Ida Martha Matsen was a Professor of Art from 1927 to 1948. She was born in 1894 in Bickleton, Washington. She studied for two years at the Chicago Art Institute, and then graduated from the Normal Art Department of Pratt Institute, New York in 1920. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Washington in 1925, and an Master of Arts in Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1926. Before coming to OSC, she was an art instructor for a cumulative seven years in high schools across Washington and California, and also performed clerical work for the Department of Labor in Washington, DC, in 1918. She was involved in an annual exhibition of the Northwest Artists’ Association in Seattle, and received two honorable mentions in water color painting. In 1927, she reached out to Oregon Agricultural College offering her services as an instructor of art, and, as officials at OSAC found it difficult to find her, most of her appointment negotiations were conducted by telegram. Those who recommended her said she was of excellent character, a pleasing personality, but not a “strong disciplinarian” with elementary children. She became an assistant professor in 1934 and an associate professor in 1937, and was consistently underpaid for her rank. OSAC was grateful to find such a well-trained teacher on such a low salary, although in 1928 she successfully leveraged her position at OSAC to receive a raise of $100. She took sabbatical leave once for three months in 1939 in order to travel and study the teaching of art throughout colleges and art schools in California and Washington. This request was conditional on Professor Fairbanks resuming his work in the department. For the year of 1946-47 she also took sabbatical leave to study, teach, and rest. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church. She submitted her resignation in 1948, wishing to spend the remaining years of her life focusing on her own art, health, and family. On the advice of administration she instead took a leave of absence, intending to postpone official retirement until 1951, at which point she would reach official retirement age and be granted a service allowance. Superiors at OSC intended to grant her the rank of professor, but chose not do so until her official retirement. She planned to spend her first year on leave on Whidby Island, in an art colony of northwest artists, and to have a studio workshop in the future. Unfortunately, she passed away in 1949. She was hired at $1,800 in 1927 and resigned at a salary of $4,410.
Mary Eunice Lewis was an Associate Professor of Modern Languages, specializing in Germanic languages, and was employed at OSC from 1928 to 1951. She was born in 1887 in Georgetown, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Science in 1906 from Pacific College, her Bachelor of Arts in 1907 from Penn College, and an Master of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley. She was head of the German Department at Pacific College from 1910-1937, until she left to spend a year of travel in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. She returned to the United States too late to secure university employment, so she taught at Silverton High School, in Silverton, Oregon, for a year, until she was brought onto the OSC staff. After teaching here for eight years, Professor Lewis took a sabbatical leave to undertake graduate study at the University of Washington, with a teaching fellowship in German. This enabled her to attain her doctorate. In 1937, she was involved in a brief legal dispute. Years before, in 1932, a colleague by the name of Professor Bach became ill, and Professor Lewis took over the bulk of his classes. Later, Professor Lewis sought compensation for the extra work she undertook, and initiated a legal suit, although they ended up settling out of court. In 1950, with a peak salary of $4,600, she reached compulsory retirement age, but continued teaching half-time throughout the next year. Upon her retirement, she received Emeritus status.