The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University (CALS or Ag School) is a
statutory college and one of the four New York State contract colleges on the
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
campus in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
. With enrollment of approximately 3,100
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
and 1,000
graduate students, CALS is the third-largest college of its kind in the United States and the second-largest
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
college on the Cornell campus.
Established as a
Land-grant college, CALS administrates New York's
cooperative extension program jointly with
the College of Human Ecology. CALS runs the
New York State Agricultural Experiment Station The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an agricultural experiment station operated by the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. In August 20 ...
in
Geneva, New York, and the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, as well as other research facilities in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
In 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.
Academic programs
CALS offers more than 20 majors, each with a focus on
Life Sciences
This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...
, Applied
Social Sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
,
Environmental Sciences
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geo ...
and
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
and Food. CALS
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
programs lead to a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in one of 23 different majors. The
Applied Economics and Management program, for example, was ranked 3rd nationally in BusinessWeek's Best Undergraduate Business Programs, 2012, edition. CALS also offers
graduate degrees in various fields of study, including the
M.A.T.,
M.L.A.,
M.P.S.,
M.S.
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
, and
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
Rankings and admission
Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is the most renowned institution in its field. In 2019, it is ranked 1st in the "Food and Nutrition" and "Agricultural Sciences" sectors of Niche.com
With an admission rate of 11.5% for the fall of 2018, admission into the college is extremely competitive and in the middle relative to the other colleges at Cornell.
Additional programs and facilities
The Agriculture Quadrangle
The Agriculture Quadrangle (Ag Quad) is a grouping of buildings dedicated to programs offered by the NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The oldest building on the quad is
Caldwell Hall (1913). The Plant Science Building (1931), and Warren Hall (1931), flank the
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style
Albert R. Mann Library
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Albert C ...
(1952). A newer
Kennedy and Roberts Halls replaced the original 1906 building, and The Computing and Communications Center (1912) was formerly
Comstock Hall). These buildings are owned by New York State, which pays for their construction and maintenance.
The College operates extension programs through the
New York State Agricultural Experiment Station The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an agricultural experiment station operated by the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. In August 20 ...
(NYSAES) in
Geneva, New York, in 20 buildings, including the Barton Laboratory Greenhouse and Sutton Road Solar Farm (a 2-megawatt energy facility that offsets nearly 40 percent of NYSAES annual electricity demands), on 130 acres (0.5 km) and over 700 acres (2.8 km) of test plots and other land parcels used to conduct horticultural research and also substations: the Vineyard Research Laboratory in
Fredonia, Hudson Valley Laboratory in
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
, and Long Island Horticultural Research Laboratory in
Riverhead.
The Dilmun Hill Student Farm is located in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
is a student-run farm facility operated according to sustainable agricultural practices.
The Social Media Lab, is part of the College's Communications Department. In this modern research laboratory, faculty supervise undergraduate and graduate research focusing on human interaction in CMC and online communities, including the investigation of social phenomena, such as disclosure or deception among users of social media computer applications, such as
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Grindr. Studies examine human behavior, personal experience, and human interaction in the digital realm along the dimensions of language processes, perception, self-representation, and interpersonal interaction. In 2009, The Social Media Lab coined the term, the
Butler Lie, a reference to factually untrue verbal communication used to politely initiate or end an instant message conversation, such as ''"Gotta go, boss is coming!"'' These statements buffer the otherwise negative experience of social rejection or ostracism.
The recently established Rich's Food Safety Lab was made possible by a donation from frozen food industry giant Rich. The laboratory aims to engages in critical food safety research and the education of the next generation of food safety leaders.
History
Cornell's first president, Andrew Dickson White, had little enthusiasm for agricultural education, and the Board of Trustees were likewise without much enthusiasm. Agriculture could not be ignored, however, because Ezra Cornell was deeply committed, and the provisions of the Morrill Land Grant Act required it. After much difficulty, George Chapman Caldwell was recruited in 1867 as Professor of Chemistry (Agricultural Chemistry). He was the very first professor of what was to become the Cornell University.
The university opened in September 1868 with professor Caldwell, the nominal leader of a group of three professors with interests touching upon agriculture. In addition to Caldwell, there was Albert N. Prentiss, professor of botany (with some reference to crops), and Dr. James Law, professor of veterinary medicine. The Faculty of Agriculture consisted of this informal group of three and a professor of agriculture of the moment.
The arrival of Isaac P. Roberts, as professor of agriculture, from Iowa Agricultural College, in 1874, finally brought credibility to agriculture at Cornell. During the period of 1879-1887, Cornell president Charles Kendall Adams gradually changed the Trustees seemingly hostility toward agriculture. In June 1888, the "informal" departments, including agriculture taught by Isaac Roberts,
agricultural chemistry taught by George Caldwell, botany taught by Albert Prentiss, entomology taught by Henry Comstock, and veterinary medicine taught by James Law, were combined to form the Cornell College of Agriculture.
Established in 1874 as the Department of Agriculture, the department became a college in 1888. Also in June 1888, horticulture, which had played a minor role in botany until it was discontinued by the trustees in 1880, was reestablished as an independent department in the college, upon the recruitment of Liberty Hyde Bailey as professor and department head. Roberts was appointed Director of the college and dean of its faculty while retaining his role as professor of agriculture and heading a department of agriculture within the college of the same name.
