Eva Donelson Wilson

BS Dietetics 1927
Lake Forest, Calif.

Everyone who knows her agrees: There is no one on this earth quite like Eva Donelson Wilson. At 100 years of age, Wilson is still organizing alumni events in southern California for Iowa Staters and individuals who share her passion for home economics. She stays connected with the many young people she has mentored over the years, and she continues to meet new people through her work as an English language tutor. Eva Donelson Wilson is both a passionate life learner and a devoted humanitarian.

Wilson’s professional career took her from the dietetics program at ISU to the Merrill Palmer School in Detroit, where she began a study of the composition of human milk in 1927 that led to a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1934. From there, she held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, Pennsylvania State University, and The Ohio State University, teaching nutrition and authoring celebrated nutrition textbooks. In the 1960s, while a faculty member at OSU, Wilson took on a unique challenge when she traveled to the University of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba in Brazil to start a home economics program. Wilson was enchanted by her time there, mentoring students and even becoming so fluent in Portuguese that she authored a textbook in the language. Following her retirement, she returned to spend an additional year as a consultant to the nutrition program at the University of Brasilia. One may never know how many lives Eva D. Wilson touched with the gift of education, both in the U.S. and Brazil.

Through the years, Wilson has remained dedicated to her alma mater. She is a member of the Dean’s Club for contributing to the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and has established the V. Everett and Grace Miller Donelson Scholarship in memory of her parents. She is a member of ISU’s Order of the Knoll and a lifetime member of the ISU Alumni Association.