Eileen Keating hosted an enlightening discussion about Cornell’s role in the early transformation of women’s lives in the U.S.  In particular, she provided an awareness of the origins of the College of Human Ecology, and how influential Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer were in empowering women through a pioneering home economics program.  This program flourished and soon outgrew its original small building quickly, leading to the construction of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall.  Susan B. Anthony’s inspiration and Eleanor Roosevelt’s ability to secure funding, helped make the college what it is today.  

In the early 1900s, the College of Home Economics served as the catalyst for women to begin attending higher education.  This grew out of a questionnaire distributed in 1900 asking farmers’ wives what they needed.  They sought ways to improve their daily lives.  The women in the college were not charged tuition and they were taught by an all-female faculty.  The college offered these women opportunities focused on applied science, child-rearing, and family life.  

The college’s classes were first held in the building now known as the Computing and Communications Center in 1912.  The rapid success of the program led to the need for a larger building to solve the overcrowding issue.  During the Great Depression, Cornell sought funding from the FDR administration.  The US government would only provide half of the requested million dollars for the new building’s construction.  However, the wife of FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, ensured that Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer would receive the remaining funds soon after.  Flora Rose and Eleanor Roosevelt developed a strong relationship, and Roosevelt insisted that Rose be dean of the College of Home Economics.  In addition, Roosevelt attended the Farm and Home Week state fair on Cornell’s campus for many years to show her support for Rose’s efforts.  In the 1930s, Rose even influenced American nutritional habits with the development of cereals fortified with calcium and vitamins (Milkorno, Milkoato, and Milkwheato); she sold them to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.  

Overall, Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer helped bring about a transformation of women’s roles in the twentieth century by offering them new educational opportunities.  They helped put Cornell at the forefront of women pursuing higher education, furthering Ezra Cornell’s mission of “Any person, any study.”