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Woman with long light brown hair sits with her hands folded at a table in an office. She wears a black shirt and smiles.

Status: PhD Student

Adviser: Katie Turk and Erik Gellman

Graduate Email: mchughka@unc.edu

Education

B.A., Syracuse University, 2020: History, Physics, and Political Science
M.A., Oregon State University, 2022: History and Philosophy of Science
Thesis: "Early Adventures of a Home Economist: Ava B. Milam's Integration of Science and Home Economics at Oregon Agricultural College, 1911-1921"

Research Interests

I study the intersections between home economics and feminism in the second half of the twentieth century. I am interested in how changing ideas about women’s work, education, and place in the home led to the faltering of the field of home economics and its reinvention as family and consumer science. I am also interested in how home economics’ role in popular imagination and memory, as its scientific and reform centered mission has been replaced by antifeminist sentiment in popular memory.

Some Notable Publications

  • “Ava Milam Clark” Oregon Encyclopedia , July 7, 2023
  • “Home Economics Extension Bulletins: Science to Alleviate Rural Women’s Drudgery,” Rural Women’s Studies, May 11, 2022