Jane Hampton Ausman (BS 1959 Home Economics Education; MS 1962 History) was born and raised in Lancaster, Grant County, Wisconsin. Her advisor in Home Economics was Julia Dalrymple. Her MS thesis, titled “The diet and problems of food supply of westward explorers and emigrants during 1800-1850,” brought together home economics fundamentals with her love of American history. She made a westward journey herself in 1962, along with her husband John (BS 1955 Chemical Engineering; MS 1959; PhD 1962), and spent much of the next 40 years in the San Francisco Bay Area raising a family. During this period she and her family also spent time living in Germany, England and Belgium. Jane and John are Bascom Hill Society members and feel strongly about the value of supporting the University of Wisconsin.