Interview with C. Oran Little, September 19, 2001

Interview Summary

In this second interview, C. Oran Little talks about graduating from the University of Houston and recalls how he was offered a position as assistant director of the Houston Chamber of Commerce. He states that one of his professors urged him to accept the job, and was concerned that Little would not survive a graduate program in animal science since much of his undergraduate work was in business. Little states that he was confident in his abilities and he and his wife moved to Iowa in the Spring of 1957 so that he could begin graduate studies at Iowa State University.

Little talks about his first quarter of graduate school and how explains that he was offered an assistantship for his second quarter working with beef cattle experiments. Little's master thesis focused on the role of microorganisms in the digestive tract of animals and he describes his experiments. He recalls his advisor Dr. Wise E. Burroughs who taught his graduate students to make decisions on their own. Little completed his M.S. in 1959 and remembers the emphasis on science during the early Cold War. Little explains that he had several opportunities to make contacts in the animal science industry while he was in graduate school at Iowa State. In fact, Eli Lilly was of the major corporations funding research at Iowa State. Little recalls that there was a movement, even in the late 1950s to create a more nutritious food product.

Little completed his doctorate in the summer of 1960. He recalls working on his dissertation and looking for jobs. Little explains how he ended up at UK, although he was initially rejected for a position. Little met Wise Garrigus, the chairman of the animal sciences department at UK while he was doing post doctorate work at Iowa State, and Garrigus offered him the position. Little recalls that he did not think that he would be at UK for a long time, since he did not envision UK becoming a large research institution.

Interview Keyword

University of Houston Houston Chamber of Commerce

Interview LC Subject

Agriculture. Little, C. Oran (Charles Oran), 1935- Little, C. Oran (Charles Oran), 1935- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.