History of the College of Health and Human Development | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

1865
Pennsylvania State College Board of Trustees requires that “students of the Preparatory Department will be exercised one hour daily in a gymnasium which will provided for their use.”

1879-1882
Miss Anna Cooper, lady principal for the Pennsylvania State College, teaches courses in Domestic Economy. According to the catalogue, classes included Sewing, Starching and Ironing, Needlework, and House Decoration.

1897
School of Agriculture begins offering correspondence course in Domestic Economy. Penn State President George Atherton and the Board of Trustees create a staff position titled “Director of Physical Training” and appoint George W. Hoskins to the position. Blanche P. Miller, one of the few female instructors on campus, is hired to look after the “leisure and recreational” needs of the college’s female students.

1906
Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs meets in State College. The organization passes a resolution demanding that the Pennsylvania legislature establish a Department of Home Economics at the Pennsylvania State College.

1907
Pennsylvania State College officially establishes the Department of Home Economics. Miss Louise Waugh serves as the director—and only instructor—in the department. Course offerings listed in the catalog include Sewing, Millinery, Fancy Needlework, Textiles, Foods, Housekeeping, Household Management and the Teaching of Home Economics. Ten students—all women—officially enroll as home economics majors. Department also begins outreach efforts by giving a series of cooking demonstrations during Farmer’s Week.

1908
Pennsylvania State College officially establishes the Department of Physical Education. W.N. “Pop” Golden serves as the department’s first director.

1910
Miss Waugh resigns as director of the Department of Home Economics. Miss Sara Cutts Lovejoy, Dean of Women at Pennsylvania State College, also assumes responsibilities as director of the department.

1912
Mr. Golden steps down as director of the Department of Physical Education. William E. “Doc” Lewis becomes director.

1915
Funds made available through the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 enable the College of Agriculture to appoint its first two Home Economics Extension staff members.

1918
Edith Pitt Chace, who was educated as a home economist and had completed graduate work in the field, becomes director of the Department of Home Economics. Institutional Management introduced as a new major in the department. Also, Margery Sime is appointed part-time physical director for women.

1919
Penn State officially establishes a Department of Hygiene and Physical Education for Women. Also, the first “Practice House” (Home Management House) is opened for senior students in the Department of Home Economics.

1920
Department of Home Economics offers its first course for non-majors, Cooking for Men.

1922
First graduate courses offered by the Department of Home Economics.

1923
Department of Home Economics becomes a department in the newly formed School of Education. Also, first baby added to Home Management “family.”

1924
Department of Home Economics confers its first master’s degree.

1929
First regular nursery school established in the Sparks House, with fourteen children enrolled, ranging in age from 18 months to 3 years.

1930
Pennsylvania State College establishes School of Physical Education and Athletics. Popular sports figure and football coach Hugo Bezdek becomes first director of the school.

1932
During the summer, Department of Home Economics moves from the Woman’s Building—where it had been located since its inception twenty-five years earlier—into the new Home Economics Building.

1933
School of Physical Education and Athletics confers its first master’s degree. Also, Department of Speech Education (predecessor to Communication Sciences and Disorders) opens as part of the School of Education.

1937
Edith Pitt Chace retires as director of the Department of Home Economics; Professor Ruth E. Graham serves as chairman of the committee that leads the department until a successor is named. Hugo Bezdek steps down as director of the School of Physical Education and Athletics; Dr. Elwood Craig Davis serves as chair of committee that leads the school until a successor is named. Department of Home Economics confers its first doctoral degrees.

1938
Dr. Laura Drummond becomes director of the Department of Home Economics. Dr. Carl Peter Schott becomes dean and athletic director of the School of Physical Education and Athletics, while Dr. Davis is named professor in charge of the School’s Professional Majors Program (Health, Physical Education, and Research). Women’s Physical Education moves into the Mary Beaver White Building.

