The Human Ecology Alumni Association of Cornell University has awarded former Dean Francille Firebaugh the annual Helen Bull Vandervort Alumni Achievement Award for outstanding professional and volunteer services.

Firebaugh, who received her doctoral degree in household economics and management from Cornell in 1962, served as dean of the College of Human Ecology from 1988 to 1999. She was instrumental in launching a master plan for facilities that reflects the commitment to improved classrooms and more sophisticated and interdisciplinary research and outreach endeavors in the College. Firebaugh is a specialist in family resource management and author or co-author of more than 50 scholarly articles and two books. She is now professor and dean emerita. She has returned to Cornell as director of special projects in the Offices of the President and Provost.

Firebaugh serves on the boards of the Cayuga Medical Center; the Families and Work Institute in New York City and Kendal at Ithaca. She is also on the board of trustees of Zamorano, a Pan-American school in Honduras. Before joining the Cornell faculty, Firebaugh held a series of posts at Ohio State University. She earned a B.S. in dietetics and home economics from the University of Arkansas and an M.S. in home management and family relations from the University of Tennessee.

The Helen Bull Vandervort Alumni Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1983 to an alumnus of the College of Human Ecology who has demonstrated those qualities exemplified by the late Helen Bull Vandervort. These include outstanding performance in service to Cornell, service to the college, professional roles and/or volunteer roles and responsibilities, and contributions and honors as recognized by one's peers. Nominations for this prestigious award are submitted by faculty members, administrators, regional Cornell Clubs, alumni groups and individual alumni.