Historical Note

A University-wide Extension Division was established on 1 July 1966 by the General Assembly. It combined the activities of the Cooperative Extension Service, General Extension Division, State Technical Services, and Continuing Education Center. However, extension work at VPI&SU can trace its roots to 1906 when an extension program was established in Virginia as a result of the farm demonstration work began by Dr. Seaman A. Knapp in Texas in 1903. Dr. John D. Eggleston, the superintendent of public instruction in Virginia at the time and later VPI president, invited Knapp to speak at a meeting in Richmond and that talk resulted in the beginning of the program in Virginia. When the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 was passed, authority for extension, or demonstration, work was transferred to Virginia Tech and it became known as the Agricultural Extension until 1966 when it became the Cooperative Extension Service before being absorbed into the overall Extension Division. In 1995, the Extension Division became the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station Division, often shortened to the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

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