Purdue University College of Consumer and Family Sciences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Purdue University College of Consumer and Family Sciences

Established: 1905
Dean: Dennis A. Savaiano[1]
Faculty: 26[2]
Staff: 70[2]
Undergraduates: 1,879[2]
Postgraduates: 175[2]
Location: Flag of the United States West Lafayette, IN, USA
Affiliations: Purdue University
Website: www.cfs.purdue.edu

The Purdue University College of Consumer and Family Sciences is one of eight major academic divisions, or Colleges, of Purdue University. All of the college's teaching and research activities center on issues related to family and consumer science. Its Hospitality and Tourism Management program has been ranked first in the United States.[3]

Contents

[edit] Departments

The College of Consumer and Family Sciences contains an interdisciplinary program in Consumer and Family Sciences Education and four minor academic divisions, or Departments:

[edit] Location

The College of Consumer and Family Sciences is distributed across three main buildings. Matthews Hall houses the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing, the Center for Customer-Driven Quality, and Consumer and Family Sciences extension offices. Stone Hall contains the Consumer and Family Sciences administrative offices, the Departments of Foods and Nutrition and Hospitality and Tourism Management, and the John Purdue Room fine dining restaurant. The Center for Families and the Purdue Child Care Program are located in Fowler House.[4] The Department of Child Development and Family Studies is split between Fowler House and the Child Development and Family Studies Building.[5]

[edit] History

In 1905, Purdue President Winthrop E. Stone founded a new department of household economics in the School of Science.[6] The entire department was housed in Ladies Hall, a building that was filled to capacity in less than five years. By 1918, a home management house provided additional instructional space, and a master's degree in home economics was offered a year later.[7] The Home Economics Building (later Matthews Hall, named after department head Mary L. Matthews) was constructed in 1922 to meet increased space demands. It included laboratories for teaching foods, clothing, dietetics, food chemistry, and textile chemistry, as well as a cafeteria-laboratory for home economics students and an auditorium with seating for 300 people. The department was separated from the School of Science and reorganized into the School of Home Economics in 1926, with Matthews acting as dean.[8] In the 1930s, Home Economics students were instructed by Amelia Earhart and Lillian Gilbreth.[9] The School of Home Economics graduate its first male student in 1941. Two new departments—family life, and equipment and family housing—were established in 1946 in 1948, respectively.[10] Stone Hall was erected in 1957 on the site of Ladies Hall, and the School had expanded to comprise seven distinct departments.[11] In the 1960s, the Departments of Art and Design and Child Development and Family Life moved from the School of Home Economics to the new School of Humanities, Social Science, and Education. In the 1970s, the school's name was changed to the School of Consumer and Family Sciences to reflect a broader teaching and research agenda; many departments within the school were similarly renamed or reorganized. In 1987, the School hired its first male dean. The 1990s saw a new emphasis on business within the school, renovation of Fowler House and the Child Development and Family Studies Building, and the appointment of the current dean, Dennis A. Savaiano in 1995.[12] The school was renamed the College of Consumer and Family Sciences in 2005.[13]

[edit] Rankings

The college's Hospitality and Tourism Management program has been ranked first in the nation by both industry recruiters and an evaluation conducted by Virginia Tech that applied the U.S. News & World Report methodology to the academic unit level. Aside from these rankings, there are no current national rankings for consumer and family science programs.[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links