The Dawes house was constructed in 1931 and acquired by Oregon State University in 1959. The home is named after Mrs. Melissa Martine Dawes, former chairwomen of The Department of Modern Language at OSU from 1933-1956. If you are interested in reserving the Dawes House for an event please log in to Skedda. If you have not previously used Skedda, you will need to request access from Vikki Pointer (Vikki.Pointer@oregonstate.edu). Please note that this space is specifically reserved for grad student use. See the location of Dawes House on the campus map.
b. 16 June, 1890; d. 7 July, 1977
The daughter of James Prater Martine and Sarah Wilson Martine, she was born June 16th, 1890 in Michigan City, N.D. The family moved to California in 1900 to Albany in 1903 and to Corvallis in 1913.
She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Oregon in 1912 and a Bachelor of Science Degree from Oregon State University in 1915. In 1920 she earned a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. In the following years, Mrs. Dawes studied at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Madrid, Spain, University of Mexico and at Middlebury College summer foreign language school in Vermont.
In 1953 she married to C. Marshall Dawes, a building contractor now deceased. Mrs. Dawes joined the OSU faculty in 1915 and from 1933 to 1956 she was chairwomen of the Department of Modern Language. She taught Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese at OSU and did student practice teaching of Latin and Greek at the University of Oregon. From 1960 until late in her years, Mrs. Dawes gave language examinations to graduate students at OSU.
She was an editorial consultant of World Language Dictionary and a member of a national committee of modern languages. Mrs. Dawes was a past state president of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. She was a past president of the American Association of University Women, Corvallis Chapter.