Botanical work at N.C. State began in concert with the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, which was established in the 1870s and later became part of the college. Since the first courses were offered at the college in 1889, there have been courses in botany. At first, they were part of the biological sciences training. By 1902, there were enough classes taught to hire Frank L. Stevens as the first head of botanical instruction. Botany appears to have been a part of biology instruction until approximately 1912, when the two disciplines were separated. Academic instruction and research in botany continued to grow within the overall agriculture curriculum throughout the next few decades.
In 1945, a Plant Pathology section was created within the School of Agriculture, resulting in a new Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. With the creation of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1950, the two sections were split, creating two separate departments. Both operated under the administration of the Division of Biological Sciences. The division was abolished in 1958, and the Department of Botany and Bacteriology was established from those two curricula. In 1962 the Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS) was created, with Botany becoming one of five departments under its aegis. The IBS was created to better coordinate and promote research and education in the biological sciences, and it lasted until being dissolved in 1971. In the meantime, in 1966 the bacteriology program was split off from Botany, becoming the Department of Microbiology. In 2006 the Department of Botany changed its name to Plant Biology.
Additional information and resources on the history of the Department of Plant Biology can be found through the NCSU Historical State website .
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1950 -
1963
:
Herbert T. Scofield
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1963 -
1964
:
Ernest O. Beal
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1964 -
1977
:
Glen R. Noggle
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1977 -
1985
:
Jerome P. Miksche
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1985 -
1995
:
E. D. Seneca
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1995 -
1999
:
Eric Davies
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1999 -
1999 present
:
Margaret Daub
From the guide to the North Carolina State University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Plant Biology Records, 1948 - 1984, (Special Collections Research Center)
