Cooperative Extension “extends” the educational opportunities of the land-grant university to the public through its agents and specialist faculty working in all parts of the Commonwealth. In 1914, the U.S. Department of Agriculture established the Cooperative Extension Service. This effort was based on the work of Seaman Knapp, the founder of farm demonstration work. Long before this, many institutes, including Virginia Tech, conducted Extension-type work through organized Farmer Institutes and the collaborative local demonstration of research through the agricultural experiment stations. In 1923, the Extension administration was moved from Horticultural Hall to a newly built Sandy Hall. This building was named after T. O. Sandy, Virginia’s first agricultural Extension agent and a pioneer in farm demonstration work. Today the building is used as a surge building for departments vacating buildings under renovation across campus.

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