1940
School of Physical Education and Athletics confers its first doctoral degree.

1941
The Hotel Administration curriculum receives official approval from the Senate and the Board of Trustees.

1943
Faculty in the Department of Home Economics complete a curriculum revision project that results in eight majors for the department: Home Economics Education; Institution Administration; Child Development and Family Relationships; Home Economics Journalism and Radio; Commercial Consumer Services; Home Economics Extension and Adult Leadership; Home Economics and Food Chemistry; and General Home Economics.

1945
Dr. Drummond resigns as director of the Department of Home Economics and Professor Graham is appointed acting director. Commercial Consumer Services major established in the spring.

1946
Dr. Grace M. Henderson becomes director of the Department of Home Economics. School of Physical Education and Athletics establishes a professional preparation curriculum in Recreation.

1949
The Department of Home Economics officially becomes the School of Home Economics on January 1. Dr. Henderson is appointed dean of the school, becoming the first woman in Penn State history to receive an academic deanship appointment.

1952
Dr. Schott steps down as dean and athletic director of the School of Physical Education and Athletics. Ernest Browning “E.B.” McCoy is appointed dean and athletic director.

1953
The Pennsylvania State College becomes The Pennsylvania State University; both the School of Home Economics and the School of Physical Education and Athletics become colleges.

1960
Construction on Home Economics South Building completed.

1963
Penn State Board of Trustees re-designates College of Physical Education and Athletics as the College of Health and Physical Education.

1964
The Penn State in 1980s report recommends the formation of a College of Human Development, Health, and Welfare. College of Health and Physical Education establishes a nursing curriculum.

1965
Dr. Henderson retires as dean of the College of Home Economics. Dr. Dorothy Houghton appointed acting dean.

1966
Penn State Board of Trustees re-designates the College of Home Economics as the College of Human Development.

1967
Dr. Donald H. Ford becomes the first dean of the College of Human Development. The Department of Nursing transferred from College of Health and Physical Education to College of Human Development effective July 1.

1968
Penn State Board of Trustees dissolves departments and re-organizes the College of Human Development into four divisions: Biological Health; Community Development; Individual and Family Studies; and Man-Environment Relations.

1970
Penn State Board of Trustees re-designates College of Health and Physical Education as the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. Dr. McCoy steps down as dean and athletic director of the college. Dr. Robert Scannell is appointed dean and Edward M. Czekaj is appointed athletic director.

1973
The Robert A. Noll Laboratory for Human Performance Research Building—now known as the Noll Physiological Research Center—is dedicated.

1975
Home Economics and Home Economics South buildings are renamed Henderson and Henderson South buildings in memory of Dr. Grace Henderson.

1977
Dr. Ford steps down as dean of the College of Human Development in August. Dr. Joseph H. Britton, senior professor of human development, is appointed acting dean.

1978
Dr. Carole Leland, former director for the Study of Coeducation at Brown University, becomes dean of the College of Human Development in August.

1979
Dr. Leland resigns as dean in June. Dr. James Bartoo, dean of the graduate school at Penn State, is appointed to serve as Executive Officer of the College of Human Develpment until an interim dean can be named. That October, Dr. Evan G. Pattishall, professor and chairman of the Department of Behavioral Science in Penn State’s College of Medicine, is appointed interim dean.

1980
Penn State Board of Trustees removes Intercollegiate Athletics from College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and establishes it as its own administrative unit. College of Human Development dedicates third wing of Henderson “complex,” the Health and Human Development East Building.

1981
Dr. Pattishall becomes permanent dean of the College of Human Development. Dr. Scannell steps down as dean of the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and Dr. K.G. Stoedfalke is appointed acting dean.

1982
Dr. Diana R. Dunn is appointed dean of the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.

1987
College of Human Development and College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation merge to create College of Health and Human Development. The college includes one school—Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management—and eight departments: Communication Disorders (previously located in the School of Education); Exercise and Sport Science; Health Education; Health Planning and Administration; Individual and Family Studies; Nursing; Recreation and Parks; and Nutrition. Dr. Anne C. Petersen becomes the first dean of the College of Health and Human Development on July 1. Once the merger is completed, the college boasts an undergraduate enrollment of 2,600, a graduate enrollment of 370, 290 faculty members and $4.7 million in annual research funding.

