More than one hundred years ago, seeds were sown
“The seasons pass, the years will roll.” These well-known and loved lyrics from “Carmen Ohio” characterize the longevity of The Ohio State University.
Nowhere is that longevity more apparent than in what is now the College of Education and Human Ecology.
More than 100 years ago, the university’s President William H. Scott said to the Board of Trustees that there are “no courses adapted to women.” Yet that year, 1887, 13% of the university’s students were female.
Finances, it was said, prevented an immediate response. But in 1895, President James H. Canfield recommended that the Department of Domestic Economy be created. Ohio State became among the first universities to join the national movement for what was later called home economics.
The College of Agriculture added the words Domestic Economy to its name. Land-grant university funding made it a reality. Perla Bowman (later Gibbs), hired in 1896, began teaching courses in September.
Teacher preparation courses arose about the same time. President Canfield was inspired to be one of several instigators. He asked for the establishment of the Department of Pedagogy in 1895, and it was created.
In 1906, the 77th Ohio General Assembly passed legislation committing Ohio State to “including a teacher’s college of professional grade.”
Seventeen months later, the Department of Pedagogy became the College of Education under the leadership of William W. Boyd, dean.
Home economics achieved college status in 1983. The driving force behind that change was Professor Lena C. Bailey. She became its first dean.
More details appear on the college’s history page about historic personages and milestones across the years.
The following two historic figures contributed to the evolution of education and human ecology at Ohio State.
Eloise Green
Eloise Green helps guide nutrition education into 21nd century
Robert Taylor
