CREDIT TK Winter 2026 43 ↑ In 1954, home economics students watched a demonstration of how to prepare a meal. OSU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES BEFORE most Americans thought of food safety or nutrition as science, Oregon State was already teaching it. In 1889, the Oregon Agricultural College created the Department of Household Economy and Hygiene — the first home economics program west of the Rockies and only the fifth at a land-grant college nationwide.Among its central purposes: Improve the safety, health and quality of food in American homes. The program’s founder, physician Margaret Snell — nicknamed the “Apostle of Fresh Air” — understood that what families ate and how they prepared it had a direct link to public health. In the late 1800s, before refrigeration, pasteurization, reliable canning or food safety laws, everyday meals carried very real risks. Her work laid the foundation for what became the OSU Extension Service, where home economists carried science-based food and nutrition knowledge into communities across Oregon. From there, Ava Milam, dean of the School of Home Economics from 1917 to 1950, helped shape the field of home economics internationally, established a two-year course for dietitians, and, in 1926, created a campus nursery school, Covell House. Betty Hawthorne, who served as dean from 1965 to 1983, expanded the program’s scope into gerontology and healthcare administration while fighting for nutrition equity and women’s opportunities in science. In 1984, Kinsey Green took the reins of what would soon become the College of Home Economics and Education. Though “home economics” disappeared from the college’s name THERE’S a reason the hazelnut has been Oregon’s state nut since 1989, and it’s not just that the Willamette Valley is a perfect place for it to grow.When the fungal disease Eastern filbert blight nearly collapsed the worldwide hazelnut industry in the 1980s, it was Oregon State scientists who discovered how to fight back. By breeding resistant trees, they revived the crop and reshaped the industry. Hazelnut acreage in Oregon leapt from 29,000 acres in 2009 to roughly 93,000 today. The state now produces 99% of the U.S. hazelnut supply, worth about $120 million, according to the Oregon Hazelnut Commission. But nature adapts — and so must scientists and the farmers who depend on them. A new strain of the blight, first detected in 2023 in orchards near Woodburn, Oregon, now threatens trees once considered immune. OSU researchers, led by Oregon Hazelnut Industry Professor Gaurab Bhattarai, are tracking the disease’s spread, advising growers and developing the next generation of trees with resistance. Their internationally recognized work continues the legacy of Professor Emeritus Shawn Mehlenbacher, who built on the pioneering efforts of Professor Emerita Maxine Thompson, who founded OSU’s hazelnut breeding program in 1969. “Through research, we identify new sources of resistance, study their inheritance, develop DNA markers and implement them in the breeding program,” said Bhattarai. “It’s a continuous cycle of discovery and evolution.” Pg. 43 5 NO. OSU HOME ECONOMISTS BROUGHT SCIENCE TO THE STATE’S KITCHENS. 6 NO. OREGON STATE RESEARCHERS SAVED — AND ARE STILL SAVING — THE HAZELNUT. in 2002, the food-first mission that defined it remains and is explored through the College of Health’s three schools and four research centers. OSU continues to connect what happens in the kitchen and on the table with the health of families and communities everywhere.
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