Woodrow Wilson “W.W.” Glenn spent his 30-year career as a UF/IFAS Extension agent in the Florida Panhandle, with his eyes always set on strategies and ideas that would improve farmers’ lives.
His legacy lives on with the opening of the W.W. Glenn Teaching Building on the University of Florida campus. As a crowd of his friends and university supporters looked on, his family members cut a ceremonial ribbon on May 29 to signify the start of the building’s place in UF/IFAS story.
While Glenn passed away in 2007, he is remembered fondly as a fierce advocate for farmers and ranchers in Jackson and Madison counties and a passionate and thoughtful alumnus of the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS). The building, located adjacent to the UF baseball and softball stadiums, was funded largely by a memorial gift from his family.
“My grandfather believed in and was part of the UF/IFAS mission to improve the life of agricultural stakeholders,” said Ames Prentiss, Glenn’s grandson. “This building is a reflection of that mission and the quality of the education that students will bring to the agricultural industry.”
Glenn is a double Gator, earning his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1942 and a master’s degree in agriculture in 1952. After his retirement from UF/IFAS Extension in 1974, he co-founded the Florida Watermelon Association, which continues to support and elevate watermelon farmers, harvesters, shippers and more to this day.
The building, located on the corner of Museum Road and Hull Road, will be the next step in that legacy, becoming a place where agricultural operations management and biological engineering students can build, test and refine machines and tools for the agricultural and natural resources industries.
UF/IFAS CALS Dean Kati Migliaccio said the creation of this maker space is a milestone for the college and the culmination of a dream “many years in the making.”
The W.W. Glenn Teaching Building was the result of a clear vision, generosity and belief – both in the mission of UF/IFAS but in the goals that Glenn held dear. The space was formed through the lens of an innovative educational vision that put learning by doing at the forefront of students’ college experience.
“This is a space where learning will happen for generations,” she said.
The building has two multi-purpose labs and one office space, and the labs will be equipped with wood, metal and high-tech fabrication equipment. Students will be able to practice methods and skills that will come up in their future industries – from repairing a tractor to building an autonomous robot.
“Our students want to build structures, systems, tools and machines that will make it easier to grow and manage our food systems,” said Greg Kiker, chair of the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE). “They are quite literally building our future.”
The lab will function as a hands-on learning space for students to prototype and test experimental designs, said Daniel Hofstetter, UF/IFAS ABE assistant professor.
Having this space to learn by doing will enhance UF/IFAS’ mission to prepare students for the workforce and to set them up to be confident and able to thrive in their industries upon graduation.
“Hands-on learning is where education really takes hold,” he said.
Prentiss said if his grandfather could have seen the opening of the W.W. Glenn Teaching Building, he would be intrigued by the educational opportunities inside these walls, but he’d also want to encourage students to seek out and find solutions to problems farmers and ranchers face in Florida.
And then, he would want those students to take those answers to Jackson County, back to the same farms he worked to support during his tireless career.
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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