Timeline

Historical Timeline  - UC Davis  Department of Food Science and Technology - 1880 to present

(See the History page for some more details)

1880
At UC Berkeley Campus (First UC Campus) – Department of Viticulture and Enology established

1908
University Farm School in Davis establishes the Department of Dairy Industry.  25 students study butter making at the University Farm Creamery.

1919
Division of Viticulture and Fruit Products established in Berkeley.

1922
New Dairy Industry Building is dedicated; one of the first 2 permanent buildings on Davis campus.  Contains the Creamery & offices.  The Creamery develops a reputation for a brick cheese, which is light and soft, like a pepper jack.  You can see a current display of milk containers here, depicting their evolution from glass bottles to waxed cartons

1938
Division of Fruit Products established in Berkeley.

1944
Division of Food Technology established by William Vere Cruess in Berkeley.

1948
Emil Mrak becomes Chair of Department of Food Technology after W.V. Cruess.

1949
Food Science Curriculum approved.

1951
Department of Food Technology moves to Davis, from Berkeley.  The move was overseen by Chair Emil Mrak.  You can see some images of a Department picnic from the 1950s here.

1955
Rose Marie Valdes Pangborn is first woman faculty member in FST.  She was the child of Mexican immigrants, born in New Mexico, and a pioneer in Sensory Science.

1955-1956
You can view a general career brochure on Food Technology (not UC-Davis specific) from the Institute of Food Technologists, circa 1955-1956. 

1958
Brewing technology courses are first offered in Cruess Hall in the original pilot brewery.  More on the history of the brewing program.

Here are also a few pics from Picnic Day, 1958.

1959
UC Davis designated as an independent campus of UC.  The Department of Food Science & Technology is founded from the consolidated Departments of Food Technology and Dairy Industry.  The Creamery is closed.  Master of Science (M.S.) in Food Science is the first degree offered by FST.  Emil Mrak becomes the 2nd Chancellor of UC Davis (after Stanley Freeborn, 1958-1959). 

Read the 1959 "Brewing Technology" article (by Mrak from the Master Brewer's Association of the Americas (MBAA) Technical Quarterly, reprinted in 1995 by J. McCabe) for a look at UC Davis Brewing's founding innovations. 

1960
Cruess Hall (completed in 1952) is named for William Vere Cruess (1886-1968); and dedicated in March, 1960 (Dedication Event picture set). (Equipment/facility pics here.) W.V. Cruess at Berkeley 1910-1954; career in fruit utilization due to alcohol Prohibition in 1919-1920.  Sun drying & dehydration, fruit juices, concentrates, canning, freezing fruit cocktail, non-alcoholic beverages.  Teaches courses on same. Publishes book on Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Products, publications on Home and Farm Food Preservation.  Recognition & control of spoilage, development of fermented products.  Olives, including introduction of lactic fermented green olives to California.  Instrumental in founding Institute of Food Technologists & Northern CA IFT.  Pioneer for modern food systems and sustainability research, due to his work in economic utilization of surplus fruits & vegetables after Prohibition.  

Yeast research involved early FST academics Herman J. Phaff, Martin Miller, who followed the tradition of yeast study by  Emil Mrak and W.V. Cruess.  Today, Phaff collection yeasts are very widely used.

1961
B.S. in Food Science established. A glimpse of April 1961: An unidentified woman displays dairy products for the Department at Picnic Day

 

1963
Dairy Industry Building renamed “Roadhouse Hall” for Chester Roadhouse (1881-1969), Professor of Dairy Science (1917-1951). 

1968
The Filper Room, a conference room in Cruess Hall (where the FST Department was now located), was dedicated.  Its construction was financed by the contributions of the Filper Corporation, and included three lovely batik art panels through which the filtered sunlight entered the room.   

1971-1993
B.S. in Consumer Science offered

1971-2006
B.S. in Food Biochemistry offered

1974
Roadhouse Hall is leveled; seismically unfit.

1977
Erika Barrett is the second woman faculty member of FST, and the first woman to become Chair of the Department.   

1983
Peter J. Shields Endowed Chair in Dairy Food Science established with mission to provide continuous support for the chair holder to allow for the conduct of exemplary research, teaching, and continuous interaction with the dairy food industry. 

1984
"Historical Highlights: Dairy Education and Research Programs at the University of California", 1984, by Emeritus Professor Walter Dunkley, was presented at a symposium to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Davis campus, January 12, 1984.  It was also published in the California Dairy Industry Association Industry Newsletter. 

1990
Ph.D. in Food Science established. You can see some photos from 1980 - early 1990s here, courtesy of Professor Emeritus Gary M. Smith. 

1991
First International Conference of Food Science and Technology (ICFST) held; the start of the collaboration between Jiangnan University and UC Davis Food Science and Technology.   

1992
UC Lab for Research in Food Preservation moves under the jurisdiction of Food Science & Technology 

1993-1997
Barbara Schneeman (with FST/Nutrition 1976-2007) becomes first woman Dean of a College of Agriculture in the United States.

2001 
Longtime dairy industry member Don Lord donates 192 historic California milk bottles to UC Davis. You can view photos of the Don Lord Milk Bottle Collection, which was catalogued by John C. Bruhn

2003
Emphasis in Brewing Science introduced

1993-2014 – emphases offered:
Consumer Food Science
Food Biology/Microbiology
Food Business & Management
Food Chemistry
Food Technology

2008
UC Davis Food Science & Technology moves out of Cruess Hall and into the current facilities in the Robert Mondavi Institute complex of buildings.  Initially two academic buildings and a sensory building, with more buildings in the works. 

2010
August A. Busch III Brewing and Food Science Laboratory opens – contains the Anheuser Busch InBev Pilot Brewery, the California Processing Tomato Industry Pilot Plant, and the Milk Processing Laboratory (as well as the winery which is run by Department of Viticulture and Enology). The Brewery, Winery, & Food Pilot Plant Facility is the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified facility.  A Grand Opening celebration was held January 28, 2011 - you can see a photo gallery of the celebration here, and read a news story here

2014
Food Science degree emphasis returns

2018
Department of Animal Science breaks ground on a Goat-Milking Parlor and Creamery for fluid milk and cheese. 

2019
UC Davis Food Science & Technology, which remains one of the nation’s largest food science programs and one of the most published and cited in food science research, celebrates its 60th anniversary.