Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro

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The Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro (UAAAN) is a public university in Mexico dedicated to the Agricultural, Silvicultural, animal, food and environmental sciences. It is located 6 kilometers south of Saltillo, in the Mexican state of Coahuila. There is also a campus in Torreón, Coahuila. It is also called "Universidad Antonio Narro" for short, or simply, "La Narro". In 2008 the UAAAN has an enrollment of about 4,500 students in both campuses, all in agriculture and related sciences.

The old main building of the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro (It was the main housing of Don antonio Narro; also has served as student dormitory and office of the University President(Rector).

[edit] History

The Antonio Narro Agrarian Autonomous University (UAAAN) was founded on March 4, 1923, after the philanthropist Antonio Narro Rodríguez donated his Buenavista Estate for a public agricultural university, which became the "Regional School of Agriculture Antonio Narro". The main objective of this university consisted on preparing young people in a professional discipline of agricultural work in the field. Two months before dying on September 24, 1912, Antonio Narro Rodriguez had bequeathed a substantial part of its personal fortune: his property in Buenavista and $22,000 Mexican pesos, the value of six urban properties in the city of Saltillo, for constituting a school of agriculture.

Over the years, the university college changed its name several times. In 1938, it became the Superior School of Agriculture (Escuela Superior de Agricultura); by 1957, then became a founding institution of the University of Coahuila. In 1975, it became Antonio Narro Agrarian Autonomous University by a decree of the Coahuilan state congress. Finally, in 2006, UAAAN was recognized as a Federal University, through a decree approved by the House of Representatives, the Senators Chamber and published in the federal registry by the President of Mexico, April 26, 2006.

[edit] Physical setting

Climate at the main (Saltillo) campus of the UAAAN is dry semicalid; there are occasional freezes. Temperature seldom drops below -2 °C (26 F) (once in some years). Annual rainfall is about 300 mm. Natural vegetation is short Chihuahuan desert brush of several species of Acacia; there are also Yucca spp., lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), mesquite (Prosopis), and granjeno (Celtis).

[edit] Facilities

The main (Saltillo) campus of the UAAAN occupies more than 4 square kilometres in a fertile valley a few kilometres south of the city of Saltillo on the Zacatecas highway. A substantial amount of this land is occupied by experimental and demonstrative plots including annual and perennial crops like: corn, wheat, triticale; vegetables such as temperate (Cruciferae: broccoli, cabbage), warm-season (Solanaceae: peppers, tomatoes), and others (squash, cilantro, onions, garlic, etc); pecan and pistachio orchards; greenhouses (growing vegetables and ornamentals). All agriculture must use irrigation; there is no dryland agriculture. The University also includes animal production facilities (barns for intensive rearing of pigs, cows, goats, and dairy cows, mainly) including fistulated cattle. There is also has a cattle ranch (Rancho Los Angeles) (extensively colonized by Mexican prairie dogs, Cynomys mexicanus); a reforestation woodland occupying 0.5 km² of pines; and a botanical garden featuring mainly desert plant species (cacti, agaves) and trees.

The UAAAN has several agricultural experimental fields across Mexico, encompassing climates from the wet tropics (Veracruz) to the Chihuahuan desert: Ocampo, Coahuila state; Matehuala, San Luis Potosi state (cactus botanical garden); Noria de Guadalupe, Zacatecas state; Cuencame, Durango state. Also, in the Sierra Madre Oriental valleys: Navidad, Nuevo Leon (potato), and Los Lirios, Coahuila state (apple).

[edit] Structure and academic programs

The Dirección de Licenciatura (Undergraduate Office) manages the 4-5 year undergraduate majors including Ingeniero Agrónomo and majors in Horticultura, Producción, Parasitólogía, Forestal, Agrobiología, Zootecnia, Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Administración Agrícola, Desarrollo Rural,Mecánico Agrícola, Irrigación, Agrícola y Ambiental, Procesos Ambientales, Agroecología, Lic en Economia Agrícola y Agronegiocios and Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia. [1]. The Direccion General Academica [2] oversees international student programs, exchanges and stays.

[edit] Graduate programs

[3]

The Dirección de Posgrado (Graduate Office)directs Graduate programs include ing the Professional Master's on Seed Technology [4], and the Master's and Doctorates on Plant Breeding, [5], Agrarian Sciences [6], Production Systems Engineering [7], Animal Sciences [8] and Plant Protection or Agricultural Parasitology [9]. Mostl of these programs are considered as" Excellency Graduate Programs" by the National Council of Science and technology (CONACYT) [www.conacyt.mx][10].

[edit] International students

International student presence at the University has been steady but low. In recent years, students from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Japan, Nicaragua and the United States have attended the school.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

• [Admission to graduate programs http://www.uaaan.mx/academic/pstgr/posgrado.htm]
• Official Website