Louise Stanley, a home economist from Tennessee, is inducted for her work in establishing home economics as a standard part of agricultural education and politics.

Stanley received a significant education at various institutions throughout the country. She earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Nashville in 1903, a Bachelor of Education at the University of Chicago in 1905, a Master of Arts at Columbia University in 1907, and a Ph.D. at Yale University in 1911.

Stanley served as a Home Economics instructor at the University of Missouri from 1907 to 1911 and as Professor and Chairwoman of the Home Economics Department from 1911 to 1923. From this position, she began to advocate for the establishment of Home Economics as an academic major for collegiate degree.

In 1923, Stanley was among a small group of home economists called to Washington by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to formulate a new Department of Home Economics. She was subsequently named as head of the new department. While Commissioner of the Department of Home Economics in the USDA, Stanley directed the first national farm housing survey, upon which programs to improve rural living were established.

Stanley was a longstanding member of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. She became the first woman to hold an official USDA position when she was appointed to the American Standards Association.