About the Cover

The cover photo was shot by Ann Arbor Miller in the Diederich Atrium of the McGovern Alumni Center on Feb. 28, 2022, and features current NDSU students, benefactors and NDSU Foundation Trustees, and NDSU faculty and staff.

By Nicole Thom-Arens | Photos by Ann Arbor Miller | April 11, 2022

For generations, NDSU alumni and benefactors have supported the University through philanthropy. The In Our Hands campaign concluded Dec. 31, 2021, and raised a record $586.7 million for NDSU students, faculty, programs, and facilities. We couldn’t let the campaign conclude without one hands-centric photo project.

Thank you to our hand models: Stacey Ackerman (NDSU Foundation Trustee), Dan Dunn (NDSU Foundation Trustee), Ying Huang (NDSU faculty), Austin Kurisu (NDSU student), Seinquis Leinen (NDSU admissions), Brianna Maddock (NDSU student), Onnolee Nordstrom (NDSU faculty), Charles D. Peterson (Dean of the College of Health Professions), Macy Scharmer (NDSU student), and Mike Vipond (NDSU Foundation Trustee).

Margaret and her husband, Hugh Veit ’79, established the Eleanor S. Fitzgerald Memorial Graduate Student Scholarship to support NDSU students earning advanced degrees in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences or the Department of Human Development and Family Science.

Core areas of home economics remain part of current NDSU degree programs such as accounting; apparel, retail merchandising, and design; education; family and consumer science; financial planning; human development and family science; interior design; and nutrition science.

Home economics programs opened doors, particularly for women, to earn college degrees and pursue careers in education, Extension, state and federal government, business and industry, health care, and more. NDAC listed domestic economy as one of its courses in its founding year, 1890.

Established by Dr. Teresa Conner, dean of the NDSU College of Health and Human Sciences, and co-chaired by Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald ’83 and Col. Esther Meyers ’75, the Wisdom Keepers provide support and share their knowledge and expertise with students, faculty, staff, and leadership in the College.

The home management house at NDAC was the first facility built on a college campus specifically for home management practice. In 1954, it was named in honor of Alba Bales, the first female academic dean at NDAC.