Happy Anniversary to the Morrill Act

Happy Anniversary to the Morrill Act July 2nd marks the 155th anniversary of the passage of the Morrill Act, the basis of the land-grant university system. Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862, the Morrill Act enabled states to use proceeds from the sale of the federal "land-grants" to establish colleges in engineering, agriculture and military science. The land-grant university system provided the framework to give working class families critical access to higher education, which it continues to do today. NIFA celebrates our partnership with the nation’s land-grant universities (LGUs), which play a critical role in teaching the next generation of agricultural science professionals and developing the groundbreaking research to produce our nation’s food, fuel, and fiber. The success stories you see every time you sit down to eat. WOODS NOTE: One has to remember that the Morrill act by itself was insufficient to meet its goals; it was followed by the Hatch act and the Smith-Lever act. The three were needed to accomplish what was set out in the Morrill Act. As technology is advancing these three organizations created by these three acts have to work together to continue the progressive movement started in the last century, that has feed the world and will need to do so in the future. If you remember the old NMSU logo with the Three triangles make one, these represented the three acts of congress that NMSU is charged to accomplish. The Three acts can also be considered: Teaching (Morrill act); Research (Hatch act); Extension(Smith-Leaver act). I think we lost the meaning of this when we changed out logo.