In response to growing national sentiment that the term home economics no longer adequately characterized the disciplines grouped within colleges of home economics, the UT College of Home Economics held a referendum on the issue in spring 1972. Approximately 90 percent of the students and faculty voting in the referendum were in favor of a name change. The most popular name among faculty was College of Euthenics, embracing a name that signifies dealing with the development of human well-being by improvement of living conditions. Student voters’ top name was College of Human Resources and Consumer Sciences. Alumni generally opposed a change, and the college waited to see what name would emerge nationally as preferred if the name were to be changed.
A national group of leaders in the field, of which UT’s Dean Nancy Belck was a member, recommended that colleges change to the Human Ecology nomenclature. The group held that Human Ecology best captured the founding definition of home economics—dealing with people, individuals, and families in their interactions with their environment. On September 27, 1985, the board of trustees changed the name of the College of Home Economics to the College of Human Ecology.