Original Lecture Date and Time: November 9, 2006 at 4PM Location: Special Collections & Archives, Ralph Brown Draughon Library Speaker: J. Wayne Flynt About the Speaker J. Wayne Flynt recently retired from his position as Distinguished University Professor at Auburn University and has written numerous books, articles, and reviews on Alabama and Southern history. About the Lecture Congress established the land grant college system in part to provide academic training in disciplines that served the larger community. Isaac Taylor Tichenor, the first president of Alabama's new land grant college, supported this with the missionary zeal of New South proponents. In 1914 Congress furthered this mission by creating a network of farm extension agents, and later home demonstration agents, linked to the land grant schools in every state. This sense of community service has been exemplified by Auburn University faculty in every academic discipline. These individuals have carried the benefits of academic research to homes, families, and business across the state from the earliest days of the school.