Interview with C. Oran Little, April 9, 2002
Project: C. Oran Little Oral History Project
Interview Summary
C. Oran Little continues to discuss his first few years as Dean of UK's College of Agriculture. In this interview, he specifically describes UK's land grant mission and his attempts bring focus back to this mission. Little states that things were not favorable with Kentucky's agricultural economy in 1988, and his focus turned to three main objectives: enhancing the undergraduate education program, identifying Kentucky's true research needs, focusing research programs on these needs, and modernizing the cooperative extension program. Little describes how the College of Agriculture went after corporate money after experiencing problems with acquiring state money. Little explains that he was able to get the Kentucky Council on Higher Education to designate an agriculture committee. Participants included the University of Kentucky, Murray State University, Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, and Berea College, all of which had agriculture programs. He describes the difficulty he faced with budgeting, and explains that while the College of Agriculture had $80 million in their budget, only $3 million went towards the academic program. Little talks about the push within the state to establish a veterinary school in the state of Kentucky, and explains his disapproval since there was an efficient cooperative arrangement between UK and Auburn University. He also mentions communication problems and personality clashes between administrators at UK and at the regional universities.Interview Accession
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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Little, C. Oran Interview by Terry L. Birdwhistell. 09 Apr. 2002. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Little, C.O. (2002, April 09). Interview by T. L. Birdwhistell. C. Oran Little Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Little, C. Oran, interview by Terry L. Birdwhistell. April 09, 2002, C. Oran Little Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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