University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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To Dr. Albert Fred. Woods President. Maryland State College of Agriculture Distinguislied as a scientist, acknowledged as an aole executive, and recognized as a friend or tne students, tnis Reveille is dedicated

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Dr. Albert Fred. Woods R. ALBERT FRED OODS was born in Belvedere. III. on December 25, 1866, and in his birth the scientific world received a Christmas present for which it has since had reason to be sincerely thankful. After the usual High School education. Dr. ' oods matriculated at the University of Nebraska, from which he graduated with honors in 1890, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1892 he received an A.M. from the same university, and in 1912 Nebraska conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Agriculture. After his graduation Dr. Woods was for several years assistant botanist at his Alma Mater. Notwithstanding his early success in life, those who have had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Woods fully realize that the greatest accomplishment of the sub- ject of this sketch, during the years referred to, was his winning the hand and heart of Miss Bertha (jerneaux Davis, whom he married in 1898. In 1893 Dr. Woods was made Assistant Chief of the Division of V egetable Physiology and Pathology in the United States Department of Agriculture, and in 1900 was advanced to the position of Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, where he remained ten years. By this time he was recognized as one of the leading plant pathologists and physiologists in the country. In 1910 Dr. Woods was appointed Dean of the College of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota and Director of the Experiment Station. It was in thi.s dual work of great responsibility, and also during his administration of the execu- tive affairs of the university in the ])rolonged absence of President ' incent, that he showed the remarkal)le executive ability which brought him to the attention of ihe Maryland .State Board of Agriculture when they were looking for the best- e(|ui])i)ed man in the country to be Bresident of the new Maryland State College. Dr. Woods was elected President of Maryland State College in 191 , and was at the same time made executive officer of the State Board of Agriculture. Among the many important things accomplished by Dr. W oods, by no means the least is his authorship of a large number of scientific reports, articles and bul- letins, and particularly his publication on the flora of Nebraska. His standing as a scientist led to his selection, in 1905, as official representative of the United States at the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, and the International Botan- ical Congress, ' ienna. He is also a member of the Botanical Society of America, the Washington .Academy of Science, and of a number of other national scientific organizations. He is chairman of the Committee on Food Production and Con- serv ' .ition of the Maryland Council of Defense, and in this capacity he rendered during the war signal service to the State and Nation. This article is not intended as a eulogy, but as the simple presentation of facts connected with the life of an unassuming, hard-working, able man. But if a eulogy of Dr. Woods were intended, no more flattering one could be offered than his successful administration of the affairs of Maryland State during his incumbency as President. He took hold of the situation here vigorously and in- telligently, moving slowly but surely in the matter of new policies, but working day and night with the sole purpose of creating a sure foundation on which to build a great institution of learning for Maryland on the lines of the splendid universities of the West. That foundation has been laid — strong, broad and permanent — and now the sni)erstructure is being built day bv day. and this in the hands of a master builder, who has carefully studied his plans, arranged for his material, and will not rest until the great work is accomplished. Personally, Dr. W ' oods is most agreeable and sociable, and he has already made for himself in Maryland a host of friends who swear by him and are ready to back him in his work at all times. He also has the respect and friendship of every student in the college, and he is vitally interested in their personal and gen- eral affairs. As the poet said of the Shij) of State, it can now be said of the New Maryland State, We know what master laid thy keel ' — and there is every reason to believe that the fate of Marvland State is safe in that master ' s hands.