Immediately after graduation, Bessey was awarded an assistantship in horticulture and was placed in charge of the college greenhouse. He was advised by his professors to specialize in botany. One area of study in particular piqued his interest during his university education: the systematic examination of the plants of the fields and forests.

When Bessey enteredĬollege, he intended to return home to follow the profession of civil engineering or surveying.

In 1866, he entered the freshman class at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) and graduated in November 1869. Because of the duration of his interim leadership of the university and the fact he was asked to lead not once but twice, Bessey is considered the fourth chancellor of the University of Nebraska.īessey was born and raised on a farm in northern Ohio.

He served until the summer of 1891, and again from summer 1899 to 1900 between the chancellorships of MacLean and Andrews. Charles Bessey, professor of botany and dean of the Industrial College, was first chosen as acting chancellor after Irving Manatt's departure in 1888.

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