Beatrice Beebe worked as an English instructor at OSC from 1934 to 1952. As an undergraduate, she attended the University of Illinois, Boston University Law School, the University of Washington, and she received her L.L.B. from the University of Oregon Law School in 1912. She received her Master of Arts from the University of Oregon in 1925. She was born in 1886, in Chicago, Illinois. She listed her son, William Beebe, as her beneficiary. Before coming to OSC she had worked on various school boards throughout Washington and Oregon, from as early as 1911. She was a member of the National Writers Club and the American Poetry League. She also taught English and math at various high schools in Oregon. She published articles, poems, and translated plays in her spare time. Before her retirement, she was promoted to assistant professor. Her beginning wage was $195 a month and grew to $3920 a year.
Jane Catherine Dale was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1947. She was paid an annual salary of $2,000. She had previously worked as a supervisor of teaching at Oregon College of Education in Monmouth from 1939 to 1946. She came to OSC because she wanted to teach English. She received her undergraduate education from James Milikin University and the University of Delaware and George Washington University from 1927 to 1932. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English in 1938 and her Master of Arts in English in 1939 from the University of Wisconsin. She was unmarried when she came to work at OSC, and listed her friend, Miss Ruth Elizabeth Lautenbach, as her beneficiary. She resigned in 1947 to take another position elsewhere with a higher rank and salary. She was born in 1907, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Vivian E. Gilkey was an English instructor at Oregon State College in 1946. Gilkey was born in 1912, in Butte, Montana. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Oregon in 1935, and as a graduate, she studied the violin at Columbia University, Juilliard, and the American Conservatory. She was a recipient of the Phi Beta Violin Scholarship, and even played for the Houston Symphony in 1942. Before coming to OSC, she taught at various grade schools in Roseburg, Oregon and Oakland, California. She was married when she came to OSC. She was hired on a ten-month term basis, at a salary of $2,200.
Ruth McCorkle was an instructor in English for a year in 1946-47 and then again from 1956 to 1961. She was born in 1898 in Tygh Valley, Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Science from OSC in 1931 in the field of home economics and English, received a diploma from Oregon Normal School in 1923 (now known as Western Oregon University), and received an Master of Arts in Education and Anthropology from University of Washington in 1950. Her thesis was titled “Plan for Teaching Speed Reading to Young Adults.” She previously worked as home demonstration agent at Chewama High School, and was discharged from the army in 1946. In between her first and second appointments at OSC, she worked in high schools, some of which were in Alaska. She was a published writer, having published one short professional article in the Normal Instructor in 1925, one short story in Oregon Farmer in 1933, and a poem in Mothers Activities. One of her poems was set to music and published by Westmore Music Company in Portland. She was an active member the American Legion Veterans Association, the American Association of University Women, the Cosmopolitan Club, and a group called the Phratares. She was a class advisor, a school librarian for six years, the assistant director for several school plays, and assistant dean of girls at Nestucca High School. She returned to OSC as a temporary part-time replacement in 1956. However, enrollment at OSC significantly increased in 1957, bringing composition classes up to about 30 students per section, and literature classes up to 60. The head of the English department, Herbert B Nelson, asserted that composition classes should never be more than 25, and literature classes never more than 40. He campaigned for two new part-time positions to take up the increased enrollment, one of which was Professor McCorkle. It was quickly decided to shift her to full-time. Professor McCorkle was said to be very kind and courteous. A visiting professor of a local high school wrote to President Strand to express his appreciation for Professor McCorkle having gone out of her way to help him get his bearings on campus. In 1961, she was granted the rank of senior instructor, after eight years. However, for unknown reasons, her record was flagged with a “failure to receive increase in rank.” She began at a salary of $2,300 in 1946 and resigned in 1961 at a salary of $5,400.
Alice Maxine Headland was an instructor in English from 1946 to 1950. She was hired to replace Kenneth Mumford, and was reportedly offered three additional positions as instructor of English, one which was higher-paying than OSC’s offer. She married Alan George Mitchell in December of 1929, and changed her name to Alice Maxine Mitchell. She was hired at a salary of $2,400, and resigned in 1950 at a salary of $3,300.
