UPLB College of Agriculture

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College of Agriculture at University of the Philippines, Los Baños

Established: 1909
Dean: Candida B. Adalla
Location: Flag of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
Website: http://www.uplb.edu.ph/ca

The UPLB College of Agriculture (UPCA) is one of the 11 degree-granting units of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños and is one of the first three Colleges of the University of the Philippines System.

Founded by American botanist and agriculturist Edwin Copeland on 6 March 1909, it is widely recognized as the center of agricultural research and education in Asia. It has produced prominent scientists, public officials and businessmen from the Philippines and abroad, several of which are recipients of a Ramon Magsaysay Award. The College itself won the award in 1977 for its pivotal role in the continent's development through agricultural research and education.

UPCA has produced more National Scientists than any other college in the University of the Philippines System.

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[edit] History

Main article: University of the Philippines at Los Baños history

The College was established on 6 March 1909 as one of the first three units of the University of the Philippines. Edwin Copeland, a botany professor and Thomasite from the Philippine Normal College in Manila was chosen as its first dean. Harold Cuzner, Edgar Ledyard, Carrie Ledyard and Sam Durham were Copeland’s first academic staff. Classes were first held in June 1909 with faculty houses and tents as classrooms. Less than a year later, structures for the College were finally completed in a 73-hectare abandoned farmland at the foot of Mt. Makiling. A formal four-year curriculum was instituted in 1910.

The UPCA's development was interrupted after World War II broke out. Some of UPCA's facilities were used by the Japanese to hold prisoners of war.

After the war, UPCA embarked on an ambitious rebuilding/training program funded by the United States government. Cornell University was tasked to spearhead the program. 10-14 American professors would come and live on campus annually, bringing with them fresh ideas and knowledge of gains made in many fields. A number of the younger Philippine faculty also went to Cornell and other US universities for graduate study. The program became so successful that the College also began to receive major grants from prominent international organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Council on Economic and Cultural Affairs, Committee for Free Asia and the Colombo Plan. It likewise began training other Asians.

By the end of 1976 the College had graduated 440 foreign students: 204 from Thailand, 40 from South Vietnam, 37 each from Taiwan and Indonesia, and 25 from Pakistan. The rest came from some 15 to 20 other countries worldwide. Many of these graduates are now leaders in their own countries. Thailand benefited so much from UPCA that the Thai Ministry of Agriculture became known as the “Los Baños Ministry”.

On 20 November 1972, Presidential Decree No. 58 was signed, giving UPCA full autonomy and transforming it into a full fledged university - the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, UP's first autonomous campus.

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