Ava Milam Clark

Ava Bertha Milam Clark (November 27, 1884 – August 24, 1976) was an American home economist and college professor. She was dean of the School of Home Economics at Oregon State College from 1917 to 1950, and she helped to establish the home economics department at Yenching University in China in the 1920s. She also taught in Korea in the 1940s, and in Syria in the early 1950s.

Early life and education Milam was born and raised in Macon County, Missouri, one of the five daughters of farmers Ancil Milam and Mary Louisa McGinnis Milam. She had a twin sister, Ada. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1910, and earned a master's degree in nutrition there in 1911. Among her instructors at Chicago were Marion Talbot and Sophonisba Breckinridge. establishing the home economics department at Yenching University. She organized a study tour of Korea for American home economists in 1937, and taught in Korea in the 1940s. She also worked in Japan and the Philippines.

In retirement Clark worked as a technical advisor in Syria and Iraq for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and wrote her autobiography, Adventures of a Home Economist (1969). In 1956 she was named Home Economist of the Year by the Oregon Home Economics Association. "Comparative cooking qualities of some of the common varieties of apples grown in Oregon" (1915, with Harriet B. Gardner) "The School Luncheon" (1916, with Anna M. Turley and Helen Cowgill) "A Unique College Exhibit" (1916) "Baby Week" (1917) Camp Cookery: A Cookery and Equipment Handbook for Boy Scouts and Other Campers (1918, with Alma Grace Johnson and Ruth McNary Smith) "Standards of Living among Intermediate Income Groups in China" (1927) A Study of Student Homes in China (1930) "The Challenge in China" (1947) "Home Economics: A Basic Need for the Orient" (1949) "Home Economics Workshop in Syria" (1952) "The Home Economics Movement" (1972)

Personal life Ava Milam married Jesse Claude Clark in 1952; he died in 1956. Her papers are in special collections at Oregon State University Libraries.