Leland E. Call | 1913-1925

Leland E. Call | 1913-1925Leland E. Call (1881-1969) was born in Ohio and earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from Ohio State University in 1906 and 1912, respectively. He joined the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State College as an Assistant in Agronomy (Soils) in 1907. During his tenure as Head, the first improved wheat variety ‘Kanred' was released, research was expanded on alfalfa and corn and initiated on sorghum and soybeans, the first Experiment Fields were established in 1923, and county soil surveys were begun.

He served as President of the American Society of Agronomy during 1922. Call was Dean of Agriculture and Director of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station from 1925 to 1945. After retiring, he became Chief of Party of an Agricultural Mission to the Philippines to determine the country's food needs, was a Fullbright Scholar at Silliman University, and served with the U.S. Mission to direct the Cornell University/University of the Philippines Project, the first of many large overseas projects undertaken by U.S. universities during the 1950s and 1960s.