Science as Service: Establishing and Reformulating American Land-Grant Universities, 1865–1930 is the first of a two-volume study that traces the foundation and evolution of America’s land-grant institutions. In this expertly curated collection of essays, Alan I Marcus has assembled a tough-minded account of the successes and set-backs of these institutions during the first sixty-five years of their existence. In myriad scenes, vignettes, and episodes from the history of land-grant colleges, these essays demonstrate the defining characteristic of these institutions: their willingness to proclaim and pursue science in the service of the publics and students they serve.
 
The Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862 created a series of institutions—at least one in every state and territory—with now familiar names: Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, the University of Arizona, and the University of California, to name a few. These schools opened educational opportunities and pathways to a significant segment of the American public and gave the United States a global edge in science, technical innovation, and agriculture.
 
Science as Service provides an essential body of literature for understanding the transformations of the land-grant colleges established by the Morrill Act in 1862 as well as the considerable impact they had on the history of the United States. Historians of science, technology, and agriculture, along with rural sociologists, public decision and policy makers, educators, and higher education administrators will find this an essential addition to their book collections.

Alan I Marcus is the author or coauthor of several publications, including The Future Is Now: Science and Technology Policy in the United States Since 1950, Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam, and Technology in America: A Brief History.

“Science as Service is nothing less than a remarkable collection of first-rate essays on topics at once wonderfully diverse and intellectually complementary to one another. Individually and collectively, the essays greatly enlarge our knowledge of and appreciation for the impact of land-grant institutions on American society.”
—Howard P. Segal, author of Future Imperfect: The Mixed Blessings of Technology in America and Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities

“This collection of essays is more than the sum of its parts. It has an argument that is clearly developed by the contributors. There is no ambivalence in the argument. All of the essays [are] engaging, and scholars from many disciplines will find all or parts of it informative and useful, particularly historians of agriculture, science, technology, and education. Science as Service should have a long shelf life and inform scores of scholars about the nature and development of the land-grant system for decades to come.”
—R. Douglas Hurt, author of African American Life in the Rural South, 1900–1950 and The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century