Associate Professor Dean Ethridge, Director

Instructor: Cole.

The International Textile Center is a complete research and education facility for fibers and textiles. It is equipped and staffed to conduct small-scale testing through large-scale manufacturing. Its activities revolve around research, testing, and evaluation of cotton, wool, mohair, cashmere, other plant and animal fibers, and diverse man-made fibers; production and evaluation of yarns and fabrics; alternative textile processing systems; dyeing and finishing; and special yarn and fabric treatments.

Facilities at the ITC occupy 110,000 square feet of floor space and include the following laboratories:

Materials Evaluationequipped to measure properties of fibers, yarns, and fabrics;

Short Staple Spinningequipped to handle all types of cotton and cotton blends;

Long Staple Spinningfor animal, plant, and man-made fibers that are too long to process on the cotton system;

Weavingcapable of producing plain and fancy woven fabrics;

Knittingwith circular and warp knitting machines;

Chemical Finishingwith computerized color matching and quality control;

Chemical Processingwith color-matching equipment and commercial-scale equipment for dyeing and finishing raw fibers, yarn packages, and fabrics;

Chemical Propertiesfor analyzing fiber contents, structures, and contaminants of textile materials; and a

Special-purpose library on fiber and textile subjects.

The Master of Agriculture degree with emphasis in Fiber and Textile Technology or Fiber and Textile Management is offered for students who need a tailored program in the fibers and textile arena. The program is designed to accommodate nontraditional, cross-discipline education needed by managers and business professionals. It may be used by all college students who want to raise their qualifications in a particular professional area. It is also appropriate for post-graduates who are developing careers and have identified an area of study that would advance their professional objectives.

Courses for the Master of Agriculture degree program are to be a mixture from offerings in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and from other colleges of the University. It is to be a nonthesis degree, with a minimum of 36 semester hours of graduate course work required for graduation; more hours may be required, depending on the student's needs. A four-member graduate advisory committee must approve the program of study.

Professionals in these areas might find this program useful: Genetic manipulation of plant and animal fibers, production practices affecting fiber quality and textile performance, harvesting and intermediate processing and handling of fibers, marketing and merchandising of fibers, and manufacturing of various textile products.