Botany, Department of

The Department of Botany at the University of Maryland has a long history, dating back over one hundred years to the founding of the Maryland Agricultural College (MAC). In 1856, the founders of the college established five schools or departments, including the Department of Natural Science. Classes in botany, chemistry, entomology, geology, physics, and practical farming were offered by this department when the college first opened in 1859. Townend Glover, the first Entomologist of the United States, was the first professor of botany at the college.

Throughout the history of MAC and the University of Maryland, various departments offered courses in botany. A general history, taken from course catalogs available from the period, lists the departments as:

The program in botany described in the 1899-1900 course catalog included six courses, five of which were mandatory, to be taken from freshman to senior year. By 1919, the Botanical Group offered courses in botany, plant morphology and mycology, plant physiology, and plant pathology. Thirteen courses, eleven undergraduate and two graduate, were offered in 1921. The curriculum focused on preparing students for careers as "teachers, investigators in state or government experiment stations, inspectors in the field, or for any other vocations which botanists follow."

The Department of Botany did not expand significantly until the 1936-1937 academic year when it enlarged its teaching staff and began to offer a greater number of courses in "three major lines of work: general botany and morphology, plant physiology, and plant pathology." Several years later, the scope of the curriculum was again expanded and described in the 1938-1939 course catalog as a foundation for students who wish to pursue graduate work in botanical science in preparation for college teaching and for research in state experiment stations, in the United States Department of Agriculture, and in private research institutions and laboratories. Also to provide training for other vocations involving various botanical applications, such as extension work, and positions with seed companies, canning companies, companies making spray materials, and with other commercial concerns.

Over the years, the department increased the scope of courses offered in its three major fields of study to include cytology, cytogenetics and taxonomy, ecology, mycology, marine botany, nematology, virology, and phycology. In 1995, the Botany Department was renamed the Department of Plant Biology. In 1999, Microbiology and Plant Biology were consolidated into a single program, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics.