Spaces in our College

Faculty members and students in the College of Human Ecology work and learn in a cluster of four buildings located on the southern shores of Beebe Lake on Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

Martha Van Rensselaer (MVR) Hall, named in honor the founder and original co-director of the College of Home Economics, houses the College administration as well as auditoriums, classrooms, seminar rooms, distance learning rooms, student computing facilities, faculty offices and laboratories.

To the west of MVR, Savage and Kinzelberg Halls are home to the Division of Nutritional Sciences. They house lecture halls, faculty offices and research laboratories.

The newest building in the complex, the Human Ecology Building, was opened in 2011. It provides high-tech research laboratories, multi-purpose classrooms, studio space, an art gallery, community spaces and seminar rooms. It is connected to MVR Hall through a large gathering space called the Human Ecology Commons.

And, to the east, Beebe Hall is home to the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, which  promotes and supports innovative, multi‑disciplinary social and demographic research and training.

Together, these buildings support the interdisciplinary, translational research central to the mission of the College of Human Ecology and provide cutting-edge facilities and equipment for teaching and outreach.