Fred R. Robertson
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| 'Fred R. Robertson' | |
 Fred R. Robertson
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| Born | 1915 Obion County, Tennessee |
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| Died | 1998 Auburn, Alabama |
| Education | B.S., M.S., University of Tennessee, Ph.D., Harvard University |
| Occupation | Agricultural Economist Educator Administrator |
| Spouse | Martha Blount |
Fred R. Robertson was an American agricultural economist, educator and administrator who served in the 1960s and early 1970s as director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service at Auburn University (now the Alabama Cooperative Extension System) and, later, as Auburn’s vice president for Extension.
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[edit] Early life
Robertson was born in 1915 in Obion County, Tennessee, spending his childhood in what he described as the rough-and-tumble world of the Reel Lake in the northwest corner of Tennessee. [1] He described himself as a roughneck whose adolescent ways were tempered considerably by the intervention of his wife, the former Martha Blount, whom he married in 1946.
After high school, Robertson enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where he often held down three jobs at a time to pay for tuition and board. After completing his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1940, Robertson worked briefly as an assistant county agent in Tennessee, followed by service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority from 1948-53, returning to the University of Tennessee to complete his master's degree in marketing during that period.
In 1951, he applied for and received a Ford Foundation scholarship to pursue doctoral work at Harvard University, studying under the direction of world-renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
After completion of his doctorate in public administration, Robertson was employed at Pennsylvania State University as a professor of agricultural economics. [2]
In 1960, shortly after meeting E. T. York, then-director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Robertson was hired as an Alabama Extension assistant director. [3]
[edit] Alabama Extension Director, 1961-1971
York soon departed Auburn to serve temporarily as administrator of the federal Cooperative Extension Service (now the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service), fully intending to return to Alabama after a year to resume his Alabama Extension duties. Robertson was named acting director in his absence.
However, York’s tenure as federal administrator was extended a year, and before he could return to Auburn, he was hired as provost for agriculture at the University of Florida.
Following York’s official departure, Robertson was named permanent director in 1962.
In a few notable respects, Robertson’s experiences as Extension director were unique. He was the first Alabama Extension director with no previous institutional ties to Auburn. Moreover, he had little Extension-related experience before being hired by York.
Robertson also differed from other directors in another significant way: He was comfortable delegating many key tasks to assistant directors, freeing him to concentrate on more long-term goals.
Robertson is credited with transforming Alabama Extension programming into a model for other state programs throughout the country throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He is also remembered as an independent-minded administrator who traveled widely throughout the state lobbying for his ideas.
He implemented a series of steps, partly begun by York, to professionalize Cooperative Extension work in Alabama. He secured money from the Alabama Legislature to enable Extension subject-matter specialists to return to school to pursue advanced degrees — an effort he considered to be one of his greatest achievements as director.
Robertson believed the new insights gained from pursuit of these advanced degrees would enhance the quality of Alabama Extension work.
He also adopted recruitment efforts aimed at attracting the most open-minded, well-trained people for employment.
Robertson also undertook measures to remove the last vestiges of political activism at the county level, as well as the longstanding practice of many county Extension offices to operate independently of state headquarters.
“Many (agents) were trying to run the politics of the county and not doing what they were supposed to do,” he recalled in a 1997 interview. “I pushed them in a leadership role.”
As director, Robertson also determined to assert Extension’s independence from other farm-related organizations, telling one counterpart, “I won’t try to run your organization and you won’t try to run Extension.” [4]
Reflecting on these struggles years later, Robertson conceded this often involved drawing on lessons learned from his roughneck Reel Lake childhood rather than from his Ivy League education.
Over time though, Robertson believed his efforts eventually gained the support of the majority of Extension employees. [2]
[edit] Vice President for Extension
From 1966 to 1971, Robertson assumed a dual role as Auburn University vice president for Extension. He was succeeded by Ralph Jones as Alabama Extension director in 1971, freeing him to serve as a full-time vice president until 1975. [4]
Harry Philpott, who served as president of Auburn University during Robertson’s tenure as director and vice president, recalls that his “leadership helped extend Auburn’s services throughout the state and led to a large increase in the number of Alabamians who became constituents of the university.” [5]
He completed the last two years of his career teaching as a professor in the Auburn University Department of Political Science.
Robertson was named “Man of the Year in Agriculture” by Progressive Farmer Magazine. He was elected to the Auburn University Agriculture Hall of Honor in 1996. [2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Fred Robertson, Auburn University Agriculture Hall of Honor, Comer Hall, Auburn University, Alabama.
- ^ a b c "Ed Horton, Gene Ragan, Fred Robertson Enshrined in the AU Ag Alumni Hall of Honor," Office of Communications, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
- ^ Fred Robertson, Auburn University Agriculture Hall of Honor, Comer Hall, Auburn University, Alabama.
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Gene and Yeager, Joseph, Inside Ag Hill: The People and Events That Shaped Auburn’s Agricultural History from 1872 to 1999,” Chelea, Michigan: Sheridan Books, 2000, pp. 366-367.
- ^ "Former Vice President Fred Robertson Dies," AU Report, Auburn University, March 30, 1998.
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