Last Wednesday, Eileen Keating came to discuss the history of the College of Human Ecology. Being a student in Human Ecology, this was a topic I was thoroughly interested in. I knew that the college was originally a college of Home Economics but I did not know the types of classes or research that actually occurred early on in the college’s history. It was interesting to hear how inspiring Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose were to many women. It is also interesting to learn about how the old majors translated into new ones.

I think that it is important to learn about the founders and early happening of the different colleges. Cornell’s history is filled with influential people and I find that fascinating. I also found the relationship between Martha Van Rensselaer and Eleanor Roosevelt to be interesting. They were both very influential people and having the connection to Eleanor Roosevelt proved to be very useful for the college. Overall, I thought this talk was very interesting.