Outstanding in His Field…

The University of Texas at Dallas sits in the middle of the Blackland Prairie, a wide strip of dark, rich soil that runs from the Red River to San Antonio. Before European settlement and the introduction of large-scale farming and ranching, the Blackland Prairie was characterized by a high degree of plant diversity.

In 1972 Dr. Cyrus L. Lundell, an internationally known botanist, joined the UT Dallas faculty and oversaw efforts to transfer a few acres of relict Blackland Prairie from a construction site north of the University to the southwest side of campus in order to preserve it for study by faculty and students. Lundell is shown here among native bluestem and switchgrass, some nearly 6 feet tall, that were among the more than 200 grass and plant varieties.