On July 2, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed Justin Morrill's second agriculture-school bill into law. Along with another measure he championed, in 1890, it created a system of land-grant colleges that rooted agriculture firmly in university research and helped democratize American higher education, creating institutions not for the sons and daughters…

Shale-gas fracking is sure to bring all kinds of changes to Ohio. But what administrators and trustees at Ohio University are concerned about at the moment is who will control whether their land gets fracked. In years past, individual boards of trustees, for the most part, controlled the land at the state's colleges and universities. But a new law…

Over the last two years, University of Georgia students and faculty members have worked with community leaders in Sandersville and surrounding Washington County to tackle some of the area's most pressing problems, among them, reversing a doctor shortage and improving air quality to meet federal standards. Their work is part of an effort, now in…

Architecture blends the arts and sciences in a vigorous way--one well suited to a university presidency. In this article, the author shares how his architectural education and background prepared and helped him for his responsibility as president of Clemson University. A big part of his responsibility is to help plan, financially support, build,…

The public focuses, understandably, on rising college tuition rates, but the actual cost of higher education is not covered by tuition. At Cornell University, for example, the cost of education per student is approximately double the price of tuition, and that holds for many other institutions of higher education as well. In effect, tuition is…

Increasingly, institutions are seeking money directly from Congress for new research facilities and other science projects, stirring criticism of "pork-barrel science" and special advantages given to land-grant colleges. (MSE)

University extension services, patterned after agricultural extension services, collect and disseminate results of new research and go to businesses and industry to help solve technical and other problems. They are offered by many state and land-grant universities and some private institutions but are not well known. (MSE)

The principal result of the efforts to turn an enrollment decline around in agricultural programs has been a loss of identity. Focusing less on undergraduates and becoming smaller, primarily graduate institutions may be the only way to ensure that agricultural colleges remain to any significant extent agricultural. (MLW)

Cost overruns of thousands of dollars on the president's official residence, the existence of a $70-million reserve fund, an administrator accused of embezzlement, and another official allegedly plagiarizing a speech were some of the controversies that have eroded the confidence in the University of Minnesota among legislators, alumni and the…

In a period of educational change, land-grant universities are re-examining their role in agricultural education and extension education, their relationship with the state, and their future in the higher education system. (MSE)

A federal appeals court ordered new trials on whether curriculum at Alabama's predominantly white colleges discriminates against blacks by lacking content on black thought and history, and whether much of the state land-grant program should be shifted from Auburn University to Alabama A&M, a historically black institution. (MSE)

Michigan State University's Center for Urban Affairs is contributing their expertise, research skills, and volunteer time to help Benton Harbor revitalize. Faculty members and students have already completed studies on street repairs, the homeless, and hotel development. (MLW)

Black land-grant institutions have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades, being forced to reevaluate their missions, develop new student recruitment strategies, and forge new relationships with predominantly White colleges and state legislatures in an effort to survive and to serve their clientele. (MSE)

While it is a land-grant university with ambitious plans, the University of the District of Columbia faces the problems posed by its urban context, expectations, small endowment, administrative turnover, and administrative scandals. (MSE)