As part of the campus-wide Morrill Act Celebration held in late October, clinical associate professor Johnell Bentz had her students create timeline projects to show how the Morrill Act and other legislation have impacted American education.

Bentz gave the assignment in SPED 117, The Culture of Disability, which provides an introduction to the culture of disability across the lifespan. The assignment paralleled a specific segment of the course's purpose: to address the historical basis for the disability movement and special education, including legislation and litigation that has had a significant impact on the field.

The campus observance,"The Morrill Act at 150: The Future of Public Higher Education," was a celebration of the legislation that President Abraham Lincoln signed into law in 1862, and its continued relevance in shaping the mission of public higher education in the United States. The Morrill Act allocated 30,000 acres of Federal government land to each state to sell, the proceeds from which were used to establish public colleges.