From the summer 2008 issue of UConn Momentum
The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has established a new fund to honor former dean Kirklyn M. Kerr, who stepped down at the end of June, and his wife, Anna. The Kirklyn M. and Anna P. Kerr Legacy Fund will be dedicated to the support of the land grant mission of the college.
UConn is the state of Connecticut’s land grant university, funded under the Morrill Act of 1862 granting federal land for the development of “agricultural and mechanical arts” institutions to provide a practical higher education to the people. Since 1862 the original land grant mandate was expanded, adding a network of agricultural experimental stations in 1887 for the purposes of research, and later in 1914 the Cooperative Extension System, bringing research to the community through outreach. Today, the three components of the land grant mission—teaching, research and outreach—form the core of CANR activities as well as those of UConn as a whole.
“My administrative philosophy comes out of emphasizing the importance of all three components of the land grant mission. Almost everything I do has this orientation,” says Kerr, whose decades-long academic career was spent entirely at land grant universities, including Ohio State, Louisiana State, Texas A&M and West Virginia University.
“The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources here at UConn was the original college of this university. The heart and soul of the land grant mission is here,” adds Kerr.
Originally from West Virginia, Kerr was involved in the 4-H program as a boy, and says that this Cooperative Extension youth development program was instrumental in helping him to acquire the confidence and skills to go on to college. Kerr became a veterinarian, but soon returned to the academic field to pursue a research interest in veterinary pathology, eventually working his way from assistant professor to departmental and deanship roles. In fact, 30 of his 46 years in academia have been in full-time administrative positions—15 at UConn as CANR dean.
“One of the reasons that Dean Kerr has played such a significant role at UConn is that he was a direct beneficiary of the kind of program that we offer here,” says Associate Dean Nancy Bull, referring to Kerr’s boyhood experience with 4-H. “One component of our extension mission is to work with youth to provide them with skills that translate into a career.”
For more information about supporting the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, please contact the UConn Foundation's development department.
