Lecture: Student Life at Iowa State, 1869-90

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Date/Time:Wednesday, 13 Mar 2019 at 7:00 pm
Location:Sun Room, Memorial Union
Cost:Free
Contact:
Phone:515-294-9934
Channel:Lecture Series
Categories:Diversity Lectures
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Historian Douglas Biggs, a native of Ames and a graduate of Iowa State University, will discuss student life at Iowa State during it first two decades.

Iowa Agricultural College, as Iowa State University was designated upon its establishment in 1858, began formally admitting students in 1869. Land-grant colleges and their ideals of making higher education accessible to all and providing instruction in liberal and practical subjects were still much more theory than tradition in 1869.

Douglas Biggs will share stories about the challenges students faced living in relative isolation, issues over the requirement for manual labor, and the fight over the colonizing of fraternities and sororities on campus.

Biggs spent much of his youth exploring the ISU campus and later earned both a BA and an MA in history from the university before completing his PhD at the University of Minnesota. His interest in Ames and ISU history has led to several publications and public lectures on such topics as the Dinky, the university during World War II, and the early years of the Iowa State College football team. He is a professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.