Van Rensselaer, Martha (1864–1932)

US home economist. At the faculty of Cornell University from 1900 she organized extension programs and co-chaired the new home economics department (where she created a degree program); she later became codirector (1925) of the New York State College of Home Economics. Van Rensselaer was born in Randolph, New York, working first as a rural schoolteacher and school commissioner.