She studied at the University of Chicago (BS, MS, PhD), and taught at the University of California, Berkeley (1915–54), where she helped organize (1919) what was to become a nationally outstanding home economics department.
She pursued her education at the University of Chicago earning B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1915 to 1954, where she initiated (1919) a home economics department that later became nationally renowned.