Today we’re going to shift from students to faculty, featuring a short biography of Ida Callahan– although, she was also an 1881 OSU grad!

And again, thanks to George Edmonston for all his work on the history of OSU on the Alumni Association site, he makes my job easy …

“One of the legendary faculty members in the history of OSU, Ida Burnett was a standout student while in school and was hired immediately after graduation by President Arnold to assist W. W. Bristow in the preparatory department. She is the only woman pictured in one of the earliest known photos of the Oregon State faculty, taken in 1883. She rose to become assistant professor of English at OAC and during the early 1920s was president of the Oregon Federation of Women’s Clubs. She was much sought after at alumni reunions for many years, and it was an honor among women returnees to be photographed with her. Today, a women’s residence hall just east of the Kerr Administration Building is named in her honor.”