Home Economics Centennial Celebration
Washington State University and the College of Agriculture and Home Economics celebrated 100 years of Home Economics at WSU September 25-27, 2003. The Centennial Celebration was a chance to meet old friends as well as seeing firsthand how home economics has changed over the years.
During the celebration, participants had an opportunity to tour present home economics facilities, and see students and faculty in action. A special luncheon featured guest speakers, and participants of the "Cook's Tour of Italy." Department chairs showcased areas of research, academic programs, and scholarships. An evening banquet featured a slide presentation, highlighting the past 100 years of Home Economics at WSU. Also included was an emphasis on electronic technology and how this has expanded the educational possibilities for students and faculty. You can view the slide presentation (as a PDF) from Linda Kirk Fox, PhD, Associate Dean/Associate Director Cooperative Extension, who presented From Home Economics to Human Sciences: What might the future hold? at the closing lunch.
Photographs from the Home Economics Centennial Celebration
Candid pictures from the Welcome and Kickoff Reception - September 25, 2003: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
- Speaker: Provost Robert C. Bates
- Speaker: Interim Dean R. James Cook
Various pictures from September 26, 2003 session: Home Economics and Kaya - Bringing It Together
- Sherrill Richarz (BA 1979 Clothing and Textiles) introducing Ann McCormack
- Ann McCormack talking about the Kaya Doll. Ann McCormack was instrumental in getting Kaya developed.
- Kaya, the only First American in the American Girl dolls series, is based on a Nez Perce character of circa 1764. This is the first doll marketed by a major toy manufacturer to accurately and sensitively portray the history and culture of an Indian tribe to children.
Pictures of the Kaya Doll presentation and participants looking over the display: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Banquet Group Photographs - September 26, 2003
- 1930's Home Economics Graduates - Left to right:
Virginia Harger, 1934; Marianne Andrews, 1932; and Opal (Jenkn) Hill, 1933. - 1940's Home Economics Graduates - Left to Right, top row:
Lillie (Plowman) Freese, 1948; Marian (Thompson) Arlin, 1941; Kay (Schuehle) Grigg, 1945; Evelyn (Plaster) Bafus, 1940; and Margaret (Denechke) Keithly, 1944.
Left to Right, bottom row: Gladys Jennings, 1948; Jeanne Olsen,1942; and Barbara (Crabtree) Gregg, 1949. - 1950's Home Economics Graduates - Left to right, top row:
Barbara Hisel, 1950; Phyllis (Frick) Larsen, 1955; Mary (Lange) Kuhlman, 1950; Joan Pelto, 1950; Jean (Berglund) Gullick, 1954; Shirley (Andrews) Prouty, 1953; Lee Ruck, 1954; Margery (Rounds) Muir, 1954; and Laura Miller, 1950.
Left to Right, bottom row: Jean (Rickard) Berney, 1958; Louise (Nelson) Gustafson, 1950; Ruth Norman, 1950; Dolores (Plaster) Allen, 1952; Virgina Schafer, 1952. - 1960's Home Economics Graduates - Left to Right:
Sue (Neal) Stenslie, 1960; Margaret (Burgoyne) Malsch, 1960; Lousia (Lindell) Williams, 1961 and Mary (Klostermeyer) Craig, 1968. - 1970's Home Economics Graduates - Left to Right, top row:
Jeannette (Mruphy) Austill, 1976; Janet Hiller, 1977 and Mary (Klostermeyer) Craig, 1972.
Left to Right, bottom row: Carol Weaver, 1970 and Marilynne Ross, 1977. - 1980's Home Economics Graduates - Left to Right, top row:
Jill (Rode) Eliason, 1985; Heidi (Harder) Strudivant, 1985 and Debbie (Hughes) Handy, 1984.
Left to Right, bottom row: Virgina Hillers, 1984 and Dianne Kolb, 1984. - 1990's Home Economics Graduates - Left to Right: Claire (Anderson) Yenish, 1999 and Patricia (Womack) Littlefield.
- 1998 Home Economics Current and Former Faculty - Left to Right, top row: Carol Weaver, Tom Power, Evelyn Augustin, Carol Salusso, Janet Hiller, Virginia (Val) Hillers and Linda (Kirk) Fox.
Left to Right, middle row: Betty Trout, Joye Dillman, Madeleine Mitchell, R James Cook, Debbie (Hughes) Handy, Kyeong (Sook) Cho and Jim Zuiches.
Left to Right, bottom row: Marilynne Ross, Patricia Orlich, Margaret Hard, Helen Koehler, Alberta Hill and Gladys Jennings.
A commemorative pin, designed by a home economics student, is available to you. The Centennial lapel pin is white and red oval with "Home Economics WSU 100 Years 1903-2003." Contribute a minimum of $25 to the Home Economics Scholarship Fund and the commemorative pin will be mailed to you. You can send your contribution to Robert Scholes, CAHE Alumni and Development, PO Box 646228, Pullman, WA 99164-6228 and note "Home Economics Scholarship Fund/Centennial."
If you would like to learn more about Home Economics through the years you can read "A Heritage for the Future." This .pdf file is a brief history of 75 years of Home Economics at Washington State University from 1903-1978.
Home Ec at WSU
(reprint of an article appearing in the Fall, 2003 issue of Connections)
by Emalee Gruss Gillis
pi·o·neer (noun), a person who goes before, preparing the way for others. (Webster's)
Throughout the past century, home economics at WSU has broken new ground at the state, national, and international levels while responding to our world’s changing needs. WSU Home Economics faculty were pioneers a hundred years ago; they remain pioneers today.
In 1903, Washington State Agricultural College opened the first Domestic Economy program in the state. The impetus for this new degree program went back to the late 1800s when pioneer women stoked the fires of the growing home economics movement. In 1897, at the first annual meeting of the Washington State Federation of Women’s Clubs, the president recommended the study of child nature and home economics. These women were open-minded and eager for science that would contribute to the betterment of their homes and families. Similar sentiments sprang up around the nation.
A common myth about home economics is that the scope consists solely of basic cooking and sewing. From early in its history, the field of home economics went beyond those basics. Eighty-seven years ago, Agnes Craig, Department Chair, wrote to WSU President Holland and argued for a separate college for Home Economics and described the history to date of the department.
In that letter dated 1916, Craig wrote, “Less than a decade ago, it was merely cooking and sewing, then it was domestic science because someone injected a little chemistry and sanitation in it. Next came some art and then a few dreamers began to translate the work into terms of social economics involving a wider field of science and art which contributes greater stability and substance to this finer ideal of the homes of the future.”
President Holland was convinced. WSU had broken new ground by opening the first Department of Domestic Economy in the state in 1903, and went even further to organize the first college of Home Economics in the nation in 1916.
Other pioneering efforts from the early 1900s include national recognition for curriculum development in home economics and in 1914, opening the first home economics practice cottage west of the Mississippi.
The 4-H program in Home Economics at WSU also saw some firsts in the early 1900s. Guess how long it took the very first women’s 4-H club in Washington to get to their first country fair in Skamokawa, Wahkiakum County, in 1915? It took members of the Seal River School Canning Club four hours on the Columbia by fishing boat to get to their county seat. But, get there they did and by doing so opened the way for the many thousands of 4-H members who would feel the excitement of and learn from participating in shows, contests and exhibitions at county fairs in the decades since.