1989
The Department of Nursing becomes the School of Nursing. The college also renames the Department of Individual and Family Studies (to Human Development and Family Studies); the Department of Health Planning and Administration (to Health Policy and Administration); and the Department of Recreation and Parks (to Leisure Studies).

1990
College begins offering graduate program in Biobehavioral Health.

1991
College creates School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Recreation Management, which combines the former School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management with the former Department of Leisure Studies.

1992
Dr. Petersen resigns as dean. Dr. Gerald McClearn, Evan Pugh Professor and head of the College’s Biobehavioral Health graduate program, appointed interim dean on March 1 and becomes permanent dean on September 1.

1993
Mateer Building completed and becomes home of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Recreation Management.

1994
Dr. McClearn resigns as dean. Dr. Herberta Lundegren, senior associate dean, is named interim dean.

1995
College adds Department of Biobehavioral Health and begins to offer undergraduate degree. Dr. Barbara M. Shannon, associate dean of the graduate school at Penn State, becomes dean of the college on January 1.

1996
Department of Exercise and Sport Science becomes Department of Kinesiology.

1997
College closes Department of Health Education, which results in its current configuration of two schools and six departments offering the following undergraduate majors:

School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Recreation Management:
- Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, with options in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management or Management Dietetics
- Recreation and Park Management, with options in Commercial and Community Recreation Management; Golf Management; Park Management and Environmental Interpretation; or Therapeutic Recreation
School of Nursing: Nursing
Department of Biobehavioral Health: Biobehavioral Health
Department of Communication Disorders: Communication Disorders
Department of Health Policy and Administration: Health Policy and Administration
Department of Human Development and Family Studies: Human Development and Family Studies, with options in Adult Development and Aging Services; Children, Youth, and Family Services; or Life Span Human Development and Family Relations
Department of Kinesiology: Kinesiology, with options in Athletic Training, Movement Science or Teacher Preparation
Department of Nutrition: Nutrition, with options in Applied Nutrition or Nutrition Science

1999
Dr. Shannon announces intention to retire as dean effective December 31. Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, professor of human development and family studies and associate dean for research in the college, is named interim dean.

2000
Dr. Raymond T. Coward appointed dean effective July 1.

2001
College dedicates Bennett Family Child Care Center. Department of Communication Disorders renamed Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

2002
Department of Nutrition renamed Department of Nutritional Sciences. In addition to two schools and six departments, college boasts nine interdisciplinary research centers, 4,000 undergraduate students, 650 graduate students, 350 full- and part-time faculty and $32.9 million in research funding.

2003
A partnership with the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena is established.

2004
With both disciplines leaders in their fields, the department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Recreation, and Management (HRRM) is disaggregated and becomes two separate academic units; the School of Hospitality Management (SHM) and the department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management (RPTM).

2006
Dr. Fred Vondracek is named Interim Dean.

2007
Dr. Ann C. 'Nan' Crouter appointed Raymond E. and Erin Stuart Schultz Dean of the College of Health and Human Development.

2008
Penn State School of Nursing restructures and becomes stand-alone academic unit.

Sources:

History of the Pennsylvania State College, Wayland Fuller Dunaway (1946)
“Charge to the School of Home Economics,” Acting President James Milholland (1949)
“Trends in the College of Home Economics at The Pennsylvania State University, 1900-1955,” Eva D. Wilson (1956)
“Organizing to Meet the Needs for Home Economics Education through Extension,” Dean Grace Henderson (1965)
“Home Economics/Human Development Transition Remembered,” Myron S. Pharo (1984)
Penn State: An Illustrated History, Michael Bezilla (1985)
“The History of the Study of Physical Activity at Penn State University, 1930-1996,” John A. Lucas (1996)
Also: Back issues of Health and Human Development magazines and newsletters; various Penn State course catalogs