Creation of the School of Forestry and Conservation came after the Regents offered Sam Dana the chair of the Department of Forestry in LS&A, in the spring on 1926. Dana refused unless they converted the department into a School of Forestry and Conservation. The regents did so, and hired Dana as its first Dean. One item of significance in this is that Dana's request for a School of Forestry and Conservation was the first time in the history of the U.S. that those two terms (Forestry and Conservation) had ever been linked. Dana was Head of the Forest Service Experiment Station at Upper Darby Pennsylvania at the time.
At the Commencement Ceremony, it was customary for Dean's to ask the graduates of their unit to stand and be recognized. When Dean Dana did this (in 1934), no one stood up. Rather than being embarrassed, Dean Dana calmly turned to the President and said, "I'm sorry Mr. President, but all of our graduates are employed." There was a moment of silence, and then the guests erupted in applause.
