Mississippi and the Morrill Act in focus Thursday
Mississippi State University assistant professor of history James Giesen will present "History of the Morrill Act: The Mississippi Perspective" on Thursday, March 29 at 3 p.m. The free event open to all is Gamma Sigma Delta's inaugural spring seminar, and it will be held in Thompson Hall's Tully Auditorium.
Giesen serves as the executive secretary of the national Agricultural History Society, and is the director of the Center for the History of Agriculture, Science, and the Environment of the South (CHASES) at Mississippi State. His presentation coincides with the year-long observance of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act.
This summer, Mississippi State will have three colleges in Washington for the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the nation's land-grant university system.
In October, Mississippi State will host "Thinking Land-Grants: A Cerebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Morrill Land-Grant Act," an examination and discussion of all aspects and dimensions of the Morrill Act. History department faculty members Alison Greene, Mark Hersey and Erinn McComb, along with Michael Ballard, MSU's archivist and historian, will join with land-grant faculty colleagues from Purdue and Cornell universities to explore the act's meaning and consequences.
Gamma Sigma Delta is the honor society of agriculture, and was initially founded as a professional agricultural fraternity called Delta Theta Sigma at Ohio State University on Dec. 1, 1905. It formally adopted the new name Gamma Sigma Delta following the 1913 conclave, and currently consists of 59 chapters around the world. Mississippi State University established its chapter on Feb. 25, 1964.
For additional details about the seminar, please contact Peter Ryan at 662-325-0730 or ryan@provost.msstate.edu.
Jim Laird | University Relations
