Long Live the Gentleman Scholar

Dr. Sam Dennis retires after four decades at TSUAg | By Charlie Morrison

The absence of recently retired soil and water scientist Dr. Samuel Dennis from the Tennessee State College of Agriculture’s (TSUAg) campus is palpable. You can feel it. Known for a smile that lit rooms and a willingness to help both students and his fellow scholars alike, Dr. Dennis’ brought a unique skill set to TSUAg, and when this spring he brought his magnificent career to a close with his official retirement, it was bittersweet. While all were happy to see him earn his retirement, it is safe to say the College of Agriculture began missing him almost immediately.

At retirement, Dr. Dennis was TSUAg’s longest serving faculty member. His career at the College spanned more than four decades, multiple Deans, four University Presidents, and hundreds, if not thousands of students. Over that time Dr. Dennis coached countless young faculty members, supporting them in hurdling the obstacles a new researcher and faculty member can face. Dr. Dennis may have hung up his lab coat for the final time, but his impact will endure.

Dr. Dennis’ path at TSU was as extraordinary as the man himself. After coming to the U.S. from his native Nigeria in the late 1970s and graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, Dr. Dennis began his time at TSU as a graduate student in the early 1980s. He engaged in an accelerated master’s program and in 1982, after just one year in TSU’s graduate program, he received his Master’s of Science degree in Agricultural Sciences from TSU.

Those who knew Dr. Dennis well knew that he kept an office in the corner of his labratory in the Carp Building, and that his official office in the Farrell-Westbrook Building (the Barn) was in name only.

Though he considered his options after graduating with his master’s degree, he was convinced to stay at TSU, taking a job at the College assisting the faculty. “I was always very, very technical. The computer was coming into play then and I was one of the only people here that was ‘good with computing,’” Dr. Dennis laughed during in an interview with AgLink.

“I was also very good on instrumentation, I was good at analyzing soils, plant samples, water samples... so much so that the other departments and even people from other universities would come here to watch me working on instruments such as the gas chromatograph and the atomic absorption spectrometer,” Dr. Dennis continued.

His skill enabled Dr. Dennis to assist his colleagues at the College, but not undertake research of his own. At the prompting of longtime, now-retired TSUAg professor Dr. Carter Catlin, Jr. However, Dr. Dennis addressed that, continuing his work at TSU while simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. in Plant & Soil Science from Alabama A&M University (AAMU). The degree took him three years, but by 1994 Dr. Dennis was a proper member of the TSUAg faculty body.

“It was the best thing that could have happened to me. And that’s where I met Dr. Reddy. He wanted me to work with him but he was working mostly in plants, and I was in waters and soils. All of my work at AAMU had to do with soil physics, and when I finished training in soil physics I brought it here.”

Dr. Dennis’ research in his three decades as an active TSUAg soil and water researcher dealt with water resources and environmental soils. When it came to soil science, Dr. Dennis was proud to have matriculated over a dozen research assistants to positions with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. On the topic of water research, his impact on not only TSUAg but also the entire 1890 system can still be felt.

When he began as a Ph.D.-holding research professor at TSUAg, none of the 19 1890 land-grant universities were performing water quality research. Determined to remedy that, Dr. Dennis wrote a grant proposal that was funded by the USDA and ultimately led to the creation of the USDA-NIFA 1890 Institutions National Facilitation Project for Water Resources. Nine of the 1890 universities began undertaking water quality research as a product of that program.

When I first started here the Barn was really a barn... no offices, just a barn. When you walked in you would see rabbits roaming around, someone was doing research on them at the time, so there were rabbits everywhere. The other side was used for chickens.

“What I found out was that I needed to carve out a niche for both the 1890 schools and the 1862s... that niche was pharmaceuticals in water,” said Dennis. “We use prescription medicines everyday, and I was finding traces of those medications in river water. Just looking at water quality on its face, its PH, its dissolved oxygen wasn’t enough for me, I said ‘let me carve out a niche, let me look at these pharmaceuticals.’

My conclusion was that people literally take medication they don’t use and throw it out into the environment.”

“I would advise young researchers to do what I did, first find a niche, an area they want to work in and then bring in some collaborators,” said Dr. Dennis. “I was looking at areas that are urbanizing. That became my niche and I stuck with that until my retirement.”

Longtime TSUAg faculty member Sam Dennis was instrumental in, amongst many other things, bringing TSUAg Dean Dr. Chandra Reddy to campus.

He published dozens of research papers over the decades, wrote countless grants and educated thousands of students. To him, the time is right to hang up his lab coat for the final time.

“It feels great, I feel great,” said Dr. Dennis with his signature smile. “When I told the students I was going to be retiring they didn’t like it, they told me to stay. I had to explain to them, ‘look, I’ve been here for 40 years,” before they would admit that ‘yes, Dr. Dennis perhaps it’s time for you to go.’”

Job well done Sam. Congratulations.