What’s in a Name? LIATI?
March 26, 2018
For 34 years – from the time FSC opened in 1912
as the New York State School of Agriculture, 
until it changed both academic emphasis and its name in 1946, to Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute – cows roamed the campus and crops covered the ground.
Actually, FSC had three names during those 34 years – all with agriculture in the title: State Institute of Applied Agriculture on Long Island; State Institute of Applied Agriculture; and State Institute of Agriculture.
But in 1946 – though its agricultural programs remained intact – programs such as building construction, aircraft maintenance and operation, industrial chemistry, technical dental service, and advertising art and design were included in the college catalog. Read 
the announcement in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1946.
But the die was cast, and though agricultural studies were offered at the College until the mid-1980s, it was in 1987 that the transition from agriculture to technology – except for FSC’s exceptional horticulture program – was complete.
Now – on the occasion of the College’s
106th anniversary – FSC is honoring the
ground-
breaking Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute – also known as LIATI – with the installation of a sign replicating the one that sat at the then-entrance to the campus at the spot near Orchard and Dewey Halls.
The new wooden sign follows the look of the original, thanks to the efforts of Visual Communications Professor Bill Steedle, who did the hand-lettering, and Physical Plant’s Jack Petrich, project supervisor. Even the original brick pillars that framed the sign were restored.
FSC looks back, as it continues to move forward as SUNY’s “Hottest Campus.”
