Dan T. Gray Gray

Dan T. Gray  was named Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Arkansas in 1924. He also became director of the U of A Agriculture Experiment Station and held both posts until 1939. Mr. Gray received his education in his home state of Missouri and at the University of Illinois, before he received an appointment as professor of Animal Industry at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. He held that position for eight years, then was a professor at North Carolina State University for seven. He also had achieved an outstanding reputation as secretary of the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers from 1913 to 1920, and was the association’s president from 1920 to 1921. In 1920, he was chosen dean of Alabama’s School of Agriculture. Mr. Gray’s arrival at the University of Arkansas in 1924 was hailed as a major event. He had had considerable experience dealing with livestock problems peculiar to the South and was to be the animal industry editor for the widely read Southern Ruralist, as well. He was sensitive to the question of the U.S. government’s role in agriculture after having been administrator of the federal Livestock Extension Program during World War I. Under his leadership and with increased federal and state money, Experiment Station personnel could finally turn their full attention to the problems and opportunities confronting Arkansas farmers. He focused the station’s resources on cotton. Mr. Gray also got the Experiment Station involved in federal farm relief, specifically regarding the Dust Bowl’s impact upon farmers whose summer grazing was already exhausted.