Establishment of the New York State College of Agriculture
In 1904, eminent botanist and horticulturist
Liberty Hyde Bailey
Liberty Hyde Bailey (March 15, 1858 – December 25, 1954) was an American horticulturist and reformer of rural life. He was cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press ...
, along with New York State farmers, convinced the New York Legislature to financially support the agriculture college. Legislation establishing the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell passed the state legislature and was signed by the governor in May 1904. The legislation passed in spite of ″violent″ opposition and intense lobbying led by Chancellor James Roscoe Day of Syracuse University acting for Syracuse and six other universities and colleges in New York.
![Cornell postcard stone roberts east roberts 1905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Cornell_postcard_stone_roberts_east_roberts_1905.jpg)
The legislation provided $125,000 for the construction of a new building for the College.
The building was constructed in three parts to comply with the act's restriction on spending for a single building.
These were
Stone Hall,
Roberts Hall, and
East Roberts Hall
East Roberts Hall was a building on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which opened on Wednesday, October 10, 1906. Originally just referred to as the Dairy Building, it was not called East Roberts Hall until 1923 when other dep ...
.
Named for dean Isaac P. Roberts,
the buildings were built in 1905-1906 along Tower Road. East Roberts served as the new Dairy Building, as the old Dairy Building was merged into Goldwin Smith Hall.
The three buildings were determined in 1973 to be decrepit, and despite being listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984, Cornell had them demolished in 1988.
Kennedy-Roberts Hall was built in 1989 to replace Roberts-Stone Halls.
The college changed its name from the New York State College of Agriculture to the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1971.
Absorbing the College of Forestry
In 1898, the State Legislature established a separate
New York State College of Forestry at Cornell
The New York State College of Forestry at Cornell was a statutory college established in 1898 at Cornell University to teach scientific forestry. The first four-year college of forestry in the country, it was defunded by the State of New York in 1 ...
. 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
Fernow Hall is an early twentieth century Cornell University building, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It currently houses the Department of Natural Resources. It is named in honor of Bernhard Fernow, who was t ...
. That Forestry Department continues today as the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. In 1927, Cornell established a 1,639-acre (6.63 km2) research forest south of Ithaca, the Arnot Woods.
Home economics
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.
Notable alumni
*
Robert C. Baker
Robert C. Baker (December 29, 1921 – March 13, 2006) was an American inventor and Cornell University professor. He invented the chicken nugget as well as many other poultry-related inventions. Due to his contributions to the poultry sciences, ...
, inventor of the chicken nugget and turkey hot dog;
*
Jane Brody Jane Ellen Brody (born May 19, 1941) is an American journalist principally covering science and nutrition. She wrote for ''The New York Times'' as its weekly "Personal Health" columnist from 1976 to 2022. Her column was syndicated nationwide, and sh ...
, ''New York Times'' health and wellness writer (1962)
*
Vera Charles
Vera Katherine Charles (1877–1954) was an American mycologist. She was one of the first women to be appointed to professional positions within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Charles coauthored several articles on mushrooms while working fo ...
, mycologist and USDA expert
*
Bryan Colangelo
Bryan Paul Colangelo (born June 1, 1965) is an American basketball executive who was the former general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also served as president ...
, former
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...
,
Toronto Raptors and
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
of the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA).
*
Frederick Vernon Coville, Chief Botanist USDA and work on
blueberries
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...
.
*
Jon Daniels, general manager of the
Texas Rangers
*
Arthur Rose Eldred
Arthur Rose Eldred (August 16, 1895 – January 4, 1951) was an American agricultural and railroad industry executive, civic leader, and the first Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America), Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). As a 16-yea ...
, America's first
Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...
, American agricultural official and executive;
*
William F. Friedman, Geneticist turned WWII code breaker
*
Barbara McClintock
Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There s ...
, plant geneticist, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine;
*
Beth Newlands Campbell
Beth Newlands Campbell was the President of Rexall Drugstore, a Canadian pharmaceutical chain owned by McKesson Canada.
She graduated from Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a business degree.
Newlands Campbell spent 27 yea ...
, president of
Rexall Drugstore
Rexall Pharmacy Group ULC is a chain of retail pharmacies in Canada. Rexall is owned by McKesson Canada Corporation, which is a subsidiary of McKesson Corporation, a U.S.-based public company. With a history dating back to 1904, Rexall is a le ...
*
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer.
Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and r ...
, sports and political commentator and writer.
*
Gregory Goodwin Pincus,
Hormonal contraception
Hormonal contraception refers to birth control methods that act on the endocrine system. Almost all methods are composed of steroid hormones, although in India one selective estrogen receptor modulator is marketed as a contraceptive. The origin ...
,
the pill
The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progesti ...
.
See also
*
New York State College of Forestry
*
Agriculture in New York
Agriculture is a major component of the New York economy. As of the 2012 census of agriculture, there were over 35,000 farms covering an area of which contributed $5.4 billion in gross sales value and $1.2 billion in net farm income to the nation ...
References
External links
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agriculture And Life Sciences
Colleges and schools of Cornell University
Agricultural universities and colleges in the United States
State University of New York statutory colleges
Educational institutions established in 1874
1874 establishments in New York (state)
Specialized doctoral-granting institutions in New York (state)