Archives West Finding Aid

Dean F. Peterson was born June 3, 1913 in Delta, Utah. In 1930 Peterson enrolled in the ROTC program at the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) and studied structural and irrigation engineering, and graduated in 1934 with his B.S. In 1935 Peterson enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and received his M.C.E. that year. By 1939 he had earned his D.C.E from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In the fall of 1939 Peterson found work as a Civil Engineering instructor at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1940 Peterson took a job in Maryland to work on constructing a dam on the upper Potomac River. When World War II began Peterson sought involvement with the war effort. From 1943 to 1946 he worked for the US Navy on various engineering projects within the US. In 1946 Peterson was accepted by the Utah State Agricultural College to work as an instructor in the Irrigation and Drainage Department, were he worked until his retirement. Peterson was involved in many state and government projects during the course of his career with the Utah State Agricultural College, such as his advisory irrigation assignments in the Middle East. Peterson died in 1989.

Source: Peterson, Bessie C., "Dean F. Peterson; His Life and Work", Vol. 1, 1993. (USU SC&A 920 P442-Pet).

Alvin A. Bishop was born in 1913 in Delta, Utah. Bishop attended the Utah State Agricultural College (USAC) to study civil engineering, from which he received his B.S. in 1934 and his M.S. in 1939. In 1939 he enrolled in Colorado State University from where he later received his Ph.D. in 1961. After World War II Bishop took a position at the USAC as a professor of civil engineering. In 1965 he was named first head of the Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering Department upon its creation in 1965. "His projects and teaching assignments in forty-three international countries earned him accolades from his peers" (1982, p. 7).

Source: The Outlook, November/December 1982.