Department History
Our Department Timelines
- Pictorial timeline (1880s to 2023)
- Timeline table (below)
UK Department of Plant Pathology Timeline
1865 • UK founded as Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College of Kentucky University
1885 • Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station established.
1889 • Harrison Garman appointed Entomologist and Botanist (retired, ca. 1929).
Work included disease diagnosis, pathogen identification and management recommendations.
1908 • College of Agriculture founded
1910 • Agricultural Extension Service established in KY, one of the first in the U.S.
1918 • M. Roe appointed as Assistant Plant Pathologist, in Department of Agronomy (one year appointment).
1919 • WD Valleau* appointed first Professor of Plant Pathology, in Agronomy (retired, 1961).
1923 • E. Johnson appointed Assistant Plant Pathologist (retired, 1966).
1931 • L. Henson appointed (retired, 1974).
1936 • H. Thornberry appointed (resigned, 1937).
• Plant pathologists moved from basement of Agricultural Experiment Station Building to new Tobacco Research Laboratory.
1937 • Stephen Diachun* appointed (retired, 1978).
1950 • Richard Chapman appointed (retired, 1984).
1953 • Granville Stokes appointed; became Associate Director of Ag Experiment Station, 1966 (retired, ca. 1993).
1960 • Raymond Hampton appointed (resigned, 1970).
1962 • R. Reinert appointed (resigned, 1967).
• Christopher Litton (USDA-ARS; Research Specialist) transferred from Agronomy to Plant Pathology, (retired, ca. 1987).
• Ph.D. offered in Biology with Plant Pathology “cooperating”.
1963 • Department of Plant Pathology established with Richard Chapman as chairman.
• John Oswald* appointed University President and Professor of Plant Pathology.
1964 • Plant Pathology moved from the Tobacco Research Laboratory to the Agricultural Science Center - North building.
• James Hendrix appointed (retired, 2004).
1965 • C. Yang appointed (resigned, 1972).
• First Ph.D. recipients (in Biology, Plant Pathology cooperating).
1966 • Malcolm Siegel* appointed (retired, 1998).
1967 • Ph.D. program in Plant Pathology established.
• Harry Wheeler* appointed (retired, 1984).
• Thomas Pirone* appointed (retired, 2001).
1968 • First Ph.D. recipients in Plant Pathology.
• Stephen Diachun became chairman.
• John Shaw* appointed (retired, 2000).
• Albert Williams appointed (transferred to Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, as chairman, 1975).
1971 • John Hartman* appointed (retired, 2011).
1972 • Said Ghabrial* appointed (retired, 2013).
• Louis Shain appointed (retired, 1999).
1974 • Joseph Kuc* appointed (retired, 1995).
1975 • Shuh-Ji Sheen transferred from Agronomy (retired, 1991).
• Richard Stuckey appointed (resigned, 1989).
1977 • First full-time plant disease diagnostician hired
1978 • Thomas Pirone became Department Chair
• Richard Ferriss appointed (resigned, 1991).
1979 • William Nesmith appointed (retired, 2004).
• David Smith appointed (retired, 2012).
1982 • Wayne Wilcox appointed (resigned, 1984); first Plant Pathology faculty member at Research and Education Center, Princeton.
1984 • Donald Hershman appointed (retired 2015); Research and Education Center, Princeton.
• Robert Shepherd* appointed (retired, 1996).
1985 • Christopher Schardl* appointed.
1986 • David Smith became Deparment Chair
1989 • W. Walla appointed; served solely as Associate Dean for Extension (retired, 2001).
1990 • Paul Vincelli* appointed.
1993 • S. He appointed (resigned, 1995).
1996 • Lisa Vaillancourt appointed; first female faculty member.
1997 • Mark Farman appointed.
1999 • Peter Nagy appointed.
2002 • Michael Goodin appointed (deceased, 2020).
• Pradeep Kachroo appointed.
2003 • Plant Pathology moved from Ag Science-North to the Plant Science Building.
2005 • Kenneth Seebold, Jr. appointed (resigned, 2014).
• Doctoral program ranked #1 in nation in Academic Analytics’ Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.
2006 • Aardra Kachroo appointed.
2010 • Again, ranked #1 by Academic Analytics.
2011 • Christopher Schardl became Department Chair until 2023.
• Nicole (Ward) Gauthier appointed.
2015 • Emily Pfeufer appointed (resigned, 2021)
• Carl Bradley appointed at Princeton
• Tyler Dreaden, USDA FS, appointed Adjunct Professor
2016 • Robert Louis Hirsch appointed
2017 • Kiersten Wise appointed at Princeton
2023 • Reddy Palli appointed interim Chair
