Mildred Bertha Thurow Tate

Mildred Bertha Thurow Tate (1904–1996) was an American rural sociologist, educator, and advocate for women's education. She was one of the first women to obtain a PhD in rural sociology from Cornell University and was appointed the first Dean of Women at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Early life and education Mildred Thurow was born on November 17, 1904, in Macksville, Kansas, to Carl G. Thurow and Mary E. Simon Thurow.

She graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College with a BS in 1927 and an MS in 1929. The title of her MS thesis was "Study of the Leisure of Fifty Kansas Farm Women". In 1933, Thurow graduated from Cornell University with a PhD in rural sociology. Dwight Sanderson, Professor of Rural Sociology, was her doctoral advisor. Her dissertation was titled "A Study of Selected Factors in Family Life as Described in Autobiographies". her time at Cornell University is notable as she was one of the first women to graduate with a PhD from the Department of Rural Sociology,

During her graduate studies, Thurow was also affiliated with the University of Iowa, though her degrees from institutions of higher education were only awarded by Kansas State Agricultural College and Cornell University.

In 1937, Thurow Tate (she married in 1935) As Dean of Women, she was instrumental in the building of Hillcrest Hall, the first on-campus housing for female students at the University in 1940. In the same year, she also published a report for the Cornell University Agricultural Experimental Station titled "Interests, Activities, and Problems of Rural Young Folk: Women 15 to 29 Years of Age". in 1935, "An Objective Analysis of Family Life" also in 1935, "Sources of Material for the Master's Thesis" in 1941, and "Adjustment Problems of College Students" in 1954 with Virginia Anne Musick. Her 1954 article was also published in Social Forces.

Thurow Tate's first book was published in 1961 and was titled Home Economics as a Profession. A second edition was published in 1969. She also co-authored Everyday Living with Jessie Wooten Harris, PhD, and Ida Adelaide Anders, PhD, in 1944, and Family Clothing with Oris Glisson, PhD, in 1961.

Beyond her publications, Thurow Tate received multiple honors. Her selected honors include: Home Economics Hall of Fame, Kansas State College; Chairman, Virginia Commission on Higher Education; President, Virginia Home Economics Association, as well as membership in Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Theta, Omicron Nu, and Delta Zeta. They met at Cornell University where they both received PhDs. Leland B. Tate was a professor of rural sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He also served as the president of the Southern Sociological Society in 1953. They had one daughter, Elise.