University of Minnesota. Dept. of Agricultural Engineering

Agricultural Engineering and Physics was first listed as a Course of Study for the University’s College of Agriculture in the 1908-1909 Catalogue. Professor John T. Stewart was Chief of the Course of Study (also referred to as the Division of Agricultural Engineering), and the courses included agricultural engineering, farm engineering, and forest engineering.

The 1908-1909 College of Agriculture Catalogue noted that Agricultural Engineering “does not offer a course that will make expert draftsmen or engineers…Its object is to combine in each of the courses offered such features of engineering as will enable the student to perform the more simple engineering operations…”

Work in Agricultural Engineering also included field work at the University’s experiment stations and farm. The 1909-1910 Board of Regents Biennial Report highlighted drainage work done by the division at the Crookston and Grand Rapids facilities. The Biennial Report also noted that “the engineering, mechanical, and shop work at university farm has been consolidated in this division for purposes of better co-ordination and administration.”

At their January 24, 1919, meeting, the University Board of Regents voted “to approve the plan of separation of the Division of Agricultural Engineering into two divisions to be known respectively as Division of Farm Engineering and Division of Drainage, as recommended by the Dean of the Department of Agriculture.” These two divisions were part of a new administrative organizational structure within the College of Agricultural, Forestry, and Home Economics, and they were combined to form the Agricultural Engineering Group. Questions then arose within the College about this organizational structure for professional courses in science related to agriculture, and at the Regents Agricultural Committee meeting on September 21, 1923, the Committee voted to abolish the Agricultural Engineering Group. Agricultural Engineering returned to a Division within the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics.

The 1924-1925 President’s Report announced a new degree – bachelor of science in agricultural engineering – that had been developed jointly by the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics and the College of Engineering and Architecture. The President’s Report noted that the degree “is to be administered jointly between the two colleges, and the students will receive training in fundamental agricultural subjects and engineering applied to farm problems.” The degree was developed in response to increased demand for “knowledge and training in engineering fields connected with agriculture.”

The teaching and research focus of the Division of Agricultural Engineering in its early decades was on improving and increasing production and making farm work less arduous. From the 1920s to the 1990s, the bachelor of agricultural engineering degree with its professional curriculum, as well as the agricultural engineering and agricultural engineering technology major, covered fields of study such as rural electrification; farm structures; farm mechanics; land reclamation; soil and moisture control; farm power and machinery; marketing of agricultural products; and production of plant, animal, food and related biological material.

At their March 9, 1995, meeting, the Board of Regents Educational Planning and Policy Committee voted to recommend a name change from the Department of Agricultural Engineering to the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. The full Board approved the name change at their meeting on March 9, 1995.

The 1996 College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (COAFES) Catalogue described the biosystems and agricultural engineering curriculum as including “emphases in environment, agricultural systems, and biological systems.” The undergraduate degree continued to be a joint program between COAFES and the Institute of Technology.

As part of a system-wide reorganization (“Strategic Positioning” and later “Transforming the U”), announced in September 2004 by President Robert Bruininks, the number of colleges on the Twin Cities campus was reduced by three. The Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering was to be part of a new college that would integrate the College of Natural Resources with the academic units of COAFES “to create a new, expanded college focused broadly on food systems, environmental science, policy and renewable resources.”

At their June 10, 2005, meeting, the Regents approved the recommendations for the strategic positioning process. On July 1, 2006, the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering became the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering in the new College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Division and Department Names

Division and Department Heads

From the guide to the Department of Agricultural Engineering records, 1912-2004, (bulk 1920-1945), (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])