Signature | Name Kenyon Butterfield | |
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Died November 25, 1936, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States | ||
Kenyon Leech Butterfield (June 11, 1868 – November 25, 1936) was an American agricultural scientist and college administrator known for developing the Cooperative Extension Service at the Land Grant Universities. He was president of the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (1903-1906); the Massachusetts Agricultural College (1906-1924), and the Michigan Agricultural College, (later Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, which is now Michigan State University) from 1924 to 1928.
Butterfield was an early proponent of extension education programming at the Land Grant Colleges rather than extension activities being a direct responsibility of the U.S Department of Agriculture, an idea championed by Extension pioneer Seaman A. Knapp. Using state funds in April 1904, Butterfield created an Agricultural Extension Department at the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and later in 1906, he did the same at Massachusetts Agricultural College. The organizational structure of these two colleges formed the basis for developing the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 that authorized federal funding of comprehensive Cooperative Extension programming by Land Grant Colleges and Universities nationwide.
Butterfield Hall at the University of Rhode Island, Butterfield House at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Butterfield Hall of the Brody Complex at Michigan State University are all dedicated in his name.