A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi in Forrest County, received her Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics from Alcorn State University (formerly Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1919. She was one of seven females who were among the first graduates in Home Economics. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Hampton Institute in 1931 and a Master of Science degree from Columbia University in 1937.
Mrs. Powell came to Alcorn College in 1911. The first four years of her young life at Alcorn were spent in the Alcorn High school where she exhibited a tremendous capacity for learning and came out ready to enter college as an honor student. She continued to diligently apply herself during her stay in the college finishing with very high grades. After working in various schools throughout the state, Mrs. Powell accepted a position at Alcorn serving as the first director of the Division of Home Economics in 1923. Throughout her long and continuous stay at Alcorn, Mrs. Powell was a diligent worker and was most conscientious in her efforts. She sought every means to improve upon the quality of work produced by the students and fought and dreamed of enlarged facilities for work in the area of Home Economics. According to university archival records, she left the university in 1939.
During her lifetime, the dream of a home economics building failed to materialize, and it was many years following her death, that her dream became a reality. On November 12, 1955, Eunice Powell Hall was dedicated in her honor. Eunice Powell Hall houses the Department of Human Sciences (formerly Home Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences) whose majors are Human Development in Family Science, and Food, Nutrition and Community Health Sciences. Mrs. Powell died on May 22, 1942.