George Washington Carver, the legendary scientist and educator, spent five years at the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, known today as Iowa State University, as a student, graduate student and faculty member in the late 19th century.
Nearly 120 years later, Carver’s presence still looms large on the Iowa State campus.
“World renowned plant scientist George Washington Carver got his college education at Iowa State,” ISU’s website states.
A building on campus that houses the mathematics department and provides space to other departments is named in his honor. The university posthumously awarded Carver, who created many products from peanuts and sweet potatoes, an honorary doctorate in 1990.
In 1998, the school held a yearlong series of lectures and activities aimed at celebrating his life. Each year, the university offers 100 full-tuition scholarships to high-achieving minority students. Many of these students participate in the Carver Academy, which emphasizes public service. The Cargill corporation — an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services — gives a stipend to 12 students of color each year designated as Carver-Cargill scholars in Carver’s honor.
Carver was the first African-American to attend Iowa State, enrolling in 1891, the first to get a graduate degree from there and the first to teach there. He was leader of the debate club and a trainer for athletic teams. He held the highest rank in the campus military regiment, had his poetry published in the student newspaper and penned the class poem for the 1894 graduation.
Carver began his college studies at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, where he studied piano and painting. But his art instructor, Etta Budd, who was concerned about Carver’s ability to make a living after graduation and knew of his interest in horticulture, steered Carver toward Iowa State where her father served as head of the college’s horticulture department.
