Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society

Students, as part of an advanced seminar, examined and wrote about the lives of these women, their intellectual contributions, and the unique impact and special problems that being female had on their careers.
For information about referencing this paper - Click Here


Kate Gordon Moore

1878-1963

Early Years

Kate Gordon Moore was an early female psychologist. She was born in 1878 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. As a child she attended Wisconsin State Normal School. Later she attended the University of Chicago where she received her Bachelors degree in 1900 at age twenty-two. Three years later she received her doctorate (Scarborough & Furumoto 187).

Education

In 1904 Gordon traveled to Germany to study at Wuizburg on a fellowship. She returned to the United States that same year. Upon her return, Gordon served on the faculty of Mt. Holyoke College, then Teachers College, Columbia in 1906. After that she served as faculty at Bryn Mawr College in 1912 and then at Carnegie Institute of Technology of California. It was during this time that she taught psychology, philosophy, and education courses. She did research on memory, attention, vision, and mental testing of children. She had several published textbooks on aesthetics and educational psychology.

Eventually Gordon decided to plant herself in Los Angeles where she taught at the University of California as an associate professor. She was age 43 at this time. She might have continued as an associate professor but the head of her department died and there weren't any men of seniority to take his place. Gordon was made the acting head of the department until a male candidate could be found. While she held head of the department she was promoted to professor at the age of fifty-six. Overall her advancement was a slow process (Scarborough & Furumoto 188).

Late Years

Gordon did not marry until the tender age of 65 years old in 1943. She was five years away from retirement. Gordon married Earnest Carroll Moore. The two met while Gordon worked at UCLA. Ernest was the president of Los Angeles State Normal School in 1917 and became the chief administrator when the institute became the University of California. The two married a year after the death of Moore's first wife. His first wife was ten years older than him and had been ill for sometime before her death. Gordon was had been a close friend of Moore's and his wife. Ernest and Kate were married until his death in 1955 (age 77). Gordon died at the age of 85 in 1963 (Scarborough & Furumoto 188).

References

Back to Women's Page