Herbert L. Jones (left) and Alfred Taylor were two of four recipients of the first Ph.D. degrees awarded by Oregon State. Jones studied physics and Taylor studied zoology. The other recipients were Karl Kremm (chemistry) and Clarence Burnham (soils).
Arthur Burton Cordley joined the faculty of Oregon Agricultural College in 1895 as a Professor of Zoology and Entomology. He became the first Dean of the School of Agriculture in 1908, a position he held until his retirement in 1931. Cordley worked as an entomologist at Michigan Agricultural College, the Vermont Experiment Station, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture before moving to Oregon.
Born in 1911, Ernst Dornfeld began his teaching career at OSU in 1938 as an Instructor in the Department of Zoology. Specializing in the study of butterflies, Dornfeld also researched and taught comparative vertebrate histology and cytochemistry, cytology of the adrenal gland, and somatic polyploidy. In 1980 he wrote and published the book, The Butterflies of Oregon. In addition to his post as Instructor and Professor, Dornfeld also served as Chairman of the Department of Zoology from 1950 to 1976. Dornfeld became Professor Emeritus in 1978.