History of the School of Human Ecology

Food class, c. 1909

From the beginnings of home economics on the Madison campus as well as around the country, the curriculum stressed the nutritional sciences. In many institutions, nutrition was the most prominent of home economics departments, its faculty conducting research as well as holding courses on cooking and food sanitation. In times of national emergency such as World Wars, it was the nutrition faculty who led food conservation programs.

A student uses the Sanborn Metabolism Apparatus to measure basal metabolism, c. 1925

The initial requirements for a home economics degree at UW included 46 credits of chemistry, physics, physiology, and bacteriology as the foundational sciences for courses such as “microscopical examination of food products and fibers” and “food analysis.” For many years, dietetics, described as “Dietary standards; balanced rations; diet as influenced by age, sex, and occupation; construction of dietaries and service meals; dietetic treatment in disease and principles of home nursing,” was a popular major for students who aspired to careers as dietitians in hospital or school cafeterias. Some of their laboratory study was conducted in the Practice Cottage. They also had the opportunity to gain experience in Stella Patton's course on tea room management. Other students elected to conduct research on nutrition, which involved working in the animal lab in the basement of the Home Economics Building. An additional group of students majored in experimental foods after it was introduced in the mid 1940s. Faculty also prepared extension publications on food safety and cooking techniques and frequently lectured for extension short courses.

Three graduate students conducting nutrition research, 1962

The study of nutrition remained an important home economics major for many decades. In 1951, when the Department of Home Economics was re-organized as the School of Home Economics in the College of Agriculture, one of its four new departments was Foods and Nutrition. In 1968, however, when the School was again re-organized and renamed the School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences (FRCS), the nutrition faculty moved into the newly created Department of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Agriculture. Some students interested nutritional sciences and food administration continued to graduate with degrees from FRCS, later the School of Human Ecology. The School stopped admitting students to nutritional science in 2000.