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Parsons, Helen Tracy (1886-1977)
Helen Tracy Parsons, award-winning nutritionist and passionate researcher, first came to home economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1912 as a graduate student in the young program. During her many years here she significantly influenced the shape and reputation of the Foods and Nutrition program. As an undergraduate at Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University), she attended her first science class, an experience that fueled her enthusiasm for science-based home economics. She enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in a joint biochemistry and home economics master's program and worked under the direction E. V. McCollum, accompanying him to Johns Hopkins University when he moved there in 1917. However, dissatisfied with her position of research assistant at Hopkins and looking forward to undertaking her own research, she returned to Madison in 1920. In 1926 Parsons, with the encouragement of Abby Marlatt and the home economics faculty, took a leave of absence and moved to Yale University to pursue her Ph.D. in biochemistry, which she received in 1928. She then resumed her position as professor at the University of Wisconsin until her retirement in 1956. Parsons gained an international reputation for her research in nutrition, most especially focused on the role of vitamins and the absorption mechanisms of vitamins. She published widely and, as a dedicated mentor, she encouraged her students' research and their professional development as well. In 1944, the American Home Economics Association's recognized Parsons' contributions to the field of nutrition with the Borden Award. |
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