By the 1960s, the name "home economics" often suggested gender stereotypes that many women were struggling to overcome. In 1965, President James Perkins created a committee to study and make recommendations to modernize the college. In its December 1966 report, the committee suggested a college-wide reorganization based on strong, discipline-based departments. With extension and outreach efforts increasingly focused on broad social issues, students in the college needed to be trained for professional roles outside the home.

Although home economics seemed socially conservative, it actually helped to generate Cornell's contemporary women's studies program with its feminist perspective on gender. In January l969, before the name change, Cornell hosted a controversial Intersession Program on Women that was sponsored by the College of Home Economics. The conference sparked an Ithaca chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) and the first collegiate "female studies" course offered by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

That same year, President Perkins and Dean David Knapp persuaded the faculty to accept the name Human Ecology which, while somewhat ambiguous, accurately reflected the academic and theoretical orientation of the College and its diverse concerns with problems of human welfare. Incidentally, Ellen Swallow Richards, the first president of the American Home Economics Association, had considered the name "human ecology" back in 1909. With the transformation of home economics complete, Dean Knapp stated, "The time is now at hand to direct past traditions of problem-solving toward a new focus. The basic mission of [Human Ecology] is to improve the quality of life."

Intersession Program on Women

By the late 1960s, Cornell had become a highly politicized, but not yet feminist, community. In this atmosphere Sheila Tobias, assistant to the vice president and education consultant, organized a controversial conference that addressed current issues affecting women. Faculty wives, area residents, students, and staff joined male and female faculty in heated debate regarding the politics, psychology, and equity of women. The conference also included a panel of husbands who spoke about what it meant to live with working wives, an emerging social issue.

Course Syllabus

This syllabus was from the first female studies course, offered in 1969. The positive feedback and popularity of this Human Development and Family Studies course helped generate the Women's Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences two years later.

The Feminine Mystique

Betty Freidan's 1963 book was a powerful and influential critique of conventional domesticity.

Infant Care and Resource Center

Henry Riciutti established the Infant Care and Resource Center in 1971 to address the fact that more women were working outside the home and were dependent on daycare providers.

Change to University Charter

This 1969 draft showed the name change in the University Charter.

Home Economics in the Cornellian

This 1969 Cornellian is the last yearbook to include home economics.

Urie Bronfenbrenner

Urie Bronfenbrenner's child development research sought to address social problems faced by contemporary children. In the 1960s, the nationwide Head Start program incorporated his research into an educational strategy designed to improve learning opportunities for children of low-income families.