Perry_Greeley_Holden Perry Greeley Holden (October 13, 1865 October 8, 1959) was the first professor of agronomy in the United States.P. G. Holden was born in Dodge Center, Minnesota and studied at the Michigan State University, where he was awarded an M.S. in 1895. Subsequently, he went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he became assistant professor for soil physics and the first professor of agronomy of the U.S.