STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi’s two land-grant universities welcomed representatives from sister universities and a national council July 31-Aug. 2 in Starkville.

The Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching, or CARET, and the Administrative Heads Section of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities held their Southern Region Joint Summer Meeting over the weekend. They were the first group to conduct an event in The Mill Conference Center.

Greg Bohach

“We were honored to host delegates from all over the South and showcase the significant academic, research and Extension efforts happening across Mississippi,” said Greg Bohach, vice president of the MSU Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. “Mississippi was well represented by our delegates, which included Gary Blair of Southern Ag Credit and Sells Newman of First South Farm Credit.”

Rodney Foil, retired MSU vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine, was instrumental in establishing CARET. The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities created the national grassroots organization in 1982. It is composed of representatives from the 50 states, the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

“MSU representatives provided demonstrations of our unmanned aerial systems and applications into agricultural research,” Bohach said.

In addition to participating in business meetings and hearing organizational updates, CARET representatives toured the R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center, the Thad Cochran Research Park, the H.H. Leveck Animal Research Center and the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems. The group visited MSU Mitchell Memorial Library, home of the U.S. Grant Presidential Library, the C.H. Templeton Music Museum, the Consortium for the History of Agricultural and Rural Mississippi and the Center for the History of Agriculture, Science and the Environment of the South.

Roy Ruby, retired MSU vice president for student affairs and dean of the College of Education, assisted with campus and Starkville tours. Guests visited the Veterans Memorial Rose Garden and the Mississippi State Trial Gardens.

“Alcorn State University is unique among the 1890 colleges and universities, being the first black land-grant institution in the nation. We were pleased to have cohosted the CARET representatives and administrative heads with Mississippi State University to showcase the importance of agriculture to the state of Mississippi,” said Ivory W. Lyles, dean and director of land-grant programs of the Alcorn State School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences.

2015 marks the 125th anniversary of the signing of the Second Morrill Act of 1890, which established what are known today as the 1890 land-grant universities and Tuskegee University. Alcorn State University, along with other historically black land-grant colleges and universities, joined their peers at MSU for the regional meeting.