Presenting 2024 Hotelie Hall of Fame Story - Hilda Watson Gifford ‘26
An excerpt from Hilda's story...
Hilda Watson Gifford was Cornell Hotel School’s first female graduate. Her path to Cornell was by way of Dean Meek’s industry connections. He recognized that industry was his most important constituency and thus focused on developing a network of industry leaders. He generated enthusiasm for the program and encouraged hotel managers to send their children to Cornell. One of those children was Hilda Longyear, who became a member of the second graduating class.
THROUGH MUCH OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY the hospitality industry was anything but hospitable to women. Men who were otherwise competent leaders often failed to appreciate the talents women possessed. The prevailing view was that hotel administration was “a man’s profession,” while a proper course of study for women was home economics.
This industry bias was apparent from the beginning at Cornell’s Hotel program. For all his vision, Dean H.B. Meek was unable to overlook the common prejudices of the day to see that women would be important contributors to the industry. Recalls Dorothy Daly Johnson ’26, one of five women in the department’s second graduating class,