The Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology was originally established at the University of Minnesota in 1907 as the Division of Vegetable Pathology and Botany, making the program at Minnesota one of the first to study plant diseases in the country. The department has focused on the diseases in trees and plants, rusts of cereal, resistance to diseases in plants and physiology of plant pathogens, with particular emphasis on "variability and adaptability of microorganisms and in the understanding and use of genetic control of plant diseases."
The department has been renamed multiple times: in 1913, the Division became the Division of Plant Pathology and Botany. That same year, the Plant Pathology and Agricultural Botany and Seed Laboratory Sections were created within the Division, with E.C. Stakman and W.L Oswald respectively, as heads. In 1919, a third section, Applied Plant Physiology was added to the Division, with L.I. Light named as head. In 1952, the Division became the Department of Plant Pathology and Botany, and in 1962 it changed again to the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant Physiology. In 1966, Plant Physiology personnel transferred to two other departments within the Institute of Agriculture, resulting in the final renaming of the department to Plant Pathology in 1967.
- E.M Freeman, division head 1907-1940
- E.C. Stakman, Head of the Section of Plant Pathology, 1913-1940
and Division Head, 1940-1953
- J.J. Christensen, Division Head, 1953-1961
- M.F. Kernkamp, 1961-1972
- Francis A. Wood, 1972-1977
- David W. French, 1979
- P.O. Larsen, 1984-1993
- N.A. Anderson, 1993-1996
- F.L. Pflegler, 1996-2004
- Carol Ishimaru, 2004-current
The early years of the department were dominated by research and field work that addressed the scourge of plant rusts, particularly wheat rust in North America. Led by E.C. Stakman, the Plant Pathology section made important inroads identifying the variability of rusts and how they interacted with host plants, the department attracted students from around the world interested in working on rust research, and in so doing developed a reputation as the leading plant pathology department in the world. Department graduates became leaders in their own countries, heading efforts to modernize crop production methods and encourage locally-based research. Graduates of the department include E.C. Stakman, Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug and Rockefeller Foundation head J.G. Harrar. Borlaug would come to personify the Department’s international thrust, spending the bulk of his career outside the US, working to increase food production throughout the world.
From the guide to the Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology records, 1918-2007, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])
