Organization and Membership

Purdue University is one of 106 land-grant universities in the nation. These universities work in partnership with one another and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service to carry out the mission of the land-grants: to improve people’s lives through education.

The land-grant college concept was revolutionary. The concept was based on the premise of educating common people whose lives would be spent in the nation’s businesses and trades, rather than professions. The Land-Grant Acts gave land to each state for the purpose of creating a college. More than 150 years later, land-grant colleges continue to incorporate liberal arts and sciences. They emphasize the ideal that all people have the right to participate in education to the extent of their abilities and desire.

One approach to understanding the components of a land-grant college would be to think of it as a three-legged stool. The three legs are research, extension, and teaching. None can stand alone, but together they become a useful tool that provides research-based education to all citizens.

The basic mission of the land-grant system is to enable people to improve their lives and communities through learning partnerships that put knowledge to work. The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 created the land-grand system through federal law.

The land-grant college was as revolutionary an idea in education as America’s democracy was in government. It was based on the premise of educating common people whose lives would be spent not in the professions but in the nation’s businesses and trades. A grant of federal land was made to each state to provide resources whereby a college could be created “without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanical arts … in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”

More than 150 years later, these colleges continue to incorporate the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences with those of the practical, mechanical, and industrial. Land-grant universities continue to emphasize the noble democratic ideal that all people have the right to participate in higher education through on-campus teaching and off-campus extension, to the extent of their abilities and desire.

The land-grant universities cooperate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in carrying out:

• Research to discover new knowledge, develop technology, and solve problems related to the food and agriculture sector.
• Extension to provide research-based practical education applied to the problems of families, communities, agriculture, business, and industry.
• Academic programs (teaching) in the professions and sciences related to food and agriculture, as well as humanities.

Research in the College of Agriculture takes place in labs all across Purdue University’s campus and on research farms across the state. These activities are directed by the Purdue Office of Agricultural Research Programs.

As one of three functions of the land-grant university’s mission, research provides the foundation for many teaching and extension activities. Purdue agricultural research programs play a critical role in finding practical solutions to problems and developing technologies that improve the quality of life for the citizens of Indiana. Those solutions and discoveries are shared with students in the classroom, and with people across the state through the county Extension offices.

Purdue Agriculture’s scientists are engaged in the pursuit of scientific discovery on all levels, from molecular composition to in-field implementation. Their efforts have helped spark a scientific revolution that is changing the way people think about agriculture and reshaping their expectations of the future almost daily.

This quiet revolution is being led by scientists willing to take risks and look at the work in new ways. They are leaders in genomics, food safety, environmental stewardship, and precision agriculture. The work scientists are doing in Purdue Agriculture’s labs and on its research farms is making a difference in people’s lives. It is protecting the environment, improving crops, and making life better in Indiana.

“People helping people” is how Purdue Extension began. Born of the Morrill Act, enhanced by the Hatch Act, and nurtured by the Smith-Lever Act, Extension plays a critical part in offering practical education to all people. Extension carries the knowledge of the land-grant system to the citizens through practical research-based education.

Today, success means keeping up with ever-changing information and rapidly advancing technologies. The days of learning a skill and profiting from that knowledge until you retire are over. That’s why Purdue University and Purdue Extension are so important to all citizens of Indiana.

Campus specialists turn complex research into educational programs and materials that are understandable and easy to use. Extension educators in every county take this information and programs from the national Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to people of all ages. Classes and coursework are offered in four broad areas: agriculture and natural resources; health & human sciences; community development; and 4-H youth development.

Purdue Extension offices are more than information centers and more than land-grant learning and technology centers. They are open meeting places where communities can come together, set their own educational agendas, and accomplish goals year after year. Extension understands the need for scientific information as a building block for successful families, young people, leaders, businesses, and communities. Extension helps people learn today while building tomorrow.

The Office of Academic Programs in the College of Agriculture is dedicated to carrying out the land-grant mission to educate students, preparing them for successful careers in the food, agricultural, and natural resource system. Academic Programs works with faculty to ensure that each of the approximately 2,500 undergraduate students in agriculture gets a first-class education.

Purdue Agriculture faculty understand the importance of teaching and show their dedication to their students every day in the classroom and laboratory. Most courses in the school are taught by faculty, many of whom have received awards honoring their outstanding teaching. Faculty members also serve as academic counselors. Finally, it is the faculty who are responsible for keeping the curriculum modern, balanced, and challenging.

As times have changed, Purdue Agriculture has kept pace. Today’s students take classes that have an international focus, which is a necessity for success in the global marketplace, in addition to core mathematics, science, communication, humanities, and social science courses. The school also offers opportunities to study abroad, and more than ten percent of those who graduate spend at least one semester or summer immersed in another culture.

The Purdue School of Agriculture takes its teaching responsibility very seriously. The faculty and administration constantly strive to find new and better ways to arm students with the knowledge they need. And they never forget that their job is not just to educate students, but also to prepare them to be leaders of the future.