History of Dyson

A century of rich tradition in applied economics and management

The Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management is home to a rich and varied tradition, having evolved over the course of more than a century to become the institution it is today.

The Dyson School traces its roots back to 1909 with the establishment of an agricultural economics major. As a formal academic unit, the school was founded in 1911 when agricultural economics became a full-fledged discipline. Originally conceived of as an agriculturally centered program within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), it later came to be known as the Department of Applied Economics and Management.

Over the course of the next century, the department earned an international reputation as a leader in its field, in terms of both education—undergraduate and graduate—and research. By 2010, the department had become a named school, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, under the auspices of CALS. Then, in 2016, Dyson became a shared school as part of both CALS and the newly formed Cornell College of Business, now the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

Today, the Dyson School is internationally renowned for its expertise in food and agricultural economics, management, environmental and resource economics, and international and development economics.