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Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)
American-British physicist who was the first to say that heat was not liquid matter, and is instead a form of motion. He was also the first to say that nutrition was a science. -
Catharine Beecher
Influential in the expanse of studies offered to women. Beecher and her sister Mary founded the Hartford Female Seminary, which offered a full range of subjects, and even physical education in defiance of the belief that women were fragile and weak. Beecher wrote the first FACS textbook, "A Treatise on Domestic Economy" in 1841, and went on to write others as well. -
Ellen Swallow Richards
Founder of the home economics movement. Vassar Collage and MIT educated. In 1890 she created the New England Kitchen which offered working class families access to nutritious meals, demonstrating how to prepare them at low cost, and demonstrating the methods in which they were prepared. In 1899, she called the first conference at Lake Placid, which is where the term 'home economics' would first be coined. -
Land Grant University
Universities created from the Morrill Acts of 1862, 1890, and 1994. -
Justin Smith Morrill/Morrill Act of 1862
Act of legislation which provided grants of land to states in order to finance more colleges pertaining to studies of agriculture and mechanic arts. The act granted each state 30,000 acres for each of its congressional seats. Named after sponsor Justin Smith Morrill. -
Martha Van Rensselaer
Was elected school commissioner of Cattaraugus County, New York, which was a position typically held by men. While in this position, she was introduced to Cornell's small agricultural extension program. She realized that this program was meant for men, and that there was no equal of the program for women. In 1900, Liberty Hyde Bailey asked Rensselaer to create an extension program for women, and by 1905 more than 20,000 women had enrolled across New York State. -
Land Grant Universities of Arkansas
There are two land grant universities in Arkansas- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. -
Clara Belle Drisdale Williams
First black woman to graduate from New Mexico State University. She was not allowed to sit in the classroom and was instead forced to take her notes in the hallway. Despite that, she was still able to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She herself became an educator at Booker T. Washington, and raised three sons, who all became doctors. -
American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS)
Founded by Ellen S. Richards in 1909. AAFCS is a professional association representing members from both multiple FCS practice settings and content areas. -
Smith-Lever Act
Act which helped to establish a national Cooperative Extension Service, which created outreach programs through land-grant universities. This was intended to help educate rural Americans regarding advances in agricultural practices and technology. -
Smith Hughes Act
Act which provided federal aid to states for the purpose of promoting precollegiate vocational education in agricultural and industrial trades in home economics. -
Vocational Education Act
Legislature which was enacted in order to offer new and expanded vocational education programs in order to bring workers up to date with the modern realities and needs of the industrial field. The act required each state and community to plan flexible vocational education programs which are compatible with changes occurring in the economy and the world of work. -
Vocational Amendment of 1968 & 1973
Amendment of 1968 extended the work of the 1963 amendments by changing the emphasis from occupations to people. It also made national and state advisory councils a requirement, as well as requiring states to submit a plan consisting of administrative policies and procedures and an annual and 5-year program plan. The 1973 amendment made it illegal for employers and organizations to discriminate individuals based on their disability. -
Vocational Amendment of 1976
Amendment to the Vocational Equity Act which states that any state receiving federal funding for vocational education is required to develop and carry out activities and programs to eliminate gender bias, stereotyping, and discrimination in vocational education. -
Carl Perkins Act
Act which is the principle source of federal funding to states and discretionary grantees for the improvement of secondary and postsecondary career and technical education programs. The Act is intended to more fully develop the academic, career, and technical skills of secondary and postsecondary students who enroll in vocational programs.