The Botany and Plant Pathology Department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and conducts research on the fundamental aspects of plant biology, plant health and funcion, plant-microbe and plan-insect interactions, genomics, evolution, and ecology. The extension unit of the department addresses diseases of economically important plants in Oregon and plant diseases of worldwide significance.
Botany courses have been taught at Oregon State since the 1870s; the first plant pathology course was taught in 1895. The Department of Botany and Horticulture was established in 1888 with E.R. Lake as head. A combined Department of Botany and Forestry was active from 1904 until 1908, when a separate Department of Botany was formed in the School of Agriculture. In 1909, it was renamed the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. Joint administration of the department by the Schools of Agriculture and Science began about 1932.
Department chairs have included Howard P. Barss (1915-1936), Charles E. Owens (1936-1947), S.M. Dietz (1947-1958), and Roy A. Young (1958-1966).
From the guide to the Botany and Plant Pathology Department Records, 1900-2005, 1908-1966, (Oregon State University Libraries)
