Creator: John Cantlon

Subjects: Anniversaries, Sesquicentennial

Description:

John Cantlon began working on an undergraduate degree at the University of Nevada in 1939 and then served in the US Navy from 1941-1946. He returned to University of Nevada where he received a BS in ecology in 1947 and a PhD from Rutgers in 1950. Cantlon served on the Botany faculty at George Washington University for two years before conducting the Ecology of Arctic Slope of Alaska, a secret US Air Force project.

In 1954, he came to MSU as an associate professor in Botany and Plant Pathology, helping expand the department and setting up a research project at the Kellogg Biological Station where he studied sorting mechanisms that determine how the biological community gets structured. From 1969 to 1976 he served as Provost. Cantlon took a one-year leave of absence in 1965 to become the Program Director for Environmental Ecology at the National Science Foundation.

Under acting university President Walter Adams, Cantlon served as Provost, beginning in 1969. He was instrumental in creating a four-year medical school and the osteopathic medical school, and he expanded the hotel/restaurant management program.

While serving as Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, he:
* acquired funding for the Center for Environmental Toxicology,
* was responsible for building the undergraduate Material Science program,
* worked with Jack Kinsinger to secure the Michigan Biological Institute (MBI),
* worked to enhance the MSU Cyclotron, and
* helped with renaming the College of Home Economics to the College of Human Ecology.

In 1988, Cantlon was appointed to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board by President Ronald Reagan and was appointed chair of this committee by President George H. Bush, a post he maintained until 1998. After his retirement from MSU in 1990, Cantlon was very active with many organizations, including service on the Superconducting Super Collider Site Selection Committee.

Topics/People Covered in the Interview include: Walter Adams; Al Ballard; Hank Blosser; Larry Boger; Boston University; Jack Breslin; Murray Buell; George H. Bush; Harvey Carlson; Pat Carrigan; John Caruso; S. Tamir Cavusgil; Bill Clinton; Constitutional Convention; Bill Cooper; Cooperative Extension; MSU Cyclotron; John DiBiaggio; John Dietrich; Bill Drew; Ecology of Arctic Slope of Alaska; Jerry Faberman; Larry Fisher; George Washington University; Bill Gillis; Gordon Guyer; John Hannah; Edgar Harden; Buford Holt; Jerry Hook; Kellogg Biological Station; Kellogg Center; Kellogg Foundation; Herman King; Jack Kinsinger; Herman Koenig; Madison Kuhn; George Lauff; Lois Lund; Cecil Mackey; Mike Magen; Bill Malcolm; Blanche Martin; Russell Mawby; M. Peter McPherson; Johnny Mecata; Frank Merriman; Michigan Biological Institute; Center for Environmental Toxicology; Colleges of Ag, Human Ecology, and Natural Science; graduate program in botany; Gull Lake Biological Station; School of Hotel and Restaurant Management; student unrest; John Miller; Milt Molidor; National Academy of Science; National Science Foundation; Steve Nesbit; Jake Nevel; Bill Niesly; Oak Ridge National Lab; Bill Overlease; Bea Paolucci; Ronald Reagan; Rutgers University; Glen Seabourg; Steve Spur; Don Stevens; Ted Stevens; Ken Thompson; Moses Turner; Clifton & Dolores Wharton; Wharton Center for Performing Arts; Clare White; Fred Williams; Lee Winder; Woods Hole Research Center; World Resources Institute; University College; NSF; MSU medical schools; Superconducting Super Collider Site Selection Committee

Date: 2000-2009

Collection Number: UA 3

Language: English

Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by Michigan State University and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Contributing Institution: University Archives & Historical Collections, Office of the Provost

Relation: Sesquicentennial Oral History Project

Contributor: MSU Archives and Historical Collections