Genevieve Fisher, Dean, College of Home Economics, 1927-1944

Artist / Maker Frank I. Johnson (Swedish-American, 1879 - 1952)

Date1943

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 x 30 in. (91.4 x 76.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCommisioned by Iowa State College. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU82.126

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextGenevieve Fisher was born August 24, 1879, in Lovington, Illinois. She attended grade school and high school in Springfield, Illinois. She also received a diploma from the City Training School for Teachers in Springfield (1899). Fisher continued her studies at University of Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Science degree (1914) and her Masters degree (1927), both from Columbia University. Genevieve Fisher first came to Iowa State College in 1914, when she was employed on the staff as a supervisor of teacher training in Ames School system. She left Iowa State in 1919, when she was chosen as a special agent for the Federal Board for Vocational Education. She left the force in 1922, to join the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh where she directed the home economics program for teachers-in-service. Genevieve Fisher became dean of the Home Economis Division in 1927. While dean she reorganized the Department of Household Administration into three department; Home Management, Child development and Household Equipment. Iowa State was the first institute of its kind to introduce a course in household equipment. Fisher was also active in the campaign for passage of the Smith-Hughes Hill. After the bill was passed, Fisher helped to draft the first federal plan for vocational education in Iowa. Fisher was a member of many organizations: Omicron Nu, Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Phi, Phi Upsilon Omicron, Sigma Delta Epsilon, Mortar Board, American Vocational Association, and the American Economics Association. She was also the home economics editor of the Vocational Education magazine. After retiring from Iowa State in 1944, Dean Fisher began a different career, establishing a small hotel in North Carolina. Fisher also worked three days a week as an assistant to occupational therapists in a local Veteran's hospital teaching weaving and how to keep the looms threaded. Genevieve Fisher died November 4, 1974.

PeriodAmerican Impressionism

Published ReferencesCampus Beautiful

Locations