College of Home Economics records

Home Economics education began at the university in 1884, when Juliet Corson, superintendent of the New York School of Cooking gave a series of lectures on the principles of domestic economy and cookery. Yet beyond these lectures, there were no university home economics courses offered to women until 1897, when Minnesota began offering courses in cooking and sewing; and in 1900, the program expanded, offering the first college-level work in home economics, allowing students to work toward a bachelor's degree in home economics. By 1912, there were 139 students registered in collegiate home economics, and by this year, 43 baccalaureate degrees had been awarded.

In 1914, the home economics collegiate faculty separated from the faculty of the School of Agriculture. This allowed the home economics department to create three specialized programs: General Home Economics, Teachers' Course in Home Economics, and Teachers' Course in Textiles and Clothing - the later two for those who wanted to teach in these two fields.

The courses offered changed throughout the years, but by the late 1930's, a distinct set of classes were required to be taken by all home economics students such as "Choice and Care of Clothing" and "Introduction to Nutrition," to name a few. This lasted until the mid-1960's, when the college developed a nine-credit "common core," which allowed students to specialize in their respective majors without increasing the number of credits for graduation. During this time, the School of Home Economics also reorganized into divisions, each with their own curricular emphasis, such as the Foods Division, the Household Equipment Division, and the Textiles and Clothing division.

In 1970, the School of Home Economics was still competing with the School of Forestry, and 11 other departments within the Institute of Agriculture. During this year, the school separated, and was renamed the College of Home Economics.

In 1983, the School of Social Work became part of the College of Home Economics. And in 1990, the name of the school was changed to the College of Human Ecology, because less then 10 percent of the students within that college were enrolled in the general home economics program. Finally, in 2006, the College of Human Ecology was disbanded, and its four academic departments moved into new collegiate homes. The Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel moved into the College of Design; the School of Social Work and the Department of Family Social Science into the College of Education and Human Development; and the Department of Food Science and Nutrition moved into the new College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences.