The Gallery of Design opened. Reflecting the shifting curriculum, Child and Family Studies changed its name to the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. Robin Douthitt is named interim dean.

The Gallery of Design opened in 1991 and, the following year, the Ruth Ketter Harris Book Collection is dedicated. Retailing area moves to the Department of Consumer Science in 1993.

After five years of evaluation, the school changes its name to the School of Human Ecology—or SoHE—in 1997. At the time, the school had been named the fourth-ranking program in the United States but was the only one that had not adopted the widely recognized “human ecology” name. In addition, the board of visitors and faculty agreed that the name better articulated the interdisciplinary nature of the programs; the science of interrelationships.

With the resignation of Dean McCubbin in 1999, Consumer Science Professor Robin Douthitt is named interim dean.

That same year the school receives the largest estate gift in its 100-year history. The nearly half a million dollar legacy gift from alumna Elizabeth Metz launched a multi-million dollar facilities project.