Timeline of the New York State
College of Home Economics, 1900-1969

1900	Martha Van Rensselaer arrived at Cornell to organize a reading course for farmers' wives
1901	First bulletin of the Cornell Reading Course for Farmer's Wives, Saving Steps, published and distributed
1903	Three courses relating to home and family life offered for credit at Cornell University
1905	First winter course taught in home economics. The program was non-credit, open to any woman in the state, and it continued until 1921
1907	First curriculum for the four-year course in home economics completed Flora Rose joined the staff of home economics Department of Home Economics established
1909	Martha Van Rensselaer received her A.B. from Cornell University
1911	First three students graduated from the Department of Home Economics Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose granted the first full professorships for women at Cornell
1912	Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose voted members of the Cornell faculty and named co-directors of the Department of Home Economics in the College of Agriculture
1913	Department of Home Economics moved into its own building, called Comstock Hall, today the Computing & Communications Center
1914	Smith-Lever Act passed by United States Congress
1919	Department of Home Economics became the School of Home Economics within the New York State College of Agriculture
1922	Department of Hotel Administration established in the School of Home Economics First M.S. in Home Economics awarded to Amy L. Hunter
1923	Martha Van Rensselaer named one of the twelve greatest women in the country by the League of Women Voters
1925	New York State College of Home Economics established at Cornell Purnell Act made federal research funding available through 1930
1930	First Ph.D. in Home Economics at Cornell University awarded to Helen Canon
1932	Martha Van Rensselaer died
1933	College of Home Economics moved into Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
1936	Flemmie Kittrell awarded a Ph.D. in Home Economics, the first African American in the United States to earn such a degree
1940	Flora Rose retired and Mary Henry appointed acting director of the College
1941	Sarah Blanding appointed director of the College
1942	Sarah Blanding became the first female dean at Cornell
1944	Van Rensselaer and Rose Lectures established to bring distinguished women, such as Margaret Mead, to campus
1946	Sarah Blanding resigned to become first female president of Vassar College Elizabeth Vincent appointed dean of the College Home Economics Education became a department in the College
1947	First television broadcast planned and produced by the College of Home Economics Catherine Personius, Head of the Department of Food and Nutrition, appointed coordinator of research and assistant director of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
1949	College of Home Economics became one of thirty-two constituent units of the State University of New York (SUNY)
1952	Mann Library opened, combining the libraries of the College of Agriculture and the College of Home Economics
1953	Elizabeth Vincent retired Helen Canoyer became dean of the College
1954	The School of Hotel Administration separated from the College of Home Economics and became its own college, with H. B. Meek as dean
1955	Home Bureau Federation established
1958	Fifty-seven home economists from twenty countries gathered for the first time at the Institute and Workshop on International Education in Home Economics
1959	Flora Rose died
1960	Catherine Personius elected as the first female faculty trustee
1962	Television and Film Center completed
1963	Ghana Project established to assist women's education in Africa
1964	Home Economics International Activities Office established
1966	Head Start Program initiated President's Committee to Study the College of Home Economics convened with Sara Blackwell as chair
1967	Final report of the President's Committee to Study the College of Home Economics submitted
1968	North Wing of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall dedicated Dean Helen Canoyer retired
1969	David Knapp appointed dean New York State College of Home Economics reorganized and renamed the New York State College of Human Ecology