PRINTER'S NO. 1424
No. 209 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY CORMAN, JUBELIRER, ARMSTRONG, BOSCOLA, BRIGHTBILL,
CONTI, COSTA, DENT, EARLL, ERICKSON, FERLO, FUMO, GORDNER,
GREENLEAF, HUGHES, KASUNIC, KITCHEN, KUKOVICH, LAVALLE,
LEMMOND, LOGAN, MADIGAN, MELLOW, MOWERY, MUSTO, O'PAKE, ORIE,
PICCOLA, PILEGGI, PIPPY, PUNT, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, ROBBINS,
SCARNATI, SCHWARTZ, STACK, STOUT, TARTAGLIONE, THOMPSON,
TOMLINSON, WAGNER, WAUGH, WENGER, D. WHITE, M. WHITE,
A. WILLIAMS, C. WILLIAMS, WONDERLING AND WOZNIAK,
MARCH 15, 2004
REFERRED TO EDUCATION, MARCH 15, 2004
A RESOLUTION
1 Congratulating The Pennsylvania State University on the
2 commencement of its sesquicentennial celebration and
3 reaffirming its designation as Pennsylvania's land-grant
4 university.
5 WHEREAS, In response to the interests of the State
6 Agricultural Society, created by the General Assembly in 1851,
7 in establishing an educational institution to bring general
8 education and knowledge of modern farming methods to the farmers
9 of this Commonwealth, the General Assembly first issued a
10 charter to the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania in 1854; and
11 WHEREAS, A permanent charter was issued by the General
12 Assembly on February 22, 1855, for "... an institution for the
13 education of youth in the various branches of science, learning
14 and practical agriculture, as they are connected with each
15 other, by the name, style and title of the Farmers' High School
1 of Pennsylvania"; and
2 WHEREAS, A subsequent act of the General Assembly in 1857
3 established Penn State's research and service missions,
4 instituted an office "... where correct and perfect analysis
5 shall be made, without charge, of all soils and manures which
6 shall be sent by citizens of this commonwealth for that purpose,
7 and a correct report returned of the result of said analysis"
8 and directed that the institution "... shall furnish reports of
9 the result of all experiments made with trees, shrubs, plants,
10 seed, soils and the breeding and rearing of stock, to at least
11 one newspaper in each county in the commonwealth for
12 publication, the same to be furnished monthly, or immediately
13 after the results of the investigations are known"; and
14 WHEREAS, The 1855 charter and subsequent acts became the
15 model for the Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862), where
16 Congress provided for the distribution of grants of public lands
17 owned by the Federal Government to the states for establishing
18 and maintaining institutions of higher learning in which "the
19 leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and
20 classical studies, to teach such branches of learning as are
21 related to agriculture and the mechanical arts...in order to
22 promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial
23 classes in the several pursuits and professions of life"; and
24 WHEREAS, In 1863 the Commonwealth accepted the grant of land
25 "with all its provisions and conditions, and the faith of the
26 state is hereby pledged to carry the same into effect"; and
27 WHEREAS, The State designated its Farmers' High School,
28 renamed the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, as the
29 Commonwealth's sole land grant institution; and
30 WHEREAS, The mission of the land-grant college was expanded
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1 by subsequent Federal and State laws, such as the act of July
2 25, 1913, in which the General Assembly directed that:
3 in order to bring directly to the farmers of Pennsylvania
4 the results of the thirty-one years of experiments
5 conducted by the Agricultural Experiment Station in soil
6 fertilization, farm crops, fruits, vegetable, dairying,
7 poultry, and farm animals, and in order thereby to
8 increase rural prosperity and to better rural conditions,
9 the trustees of the Pennsylvania State College may employ
10 and maintain resident county advisers and traveling
11 experts in farm management; conduct farmers' weeks, co-
12 operative experiments, and field demonstrations, for
13 purposes of instruction; make exhibits and demonstrations
14 at county fairs; prepare and operate exhibit cars;
15 maintain reading and correspondence courses intended for
16 rural communities; conduct contests among school children
17 in growing corn, vegetables, fruit and flowers, and in
18 preserving, canning, and sewing; co-operate with the
19 State Superintendent of Public Instruction in advancing
20 agricultural household management, nature study, and
21 manual training, in the rural schools, in the normal
22 schools, and in teachers' institutes; prepare, print and
23 distribute pamphlets, leaflets and outlines; and conduct
24 such other forms of extension work as may seem to the
25 trustees of said institution practicable and profitable
26 to the people of the State;
27 and
28 WHEREAS, The missions of instruction, research, outreach and
29 extension continue to be the focus of The Pennsylvania State
30 University and have grown to where the Commonwealth's land-grant
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1 university is now one of the most highly regarded research
2 universities in the nation, with an outstanding outreach and
3 extension program that serves nearly one out of two
4 Pennsylvanians a year and an undergraduate school of immense
5 scope and popularity; therefore be it
6 RESOLVED, That the Senate commend and congratulate The
7 Pennsylvania State University for 150 years of service to the
8 citizens of this Commonwealth and reaffirm its designation as
9 the land-grant university of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
10 and be it further
11 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
12 the Trustees of The Pennsylvania State University, University
13 Park, PA 16802.
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