Hector MacPherson, Sr. (1875-1970) taught Economics and Sociology at OAC from 1911 to 1926. Later, as an Oregon legislator, he co-sponsored the School Moving Bill, a failed proposal that advocated for the consolidation of OAC and the University of Oregon, and the relocation of other state-funded schools. MacPherson was the father of Hector MacPherson, Jr., a farmer and state legislator known for his major impact on land use law in Oregon.
Estelle Alita Rankin was an instructor of geography in 1945-46 and in 1949. She was born in 1893 in Black Diamond Washington. She was the valedictorian of her high school, and received her Bachelor of Science in Geography with a minor in history from the University of Washington in 1932. She received her Master of Arts from Columbia Graduate School in the field of geography, with a minor in history, in 1935. Her thesis for her master’s degree was “Economic Nationalism in Italy.” She taught in Bellingham public schools for eleven years, eventually rising to become Director of Curriculum and Research. As university war training programs began, she joined the University of Washington as an acting instructor. After two years, she became a field investigator for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, but wanted to return to geography, and planned to undertake graduate study while being employed part-time as an instructor at the University of Washington. Having heard that OSC desperately needed geography professors on a temporary basis, a supervisor of hers recommended she teach at OSC for a year. He described her as capable of substituting into nearly any class in the department except for subjects in climatology, meteorology, or cartography. OSC hired her as a temporary instructor in geography, in the Army Specialized Training Program, for fall term of 1945. She also taught in the history department to a lesser extent. She was hired at $300 a month. OSC faced an “unexpectedly large enrollment” in economic geography Winter term of 1946, and decided to employ Rankin for an extra term. She returned to the University of Washington, but came back to OSC in the Winter and Spring terms of 1949 to cover the leave of absence of another geography professor. She was hired on as Assistant Professor of Geography (with temporary tenure) at $375 per month.
