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About Us: History
History of Animal Sciences
Although faculty at the University were assigned to agriculture from the inception, the College of Agriculture, consisting of a School of Agriculture and a School of Horticulture, was first recognized in 1873. The Department of Animal Husbandry was recognized as a separate subject matter field in 1901 and the Department of Dairy Husbandry formed in 1902. In 1918, a farm management unit established in Animal Husbandry was given departmental status. In 1932 this unit was expanded to form the Department of Agricultural Economics.
In 1941, the Division of Animal Pathology and Hygiene established in the Department of Animal Husbandry in 1917, became a separate department and subsequently became a unit in the new College of Veterinary Medicine (1945). In 1947, the Dairy Manufacturing Division of the Department of Dairy Husbandry was split off to form the nucleus of the Department of Food Technology (now Food Science). The remaining component of the department was briefly named Dairy Production, but new titles for the Departments of Animal Science and Dairy Science were adopted in 1947.
In 1985, the two departments were merged to form the Department of Animal Sciences. Today, the department includes 40 faculty positions, seven visiting and support staff, 107 graduate students and approximately 500 undergraduates.