[1] Nye joined the faculty of the Cornell home economics extension program immediately after graduation.

After the war, back in Ithaca, she became leader of the Cornell Study Clubs, a statewide adult education program aimed at women.

[1][3][7] Some of her study results were announced with blunt headlines like "Best Husbands are City Bred"[8] or "Women Like to Take Care of Children.

"[9] In 1930, Nye moved to Oregon,[10] and later to California,[11] doing similar work in supervising agricultural extension programs.

[14] From 1940 to 1959, Nye lived in the Berkeley Hills, and shared a home with her former mentor and colleague, Flora Rose.