Cowles, May Louise Cowles (1892-1978)

May Louise Cowles

In her focus on the conditions of rural life, May Louise Cowles seamlessly integrated her research and extension work, conducting influential studies on such issues as architecture, consumerism, health, and family economics.

Cowles earned her BS in 1912 at Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University). After teaching high school home economics for several years, she attended the University of Wisconsin, earning her master's degree in 1918 while employed in the home economics department. In 1929, she earned her PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, returning to faculty at Madison where she was promoted to Professor of Home Economics in 1943.

During her long tenure at the University of Wisconsin (1915-1959), Cowles's research and teaching interests ranged widely but typically concerned conditions of farm life. She frequently published in the Journal of Home Economics, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and Rural Sociology and used her research to inform her Extension publications also. For example, her popular pamphlet Meeting Housing Needs of Older People in Rural Areas (1957) was a direct result of her research into the needs of the rural elderly. She encouraged her students to follow a similar path of applied science in home economics and is remembered as an inspiring teacher. In 1944 Cowles taught the first "Family Economics" course on the Madison campus and she later participated in national seminars to encourage high-school teachers to include family economics classes in their curriculum.