Alfred Atkinson

Alfred B. Atkinson (1879 to 1958) was a Canadian-born American agronomist and university president. Born on a farm near Seaforth, Ontario, he attended Ontario Agricultural College, graduated in agronomy from Iowa State University in 1904 and became professor of agronomy at Montana State College in 1906, publishing on dryland farming, nitrate formation, soil moisture control and soil science and developing the Montana 36 wheat cultivar. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1911 and was Montana's Food Administration administrator during the First World War. He was president of Montana State College from 1919 to 1937, expanding the campus until the Depression, and president of the University of Arizona from 1937 to 1947, when enrollment doubled. He led the Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in 1936 and 1937 and was president of the Northern Pure Seed Company from 1906 to 1913.