Dr. Margaret Catherine Lumpkin was an Assistant Professor in the Women’s College of Physical Education, and a Professor for the College of Education from 1948 to 1984. She was born in 1924 in Franklin, North Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from Woman’s College of U.N.C. in 1944; and her Master pf Science in Physical Education from Wellesley college in 1945. After working in OSU’s Department of Women’s Physical Education for twelve years, she transferred to the College of Education in 1955 as a part-time instructor, to work on her Doctor of Education degree. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1961, associate professor in 1967, and full professor in 1970. While working as a physical education instructor, she served as interim Assistant to the Dean in 1954 when the former Dean of Women, Dean Bash, passed away. During her time as acting Assistant to the Dean of Women, she made one promotion trip each year for OSU. In doing so, she observed significant issues in OSU’s promotional and informational programs, and compiled a letter of recommendations to the university. Throughout her tenure at OSU, Professor Lumpkin was a source of critical improvement for many programs. She additionally served on a committee to evaluate OSU’s programs on child and adolescent psychology, although she felt her suggestions from this process were ignored. She frequently expressed frustration at how rarely university officials took her suggestions. Before coming to OSU, she was an instructor at Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia, and an instructor at Dana Hall School, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was also an experienced camp counselor, and spent many years with Camp Sherwood, a camp for underprivileged children. At various other camps, she often held titles including Head of Tennis, Head of Waterfront, or Director of Training for Counselors. She was a member of numerous women’s athletic clubs, and was an instructor for American Red Cross Swimming. She took sabbatical leave three times in her career at OSU. The first was fall term of 1963, which she took to complete a post-doctoral study in Child and Adolescent Psychology at the University of North Carolina, for which she took full salary. Then, again, in the winter and spring terms of 1969-70, for which she received 2/3rd of her current salary. Finally, she took sabbatical leave winter and spring terms of the 1976-77 school year, to travel to South America and Australia, for the purpose of observing cultural and educational differences in adolescence. She also took this time to co-author a Consumer’s Guide to Educational Materials for use in public schools. Additionally, she attended workshops and conferences on psychological aspects of adolescence, civil rights in education, and textbook selection procedures. For this final sabbatical, she took 5/8 salary. While at OSU, she was involved in numerous committees. She was on the board of Sunflower House, was the acting Chairperson of Oregon Women in Higher Education, and was part of Oregon Women’s Political Caucus. She was deeply involved in women’s advocacy groups, such as the Women’s Alliance for Passage of Equal Rights Amendment, a counselor at the Women’s Study Center, and served on the Advisory Committee for the Women’s Study Center. She assisted in GED tutoring for high school dropouts, and was also on the Advisory Committee to the Office of Women’s Studies. She was recognized in writing by the burgeoning Women’s Studies program as having donated significant time and energy to the genesis of the program. In 1977, she became the Coordinator of Support and Special Services, although she had to resign from this position due to an overloaded schedule. In late 1982, she underwent major surgery, and took the rest of the year at half-time sick leave at her doctor’s recommendation. In 1982, she retired at a salary of $31,005, and returned at half-time for the next two years. She received Emeritus status in 1984.
Charlotte Louise Meller was an Assistant Physician at Student Health Services from 1942 to 1943, and then again from 1954 to 1961. She was born in Fargo, North Dakota. She received her Bachelor of Science in Medicine in 1935, her Bachelor of Medicine in 1937, and her Master of Arts in 1938 from the University of Minnesota, studying neuropsychiatry. Before coming to OSC, she was a resident in neuropsychiatry at several hospitals, and a psychiatrist at a federal reformatory for women in Texas. She published a report on “The Case of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis with Psychosis” in the Minnesota Medicine in 1940, and “Treatment of Ten Cases of Paralysis Agitones with Vitamina B6” in the same journal. She was a member of Alpha Epsilon Iota, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Association of University Professors, and the Oregon Academy of Science. After a year as Assistant Physician at OSC, she left for a position in the Hawaiian Islands where she married a contractor and builder named C.E. Biddle. She maintained the name “Meller” as her professional name. They had a son, Charles Edward Junior, and a daughter, Charlotte Leilani. They moved back to Corvallis in 1954, where Dr. Meller began to work with SHS again. She reached the rank of full professor in 1958, and was the only full-time psychiatrist on staff at SHS for some time. In January of 1961, a colleague at the Testing Center named Dr. Charles Kremer began to criticize Dr. Meller’s service. He lobbied to have her employed 2/3rds of the time at the Testing Center, and 1/3rd of the time at SHS. He argued that it was unnecessary to maintain a psychiatrist full time. He also felt that she gave substandard care to her patients and ordered unnecessary laboratory work and X-ray tests, which he felt was an unnecessary strain on their technicians, and occupied resources which might be needed by other doctors. At the same time, Dr. Kremer was involved in a legal dispute with Dr. Meller’s husband, Mr. Biddle, who was suing him “for payment for the building of his house.” Dr. Meller felt that Dr. Kremer’s proposed position change was a way of indirectly dissolving her tenure to put her in a terminable position. As the tension between them grew, Dr. Kremer began to ask that she instead be fired as soon as possible, even sooner than the standard one year’s warning. She initiated legal proceedings to have her case heard by the Board. In the end, it was decided that she would resign at the end of the 1961-62 school year. Per their agreement, Dr. Kremer was obliged not to reply to letters concerning her, and he asked that she refrain from making derogatory comments about him and the Health Service. She began at a salary of $3,000 for 10 months in 1942, and resigned in 1961 at $10,158.