07-07. 
21. ^ "Eldred Letter - 1940". en.wikisource. 1940-03-28. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Eldred_Letter_-_1940. Retrieved 2008-07-11. 
22. ^ "Rediscovering Barbara McClintock". http://www.cornelldailysun.com/node/32029. Retrieved 2010-03-06. 
23. ^ Finkelstein, Eric (2004-11-28). "Counting Down With Keith Olbermann '79". Cornell Daily Sun. http://cornellsun.com/node/13424. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 

External links

• New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University
• Explore Cornell: Ag Quad
• Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Cornell's Undergraduate Business Program website