2014 Inductees

Peggy Hurt Powell

B.S. Home Economics (Berea College)
M.S. Human Development and Resource Management (University of Kentucky)

Peggy Hurt Powell recently retired from her position as Montgomery County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences after working for more than 40 years with the University of Kentucky as an extension agent and specialist. Powell received a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics Education from Berea College and a Master of Science in Human Development and Resource Management from the University of Kentucky. She has been involved in countless programs and activities covering a wide variety of topics and exhibited a strong dedication to serving families throughout her career. She served as president and vice president of the Kentucky Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (KEAFCS), and received numerous recognitions for her programming and leadership. She served as president of the Kentucky chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi, and received that organization’s Visionary Leadership and Distinguished Service Awards. Powell has been active in the Mount Sterling Rotary Club, Montgomery County Education Foundation, Montgomery County Youth Service Center Advisory Council, and the Gateway Aging Council. In 1994, Powell received the Mount Sterling-Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year Award. In 2010, she was named the Extension Educator of the Year by the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Pauline Park Wilson Knapp*

B.S. Home Economics (University of Kentucky) 1929

Pauline Park Knapp received her B.S. in Home Economics from the University of Kentucky (UK) in 1924. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology at Columbia University. In the early years of her career, she established the first child development center in the state of Georgia. In 1935, she laid the groundwork for the establishment of a permanent nursery school at UK which continues today as the Early Childhood Laboratory. Dr. Knapp served as head of the Department of Family and Life at the University of Alabama and as Dean of the School of Home Economics at the University of Georgia. In 1952, she was named president and director of the Merrill-Palmer School. During her years as president, she broadened the school’s emphasis on parent education and increased research on applied child and family issues. She facilitated a name change to the Merrill-Palmer Institute and oversaw the largest increase in student enrollment and faculty appointments in the history of the institute. Dr. Knapp earned national and international recognition in child development and family relations. Her work was well-published, and she was often called upon to speak regarding the field of home economics, early childhood education and the education of women.

*posthumously

Photo Credit - Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.