It took five years of reorganization for the College of Home Economics to change its name to Human Ecology in 1969 -- a transition that paved the way for the cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research the college is known for today.

So said Gwen Kay, associate professor of history at SUNY Oswego and recipient of the 2009 Human Ecology Dean's Fellowship in the History of Home Economics, in a public talk last month at Mann Library.

"It is to the college's credit that so much was done right, given that many other land-grant institutions had not yet made changes to funding, research imperatives or the structure of home economics," Kay said. "The process here was slow and deliberate, and ultimately led to a name change as an external symbol of an internal revolution."

The process began in 1964, when Cornell re-examined how each of its colleges fit with the larger university's mission. At the same time, programs launched by President Lyndon Johnson -- including the War on Poverty, Medicare and Medicaid and changes to Social Security -- offered research funding in nutrition, families and children and public health.

A committee of six men and three women determined how the college could secure these grants. A second committee looked at such college data as its SAT scores, grades, faculty demographics and community involvement. The report included recommendations to allow men to enroll in the college, to reorganize the curriculum to integrate various disciplines -- and to adopt a new name.

"The college was forging a new path, emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of home economics," Kay said. In 1968, a third committee proposed organizing the college into four departments -- Consumer Economics and Resources, Housing and Environmental Design, Human Development and Behavior, and Human Nutrition and Food -- and two centers -- for Public Service and for the study of Social Change and Social Problems. At the same time, Dean Helen Canoyer reached mandatory retirement age.

"In a radical departure, the new dean for the college of home economics was a male, David Knapp," Kay said. "The emphasis in hiring new faculty was science- and research-based; in some departments this translated as male."

The final step in the five-year transformation was to choose a new name for the college, which required rounds of faculty meetings and many memos, Kay explained. "Of the six possible names, the vote was bunched with the top two -- Human Ecology, and Human Development and Environment." Finally, the faculty approved Human Ecology.

"The name 'home economics' never seemed to fit what we were doing," said Linda Byrad '68, who attended the talk. "Very few if any people focused their studies on home economics in the traditional sense."

Kay said that the college might have included students and alumni in the decision-making process, but "in the end, I believe that all of the changes within the college, from organization to orientation, from name to numbers of students, were to one end: to appear serious, scientific and research-driven as a discipline," she said.

Sheri Hall is assistant director of communication for the College of Human Ecology.