Rose House History
Flora Rose House is part of the West Campus House System. The fifth and final house in the West Campus House System is named for Flora Rose, who was recruited to Cornell over 100 years ago as a lecturer in nutrition. Rose (1874-1959) worked with Martha Van Rensselaer to establish a department, and later a college of home economics that evolved into today's College of Human Ecology.
House Crest
The Flora Rose House Crest is has four main components that reflect the mission and history of both Cornell University and the Flora Rose House. In 2018, we turned our attention to rebranding the original crest design. We included our students in the process and the final design was selected via consensus vote by residents.
About the Crest: On the upper left, you will find the clock tower, which has become an archetype of our university. This 173 feet tall structure is home to the Cornell Chimes, the university's oldest musical tradition. On the upper right, the books are indicative of Ezra Cornell’s founding principle, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” Today, the university offers over 4,000 courses in a myriad of subject areas. On the lower right, this gate is indicative of our gothic gate, an emblem of the gothic revival architecture that lines West Avenue at the bottom of Libe Slope. Finally, on the lower left, these wheat sprigs represent Flora Rose’s unwavering commitment to maintaining proper nutrition for all Americans, especially during the Great Depression. Her research at Cornell led to the development of Milkorno, one of the first low-cost reinforced cereals, and to her discovery of a relationship between good nutrition and decreasing incidence of tuberculosis and infant mortality.
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Professor Flora Rose
Flora Rose
1874-1959
If Flora Rose had followed the expectations of her well-to-do Denver family, she would have been a woman of high society. By her mid-twenties, however, Rose found that lifestyle unfulfilling and abandoned it for a career in the new field of home economics. She borrowed money and enrolled in a household arts program at Framingham (Massachusetts) Normal School. In 1904, she earned a B.S. from Kansas State University, where she taught food and nutrition classes. By 1907, Rose had received an M.A. in Food and Nutrition from Columbia University.
In 1905, Rose wrote a letter to administrators at both Stanford and Cornell University encouraging these forward-thinking, coeducational universities to start programs in home economics. She later explained: "Neither of them had home economics, and in my reforming mood I decided that they should." Rose's letter convinced the Cornell administration to invite her as a lecturer in nutrition in 1907, which led to a full-time appointment in the agriculture department in the hope that Rose would help establish a home economics department.
Rose made important strides in the field of nutrition. Her research at Cornell led to the development of Milkorno, one of the first low-cost reinforced cereals. Throughout World War I, she served as deputy director for the New York State division of the United States Food Administration. In 1923, at the request of King Albert, she traveled to Belgium to organize food relief for malnourished Belgian school children. For her efforts, she received the Order of the Crown. During the late 1920s, Rose conducted a nutritional study of Cattaraugus County, New York, which garnered national attention because it discovered a relationship between good nutrition and decreasing incidence of tuberculosis and infant mortality. During the Great Depression, the Federal Relief Emergency Administration adopted emergency food budgets devised by Rose. These budgets enabled poor families to eat healthily on meager incomes.
Former Rose House Professor-Deans
Shirley Samuels (2009-2012)
Garrick Blalock (2012-2018)
Rosemary Avery (2018-2024)