The American Home Economics Association was formally organized in 1909 by Ellen Swallow Richards—the first female graduate of MIT and a member of the faculty of the UT Summer School of the South in 1904 and 1905. The purpose of the organization was to improve “living conditions in the home, the institutional household, and the community.” The UT chapter of AHEA was organized in 1926. In 1971 the UT College of Home Economics was the first in the nation to apply for and receive accreditation of its undergraduate programs by the AHEA. The name of the organization was changed to American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in June 1994. The AAFCS is the accrediting body for programs in child development, family studies, hotel and restaurant administration, nutrition, and retail and consumer sciences in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.