From collection Candidates
![Van Rensselaer, Martha](https://cdn1.historyit.com/iiif/2/5edfd98ccc4f69.54593064/65428dc980c977.99155819.png/full/360,/0/default.jpg?no_errors=1)
Van Rensselaer ran for School Commissioner in Randolph County in 1893. She was elected to the position from 1896-1899. In 1900, she began teaching Home Economics at Cornell University. She became a full-time professor there in 1911, and helped found Cornell's School of Home Economics, of which she was the director, in 1919.