First r ecipients of Doctorates h onored

Florence Aller

Florence Aller set the stage for future Vandals in 1962 when she became the first person at the University of Idaho to obtain a doctoral degree in education.

The university recognized the 50th anniversary of the awarding of the first doctorates at the May commencement ceremony on the Moscow campus. Aller was honored posthumously along with six others who received their doctorates in 1963, including John Morford, who earned his doctorate in education administration.

Aller was born in Sylvia, Kan., and graduated from high school in 1925. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla. She taught in Montana before meeting her husband, Alvin. In 1949, the pair moved to Nampa, where they both taught at Northwest Nazarene College. The family spent about a decade moving across the United States while Alvin finished a tour of duty in the Navy. In 1946, Aller received her master’s degree in household administration in home economics from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., where she then taught for two years. The Allers returned to Nampa for several years before moving in 1959 to Moscow, where Florence became an assistant professor of home economics

John Morford

John Morford received his bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He went on to earn his master’s and doctorate from the UI as a National Defense Fellow. He spent 10 years in Ohio at John Carroll University and founded one of the nation’s first programs to prepare teachers for work in the impoverished areas of central cities. He also initiated the university’s first programs to prepare teachers for elementary special education and was the chair of the Department of Education. He returned to the Northwest in 1973 and served as dean of Seattle University’s School of Education from 1973-78. Under his leadership, Seattle University’s only doctoral program, the Doctorate of Educational at UI with research focused on marital adjustment and teenage marriage.

When the UI became authorized to offer a doctoral degree for the first time, Aller sought to pursue a degree in guidance and counseling through the psychology department. She was denied. At the time, no one older than 45 was allowed to begin a doctoral program. Aller was 51. She persisted, and when the psychology department chair asked what she intended to do with the degree, Aller said she wanted to teach. The chair then asked if she thought she’d be a better teacher with a doctorate. Aller replied, “Do you think I would not be a better teacher after taking classes from you?”

Aller died in 1993. Her late husband was a professor of botany at UI. They have one son, Wayne, who received the 50th anniversary honor on Aller’s behalf.

Leadership, was formed. Morford designed and led the program from the mid-1970s until his retirement in 1993.

In addition to his academic achievements, Morford has spent time with the Jesuits in Nepal, worked on the Commons Park project, is active in the St. Vincent De Paul Society, where he manages the Friday Food Bank, manages a Sunday dinner for homeless people, served as treasurer for Washington/ Chile Partners of the Americas and helped re-found the Western Washington Chapter for the Association for Psychological Type. He and his wife, Jerene, live in Seattle. They have four daughters and a son.