Anna Dorris
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Biography
In 1922 Anna Verona Dorris was appointed as the first long-term geography instructor. Educated at the University of California and Columbia University, Dorris's original title was Supervisor of Visual Instruction (cartography and map interpretation); she later became Director of Visual Instruction, establishing the audio-visual center on campus (now Academic Technology), and Assistant Professor of Geography. Her 1928 book Visual Instruction in the Public Schools was a pioneer work in visual instruction; Dorris was president of Visual Instruction for the National Education Association (NEA) from 1927 to 1929. For more about her work as a pioneer in visual instruction see Wendell G. Johnson's 2008 article "Anna Verona Dorris and the Visual Instruction Movement, 1918-1928, Tech Trends 52(4): 51-58. In the 1920s, Dorris taught such courses as Human Geography, Economic Geography, Geography of the Americas, and The New Point of View in Teaching Geography. Her courses were offered by the Social Sciences unit, which housed Contemporary Civilization, Geography, Economics, History, Sociology and Government courses. Anna Dorris also offered Introduction to Geology and Physiography in the Physical Sciences unit. Dorris continued teaching Geography here until 1948, when she gained emeritus status.
In the 1934 faculty listings, she is noted to have done field work in Europe, North Africa, Asia, Mexico, Australia and South Seas.