Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.

Location:  Valley Library, Oregon State University.

Erwin Pearson (b. 1932) graduated from Oregon State College in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in Animal Husbandry. Following a career in private veterinary practice that spanned nearly two decades, Pearson earned a master's degree from the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine and later joined its faculty, working primarily in the college's teaching hospital. A full-time member of the faculty for eighteen years, Pearson spent an average of 1,200 hours per year teaching practical veterinary medicine to OSU's Vet Med students, and also established himself as an expert on the impact of different toxins on animal livers. In addition, Pearson chaired the college's curriculum committee for many years and was central to the creation and implementation of a new organizational plan that was put into place once Vet Med had secured funding for a full four-year program at OSU. His interview touches upon his student experience and his years in private practice, but is more centrally focused on the sometimes tumultuous history of OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.